DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionShikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja: Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tame ni Tensei Shimashita
NOVEL ActionShikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja: Sekai Saikyou no Kenja ga Sarani Tsuyoku Naru Tame ni Tensei Shimashita

REVIEWS

• 

  IrrelevantGuy

  43/100
  Not the worst power fantasy anime I have seen, but still quite bad

  Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja is pretty much the same generic power fantasy series that comes out every season, which means it has most of the same fundamental flaws and cliches that you would usually find in the said genre. The plot is entirely devoid of creativity, the protagonist is extremely shallow, his abilities are far too overpowered, the supporting characters are completely neglected, the world-building is almost nonexistent -- I could honestly go on for a while.

  Our protagonist, a sage known by the name of Gaius, desperately wishes to become stronger. But in a world where an individual's magical abilities are predertermined at birth and cannot be changed, he is severely limited by his given crest which is not suitable for combat. Wanting to obtain his desired crest instead, Gaius decides to reincarnate into the future and is reborn as Mathias Hildesheimer thousands of years later -- succeeding in his goal just like he had expected.

  However, it appears that the world has changed dramatically during his absence; humans are now not nearly as efficient in magic as they once used to be. The crest that Mathias that worked so hard to attain is considered the weakest, and even basic techniques like chantless casting are thought to be extremely difficult to use. Soon, Mathias figures out that demons are responsible behind the immense downfall of humanity, and he subsequently embarks on a quest to thwart the demons from realizing their agenda.

  Does this sound familiar? I'm sure it does, because I can already name almost 10 titles off the top of my head that start pretty much exactly like this -- which is one of the biggest problems I have with Saikyou Kenja. It's not only the start, but the entire plot of the show feels like a rehash of other already existing power fantasy series -- albeit not as dumb or tryhard -- but still completely predictable and almost boring enough to be sleep-inducing. And this problem is only exacerbated by the insipid protagonist, Mathias.

  As it is the case with most overpowered protagonists in power fantasy anime, Mathias is at the center of everything that happens in the show. Thanks to his impenetrable plot armor, everyone around him unconditionally trusts and relies on him even though he has the appearance of a little kid. Mathias also acts like the active narrator of the show; he monotonously spells out all the events in the storyline and the brief exposition that we occasionally get is only ever told from his perspective. Because of this, the worldbuilding of the anime is merely limited to Mathius' monologues, which makes the world feel completely lackluster.

  Of course, this creates other problems too. Since the plot is almost entirely moved forward by Mathias, all the other characters in the show get completely brushed off as unimportant and always remain under his shadows. They are rarely given any time to properly display their individual personalities, as their actions and dialogues are limited to mere reactions for the most part. It doesn't help that Mathias himself is as dull as the supporting characters -- if not more -- and even more frustratingly, few of them are actually a lot more likeable and entertaining than him.

  Bluntly put, Mathias is wholly uninteresting. His only personality trait is that he is insanely overpowered and wants to become even more overpowered for whatever reason (keep count of how many times I use "overpowered"). And because of the fact that he is so overpowered, there is practically no sense of tension that could be felt throughout the story. Even if the skill level of the enemies is increased tenfold (be prepared to hear this million times), it barely matters because Mathias will probably defeat them with his bullshit powers anyway. There are times when he does use proper strategy and teamwork to win the battles, but they are unfortunately few in number.

  I suppose another personality trait of Mathius, only if it could be called one, is that he can be incredibly stupid and oblivious. Occasionally, the show tries to be humorous by making him say or do something really dumb, but it doesn't work at all and instead becomes very awkward as it feels completely out-of-place for his character. Following the same pattern, Mathias tends to be clueless at some of the most bizarre and simplest things—which, again, doesn't suit his usually arrogant personality and only makes the comedy seem tryhard.

  Speaking of which, Mathias frequently acts like a smartass. For some reason, he constantly needs to say to himself that he is extremely powerful and intelligent, and it is reasonably very irritating. Him being irrationally overpowered was already enough of a turn-off for me, but that being followed by his overly smug reactions made it worse. From time to time, the characters of the show also like to remind us that he is overpowered, and it annoyed me to death most of the times they did so (not every, since there were a few funny ones).

  Lurie is an inoffensive character; she is neither interesting nor unlikeable. Almost the exact thing could also be said about Alma, but I personally "liked" Lurie a bit more. These two receive by far the most amount of screentime besides Mathias, and even then they are never treated as significant characters. Their interactions with Mathias are expectedly bland, usually consisting of -- as I previously said -- the two laughing at his cluelessness, acting surprised by his overpowered abilities for the umpteenth time, and more concerningly, Mathias and Lurie blushing at each other while Alma teases them.

  The romance between Mathias and Lurie is portrayed in the anime as heartwarming, but I personally find it kind of creepy. Although his physical appearance and lack of maturity may tell you otherwise, keep in mind that Mathias is actually an adult (who presumably lived for many, many years). On the other hand, Lurie is most likely the same age as Mathias' current self, which means that she should be around 12 years old. Taking that into consideration, their relationship becomes somewhat messed up -- but luckily enough, the romance isn't given that much focus.

