Skeleton Knight in Another World

[KrayZ33]

"Upon awakening a gamer finds himself in his avatar body that he uses in his online game. Seeing his reflection in river, he is shocked to discover that his facial appearance is that of a skeleton due to the special avatar skin『Skeleton』he used. In unfamiliar territory, the gamer decides that it would be best to hide his appearance and search for inhabitants. He spies a band of bandits attacking a group at a distance. While contemplating whether or not to get involved, after he sees the bandits about to rape two women, he springs to action, killing the men. The women introduce themselves as Lauren, a noblewoman, and Rita Farren, her maid. Introducing himself as Arc, the knight agrees to escort the two ladies to the town of Rubierute. Though he refuses a reward, to avoid meeting Lauren's father, Buckle, as it would cause complications should the noble ask to see his face, Rita gives him a copper passport to allow him easier passage through any city in the territory. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skelet..._Another_World



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Episode 1:


I know a lot of people will disagree, but this was like 100x more fun to watch than I expected.
I like the armor, I like the sillyness of it all and even the way he showed up as the "hero" here was kinda awesome.

First episode felt like a cooler and more fun version of Overlord.
Animation isn't as bad as I expected either.
Nothing noteworthy, but not noteworthy bad either.


The opening was so weird and silly, it was almost amazing again.
It was pretty much what I'd call "charmingly silly", like an old TV show. The ending song as well.

I will honestly consider this as "anime of the season" if this keeps up (because it's a rather weak season anyway)... but one episode is certainly not enough to properly judge that


As for the whole setup with the skills and "power" and all... it was so minimalistic, but probably enough for what is going to happen in this show. So I liked that as well....
I can't wait for MC to get into more awkward situations.

[DarthEnderX]

That OP gives Peacemaker a run for it's money.


So yeah, what if exactly Overlord's premise, but the opposite tone.

[Kraco]

What does this have in common with Overlord, apart from a skeletor body and OP stats?

I didn't expect so high production values from a random isekai series (which this is). Since I dropped the Shield Hero s2, I might watch this instead. I was most certainly more entertained by the first episode of this series than that of the Shield Hero.

[DarthEnderX]

What does this have in common with Overlord, apart from a skeletor body and OP stats?

Pretending that's not enough, he also entered his video game world by falling asleep while playing it.

[Ryllharu]

What does this have in common with Overlord, apart from a skeletor body and OP stats?

Because literally everything is Overlord.

- Teleported into a video game as your overpowered character when it ends? Overlord...oh wait, that's actually Leadale which just got an anime that ended last season. Overlord and Leadale both started as web novels in the same year, 2010, and were both on the same website, but Overlord wasn't uploaded there until 2012.
- ...but having a significant impact on the world to the point of remaking it based on you and your friend's influence when you were playing the game, but now it is all real? Overlor...oh wait, that's Leadale again.
- Being so overwhelmingly powerful that most of the normal denizens of the world you were transported to fear you as a legendary monster? Overlord...oh wait. Leadale again.
- Having a ton of in-game NPCs that were the lead character's AI created subordinates became sentient, and they missed the protagonist so much in their absence from the world that they become distressingly clingy and dependent? Overlord...oh yeah, Leadale did that first too, because it ended the same year Overlord started...

Hmm...

- They get transported to their favorite videogame but are definitely an anti-hero. Overlord...Oh wait, that's BTOOOM.
- Oh, they get transported to their favorite videogame but are definitely evil because they're being mind-controlled and actually have no agency of their own. That's Overlord.

[Kraco]

Edit: May contain episode 2 information.

Pretending that's not enough, he also entered his video game world by falling asleep while playing it.

There are a bazillion isekai series by now, with great many starting by the MC finding themselves in the isekai after having fallen asleep. I wouldn't say it's a particular significant detail how the story starts in that sense, it just creates a little less traumatic beginning if the MC doesn't remember dying in the original world. Sure, it's similar between this series and Overlord, but it's quite a meaningless thing, nonetheless. Kind of like saying they are both seemingly medieval worlds. 99% of isekai must be, so that's also meaningless.

