Isekai Cheat Magician

I was kind of excited for this anime – I didn't expect it to be great, but I really liked the idea of introducing a female counterpart transported to another world along with the protagonist, and the story being the journey of both of them, with probable romance later down the line. I find this kind of setup way more attractive than the overdone harem isekai. After four episodes, however, I can tell with 100% certainty that this show is absolute trash.

The introduction is pretty awful, with the main characters being transported to another world, being in danger for literally one scene and then immediately ... getting recognized as extremely OP mages that can pretty much bend the whole world to their will if they wanted to. Any source of tension or interesting character development is neutered right away. The main pair also doesn't impress: the protagonist is a bit of a cocky moron and the girl's one personality trait seems to be that she's secretly in love with him. The supporting cast looks similarly one-dimensional – it might change over time, but I'm really not holding my breath. The main intrigue, as little as was revealed so far, looks like isekai cliches on top of isekai cliches.

These, however, are not the main issue with this show. The main issue is the animation, which is not just bad. It's a f***** joke. I haven't seen an anime this bland, stilted and cheaply put together in my whole experience with the medium. Secondary characters and various shots are so low on detail it's barely believable. The animation looks like it has half the frames of a typical anime, even in the OP sequence that should showcase the best a series has to offer. Fighting scenes are always presented with angles that require minimum effort and, more often than not, are extremely short. Dialogues are sometimes accompanied with literal stills, for amounts of time that make it impossible to miss. The occasional tricks used to cut corners (most often the authors don't even bother to hide the crappiness) are so cheap it's painful to watch them. I've seen uglier shows, mostly being like that due to use of crappy CGI which is thankfully absent here, but still none of them felt as cheap and undercooked as Isekai Cheat Magician does.The fourth episode thankfully stepped up the game a little bit, being a lot more action-heavy, but didn't really change the overall impression I've got from this.

In result, I can't recommend for anyone to watch this show, unless you're fascinated by extremely bad anime the way I am. By the fourth episode the dumb power fantasy is not as awful as the opening sequence made me expect, and I'm actually all for that kind of brainless entertainment, but the way it is produced is beyond atrocious. I think it will be remembered as the ultimate stinker of this season and one of the worst isekai shows ever made (and there's a lot of competition for that title, including this season's Maou-sama Retry, which at least know to not take itself seriously). If, unlike me, you have any kind of respect for yourself and your time, avoid it at all cost.

You can tell just how bad this anime is going to be by simply looking at the cover art. But hold up! That doesn't mean that this isekai doesn't have some unique elements!

For one, it isn't just the Legendary Overpowered Super Excellent Revolutionary dude, or LOSER dude for short, who gets isekai'd to a fabulous new word. No, his female friend does as well! How shockingly unexpected! Also, this anime subverts your expectations by making you think that LOSER dude is going to get killed protecting main girl from an oncoming bike, but PLOT TWIST! It completely misses them and they just get sent to ... a fantasy world via a magic circle instead. How exciting! Finally, this was the anime that's come closest to making me fall asleep while watching. If it had actually succeeded, then it truly would have been one of a kind!

With great innovative twists like these and (maybe) some others, this anime is surely spectacular, right? Well, it does unfortunately still contain many qualities typical of mediocre isekai...

It still has an overpowered protagonist who can't fail, can do no wrong, and must have accidentally left his personality in the real world considering how bland he is.

It still has cute girls that unfortunately have absolutely nothing going for them except their cuteness and their singular defining trope that lets you differentiate between them.

It still looks bland with uninspired character designs, terrible animation complete with choppy movements, and background and scenic visuals that I feel like I've seen before.

It still sounds like nobody with any talent was involved...wait, hold up. This anime has the likes of Takahashi Rie and Myth&Roid involved? Ok, I take back what I said about the sound department. But nothing else!

It still contains a paper thin plot that nobody, including we the viewers, the characters in the show, and the writer himself actually cares about considering how generic it is.

It still is boring as hell and I won't be watching any more of it. Props to you if you're somehow able to make it all the way through!

But hey, the positives outweigh the negatives so much that this anime obviously still deserves a perfect 10/10 cuz a gurl iz isekai'd...or at least it would, but I was told by the mods to be serious in my scoring so...1/10 instead. Hooray...

By NO doubt this show should be skipped (without a second thought), but for it's efforts in the adaptation and the original LN source (no hate towards the novelist), I will give it a B for binary code (if you know what I mean, 1 or 0) just to add the (not so nonsensical) pun here. I really wish I could give this series a BIG FAT ZERO.

