Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time – Episode 1

What’s it about? Iruma Takumi was accidentally summoned with other heroes to another world.  Unfortunately, he lost his body when a goddess interrupted the teleportation process; as an apology, she offers to give him any skills he wishes for in order to survive life in another world.  Takumi hopes to use his alchemy skills to build a comfortable life for himself with all the fortunate abilities can create.  

In a strange way, I think I’m slowly becoming fond of mediocre isekai shows.  I’m most definitely not a fan, but I find comfort in the familiarity they provide me.  There’s a difference between a sea of truly awful isekai shows versus generic isekai shows that mainly depict standard tropes in the tamest ways possible.  There’s truly nothing special about this premiere except that it acknowledges how silly the isekai genre has become.  The goddess is probably one of the standout characters in the show so far considering how extremely chill she is about Takumi’s dire circumstances.  Sure, she’s apologetic about the situation, but it’s funny seeing her treat this whole matter as if she accidentally stepped on his foot.  

Takumi is as bland as you expect him to be for protagonists often seen in most isekai shows in recent years.  Thankfully, he at least has fun knowing he’s overpowered and looks for methods on increasing his wealth rather than throwing himself into the battlefield (I’d do the same).  Unfortunately, the show doesn’t let me enjoy this comfortable aspect of the show since it quickly reminds me that he’ll eventually get a harem of women following him along on his journey.  He saves a spider monster that comfortably blushes and calls him “master”, which highlights a lot of uncomfortable implications (especially if some reports I’ve seen about the light novels are to be believed).  The opening theme also emphasizes that almost all of the women’s character designs lean toward huge breasts and revealing clothes.  While all of that does annoy me, I’m also not surprised since from the beginning the show doesn’t truly try to be anything different from its predecessors. 

It’s also important to note that the series seems to be building up darker themes in the story since it’s revealed that the goddess sent Takumi back in time one year before the new heroes arrive in the neighboring kingdom.  It’s clear that the goddess doesn’t trust the kingdom that summoned the original heroes and perhaps there’s some kind of background politicking happening in the background.  If any of this was in a better show than I’d say it has the potential to be something interesting like So I’m a Spider So What?, but we don’t have a fun protagonist like the spider from that series to keep us entertained.  Instead, we have a spider that probably has a crush on her master — how delightful.  

Basically, if any of our readers enjoy the usual standard isekai offered every season then this show is for you.  There’s nothing new or exciting here that’ll shake your world, but I hope for our readers’ sake the formula doesn’t deteriorate so quickly and at least offers a comfortable ride until the end.