Isekaiseries are some of my favorite in all anime. At their core, they have an incredibly simple premise. The genre is all about a character, usually from Japan, getting transported to a new world either after dying or from being unknowingly summoned over. When the character gets to their new world, they’re usually given an extremely powerful ability, making them one of the strongest people in their new world right away.
That’s the plot forThe Eminence in Shadow, Overlord, Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy,and more. While they all start from around the same place, what they do with this premise is what makes each of the series I mentioned above so great. With such a simple premise, it seems like it might be hard to mess up, but that’s whereZenshucomes in.Animation studio MAPPA’s latest anime-original seriesmisses the mark in so many key areas, that I can’t keep watching it.
Overworked MAPPA Animating an Overworked Animator Is Darkly Ironic
An Ill-Conceived Attempt at Washing Away MAPPA’s Big Issues
MAPPA is a hard studio for me to write about. At their core, they’re one of the best animation studios in Japan. They’ve brought some of thebest anime series of all timeto life through stunning visuals, colors I didn’t even know existed, and so much more. They’ve animatedChainsaw Man(one of the few series I’ve ever given a 10/10), the final season ofAttack on Titan,andJujutsu Kaisento name just a few of their heavy-hitters.
If you know anything about the anime industry, and Japanese work culture in general, you know how brutal it can be. Japanese people are so overworked that they even have a phrase for “overwork death”:Karoshi. Sadly,MAPPA is one of the most infamous anime production studiosforoverworking their employees. MAPPA is said to not only overwork their employees, but underpay them considerably, and not give them the proper training needed to get work done in an appropriate time frame.
Zenshuis about an animator who dies because she is severely overworked. The fact that overworked MAPPA employees are probably being overworked yet again to animatean overworked animator is one of the darkest ironies I’ve ever seen in anime.I can’t watchZenshufor a number of reasons, but one of them is definitely because ofhow dark the background of the series is. MAPPA even made their animators sign an NDA before animating the second season ofJujutsu Kaisen,proving that they had made little to no progress in giving their workers the rest and rights that they deserve.
The Main Character Is Too Unlikable
Natsuko Has Few Redeeming Qualities
If even I could ignore the problems thatZenshuhas off-screen, the on-screen issues aren’t much better. The main character, Natsuko Hirose, is a genius animator. She’s had a lot of success in her career early, propelling her to a high position in the anime industry. She’s stuck on her latest project, a movie about someone’s first love, because she’s never been in love herself. When she gets food poisoning and dies, she’s transported to the world of her favorite anime,A Tale of Perishing.
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That is a great premise for an anime series. In the new world, Natsuko knows everything that’s going to happen because she has watched the story on the screen. As an animator, she’s even able to change the events of the series through mysterious magical powers that allow her to draw new, jaw-dropping creations at just the right time, saving the Last Town and the Nine Soldiers on several key occasions.
While all of this seems like it would make for anamazing isekai series,Natsuko is incredibly unlikable.She’s rude to everyone around her, including her coworkers back in the real world. When she gets transported to the Last Town and her new world, she doesn’t take anyone seriously and treats them like a joke. It’s likely that this is part of her character arc and Natsuko’s behavior will evolve at some point, but after the series progresses (seven episodes have aired at the time of writing), she doesn’t really change much.
There are plenty of great anime series where the main character starts unlikable but eventually comes around.Zenshudoesn’t look like it’ll be one of them. Natsuko’s redeeming qualities are incredibly hard to find. She’s selfish, rude, and never enjoyable to be around. Her design hiding her face also makes me uncomfortable. I think they’re hiding her face as a nod to her hiding her true character, but it just adds to an ever-growing pile of negative qualities. By episode #7, Natsuko seems to finally learn her first lesson and she starts to rely on others more, but that’s almost two months of airing to show some character development, for a series that likely won’t have a high number of episodes.
The Side Characters Aren’t Any Better
The Nine Soldiers Are Heroes in Name Only
Even the side characters inZenshuare unlikable. It’s almost like a competition of who can be more unbearable every time someone is on-screen.Luke Braveheart and Unio, two of the Nine Soldiers, are brutal to watch.They don’t get along with Natsuko, which is totally understandable given her behavior and actions, but that doesn’t really help the series. WatchingZenshuis a lot like watching two people fight when you’re just trying to relax: it’s really uncomfortable for almost no reason.
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There aren’t enough positive qualities in the side characters to make them so unlikable. Luke Braveheart is brave, as his name implies, and it is fairly interesting to watch him dive headfirst into battle in an attempt to save the Last Town. Unio’s decision to self-destruct to stop the horde heading for the Last Town is also a memorable and commendable moment. Unfortunately, the series is a lot more than those two moments.
It’s true that these characters are also showing some very slow signs of development, so this judgment may be too harsh. However, IfZenshuhad more going for it, I might be patient enough to deal with the aggravating side characters, but to me, it just doesn’t. It’s like eating a dish that’s super spicyandit tastes bad. you’re able to’t help but wonder, “What’s the point of this dish, and who would even order it?”.
The Plot Is the Worst Kind of Isekai
A Main Character Who Doesn’t Take Other Characters Seriously
I want to make a point here that there are so manyamazing isekai seriesout there. I’ve always loved the isekai genre, and since I’ve gotten to write for Screen Rant, I’ve watched even more. I also want to make a point that out of thedozensof isekai series I’ve been lucky enough to check out, literally all of them are better thanZenshu(bar a few, sorryThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slimeseason 3).
When Natsuko arrives in the world ofA Tale of Perishing,she treats it like a joke. I can’t blame her for not immediately adapting to a fantasy world, because she’s still trying to understand the situation at hand, but it doesn’t make for an enjoyable watch.No other isekai character ever arrived in their new world and immediately began disrespecting it.Even the characters that needed some time getting acclimated to their new environments just held their mouths until they could fully understand what was going on.
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This is hard because I don’t entirely blame Natsuko for not taking her new environment seriously, but the least she could have done was not be rude. It’s not asking for much at all. I hate watching anime where a character is mean or disrespectful for seemingly no reason, and that’s whatZenshushowcases from the first episode.
While the Animation is Stellar, Zenshu Has Too Many Negative Qualities
MAPPA’s Animation Is Always Amazing, But It’s Not Enough
Zenshuhas a lot going for it. It’s being animated by one of the best studios in Japan (even if they are severely overworked and underpaid), it has a fresh premise, and it’s in one of themost popular genres of anime.Unfortunately, the negatives heavily outweigh the positives.The main character is almost unbelievably unlikable, the side characters aren’t any better, it’s one of the worst takes on isekai a studio could come up with, and the fact that MAPPA of all studios is producing a series about an overworked animator is heartbreaking.
I really wanted to likeZenshu.The animation is solid, and I love isekai series, but man does this one miss the mark. It’s hard to believe the studio behind so many great hits would flop so thoroughly. There aren’t a lot of successful anime-only series out there (Zenshudoesn’t have a manga or any source material, for the uninformed), andZenshumakes it easy to see why.
