Summer 2022 First Impressions – Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Episode Summary: Michio Kaga was on the lookout for a new VR game to try, and when he logs into his most recent finds he discovers that the experience is especially immersive. When he battles a group of bandits, the conflict feels real. And when Michio tries to log out of the game, he discovers that this may very well now be his real life.

When a villager attempts to steal one of the spoils from the battle, Michio learns firsthand that the culture of this place handles thieves swiftly and harshly – by selling them into slavery. Because it was Michio who suffered the loss, he gains half of the price of the sale of the man into slavery. It’s at the slave-trader’s hall that he also learns of another much more interesting nuance to this world – that of sanctioned sex slavery. Michio falls hard for Roxanne, a buxom slave working as a maid. Her price is well above what Michio can pay, but the trader gives him five days to come up with the funds. Feeling alone in this strange new world, Michio has found at least one way for someone to owe him attention.

Impressions: I really try not to be too much of a jerk when I’m writing about anime, because even if something isn’t for me there’s someone out there who enjoys it. So now, after watching the first episode of this series I’m stuck gritting my teeth while reading the comments on Crunchyroll and trying not to laugh. Nobody’s perfect all the time, after all.

This is an ecchi series through-and-through, one which hones in on a very particular fetish – the fantasy of owning sex slaves. I knew about it going in, and the show really doesn’t play at being anything more serious or try to tip-toe around the matter by cloaking it in some manufactured rationalizations, so it’s not a ruinous surprise by any means. If it’s a fantasy that you’re into, then here you go.

Where the episode falls flat for me (other than the fact that I’m very much on the “enthusiastic consent is sexy” side of the spectrum and was never going to like this) is that the version that’s been provided to us as Crunchyroll viewers fails in its most basic purpose as an ecchi anime. Not only is all the nudity censored to the point that there’s barely even room to guess what’s hiding underneath all the “caution” signs and other visual tomfoolery, even some of the language is bleeped out, namely what I can only assume is the term “sex slave,” or something similar. It’s a situation so ridiculous that I just have to laugh about it.

My understanding is that Crunchyroll is only going to show the version that they’re provided by the Japanese side of the equation, so people blaming this all on Crunchyroll and some imagined incompetence on their side are probably barking up the wrong tree. But I’m again reminded of one of Studio Passione’s other ill-fated sexual romps, the infamous Interspecies Reviewers, and just how weirdly sexuality is handled in anime in general and how we as a culture just don’t seem to know how to deal with it. I suppose if I were hoping to see titties on screen, I’d maybe even be a little frustrated.

Pros: If there’s a compliment to be made about the episode, it’s that it seems well-animated and the characters look nice. It’s amusing to me how many fanservice anime there are out there that just don’t achieve even a base level of character attractiveness. I could do without the unrealistic boob-bouncing (seriously, Roxanne’s breasts keep squirming for much too long after her body has stopped moving) but I suppose that’s a “me” problem.

Cons: When Michio learns that the way this new world handles thieves is through the slave trade, Michio seems to take a moment to consider the long term effects of this. He even comments to himself that the village chief whose responsibility it was to hand down the punishment seemed to want for him to show some mercy… and then the narrative continues onward full-tilt into Michio getting convinced to buy a slave for himself. I’ve been around long enough not to expect any real examination of a moral conflict in a show like this, but to unexpectedly introduce the idea and then immediately ignore it is honestly a pretty trashy move. Michio suffers more emotionally after killing a bunch of bandits than he does with the potential of buying a woman to suck his dick, which is just an odd contrast to me.

Content Warnings: Violence/gore (slightly censored, but obvious what is happening) including dismemberment/decapitation, Slavery, including sexual slavery, nudity (obscured).

Would I Watch More? – There was really nothing for me here in the first place, and considering the laughable amount of censorship (at least in the Crunchyroll version), I doubt there’s a whole lot for others to enjoy either.