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This Week in Anime
How Total Fantasy Knockout Keeps Isekai Fresh

by Jean-Karlo Lemus & Monique Thomas,

You know the drill. Two guys get reincarnated into fantasy world, they have to defeat the Demon Lord, etc. etc.. What makes Total Fantasy Knockout different? Well, one of those guys is reincarnated as a girl and it might just awaken some latent feelings between them.

This series is streaming on Crunchyroll

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.


@Lossthief @mouse_inhouse @NickyEnchilada @vestenet

Nicky
Heyyo folks, Nicky here reporting in. And I'm here to tell you all that it's that time of the season. The time where I have to pay my much overdue Isekai Tax! Jean-Karlo, please help me!
Jean-Karlo
Oh boy, I wonder what potato we'll get saddled up with this time. Hey, didn't we already do "slime"?
Well, at least we're only highlighting one this time. But it also happens to be a romantic comedy between a couple of grown-ass men with a gender-bending twist! This Week in Anime we'll be discussing Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout!
Let's start this off on the right foot: freaking Nekki Basara does the intro. I don't know who's idea it was to get Yoshiki Fukuyama to belt out such a wild, kick-ass intro for this show but right off the bat I was blown away.
I was expecting something more low-key, but even beyond its rockin' OP the show actually has some good energy as a comedy. Like some comedies, it really only has one major joke in its arsenal, and in this case it's all about the "romance."
Like so many other isekai anime, the title spells out the premise: instead of just one potato, a potato and his best friend are teleported to a fantasy world, and the potato reincarnates as a... knockout? I dunno. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I look at Tachibana's new body and I just feel like in another time this would have been another bratty half-pint voiced by Rie Kugumiya who goes "Urusai!" over and over in lieu of a personality. Shakugan no Zero Tora Ookami-sama aside, I will say that this show at least has a joke to lean on that isn't telling everyone to shut up.
As all faithful readers should know, I'm not immune to gremlins so that isn't a problem for me. Also isekai, gender-bending, and romantic comedies aren't exactly new ideas but something about how Fantasy Knockout sets things up nails this strange kind of wish-fulfillment for a different kind of crowd, even if it might be totally by accident.

Like this show wouldn't have pinged my radar at all if it wasn't for all the ways it accidentally represents a transgender experience in what is otherwise a pretty straightforward "will-they-or-won't-they" romantic comedy with isekai flavorings. Tachibana is a totally average schlub; he's got no confidence in his appearance or personality, and no chance of landing himself a girlfriend. On top of that he has a hyper-competent best friend who keeps showing him up in every aspect of masculinity. After getting shitfaced drunk, he bemoans his lot in favor of becoming a woman. Ah yes, pictured, something only an Egg would say.

Jingūji is a beefcake and women have loved him since middle school, but Jingūji has been propositioned by so many women who only liked him for his looks/status that he lost trust in women at large, leading him to become extremely defensive of his best friend Tachibana. Tachibana, on the other hand, was always getting passed over in favor of Jingūji, leading to a bit of resentment. Jingūji just wants a woman he approves of for Tachibana, Tachibana wishes he had Jingūji's game. The result: two best friends with a serious case of what Red Letter Media called "the Not-Gays".

Even Tachibana wonders if Jingūji just doesn't have a thing for him, given how protective he is.
The narration even calls this out and says what Jingūji is thinksplaining. He's always been in love with Tachibana and he's using his overprotectiveness as an excuse so he won't have to feel jealous or admit his feelings for his best friend. In this way, it's actually pretty matter-of-fact what the deal is.

Now whether this means that Jingūji is exclusively gay or simply "bffsie-sexual" is another question, and that's harder to answer. They're both men and best friends in their 30s and it creates a lot of societal and personal boundaries between them. His disdain for women is clearly based on experience and Jingūji is the type of man who clearly seeks a partner with a good personality first and appearances second. Then everything gets flipped on its head when they enter the isekai realm!
He might even be demisexual. Or morosexual, given Tachibana's neural activity (or lack thereof).
That's true. The point is I like that it's clearly about having this level of intimacy with a person but you can't bring yourself to break the status quo, whether it's for your own reasons or society's. Not that the show is deep, but it has a slight nuance that can be a little messy.
We'll definitely come back to that. For now: a goddess descends upon Tachibana and Jingūji when they stumble out of a mixer, and decides to just send them to another world. Truck-kun isn't involved.

The Goddess' design is quite something! She also doesn't take threats lightly when her heroes aren't down with their blessings and ready to fulfill the mission of saving the world.

