Otome Game Sekai wa Mob ni Kibishii Sekai desu

[MFauli]

Office worker Leon is reincarnated into a particularly punishing dating sim video game, where women reign supreme and only beautiful men have a seat at the table. But Leon has a secret weapon: he remembers everything from his past life, which includes a complete playthrough of the very game in which he is now trapped. Watch Leon spark a revolution to change this new world in order to fulfill his ultimate desire... of living a quiet, easy life in the countryside!

------------------

Episode 1 and 2:

This is surprisingly fun and easy enough to watch so that I don't think I'll drop it. Although I wonder if this show will cause some controversy on Twitter et al, lol, because of the "women hold all the power in this world, and me, the male hero, fights against this oppression!"

If I had to criticize one thing, though, it's that the anime so far isn't any different from the parody it criticized in episode 1. It's the very same thing it mocked. Sure, they mystery-isekai plot is somewhat fresh, but eh.

Oh, and I didn't like some of those sudden jumps without explanation, like, suddenly the hero was sitting at a table with two equally lowly classmates and I was like "huh, when did he make friends?".

[Kraco]

Unfortunately this anime is skipping stuff even compared to the manga. I bet even more compared to the novel. It gives an impression of a very low effort production. It doesn't help the visuals make the characters look kind of lifeless.

This is a comedy series, so any parody in it wouldn't be lost. It's not really a parody of otome games, though. It's just a setting of the series to make the isekai so lousy a place for the MC dude. However, there are isekai series with far worse worlds, especially in the edgelord category. Sure, it would laugh at otome games somewhat, but I never felt like it was the point. In the end any hetero man playing such a game is like a fish out of water, even if the game was very tame. Criticising pay-to-win is criticising the whole mobile/MMO/"free" game ecosystem, so it's not a particularly strong or nover point.

I like the manga a lot. One big part is the MC himself. His "I don't care" attitude, yet also his desire to laugh at the likes of the evil step-mother is what makes the story work.

[Ryllharu]

They're absolutely skipping stuff to get to more meat of the story, that much is obvious even if you weren't familiar with the source material.

I also wouldn't call it a parody, and I'd struggle to call it a satire. It's more in the isekai sub-vein that Shield Hero is also in (not a surprising, they're both Shosetsuka ni Naro series). It's exploring what happens if the protagonist is sent to another world, but one where there was really terrible worldbuilding. With a little dose of the Villianess trend tossed in.

The game creators very obviously wanted to make a mecha-strategy game but ended up publishing an Otome game with a hard genre shift to mecha strategy and a harsh difficulty spike, but also added P2W options, which fit even less into the world (Luxion). So the otome aspects put women at the peak of society, the mecha and airbikes are prominent features for no apparent reason, but there's also magic vs science and basically everything you can cram in there. The mishmash all gets stirred together to make a barely comprehensible world our protagonist (and Marie?!) find themselves in. Nothing makes sense (crystals randomly grow in the dungeons!), because it is for the convenience of the story arc that Olivia was supposed to be in by Marie has co-opted.

And caught in the middle is our protagonist.

[Ryllharu]

Eps 3

I think I'm getting used to the art.
-----------



I guess this part is what they were rushing the series for, because the pace slowed down quite noticeably, into a more agreeable level.

Not that we didn't already know with her coopting the narrative that Olivia was meant to be in, but Marie confirms with a short POV segment and it is interesting that Leon knows the game better than she does.

I too, am interested in Angelica's three sizes.

Angelica and Leon's fantasy-world sister Jenna are both very concerned about what the duel might do to his standing, but he's had enough, and from his line about the Prince being strong by Academy standards, we learn in retrospect why he had to buy P2W Luxion in the first place: the prince and friends are pretty shitty in practical terms when they're strong in the lore.

The big robot is literally named "Arrogance," lol. The reaction it got reminded me of Break Blade, so I can only assume that big dense robot is way faster than it deserves to be, since it is obviously old tech like Luxion.