This Summer season was an absolute stinker for isekai:
- Maou-sama, Retry!: A parody that could've been better (honestly my isekai of the season).
- Arifureta: Hampered by bad production values and poor source adaptation.
- MILFsekai: More than being an ... isekai parody with moms being heroes, fanservice kills it much.
AND THEN, there's the absolute (no kidding) garbage that is Isekai Cheat Magician.

By far, everyone should have realized that this series obnoxiously fails in ALL aspects and pointers, and is (dare I say) not afraid to show it in the most disgustful of ways possible: the "Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V" (or "Copy and Paste") notion. Everything is taken from existing isekai stories, from the city settings to the usual tropes and cliches of isekai characters being OP for no reason, other than to exert superiority. What this series DOES DIFFERENT, is to "intentionally" summon some random-ass people to help them resolve crises so evil that only these people are the solution to the problem. How unwittingly obtuse.

Nevertheless, these are my "UN's" to exponentialize the absolute "UN-justice" of a UN-dercooked shitshow:

The story is UN-ridiculous, yet UN-scriptulous at the same time. The whole isekai thing has been done the same way ever, let me script that out for you: the magic and random summoning like KonoSuba's Kazuma, somehow the magic made the characters OP just like Isekai Smartphone's Touya, brought into the overworld that looks UN-canningly like KonoSuba, having a "harem" of girls like every other isekai harem rom-com (again, Isekai Smartphone), fighting together with the Royal Family with "willpower" that is just solely the "blessings" of the gods, with enemies that ACTUALLY have both IQ and EQ (thank God they're smart and stupid too) to acknoweldge strong characters and say: "You're strong. I acknowledge you as my rival!" (Pokemon's Ash-Gary much???) It's such a joke at this point that if Japan doesn't heed the notions of the West (which 100% they don't), this is an overexponential problem and an ass-kicking insult to the anime community outside of Japan.

The characters are just UN-interesting and UN-inspired, meh, not even decent. As far as it goes for the OP MCs Taichi and Rin, I'm not surprised if the central characters are hated from the get-go. Hell, don't get me talking about generic. Those 2 don't even reach generic levels, especially worse in the isekai setting. Taichi is easily Kazuma's level of stench, being bossy just because of his unbeatable powers, while Rin (thankfully not being Aqua) is just the support character that's just ther because her best friend's there. Oh, and she's secretly in love with him (part Rie Takahashi, part in-character expressions). WOW, TALK ABOUT LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP, in a war setting that's a overburden on their atrocious levels of situational awareness.

The support characters are not any good either. Based on how much this strange world is ascertained, the political crisis between families is the norm (which is bog-standard), but this show made me wonder what is going in the original novelist's mind, whether he/she has the knowledge to pan a GOOD setting, or rather: "Let's plan first, and think later!" Not to mention with the usual partners/enemies cliche that has been overdone at this point, I was just wishing for a not-so-predictable loophole to talk about, and the only area I can commend this show for is enemies who REALLY ACT the part of being enemies, in spirit BUT NOT in truth and honesty. Like, come on, don't beat around the bush, get straight to the point!

The art and animation are UN-impressive, simply savage to make a good point on it. I mean, if you have the word "Encourage" in your studio's name, then do a freaking good job about it! But too bad, Encourage Films, your seemingly bad art and non-existent animation causes everyone to "Encourage" spreading the word to stay the hell away from this show, and rightfully so. Don't ever think of taking another show unless it's one the studio can manage decently.

The music is absolutely horrifying and UN-kempt at doing its job to get people into the show. Starting with MYTH & ROID's OP, it is by far the worst song they've ever done (and my ear's still bleeding from it), so much so that the OP lands in a stalemate. Rie Takahashi's ED is no better either, as I'd tell you to watch other shows that stars her in a better light. Other than these things, this show is a fine example of how not to mix music badly, to cover as many layers of badly-done compositions as possible, yikes.

As a conclusion, we have (not) isekai-ed, but definitely got cheated our way into this shitshow, and cheating our way out of this show, not with being magicians, but with social influence and the likes of it. If you're here to watch the usual tryst of bad isekai shows, this is the pinnacle (thanks Japan!) of it all. Enter this show at your own safety, and whether if you managed to cheat your way out of this show or not, I applaud you regardless.

Please, for the love of the overbearing Isekai genre, if you have a sense of respect for yourself being an anime-lover, I beg you (with my knees on the floor) to avoid this AT ALL COSTS! Don't second guess, just don't pelt your feet into this show. Just. Don't.

I wonder why the real name of this franchise isn't listed - Isekai Shit Magician - as that's what you'd expect after seeing this atrocious anime.
The main character is bland, overpowered because "why not", got thrown into an isekai with his future girlfriend, for some random purpose (aka the writer saw Isekais are popular and wanted to make some easy money), and then they randomly go and do missions even though they're supposed to be special.
The animation is nonexistent, the writing is bad, the characters feel pointless and the "twists" are obvious from the get go.