And so dead or not-dead, after transporting them into this new and unfamiliar realm, transforming Tachibana into the blonde knockout of his dreams, and getting sassed at by our heroes, she responds by cursing them into compliance, and only by defeating the Demon Lord can they lift the spell!
The problem for Jingūji and Tachibana is that they don't even know what the curse is, and for all they know it's that they've been burdened with thinking each other is really cute. Jingūji is suddenly smitten with Tachibana now that they have a woman's body, and Tachibana finds themselves even more attracted to Jingūji's reliability. Did Jingūji just need Tachibana to look like a loli to get his motor running? Is magic making Tachibana swoon for their best friend? Who knows? They're fighting off the gay thoughts until they figure it out—badly, I might add.
That's certainly the question. I have a suspicion that the curse might be something else, given how bad the Goddess is about her wishes. And that if anything, their attraction to each other is pre-existing and established, it's just that they don't have any excuses for it anymore now that they have this entirely new context of appearing as "heterosexuals." But either way both of them just want everything to go back to normal as quickly as possible so they don't have to think so hard about it anymore.
Having been isekai'd, the two have the requisite game-breaking powers. Because Jingūji worked out (seriously), he has Level 70 stats and is strong enough to punch a literal hole into weird two-faced bears. Tachibana, being the titular fantasy knockout, can charm anyone just by being seen—but because they sucked at everything else, they have level 1 stats.
That terrifying monster looked like this, btw. It's face reminds me of a bkub character.
I mean, have you seen Popuko and Pipimi? They're just as horrifying.
We also find out that Jingūji has another power: the power to magically open a door to Tachibana's old apartment, so they don't really need to worry about camping out. Though being the schlub that Tachibana is, it doesn't actually have any food.
Two bros, living in an apartment together, arguing about groceries and emergencies and how one will just rely on the other in an emergency because they're not in love.
Yeah the apartment adds a little bit of a domestic vibe. There's one part in the extra sugary-sweet ED that even emphasizes Jingūji's househusbandness.
To be fair, he does look like he'd make for a cool romantic lead in a shōjo romance. You know, the stand-offish type who has a heart of gold and feeds the stray cat behind his apartment.
Also the fact that he's totally dedicated to protecting and taking care of Tachibana despite the fact that he/she is like this totally useless gremlin. He's super reliable overall since he seems to hold more than one braincell and has a coolheaded personality that isn't easily fooled except for the one that he loves. I can totally see why girls were falling for him, but his sweetness is what makes this gap-moe.
At any rate, problems arise when Jingūji and Tachibana's shenanigans cause an elf's forest to get burnt to the ground. She takes this quite badly, as it turns out she's a follower of the Goddess of Love, too.
Turns out they killed the Goddess's Sacred Guardian even though it was trying to kill them. They ended up defeating bandits attacking a village using Tachibana's magical appearance powers and Jingūji's major infatuation skills, but everything got burned down, and so did the forest.
For the record, the weird creepy Pop Team Epic bear was the deity.
And later they skin it and eat it!
Telolilo gets pissed at the two for killing her deity and insulting their goddess, but it's quickly apparent that her duty is to be a one-woman goldfish poop gang. She follows them on their adventure in pursuit of revenge, but all she achieves is own herself (unwittingly) by eating the remains of her own beloved deity. That's almost Shakespearean-levels of schadenfreude.
She's also a bit of a narcissist who loves to dress skimpily and talk about her own beauty. Jingūji ends up clipping her braid and insulting her appearance/elfhood. She's also pretty quickly showed up by Tachibana due to having already enraptured the whole town with her magic beauty skill.


Which is also pretty funny considering I find Tachibana's girlish appearance to be pretty lame outside of when she's a gremlin with long bangs and shark teeth.
She's a knockout for someone, for sure. But when I hear the word "knockout" I think, like, Fujiko Mine or Lum Invader. Not so much Rizelmine.
Even Tachibana seems not so into it sometimes, but apparently the magic is enough to make her appear cute to others, but we can't tell if this is true or just Jingūji's extremely warped perspective. I do wish she looked a little more adult considering it's an adult romance.

