Summer 2021 First Impressions – Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Makoto Misumi leads a decent life. He’s good at archery and his parents are pretty interesting people. But it’s his parentage that ends up causing him problems when the gods come to collect on a debt. It seems that Makoto’s parents came to Earth from another world, and in exchange they offered up the thing that meant the most to them. In this case that means their child, and if Makoto doesn’t go along with the transaction then his sisters might be forced into it in his place. At the behest of the god Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, Makoto is transported away to visit the goddess of this mysterious other world. Unfortunately the goddess is extremely unimpressed by Makoto, and banishes him to the far corners of the other world with only the ability to read, write, and speak the various languages of other races.

Fortunately Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto also secretly helped to protect Makoto with his power, so he isn’t completely helpless. Makoto learns this when he defends an orc girl named Ema from a giant wolf and completely obliterates it. He also seems to have a knack for magic, which comes in handy when he confronts the dragon that’s been causing grief for Ema’s people. The supposedly invincible dragon, Shin, finds herself outmatched. She offers to make a mutually-beneficial contract arrangement with Makoto, mainly because his memories of his previous life are so fascinating to her. Though he may have been banished to the far edge of the world, Makoto’s group of companions is slowly but surely growing larger.

Impressions: Makoto’s narration that begins this episode laments the fact that his isekai experience is nothing like the clichés would have one believe. Rather than obtaining a new life in which he’s worshipped as a hero, he and his companions live a life of constant misery, injury, and other shenanigans. It’s a mildly funny idea for this sort of fantasy tale, and yet somehow this first episode is surprising in just how closely it adheres to the normal tropes of isekai stories.

When I wrote up my entry on the first episode of Seirei Gensouki, I talked about not really wanting to solely focus on the tropes of the isekai genre anymore in my write-ups; many of the genres I enjoy come packaged with their own issues, after all. But because this series claims to be subverting said tropes, I feel like I need to at least mention them to explain what I’d like to say about them here in particular. I think the biggest issue I take with isekai stories are their propensity to quickly devolve into indulgent power fantasies. While I understand the appeal of power fantasies, especially for those who believe they’re powerless (I’d argue that some people who claim that do so falsely, but I’m not really feeling the desire to open that can of worms), it’s rare that I’m in the mood to watch a character be overpowered for its own sake and endlessly dominate their fellow cast members. Most of the time I’d rather watch series protagonists go through the process of developing their skills through trial and hard work (Bofuri is probably the one major recent exception, because Kaede’s just so darned wholesome). It’s something I like about sports anime, even though many of those are similarly formulaic; there’s an emphasis on skill building and being a part of a team that’s not quite so present in a style of storytelling that emphasizes getting revenge (in various forms).

Makoto arrives in his new world with little ability – or so he’s told. He’s tossed to the wolves (somewhat literally) by a mean-spirited goddess who berates him as a poor product of his (apparently) heroic parents. Yet he soon proves himself to be physically gifted, learns magic almost instantaneously after learning that it’s a possibility, and impresses an invincible female dragon into having a crush on him. Hmm. His stats say level 1, but his power level would seem to imply otherwise. So what is it? Is his life meant to be an actual struggle, or is this just an attempt to throw us off the trail?

I actually found this episode to be entertaining, but I’m having a difficult time nailing down just what exact “mode” the narrative is attempting to operate within when the characters state one thing but then do another. It takes much of the weight away from what’s happening. Or maybe I’m just not that interested, and this is my brain’s way of rationalizing mild dislike in a way that’s less dismissive than I could be.

Pros: I think the character designs are cute, especially Ema, the orc girl. One of the things I find bothersome about the portrayal of fantasy races is that oftentimes the males are large and distinctly non-human looking, while the females remain much more slight and retain a more human form, maybe with some extra teeth or horns (I’m thinking specifically about the World of Warcraft orcs). As a female orc in this world, Ema may be cute but definitely still has a non-human appearance.

Makoto is also a pretty good guy. I don’t find that sort of thing as laudable as I used to; being an okay person is a baseline, not award-winning behavior. But after getting punted by a goddess, it seems like he’s really only looking for someone he can talk to or travel with, and if the first mission he takes on is correcting a situation so that a cute girl doesn’t have to sacrifice herself for no reason, well, that’s at least something nice.

Cons: There are some gags sprinkled throughout the episode that fell flat for me. As Makoto is floating in the void, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto promises to get rid of Makoto’s porn before his remaining family members find it. I tend to find this sort of horny teenage stuff to be a little bit eyeroll-worthy to be honest. Ditto with the transparent blouse gag which occurs while Makoto is in the thrall of the dragon and reliving a memory of being asked out. I find this kind of humor pretty tedious.

Content Warnings: Mild fanservice. Violence (including some comically-gruesome violence).

Would I Watch More? – Likely not, but looking at the selection of isekai fantasy specifically this season, if I had to choose one to watch I don’t think this one would be too bad on the whole.