Now let's ask ourselves the most important question - why ... would anyone want this? I don't know... I honestly have no idea what's the point of this series. There are so many better isekais out there. While Myth and Roid made the opening song, its one of their worst songs, which ironically fits this atrocious anime. Also, while Rie Takahashi voices the female lead, even if you are a fan of hers, there are so many other animes she voices that are vastly better.

Unless you enjoy watching bad adaptations, or have a lot of time to waste and want to waste it on something that isn't even enjoyable, you should probably avoid this series.

Watching Isekai Cheat Magician is equivalent to trying to complete an assignment from your most dreaded class in high school. You’d want to tear your hair out and punch the teacher for being a such a dick. The experience this gimmicky show speaks for itself not just because of its title but by the context of its plot, characters, and absolute lack of creativity. This anime…no, this abomination is more of a cash cow riding on the current popular isekai trend.

Like most isekai anime, we have the characters trapped in a fantasy world after certain circumstances. At this point, any anime fan familiar with this ... concept should already know what to expect. But if we take a look back, the main characters themselves had no clue what was happening. Taichi and Rin manages to land themselves into a strange world after being hit by a mysterious light. From there on, we get the usual gimmicky monsters, guilds, magic, swords, and every page out of the book you can think of in an isekai theme show. It’s the type of isekai anime where anyone can pull out of their ass.

Collectively, Isekai Cheat Magician is actually watchable at first glance. Sure, there’s a lack of creativity but it has a colorful open world. This is by no means an expansive world as the show mostly dedicates its time on the main protagonists. Be ready to have Taichi’s character shoved down your throat as the show pushes his character to broken degrees. I’m not a fan of using buzzwords but there’s no other way to describe Taichi other than a “Gary Stu”. The show even addresses his potential from the early episodes and as he begins to gain experience, his fights begins to feel like curb stomp battles. Rin isn’t too far off as she manages to master magical abilities under the tutorage of Reima. (you know, the girl who shows up nearly nude in her first appearance) Rin’s character is the stereotypical childhood friend who has obvious feelings towards Taichi. The anime itself doesn’t focus too much on the romance elements as it’s much more of a high fantasy isekai. That doesn’t mean it spares the time to get them alone though. Plus, you got a character like Myura who I honestly see little point in being in this anime altogether. What a lackluster character roster.

However, I did try to watch Isekai Cheat Magician for its plot. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the plot has a main purpose. Our characters aren’t there to stop some world ending apocalypse or seeking a way to go home. They seem to adapt with their new life and become part of this new world. Without much of a purpose, the plot itself is extremely loose and constantly adheres to every isekai theme imaginable. It’s like one of those early access RPG games that developers made and try to improve. For this anime, there’s no room for improvement as the show limited itself to just 12 episodes. Every episode follows a similar trend of the characters facing some sort of obstacle but with an overpowered guy like Taichi, it’s easy to guess who comes out as the winner. Furthermore, Taichi himself is a poorly written protagonist who receives little character development. No, his mastery of his powers is definitely not a sign of his character growth. Similarly, the other characters he bonds with falls under many generic pitfalls you’ll discover in an isekai show. Hell, even side characters like Anna can hardly make an impact and ends up being disposed with little development. Like I said before, this story is one that anyone can pull out of their ass and it’s not hard to see why.

But is this abomination truly such a catastrophe? The short answer is yes and the long answer is also yes. There are only some minor parts in the show that makes it above the lowest denominator. First, I do have to say that the overall visual style makes this anime feel consistent. It looks a bit JRPG-ish at times but definitely fits under the category of an isekai-fantasy. Second, some of the magical elements in the show has its standard. What I mean is that they do explain it in a way that relates to isekai and fantasy. However, that’s pretty much the only acceptable parts of Isekai Cheat Magician I’ve realized. Everything else is just underwhelming from the actual combat scenes, character relationships, and overall plot. Even the world fiction wears itself out as the show dedicates more and more time into Taichi.

I’m pretty convinced Isekai Cheat Magician is made for the purpose of marketing its light novel and other related franchise. This got an anime adaptation as a way to convince us to become fans of its universe. But please, don’t fall for it.

Isekai Cheat Magician a series that's had mixed review to put it kindly and may not be everyone's cup of tea. What doesn't help its case is that this season and the season before had several Isekai anime airing and as such I feel this had an impacted on overall score.

The story starts off with your typical Isekai story MC is transported to another world which they've been destined to protect. MC has powers and is stupidly overpowered and they don't explain why. that there is my main crux with the story.