That, and Jingūji isn't really an otaku of any sort. Just sayin', if the shoe fits... Anyway, Jingūji manages to get Tachibana an enchanted circlet that makes people not notice them as much, so they don't go charming entire villages anymore. That's when we get a Sword Art Online cameo.
It's really funny how jokes on Generic Overpowered Fantasy Gary Stus have translated into being "Just Kirito" even if it has nothing to do with MMOs.
Oh, but this isn't Kirito, as he insists to us (and the audience), even though his outfit is identical down to his black sword. Schwartz up there opens an interesting angle for the setting of Fantasy Knockout: as it happens, the Goddess of Love isn't the only deity who has transported people from the real world to serve as champions. There's a whole gaggle of people getting trucked into existence in this fantasy world, each one more chūni than the last.
Also, everyone keeps putting on and then taking off their cloaks! The elf lady did this too (don't expect us to type out that full name btw) and it's so incredibly chūni. I think the main couple has a good dynamic in the serious vs gremlin way but every other element or character introduced is just equally goofy.
Fantasy Knockout doesn't take itself very seriously, and neither do its characters. This isn't "everyone is an asshole and that's the joke," it's more the fact that the show is aware the entire situation is a farce and has fun with it. It leads to a show that isn't terribly original but at least is easy watching. It helps that the episodes feel pretty brisk, even with how much of the episode is dominated by the joke of "Tachibana and Jingūji play off how attracted they are to each other." It's Konosuba but not nearly as mean-spirited, which I appreciate.
Reminds me a bit of Tsukimichi -Moonlit Fantasy- but more rom-com. I think because it's so low-stakes, it can have a pretty broad appeal if you enjoy both fantasy and rom-coms. And while I'm not big on Tachibana looking "younger," I think overall the show is pretty tame and all of it is usually for the sake of comedy.
There's a bit where Jingūji can peek down Tachibana's shirt but even he finds himself uncomfortable with the idea. Which, yeah man. Even if I'm friends with a total knock-out, I don't need to peek through their wardrobe failure.
See, I didn't find anything weird about that because that would imply there was anything to look at. For a "knockout," she's flat as a board! Playing MMOs has taught me that most people would max out their boob-slider if given the opportunity. Though Jingūji is an extreme virgin so she switches to a more appropriate outfit.
Speaking of seeing stuff, I wanna give the show props for its excellent visual humor. Stuff like goons planted in the dirt by Jingūji still being there as a scene goes on or Schwartz's cloak still being at his feet for prolonged periods of time makes me giggle.
I enjoy how much goes into the faces. Reaction comedy where you have to make the characters look dopey and off model actually takes some skill and time to animate compared to just having characters stand around. Most isekai feel like cardboard cutouts. This show isn't amazing, but it has some elasticity. It helps even the more mundane jokes land.
Yeah! Like I said, Fantasy Knockout is breezy and keeps itself light-hearted all throughout. I can't say it was necessarily riveting, but it made for easy viewing and sometimes you really need that.
I also found it more interesting than the other genderbend isekai of the season, She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man. And one compliment I'll give towards Tachibana is that despite the weird queer panic jokes, they take the whole being genderswapped thing pretty easy. They even seem to prefer being like this. They may not be more powerful than before, but they enjoy the newfound confidence that being feminine presents and isn't dysphoric about it. Which again, has extremely trans implications.

And it's never judgmental towards any of the characters other than when they're not being honest about their own feelings. At one point, Tachibana asks whether gender is something of the body or of the spirit, which again, is an even stronger implication of how Tachibana might actually feel about themselves. And Jingūji (and the show) gives a fairly open answer. This show might still fall into a few heteronormative traps that plague many rom-coms, especially depending on how it decides to address Jingūji's feelings, but it's nice to see!

I definitely wish Fantasy Knockout had the balls to actually follow through on the "I think whichever you think is right, is right" answer at least, but you gotta have the bit where Jingūji fights off the gay thoughts. And I guess the show doesn't change much if Tachibana had been AFAB. It's just childhood friends not wanting to admit their feelings for each other.
I do wish it was able to be just a little smarter about it, but I think that would also be hard to explain to what I assume is a mostly cis-gendered heterosexual audience. It would be very difficult to explain all the context just so you can tell some fluffy jokes. I can really only go off of my assumptions here. Or I'm giving this too much goodwill? It's gonna be up to the individual to decide. But either way, I think the main couple has a strong enough connection to each other that it works out, magically.
Like I said, even if the show didn't have a body-swapping twist what you have is basically an isekai where the couple have actual chemistry and try to play it off. Works for me, even if it's not horrifyingly original. It's tiresome how everything is done up with Dragon Quest-style menus because that's how low fantasy anime have gotten to show it's a fantasy (I pine for the days of Record of Lodoss War), but I can deal. And hey, it's not slavery apologia!
The menus work out when it shows how the bullshit broken skills work. Or seeing that Tachibana's only good stat is Luck. It doesn't lean into the video game aspects of fantasy too much otherwise. It's not super steeped in pandering reference humor either, since the focus is on the characters.

Even when we get to Not-Kirito you only really need to get that he's just a stupid otaku.
It's gonna be hilarious when Schwartz's real name is revealed to be, like, Jiro Yamada. Please be Jiro Yamada, my Nadesico-loving heart needs this.
Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout might not knock it out of the park, but it is pleasant and I liked it more than I thought. I hope it keeps being dedicated to being silly and I want to see the main couple develop and get over their hang-ups! Also, for the record, being in your 30s isn't that old!!
If you've got someone you can crack a cold drink with at night, you're doing amazing—being in your 30s makes no difference.
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