The differences between this and Overlord are far more significant than the similarities:

• The skeletor appearance is one big difference, in fact, because in Overlord Ainz doesn't need to hide it. He's among his own kind (monsters) most of the time. He's only hiding it when using his alter ego, Momon. Arc has no choice but to hide it from everyone.
• Ainz is a leader of a nation, Arc is a lonely adventurer. This is also significant because Ainz is fundamentally bound to a single place, whereas Arc didn't even have a penny to his name, much less a home with friends/underlings.
• Strangely Arc didn't possess a pocket dimension, like you'd have in most fantasy RPGs, which Ainz naturally does have.
• Ainz can be viewed as an evil character, even if he's a lot of the time pushed into it by his underlings, whereas Arc is surely a hero.
• Ainz is actually restricted by his class, magician, whereas Arc has a broad fusion class with multiple abilities from diverse sources, which makes Arc a more typical OP isekai MC. I'm not saying Ainz wouldn't still be OP in the isekai, though.

I could probably come up with more, but that's a good start with a bunch of points that matter continuously, unlike a single detail that only mattered during the first seconds, like how he got transported. While the skeletor appearance is indeed a big shared thing, the consequences do differ, so it's kind of like a 50-50 thing between a similarity and difference.

[DarthEnderX]

There are a bazillion isekai series by now, with great many starting by the MC finding themselves in the isekai after having fallen asleep. I wouldn't say it's a particular significant detail how the story starts in that sense.

None of them are significant individually. But taken together, a lot of insignificant similarities makes a big similarity.

[Kraco]

None of them are significant individually. But taken together, a lot of insignificant similarities makes a big similarity.

Uhhuh. You could take any two isekai, no matter how different looking, and make an endless list of similarities. Such as being based on a game. Has monsters. Has magic. Has a male MC. Has girls hanging around the MC, and so forth. Is it really meaningful? If the MC wasn't a skeletor in this series, like in Overlord, nobody would think them particularly similar, even though they are similar simply by being typical isekai. As far as isekai goes, the biggest differences are between the seinen/shounen and shoujo/josei genres, which understandably makes sense. They are more often than not fundamentally different.

[KrayZ33]

I consider most Isekai similar to Overlord. Because they are all the same in the first place.


This show is like Overlord because it's a skeleton hero in disguise that's OP and could basically be named "Momon-the Anime show".

If it doesn't remind you of Overlord then I don't know what would.

If the MC wasn't a skeletor in this series, like in Overlord, nobody would think them particularly similar, even though they are similar simply by being typical isekai.

But he *is* a skeleton, so.... That makes it already more similar to it than the other 500 isekais we have every year. I mean, you are basically saying "if it didn't have the only unique thing overlord had, no one would say it's like overlord"

The setup is way more similar to Overlord than it is to Slime for example when it comes to what the character has, what he is, what he did, how the people would react. etc.

[Kraco]

Sure, this is similar in having a skeletor MC, but that's where the similarities end if you ignore the thousand other isekai tropes that exist in the ten thousand isekai series out there. You could say Overlord and Slime have equal similarities by having the MC tied to a monster nation they need to take care of. However, the real unique thing about Overlord is nothing that superficial. It's that the MC is evil. That's (still) relatively rare in isekai. Maybe because it's kind of difficult for the majority of the audience to stomach (myself included), in the end. Precisely when it's not an edgelord revenge story about a bloody but still justified payback.

[neflight86]

One differentiator is that this doesn't forget to have a bit of fun and not have the protagonist take himself too seriously. Really, he acts like this is one big RP experience with no clear end in sight. I don't know if I'm confusing bravado for character, but there is life in this skeleton.

I liked that the small time guild guy plainly stated that he looks too well off to be getting quests from the pub's board, and the 'random backstory' bit was pretty good. Small bits of detail in the world building sometimes separate the goo... watchable iseaki from the trash.

[Kraco]

Episode 3

- -- - - -


Stock evil noble at least was aware of his even more evil son being a useless waste of skin.

I already said it before, but it's really weird Arc doesn't have a pocket dimension. It's hard to imagine an RPG without it, even if it was nominally a backpack, sack, or whatever. Survival games often have it stricter, but even those tend to stretch carry capacity. You need to look at something like Arma, a tactical shooter, to get anywhere near realistic, but that would be insufferable in an RPG. Did he actually have a bottomless bag, for example, but it's not on him anymore after getting isekaied? I have to wonder how he makes it work now. He got a huge amount of loot from the bandit cave, but what did he do with it afterwards?