The story its self is pretty standard but its not a terrible story, I ... just feel that they haven't adapted it correctly and this shouldn't put you off from viewing it.

The Art on the bright side of this review is easy on the eye and pleasant to look at, each character has a "style" and the art in my opinion makes the action scenes worth watching and compliments the sound.

Now for the characters, they felt generic and at times bland, character development is little to none which again brings me back to them to explaining things properly. There is development but I myself only saw it in the last few episodes. overall the characters are likable but I feel like they could of worked on it more.

Enjoyment wise, you don't need to watch this attentively, if like action, MC's that over the top then this is for you. The only complaints would be the story and the little character development but overall you could watch this anime and you won't have a positive or negative experience.

If I was to give advice, it would be go into this anime with an open mind, make up your own opinions, don't give it a low score just because everyone else is. While the story isn't the best the art, sound and the characters are likable.

I really hate those wannabe writers, who think that they can just write a rip off, of the rip off, of the rip off, of the rip off, while changing only the names of characters, and try to monetize it. And some of them get away with it, that’s how we’re getting these new shows, that are nothing more then absolute trash, without any soul. Isekai Cheat Magician is that kind of show. You shouldn’t expect anything good from this, but it’s actually not so bad that it deserves nothing more than 1/10, the fact that it’s so unoriginal, makes it insulting to watch, ... for this reason the score is so low score. So, without further ado, let’s dissect this cancer.

Part 1: F the Fantasy
JRPGs made my childhood, not only mine, but also millions of other people. I played countless hours in Pokemon, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and The Legend of Zelda. The time spent by the creators in making these fascinting worlds made me apreciate these titles so much. That’s why I loved imagining myself in them, and wondered what I would do in a place of main character. Turns out that I wasn’t the first person to think that. A whole new genre was created out of these thouhts.
Isekai is fascinating in concept, guy or a girl is transported into another world, or they’re trapped in a game, where they need to start a new life, using the knowledge they aquired in the previous, where it would’ve normally be useles. The problem starts with how repetitive this got. I absolutely don’t understand why they stopped at fantasy setting, there’s so many other interesting genres. Also basically every isekai excluding No Game No Life, is making the same flaw that Tolkien had started, and that is every species needs to do exactly what was established in the earlier story’s. For example the ogres are warriors, elphs live in the peace with nature, and thay’re skilled at handling the magic, and so on and so forth. There’s never an explanetion of why something like this occur, it’s just simple copy, and paste from other fantasy titles. Everyone is just pretending „that’s how it was supposed to be, and every difference is a heresy”. If the author doesn’t care, why you should?

Part 2: Story is laughable
Finally I’m starting to talk about this show, so let’s go with the plot. It begens with two main characters walking down the street, then suddenly the bike is atacking them!!!!
Altough sadly they avoid it and are teleported by some magic ring, that has apeared out of nowhere, to another world. I must say that if they died by being hit by a bike, it would’ve definitelly grab my attention.
The only difference that this anime is proposing is a female counterpart for a protagonist. Although this turns out pathetic later, I'm gonna talk about this in the next part.
The rest of the story feels like it was written… no actually drawn by a todller, and some adult thought that it’s a good idea to write a story based on this drawing. It is full of plot conveniences, deus ex machinas, incostinent characters, broken power ascalation, in the end I still don’t undarstend why it is called „cheat magician”, and the worst thing – it’s boring. If the writer don’t try, then why he even started this in the first place? Of course it’s for the easy money.

Part 3: Formless goo, not characters
Characters are totally riped off from other shows. There’s litterally nobody, who would even seem to be kinda original. They’re remembering me of those creatures from one scene in Inside Out where Happyness and Sadness go to the inside version of Holywood, and there are those beings that take some form if you see them by „dream lense”, and the script from wich they were acting depanded from what happened in the day of Riley.
What I meant by this comparison is that those characters are basically those beings, when you watch this show, the „dream lense” is your monitor, and the script for them are characters from other shows.

Part 4: The visuals are awfull
It doesn’t feel right to give this, and Kenja no Mago the same score, the second one has at least kinda original plot, and the visuals were actually good. What can I even say about Isekai Cheat Magician? Animation is bland and disgusting, nothing that stands out.

Part 5: Soundtrack is passable
To be honest I don’t really remember anything at all from the soundtrack, but maybe it’s better that way, if something did stand out, it would probably be so bad it would’ve made my ears bleed. And these are harsh words to the composer of Dororo soundtrack. But actually there was something that made my ears bleed, it was opening. I’m not a fan of Myth&Roid, in my opinion they made, at best 3 good songs, and one very good. And the ed was painfully avarege.