[MFauli]

That loli is so unpleasant, I hate everything about her, both attitude and appearance. Can't wait to see Mob show her her place.

I wish the show was just better made overall, since there's a good, interesting concept in place, but execution is lacking. Be that lacking animation, generic art or pacing. I'll take it for what it is, but it could be much better.

Regarding the "rushed feel", that still remains for me. The scene where Mob steps in to become Angelica's knight just didn't feel fully earned. Like, I can't help but think of Re:Zero when Subaru couldn't hold back at the big ceremony and announced to everyone that he's Emilia's knight and such. At least we knew how strongly Subaru felt about her at that time. But here? "I just really hate them", eh. From the two previous episodes, this "hatred" would better be described as "annoyance". There was no scene that made a strong emotional connection between Mob and the royal guys.

Not sure I understand the mecha reveal scene. Mob's mecha is significantly bigger and stronger-looking, why's everyone laughing? Only because they assume it'll be slow? Even if that was true, the superiority in strength should be no laughing matter. Weird scene.

I somehow hope that Mob makes some announcement a la "I won't have just one wife, but a whole harem, to show the men of this world what they can achieve with hard work and effort!", if only because I want him to get together with Angelica, but also the "main girl" ;>

[Kraco]

At least we knew how strongly Subaru felt about her at that time. But here? "I just really hate them", eh. From the two previous episodes, this "hatred" would better be described as "annoyance". There was no scene that made a strong emotional connection between Mob and the royal guys.

He hates them because back in his original world (Japan) his sister blackmailed him to clear the game 100%. It's an otome game meant for girls. Plus it's a shitty game will of pay-to-win elements and other nonsense. He got enough of those dudes when grinding the game, seeing them in RL ought to be much worse. Not to mention his school life so far has been more than merely annoying. In fact all of his plans and dreams started going down the drain when he got the promotion and has to attend the advanced class full of rotten gold digger girls. So, he hates the whole school, more or less.

[MFauli]

episode 4:

That was a very short episode. I fully expected all fights to go through when suddenly the credits were running. Meh.

Mob's sister makes no sense to me. I can understand her being upset when it looked like Mob was just angering the princes. But after he started winning, shouldn't she have taken his side?!

And it still makes no sense to me how everyone kept laughing at Mob's mecha. Bigger, stronger, way more imposing. Even if mobility was way disadantageous, appearance-wise it wasn't a laughing matter at all.

[Ryllharu]

They all assumed it was a slow, hulking, relic. The game capture targets would have been able to nimbly tear it apart without ever being in danger. But Arroganz is not only durable, it is also powerful and fast.

It's a Break Blade kind of situation. Ancient mech that's fast and strong because it literally is a Pay-2-Win item.

Many of them would have been a real threat if they were further along in the game, but Leon is wrecking them now while they're still trash, and he knows each of their weaknesses because he struggled using them in the game.

[Kraco]

I feel like the manga scanlator translated Leon's comment to Chris in a far funnier way:

Mob's sister makes no sense to me. I can understand her being upset when it looked like Mob was just angering the princes. But after he started winning, shouldn't she have taken his side?!

Actually her way of thinking is the normal way. Even Angelica doesn't understand why Leon chose to act as her champion. When Leon started winning, Angelice was even more baffled. The sister, as stupid as she is, knows it can easily be both a social and political suicide to fight the prince and the other most popular guys in the academy (remember that just by accepting the duel he already got his room sabotaged). Being a girl, the sister has less pressure on her shoulders, but, nevertheless, technically she as well needs to find a nice and rich husband, who's going to fund the rest of her leisurely life, with slaves and everything. Being Leon's sister is not something she can change, so she would rather not be associated with someone who offended the crown prince of the kingdom and angered most of the student body.

And it still makes no sense to me how everyone kept laughing at Mob's mecha. Bigger, stronger, way more imposing. Even if mobility was way disadantageous, appearance-wise it wasn't a laughing matter at all.