[Kraco]

Episode 4


- - -- -



Keeping the helmet on all the time allows Arc to keep ogling at that pair of boobs without Ariane being aware of it at all. The considerable height difference further masks his true intentions.

[KrayZ33]

Haha, yeah.

as for the episodes.
Kinda a bit too slow for my liking, but I still enjoy it. Enough to keep watching at least.
Don't necessarily like the whole kidnapping stuff.
It's pretty stupid that these children run around in a forest all alone and get snatched by some super powerless thugs.

I guess these kind of things show whenever an author just doesn't really care.

I mean, I don't really mind because I can pretend to not care either... but the whole abduction stuff could be done in a more interesting way with relative minor adjustments..
Traps, actual capable people going on a "hunt" and stuff like that.

I'm never sure if the source material is just as simple or if it's done because of the low anime budget.

[Kraco]

Don't necessarily like the whole kidnapping stuff.
It's pretty stupid that these children run around in a forest all alone and get snatched by some super powerless thugs.

I guess these kind of things show whenever an author just doesn't really care.

I mean, I don't really mind because I can pretend to not care either... but the whole abduction stuff could be done in a more interesting way with relative minor adjustments..
Traps, actual capable people going on a "hunt" and stuff like that.

Very true. I guess this was the author's attempt to make it look more clandestine, instead of real raids into elven settlements, which would look more like warfare and thus nobody could pretend they know nothing about it. But this plot sure is full of weaknesses. The elves should be far more familiar with the forests and combat in forests, so it's indeed strange the weak goons could multiple times capture whole groups of children without the elves being able to do anything about it, apart from going to rescue them afterwards.

[DarthEnderX]

It's pretty stupid that these children run around in a forest all alone and get snatched by some super powerless thugs.

I'm assuming they were originally accompanied by adults who were killed by the thugs.

[KrayZ33]

I'm assuming they were originally accompanied by adults who were killed by the thugs.

Maybe, but then they should show it at least somewhat. And it's also unlikely considering that the noble was looking for adults to catch.

"Elven warriors" seem to be something special, not just in like every fantasy setting there is, but also in this one when the kids say "an elven warrior will come and rescue us".

Dunno, I kinda expect these elves to be better than a few humans that don't seem to be anything but brawns.
It's just so boring to see skinny/brawny village idiots doing this.

You have probably seen the special episode of Mushoku Tensei? - The assassins there were pretty cool n' stuff.
Just turn these kind of guys into tracker/trappers/hunters (the type of guys that use tactics and maybe even animals) and you have some interesting and believable matchup right there, even if our skel-hero will clean them up in the end (just like Eris did)

I mean, the way it was portrayed here was that they went into the woods with a big cage-wagon and it looked like they were picking little baby elves up as if they were in some kind of chicken-coop and hunting baby chicken.

What I'm saying is basically: How can an adult man write his story like that and not cringe when he does so. Even more amazing that these kind of stories get attention and money as well.
As mentioned earlier, I'm a consumer that doesn't "need" all that to enjoy a show... but it's also not like wouldn't enjoy it a lot more if someone invested 2 more minutes to improve his story and worldbuilding.

"It's free" - basically.
But maybe the source material is actually a lot better - but I will certainly not even check it out because of how poorly that was done.

[KrayZ33]

I found it interesting who actually sings this opening.
It looks kinda awesome how he sings it as well. Just look at his neck.

This show's opening gives me some old-school anime vibes. What I mean is, not because of the style of music, but due to what they show and how they use the sound in the scenes slightly in the background.

It's almost like I'm watching M.A.S.K. again... it even reminds me of stuff like Slayers or Ranma.

[neflight86]

One detail I appreciated this ep was how, even without the skeleton knight, it appeared the two elven warriors would have been able to pull the job off without too much hassle. The only limiting factor seems against plain brigands seems to be hostage situations. In too many isekai, the world is a sea of flames without the awesome self-insert hero around to right the wrongs all the time, but this at least looked like it would be resolved similarly without his involvement.

[Kraco]

Not faring well in hostage situations is a pretty big problem when you are trying to rescue imprisoned, defenseless people from a whole company of criminals.