Overall Thoughts:
Why would you even consider watching this. Everything that could be done better was already made. Watching this is a painfull waste of time.
Isekai is probably making it’s dying breath, looking at how many of those shows they’re cramming now, where practically every one of them is avarege at best, which most of the time, is a sign of a bitter farewell. I asked some people some time ago „is there any good isekai left” the answer wasn’t very reassuring, the future does not look too bright for this genre.

Despite the amount of hate this series gets, it is not nearly as bad as it's made out to be. This is evidenced by it being in the top 5 most watched shows here in Japan for this season. I think it's a perfect example of an anime that showcases the cultural divide between Japan and the west. In Japan, these types of Isekai are very popular due to them serving as self inserts for Otaku. MC teleported to another world, gets harem and very powerful, etc.

What I personally like about Cheat is that it does something slightly different. Instead of MC teleporting and ... leaving his love life behind, his childhood friend who is clearly the main love interest, teleports with him and they go on the journey together. It's a slight difference, but a difference nonetheless.

In terms of the writing, it's pretty bad here ngl. There's no real cohesive story and I'm gonna be honest with you, 7 episodes in and I don't know what the fuck is going on or what the fuck I should be expecting. At this point I have accepted this as a self insert, fan service, big anime tiddies slot in my weekly lineup and I don't anticipate it getting better. Despite that, the way my grading scale works is that if I enjoy something, it starts at a 6/7, in this case, there's a lot to improve so I keep Isekai cheat at a 6 for the moment. If you're into isekai and don't mind no cohesive plotline, etc, go for this.

I’ll admit, I only decided to watch this anime because MYTH&ROID was doing the opening and much like anime itself, I was underwhelmed by it.

Honestly though, I didn’t expect anything special coming from this show. From the promotional art, to the trailers. Nothing was clicking for me to change my mind from the fact that this was going to be another bog standard Isekai story. Four episodes later, my mindset hasn’t changed for the anime. Nothing was peaking my interest. That being said, the show is not bad. In fact, I could make a case for two other Isekai shows this season that are ... worse than this show. But it has also been unremarkable as well.

So the story begins with our main protagonists, Taichi and Rin, suddenly getting transported to another world by a summoner. But due to some interference, they get summoned to this new world in the middle of nowhere. What follows are some of the usual fantasy Isekai plotlines. Meet and make friends with people from this new world, join the adventures guild, realise how overpowered they are and then b**chslap every villain and monster they come across after discovering it. Although not too overpowered as they have met foes that gave them a challenge. But the show’s story has been pacing steadily so far and nothing has felt like it dragged on for too long. But, we still don’t know much really as to what this world is like or why they are summoned (not yet at least) outside of how magic is used. Instead, it starts to establish our main group of characters and how the power fantasy is established in this world. But it is told in a rather boring and uninteresting way by simply explaining it to us, rather than showing the awesomeness of magic. Yet when it does, it is still rather dull because it is not trying to be flashy or cool looking to get you invested when magic is used to give you the reaction of “That was cool.”. Episode four looked like that for the most part but the animation was rather underwhelming with plenty of cutaways and still images with intense shots and fast lines moving across the screen on the sides.

Other than that though. The animation and the soundtrack is also decent and does its job. I will say that it is nice that the show hasn’t resorted to crappy cgi in its fight scenes yet, although some of the flame effects are questionable at times. I like the art style used here, if a bit generic, but it does look good honestly. It’s just when it comes to animating, it’s lacking. The soundtrack can be absent at times but when it does, it is alright and matches the scene most of the time. A couple of times throughout the four episodes though, it felt like that the soundtrack and the scene didn’t match and it felt rather jarring.

Our main two leads are rather stereotypical as duos usually are, with Taichi being the heroic, charge right in to save everyone kind of guy and Rin having common sense and is usually the one that thinks things through. The warrior and the mage essentially. It is also pretty clear that there is going to be some kind of romantic tension building somewhat between these two down the line as they have already to lay the seeds for it. But that would require me to care and I do not in this case. They are really uninteresting, stereotypical, power fantasy characters you get in these kind of shows without any quirks, gimmicks or even have an interesting personality to make me care about them. The supporting cast though is fine if a bit uninteresting so far that merely act as acquaintances or even future companions as shown in the first scene of the show.

Now what about the opening. The reason I decided to watch this show. Well I have to say I am disappointed. Which is a shame. MYTH&ROID have not done a bad opening and all of them that they did the song for have been great. “Paradisus-Paradoxum” from Re:Zero, “JINGO JUNGLE” from Saga of Tanya the Evil and “VORACITY” from Overlord III have been great openings. And after coming off from one of the best openings this year, “Shadowgraph” from Boogiepop and Others, this felt underwhelming because of one main thing, the choreography of the chorus. It was hard just to keep track of what was going on on the screen and there were a lot of flashes of light. It felt like the visuals were trying to keep up with the song, rather than the song come to it to make it choreograph better. The song itself was good, if not a bit out of place with the show due to heavy use of the synthesized vocals. But that’s MYTH&ROID’s style so who am I to complain.