That's just how it appears to us. Obviously all of those students have their own mental image of a powerful mecha. Maybe, when looking at Arrogantz, they feel similar to how we would feel if someone tried to fight a war with a WW2 propeller aircraft in 2022, when the opponent has jet fighters with homing missiles.

[Ryllharu]

That's just how it appears to us. Obviously all of those students have their own mental image of a powerful mecha. Maybe, when looking at Arrogantz, they feel similar to how we would feel if someone tried to fight a war with a WW2 propeller aircraft in 2022, when the opponent has jet fighters with homing missiles.

It's more like an A-10, with its own BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT and everything.

Actually her way of thinking is the normal way. Even Angelica doesn't understand why Leon chose to act as her champion. When Leon started winning, Angelice was even more baffled. The sister, as stupid as she is, knows it can easily be both a social and political suicide to fight the prince and the other most popular guys in the academy (remember that just by accepting the duel he already got his room sabotaged). Being a girl, the sister has less pressure on her shoulders, but, nevertheless, technically she as well needs to find a nice and rich husband, who's going to fund the rest of her leisurely life, with slaves and everything. Being Leon's sister is not something she can change, so she would rather not be associated with someone who offended the crown prince of the kingdom and angered most of the student body.

Jenna isn't particularly stupid. She's quite socially savvy, helping Olivia get back on her feet after being bullied without having any capture targets to protect her.

And yes, not making enemies with the prince is the primary goal. Jenna knows what will happen regardless of how the fights go; her family is going to be in deep shit.

[Kraco]

Maybe Jenna is not stupid, but still she's not smart enough to adapt her behavior. She keeps treating Leon like shit, even though she should understand that after he came back with riches, an island, and a ship of his own, and got a noble rank, she would gain more by trying to be friendlier with him. However, she is stuck in the usual female behavior pattern of that world, which, at least, means she's not overly intelligent even if she's not a moron.

[MFauli]

Maybe Jenna is not stupid, but still she's not smart enough to adapt her behavior. She keeps treating Leon like shit, even though she should understand that after he came back with riches, an island, and a ship of his own, and got a noble rank, she would gain more by trying to be friendlier with him. However, she is stuck in the usual female behavior pattern of that world, which, at least, means she's not overly intelligent even if she's not a moron.

That's what I meant.

[MFauli]

episode 5:

"And I can't do anything with either of them"

Uhm, did I miss something? I was wondering why he never made his move on them, and then the final scene of this episode drops that sentence. Was it said why he cannot do anything with them? His standing should be high enough? Is it because he knows about the game's plot and that knowledge requires to stay hands off?

Anyway, another nice episode, and as always felt way too short.

[Kraco]

"And I can't do anything with either of them"

Uhm, did I miss something? I was wondering why he never made his move on them, and then the final scene of this episode drops that sentence. Was it said why he cannot do anything with them? His standing should be high enough? Is it because he knows about the game's plot and that knowledge requires to stay hands off?

It's both. He considers himself an outsider, with no standing in the story (of the original game). He already did screw it up, of course, because Angie was supposed to be humiliated in the duel. But then again, he wasn't the one doing it first because just like him, Marie is a person who appeared out of nowhere and seemingly stole Livia's role in the game story. Nevertheless, Leon doesn't want to get too involved with the central game characters. On the other hand, he's currently a baron and Livia is a commoner, so under normal circumstances they wouldn't get married. Angie is a duke's daughter, so she's too high in the hierarchy for Leon, under normal circumstances. She was supposed to marry the crown prince, after all.

