This Week in Anime

Is It The Beginning Or The End for TBATE?

Chris
Lucas, this is a first. In my time as an anime critic, I've had to watch a lot of mediocre isekai adaptations. But I can't remember the last time a creator came out and apologized for one of those.

What sort of topsy-turvy world have I seemingly reincarnated into, that this is a thing?

"Disavow" is a strong word in this context, as TurtleMe is mainly asking for fans to be patient and understanding of the anime adaptation...while acknowledging that he's had little control over how it turned out compared to TBATE's original novel and comic versions.

As someone who doesn't keep up with this particular genre/medium scene, all of this made me wonder if it was worth this much hoopla. As I said, mid-isekai anime are a dime a dozen, so it can seem an odd outlier that this particular one prompted such an outcry.

I will say that from what I checked out of the TBATE comic, it's not like the work really resonated with me in that form, either. I admit it looks a little better scrolled through on a smaller phone screen, as is the intent of the medium, but in general, this isn't artistry free of jank. Folks can lament that the early episodes of TBATE lack the polish of something like Mushoku Tensei, but I don't know that the adventures of this Funko-Pop-looking baby cried out for an anime with a ton of glitz.

Granted, the tonal and adaptational changes at work are their own beast. I'm not going to complain about the anime getting through Arthur's exhaustingly detailed infancy a little quicker, though the decision to frontload later details about the sci-fi world he hails from and the specifics of his kingship is a more interesting move.

I will also say that the comic version of TBATE does seem to have a better handle on using the scrolling style of the 'toon format than some other examples I've seen. Fuyuki23 does cool things with long scrolling segments, conveying motion and perspective. I'm still not a believer, but there are spots where they make it work, and TBATE certainly feels a bit more brisk than other comics like this I've checked out.

Relevant to our pursuits here, TurtleMe talked with ANN in an interview this past February about how he wrote all the scripts for the comic adaptation and worked directly with the art team on its creation. That's a level of input that lets the adaptation adhere closer to the creator's vision in a way that can convey it beyond any looser artistic abilities. Notably, in that same interview, TurtleMe admits some trepidation with the inherent unknowns of going into the anime adaptation process. Ruh-roh!

Had I been one of the dedicated TBATE fans following this adaptation in the run-up to its premiere, I could have told you the result was probably not going to be a stunner. The main animation duty for the anime fell to Studio A-Cat, my old frenemy behind the...economical handling of Battle Game in 5 Seconds.

A wonder these guys don't seem to have improved beyond their early days on my beleaguered, beloved Transformers: Energon.

You're talking to the guy who called the first cour of Solo Leveling the worst anime he watched that season, so you're preaching to the choir here.

It doesn't help that the webcomic space is chock-a-block with the same kind of isekai-adjacent power fantasies that have fueled so much of the light-novel-adaptation glut of the past decade and change of anime. Solo Leveling and TBATE are both included in that category, to the point that you'd be hard-pressed to guess they were based on a fresher form of source material if you didn't already know.

Part of me doesn't mind the TBATE anime going all-in on showing King Gray's previous grimy sci-fi world life compared to how the comic paced it out. It more immediately lends the story a little of its flavor. When it's otherwise a paint-by-numbers early day reincarnation opening that isn't showing off via production values, this series needs everything it can to help it stand apart from its peers.

Besides, it's not like the TBATE anime has excised the goofier moments. I think it's just that I've sat through too many other iffy isekai that used cynicism and/or irreverence as a crutch to worry about them cropping up again in this example.

Also, not for nothing, but Makoto Furukawa doing his deep-voiced narration over baby Arty's antics is sometimes funny.

TurtleMe confirmed that TBATE was his first story, so you get a sense of him writing by the seat of his pants as he figured out the contrasting styles and systems between the past and present settings. Sometimes it works for a slow pull-back, like the reveal of what Gray's "King" status meant in his world, and how that factored into the worldview he reincarnated with.

I am frankly uninterested in the superpower systems at the heart of these worlds, or how Gray/Arty's lifetime of experience gives him a leg up on manifesting them. But the idea that he's getting a chance to learn empathy and grow into a better person over a whole bonus lifetime is the germ of a concept, and a decent use of this oft-used reincarnation conceit. A lot of the time, these reborn mediocre Melvins can't even gesture at the idea of personal growth that isn't simply getting super-powerful and enslaving a few people.

This seems to be the overall thrust of TBATE's approach: following Arty's life as he grows across those experiences and interactions. It's a conceit ostensibly built for the long term and for those who have been following it since the beginning (after the end) to be able to assure you how much better it gets as it builds up more layers behind it.

With that in mind, I can see the concerns from fans about the anime adaptation not putting its best foot forward to hook people with the story still in its infancy. It needed the sheen of Mushoku Tensei's lavish treatment of its protagonist's bumbling baby times to get viewers to care.

Arty does at least clear the shockingly difficult anti-slavery bar, putting him ahead of many of the more maligned isekai protags out there.

A point is, though, that even as TBATE compares favorably, story-wise, so far to the likes of the aforementioned Solo Leveling and Mushoku Tensei, its apparent popularity seemingly got a lot of fans hoping that TBATE would receive a similar level of standout production on its anime. Which is not what they ended up experiencing.

Real talk, my reaction to the first episode of TBATE was "Eh, this is low-key but I've seen worse," while by the second episode I was like "Ooooohhh, now I see why fans of this franchise made this go viral."

It's just cheap and low-effort all around, and as I said, hardly unexpected from Studio A-Cat. Let's hear it for their most regular guest-stars: unholy CGI homunculi!

They're planning to keep this going for two cours, somehow.

Now, all that said, this is where I put on my old-man perspective hat and bring up that the fan response to the TBATE anime's shortcomings was perhaps a bit overzealous. As I said, crusty-looking isekai adaptations have become a central feature of modern anime, with prior well-loved series like Arifureta getting the short end of the stick.

TurtleMe may be apologetic over the state of the TBATE anime, but at least he never petulantly demanded that a production throw out a bunch of finished work.

The nature of adaptation, to say nothing of the razor-thin operations of modern anime production, is that there are always going to be whiffs. People waited decades to get a Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer anime only for it to look like...that. I have a buddy who's still mourning the missed opportunity (and arguable false advertising) of the Girls' Frontline anime.

Honestly, I respect TurtleMe for being willing to wade into a subreddit's worth of angry, disappointed fans to try to assuage things from his side. It isn't his fault. Hopefully, his love for his story shared with readers can salvage something to bond over. A learning experience of the sort that young King Arty could benefit from.

Alternatively, you can always hope for the reboot route sooner rather than later! Fans, look forward to The Beginning After The End: Re-Rebirth, coming in 2030!

Honestly, I have to presume that we'll have finally moved on from isekai as an omnipresent trend by then.

Much like TBATE fans, all I can do is hold out hope.