So yeah, this show is a rather unremarkable, bog standard Isekai series to add to the ever growing list of this genre. Yet nothing about this show is rage inducing to get you frustrated with it as it doesn’t invoke that sense of frustration or disgust because it doesn’t try to. It’s going through the motion of a formula that is tried and true that we know works but never tries to branch off to do something interesting. This show really is middle of the road. Doesn’t want to take risks. Is neither good nor bad. If you like this kind of show, then yeah, watch this series. Just don’t expect anything interesting to come out of it. But you can do worse than this, especially coming out of this season.

First impression:
Story: 4.5/10
Paced well but is rather boring and uninspired in its delivery so far.
Characters: 5/10
Interesting seeds planted but our main two leads are rather uninteresting and fall into the usual duo stereotypes.
Animation: 4.5/10
Like the art style but animation is flat and cuts away too often.
Sound 5/10
Does its job but is something I will probably not remember moving forward.
My Personal enjoyment: 5/10
This show neither frustrates me or wows me and I am just going through the motion with this show.

Overall score: 4.8/10 Recommendtion: Consider it

TL;DR: So far, so good. A solid 7.

I honestly have no idea why people gave this such a low score and called this anime miserable, because all in all personally I found it very enjoyable.

*mild spoilers ahead*
The story follows Taichi and his childhood best friend Rin, your typical "summoned from japan to a world of fantasy" kind of story. The characters have mad amounts of magic and don't really know how to utilize it properly, therefore becoming students of a famous magician and then adventurers to live on their own.
*mild spoilers ended*

This anime differentiates from the other isekai ones because usually the character ... is overpowered and goes "what?????? i can do that?????????????" like an atrocity called Kenja no Mago, where the main character understands he's op but pretends he doesn't know. Here, the character is well aware of this but doesn't let it get to his head or act stupid, he actually trains and tries to control his magic properly without constantly being "surprised" by his own strength.

I find the idea of called certain types of magicians - "Magicians" and others "Sorcerers" and dividing them by certain ranks with different abilities - A very unique concept which so far only this specific anime has adopted.

They don't just one-shot everything and are OP right away, they actually need to grow and learn. I find that concept wonderful.

Also at last someone is summoned alongside a good friend ( or whoever ) instead of dying and getting summoned somewhere alone. This is also pretty nice, because you can feel how these two are connected and can talk casually without worrying about much, therefore making their transition from the modern age to a world of fantasy, much much easier.

I've only watched 6 episodes so far so I will (hopefully) update this review as I finish watching it, but honestly:
Not mind blowing, but really enjoyable.
Animation is on point.
Opening song is great. MYTH&ROID ftw.
Characters are interesting, they develop and grow.
There seems to be an actual plot line with more interesting characters to be introduced in the future (Not limited to humans, i'm expecting those spirits too)

If you've already seen "That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime", or seen "How Not To Summon A Demon Lord", then you will likely find this disappointing. It uses the same general formula as those two: specificially the MC being summoned from another world and is overpowered. Except that the MC (Taichi) isn't quite as overpowered as the title would have you believe. While it is stated that Taichi is supposedly powerful enough to destroy an entire nation, and allegedly has near infinite magic capacity, he tends to struggle in most battles and gets exhausted more easily than his friend Rin (who was dragged ... off to this other world with him and is supposed to be much weaker than Taichi is). So then, the title becomes rather questionable. Rin and Taichi often refer to their magical skills as cheats, and yet seem virtually powerless in comparison to Rimuru of "That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime", or Diablo of "How Not To Summon A Demon Lord".

The plot is not original by any means. If you have seen any anime which features a character getting summoned to another world, then chances are you have already experienced the same basic storyline. The plot of Isekai Cheat Magician is not really any different to any of those, meaning that you will have a rough idea of how everything will play out even before it does so. Even the plot twists are predictable. You know that when one character vows to save another, then that other is bound to die. You know that if something will allegedly never happen, it will end up happening that very episode. The trope of triggering "flags" gets used quite a bit in Isekai Cheat Magician, which would be fine if it were handled uniquely or with any level of competence, but in this anime the tropes come walking up to you face-to-face so that you see it coming a mile off, and frequently enough that you begin to dread them.