I like this story quite a lot, but Leon is an MC I both like and hate. I like how he so often doesn't give a shit and does and says whatever he wants, regardless of consequences, but I also hate him because of that "I'm a mob character and thus I shouldn't do this or that" mentality. Due to Luxion (a pay to win cheat item from the game), Leon possesses as much power as any kingdom, so he could afford to be a lot more forthright even when seeking romance. There's certainly no need for him to get on his knees to beg for attention from ugly gold diggers. For poor countryside nobles of limited prospects, like his two male friends (whose names I don't remember), getting married promptly might be a matter of life and dead in that society, but Leon is in an entirely different situation. He has got his own island and wealth beyond measure, no matter what anyone else thinks of him. He has no use for connections or social status by marrying this or that noble daughter. Even if he married Angie, there's very little he would need from the Redgrave family.

[Ryllharu]

The "Is it kind of yuri?" scenes with Angie and Livia becoming too-close of friends felt very awkward and static.

I expect better.

They blew all their budget on the Arroganz' explosion/shatter attack, which was admittedly very cool.

[shinta|hikari]

I like Angie being a point of the triangle. I hope she doesn't dere too much too soon.

I like that this show is focused on just the two blondes. The romantic interactions seem to be more meaningful that way.

[MFauli]

episode 6:


Uhm, did I miss an episode or so? *looks up and sees ep 5 discussion* No, I don't think so.

While I enjoyed most of the episode, Mob being so chummy with this newly introduced queen was SUPER out of nowhere. I assume the manga has a couple chapters in here that explains everything. Really bums me out and makes this anime nothing but a an advertisement for the manga to get the "full picture".

Also, that girl being a queen with an adult son, yeah sure. Come on, anime. Bullshit me better if you must bullshit me at all ;>

[Ryllharu]

Eh...eternally youthful mother is an old anime staple (Bulma's mom never ages, ever), or even the loli (grand)mother. So is hitting on her (GTO). Your logic has no place here.

There's not much more in the manga aside from his thought processes for finding the Queen more attractive than the majority of the girls at school. The problem is he stupidly believes he isn't worthy of Angie or Livia, when they are both very obviously attracted to him because of the actions he's done for each of them. So he finds the Queen to be attractive and would be happy to marry her (the fact that she's married is whatever) but doesn't think he has a chance with the two girls who aren't narcissistic self-centered bitches and obviously happily hang around him.

Leon is a bit of a dumbass himself, so hung up on his "mob" status.

He recognized the Queen because he literally just saw her at the ceremony where they bumped up his rank again. That foiled the Queen's little mischief plan, but also worked out because he got to put that bitchy girl in her place.

edit: What material they have been leaving out is (apparently) in the Light Novels, and that's just common anime adaptation stuff. Like what they prince and team did to coerce his sister to plant a bomb.

[MFauli]

I wouldn't hit on a married woman irl, but if I knew this basically is just some shitty otomege come to life, I don't think I'd give a shit about snatching some npc's wife, lol. The bigger issue (and what made for a funny scene in this episode ^^) would be her adult son that's my school mate, rofl. Honestly, I half expected Mob to tell Julius, when he joined the scene, some deadserious "Quiet now, son!", implying that he'll be his father once marrying the queen xD

[Kraco]

The reason he hit on the queen is because the queen asked for it. That's it. The boys and girls of wealthy and noble families are going to that school to find marriage partners. This is because of practical reasons: apparently it's a disgrace if you aren't married by the time you turn 20, or something, and on the other hand, it's a world based on an otome game, where the whole point is for the player to catch one or even all of the capture targets (like Marie did). The otome game background has various deep influences in that world, even if the native residents of the world don't realise it. But Leon does, much to his annoyance.

The queen told Leon she wants to experience that school because she's a foreigner who never was a student. She wants to experience what? A school where the students' primary goal is to find someone to marry. So, Leon did exactly what the queen asked for: Let her experience being asked for a marriage.

I hope this made it clear enough. I said in an earlier post I like Leon because he doesn't give a shit much of the time. In this episode the queen's lecture was ignored by Leon, who just started to admire her beauty to pass the time. Then he started hitting on her when she asked for it. Too bad I also dislike Leon because he keeps thinking himself a mob character.