The artwork and animation are one of the two redeeming features of this show. The fantasy settings may not be unique in any form, but are still done cleanly, resulting in aesthetics that very few should find displeasing, though the lack of originality may disappoint some viewers. Fight animations are smooth without being unnecessarily flashy, magic usage is likewise quite well done without many obnoxiously long chanting sessions (just one that I recall). The best part of the anime however is the opening theme. "Panta Rhei" by Myth & Roid (who also provide the opening themes of Re:Zero and Youjo Senki). It's a splendid song, but that also has the drawback of building one's expectations of the show a little too high. The song is far more epic than any scene could hope to be.

Character development in Isekai Cheat Magician is, sadly, virtually non-existent. Only in side characters does there seem to be any real development. The main characters have very little development, which is rather unusual actually. At no point do Taichi or Rin mention their surnames, even. What little is revealed about them early on is about all that will ever be revealed of them. Meanwhile, a side character by the name of Anastasia goes from being a nameless, voiceless character to having a name, back story, and various desires. More of her is explored in a single episode than for Rin or Taichi across the entire season, which seems like a very odd choice. That might actually be the only unique thing about this show.

Another problem that many viewers will likely pick up on is the pacing of some episodes. Isekai Cheat Magician falls into a trope that many anime fall into: the excessively long-winded discussions that only ever seem to take place in the middle of battle, when the pace should be fast, not slow. While anime such as Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari has scenes where antagonists take advantage of such discussions, the ones in Isekai Cheat Magician seem content to let characters continue talking for nearly half an episode before resuming the fight, which ends up being rushed in order to keep the episode within normal time limits. A lot of anime are guilty of this, so Isekai Cheat Magician has no excuse for falling into the same trope.

Over all, not a great anime. It could be much worse, but it could be so much better as well. It had the potential to be, but that potential was wasted. If this is your first experience with Isekai-type anime, then it may not seem too bad to you. If you're familiar with the premise of the genre though, then you'll likely be disappointed. If you have nothing else to watch, then I suppose this will suffice to pass some time, but to be frank you would be better off re-watching something else, even if you've seen that something else 100 times already.

It amazes me how this has over a five here on MAL. I'll try to say stuff that hasn't already been said.
TLDR; Isekai budget yeet magician is a mishmash of like every isekai in the last year. You will probably not enjoy it unless you are 12 and just finished binging SAO.

The Good:
Rie Takahashi
Myth & Roid does the OP
Rie Takahashi does the ED
Somewhat new and less used character design for the main Heroine

The Bad:
... The animation
The story
There was no effort in making this
recycled world design
recycled magic system but somehow worse
There is nothing unique about this anime
All the characters are bland
They skip important parts (like training) and don't even include a montage
The time skips are disorienting and feel like I accidentally skipped an episode
the budget

I kid you not, never before have I trashed myself so hard. This piece of hmm let's call it visual product is so unique that during the 1st episode it made me into class A alcoholic and during the finale in the 12th episode both of my livers were destroyed... 10/10 would want another season.

Also, pro-tip, if you plan to watch this piece of visual product you better do it in a sessions and with your fellow weebs, because damn, watching this solo is a death sentence to your sanity

Thanks for reading this review and I hope that the information I provided will ... prove helpful. I wish you a great time watching this piece of art.

This is a probably the most generic Isekai anime I've ever seen. Overpowered MC, Harem of girls that love him, generic fantasy world. All Check. If it did any of these things in a more interesting way, it'd be alright, but it really doesn't.

The premise of the MC getting transported to a world with their childhood friend is an interesting start, but it doesn't change anything. She's just another girl in the harem.

The biggest issue, is just that the show is kind of boring. There's a lot of characters and exposition, so nothing feels really dynamic or developed by the end. It just kind of ... plods along.

The only thing I think they did in an interesting way was showing how the magic system worked with how the Childhood Friend develops her magic abilities. She visualizes the magic in a scientific way(chemical reactions and such). But this is only shown briefly and while interesting, it's just a brief explanation for but a moment.

I gave it a 6 and a mixed feelings because it's watchable. The art, animation and story is ok. It isn't actually awful to watch, it's just super generic and kind of boring.

If the show focused on the two earthlings instead of side-lining the friend, it could have been better.

Are you looking for an exciting Isekai? Do you want a girl Isekai'd with the MC? Do you want them to be OP as well? Well, even if your answers to all those questions are yes, you should still skip this one. Because frankly a better story could have been made by those three elements by Bad Fanfiction writers.

This is a prime example of the author just wanting to jump onto the Isekai's bandwagon. But what do you do to do that? You take an MC, with no personality what so ever, making him OP. Isekai him with his 'Osananjimi' childhood female friend who, obviously, ... likes him. Make her OP as well, but not as much as the MC. And....that's it.

Plot? What is that? Who needs plot when you have those things? Animation? Bah! Just a flip-book will do. Other characters? Well, just add a few generic characters like a blonde uptight Elf, a bouncy 'Strongest Magician' teacher who knows everything. Antagonists? Just give them the worst personalities possible like a girl who gets turned on by other strong girls and a guy who threatens to defile the girls close to MC. Package this with trash music. And Baam! Money in the bank.

I already know Isekai is a very beaten down road, but this, along with most others this season, is just pathetic.

As someone who likes the trash isekai genre I can tell you that this anime is beyond garbage. Like the shit person I am, I love to watch isekai (especially ones that deal with magic) but this show was such a disappointment. There are 2 types of isekai in my opinion the 8.0+ rating ones, the 6.0+ one and then theres Isekai Cheat Magician. Anime provides no background, no explanation, bland characters, fast pacing, and overall just boring. This show makes Wise Man's Grandchild seem like a master piece and thats how bad it is.

If your thinking about watching this anime I would HIGHLY ... AVOID THIS!!!

I'd like to state before anything else that directly before watching this I had watched the shitshow that is Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekai Saikyou. What I mean by this is that I have somewhat of a bias towards this show because my bar could not be lower. Even this average isekai anime is leagues better than that.

I will admit that I enjoyed watching Isekai and I binged all 11 currently available episodes in one sitting. It thoroughly refreshed my palette. Now with all that aside, it's a very average isekai anime. The story is average, the art is ... mediocre and will improve on Blu-ray, the music is fine--I would've picked a different voice for the main chara, but that's just me--and as I mentioned previously, I enjoyed watching this anime. If you're looking for a vanilla isekai story, go right on ahead. I don't think it's particularly special, but good for a watch if you find yourself wanting to watch an Isekai anime.

Now onto my biggest issue with the anime. I honestly don't see the main two characters getting together at all. Perhaps it's because I'm a shipper at heart, but Azuma and Myura have a lot more chemistry than Azuma and Taichi. The het relationship seems forced to appeal to the widest audience, but to me, there's something more with the two women. But of course, that relationship won't happen. I also understand that part of it might just be the fetishization of a lesbian relationship (queerbaiting), but a girl can't help but dream.

TL;DR - If you're looking for a standard, vanilla Isekai anime then this might be it for you. You won't have to think too hard, so it's great as a palette cleanser after watching other bad anime. Would I go out of my way to recommend it? Probably not, but that's what I'm doing right now. But if you're looking for something with more depth to it than yet another standard Isekai anime, then I think you should pass on this. Either way, the decision is up to you.

If you've given this any higher score that 1 you need to stop whatever you're doing, take a shower, go run in the woods for 10 hours, take another shower, look at yourself in the mirror, slap yourself in the face while chanting

MUST. WASH. AWAY. THE SIN.

Then go back to your room, and find a way to sort out your life. Maybe start by watching some actual good shows.

Oh and:

"Be sure to tell us the reasons for WHY you liked or disliked this anime or manga."

Because it was the cheapest, ugliest piece of rubbish that I've ever seen. Everything about it is bad. ... I refuse to elaborate.

If there is someone that you hate simply send him this.... and he WILL suffer.

Some reasons would be:
- Braindead MC
- Animation
- Overall concept
- ...

Don't get me wrong i like my average isekai anime but this this... i don't get it.
Source material is not that bad someone could even say that it's good. But what
... they did clearly butcherd the adaptation without giving a sh*t. Author of the novel
who was probably looking forward to it, it is sad. Imageine you get offer for anime as mangaka and what comes out is this.

All in all would not recommend to watch this one, thare are more decent isekai shows to watch.

An intriguing, but generic story, coated with commonly used tropes in shonen action anime, as well as cheesy dialogue that tries to sound sentimental.

Still, I don't understand such a low rating for this anime, as it fulfills the most important metric for non-educational entertainment: it is fun to watch (at least on 1.25 speed). If you watch something to criticize it, without even being a critic and getting paid for it, you take the fun out of your life.

Despite just sticking together common isekai and fantasy elements to a nice, but also generic story, the resulting collage became actually fun and entertaining to ... watch. The animation is mediocre, but still quite above the minimum threshhold of 'watchable', sound and music are ok, so these 2 factors don't compromise enjoyment, nor enhance it.

Some reviews mention that the MCs are shallow, but I'd say accurate cosidering they are about 15 year old children. Do you expect an unrealistic portrayal of a 15y old like Giorgio Giovanna from every just above average school child in animes? However, I won't argue that some (quite a few) of the other characters are quite shallow.

As a fan of animes in magical fantasy worlds (isekai or not), I enjoyed watching this show and hope there will be a sequel.
From all action isekais I have watched, this one is definitely below average however, so if you still have a lot on your watchlist, put this one in the back.