  There is one character that I do genuinely like, though, which would be the "dragon girl" Iris. She is without a doubt the best character of the anime by a mile. Her over-the-top and fittingly clumsy personality is actually funny, and the scenes featuring her casually destroying her surroundings are easily the best from the entire show. Unfortunately, Iris doesn't get much focus throughout the story, and although she is a part of Mathias' team and supposedly a main character, like many others, she is rendered insignificant for the entirety of the series.

  I don't think the other characters are even worth mentioning, but I will outline their roles and personalities just to show you why they aren't. Firstly, you have the unmistakably benevolent king and principal who can't do anything themselves without Mathias' help, and to oppose the good principal, there is the bad principal who has the mind of a 10-year-old kid (and definitely not a smart one). Finally, you have the boneheaded demons and their underlings, whose job is to act cocky at first and then get absolutely thrashed by their gigachad lord -- obviously none other than Mathias.

  And that's it. I just fully described all the supporting characters that appear in the show; there is nothing more to say about them. Unless you count the academy students as characters too, who literally make no more difference in the narrative than a cardboard cutout would.

  In contrast, I think the animation of Saikyou Kenja is quite decent on the whole. The character designs are generic for sure, but the animation quality is fairly consistent and there are not that many noticeable flaws in my opinion. I might even say that Saikyou Kenja is one of the better looking isekai/power fantasy shows in the last couple of years. The soundtrack is rather generic on the other hand, but the voice acting is expectedly very good.

  Repeating what I said in the beginning of my review, Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja is probably one of the most generic power fantasy titles I have seen to date. But you know what? As much as I criticized the series, it is not completely garbage. Even if Mathias is a dull and unlikeable protagonist, at least he isn't always obnoxious. Even if the storyline is repetitive as hell, at least there is no insufferable drama or harem. Even if everyone besides Mathias is practically worthless, at least someone entertaining like Iris exists. Even if the writing sucks, at least there is somewhat decent animation.

  The point I'm trying to make is, there are many more power fantasy shows out there that are worse than Saikyou Kenja -- it is far from being the worst one. That alone should be enough to convince some people to watch the anime and even enjoy it, but clearly, it wasn't nearly enough for me.

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• 

  HMashiro

  45/100
  A generic fantasy anime with a bland story, simple plot and uninteresting characters.

  Note: TLDR at the very bottom.

  Story - 4

  Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja is technically not an Isekai anime but also felt like an Isekai anime. The protagonist became the strongest he can be with the crest he is born with but he wants to get more overpowered so he reincarnated himself into the same world but many years later. His aim is to get the strongest crest. Technically, he re-spec in gamer term.

  Matty, the protagonist of the show reincarnated himself in the future and got himself the strongest crest but a lot of things in the world have changed. The weakest crest is now understood wrongly as the strongest while the strongest is understood as the weakest. Humanity has also lost the ability to cast spells without chanting. Matty found out that it is the demon’s doing and embarked on the journey with his party to uncover their plan.

  I have no issue with power fantasy if it is done right with an interesting story and plot but Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja is not that. The show is very simple and predictable. Matty is going to enrol into an academy, geez I wonder who is going to ace the entrance exam? Of cause it is Matty. He was even made an instructor.

  

  Matty is also very overpowered thus he just steam-rolled over everything be it fighting, uncovering mystery or investigating demons. He literally can sense where the demons are or see invisible demons. The show also constantly loves to remind us that Matty is overpowered for some weird reason.

  Matty is not only overpowered with his skills and spells. The kings and the academy principal also bow down to Matty a lot just because he is powerful. It almost feels like the kings and the principal have zero wisdom and will be helpless without Matty.

  Worldbuilding is weak since the story is mostly shown from Matty's point of view and he mostly narrates everything that is happening. The comedy is not great either, I get zero amused moments let alone laughing out loud. Iris, a dragon who turned herself into a human form tries to pull some comedic moments but I just find her cute instead.

  

  Then if the plot is not interesting, the combat has to be good right? Well, it is very average. Combat feels very repetitive with Matty and Party doing the same thing over and over again without much clever tactical in early episodes. The way they slowly thin the number in a town controlled by demons in a later episode with teamwork is okay but still very straightforward.

  The anime is not a harem show despite Matty being surrounded by girls. There are some hints of romance but It doesn’t go anywhere and goes no further than blushing.

  Character - 4

  Since the plot is pretty “meh”, the character got to be interesting to carry the story, right? Well, no. Since the story is mostly from Matty’s PoV and he is the main character that is moving the plot forward, the side characters have almost no development. This is also bad since Matty is a bland protagonist.

  

  Matty is a monotone character who stays the same throughout the show. He is very overpowered and has a lot of knowledge due to his past life. Matty is also kind of arrogant but sometimes the author tries to force him to do some comedy and it just feels awkward. Matty is also bad with girl's touches like some generic harem MC. If you are this overpowered, at least be a sigma male.

  

  Lurie and Alma are part of Matty’s party and both of them have a tiny bit of character development in early anime when Matty trains them but they stay the same throughout the show after that. Even the way they fight didn’t change. The interaction between the two and Matty is also uninteresting, sometimes even feels distanced. Both of them exist only to support Matty. Lurie does have some romance happening with Matty but it doesn’t go anywhere.

  

  Iris is a dragon girl and an old friend of Matty. She took the form of a human girl to accompany Matty on his adventure and she is the best character in this show. Unfortunately, she also has the least amount of screen time out of the four characters. With her clumsy personality, she tries her best to amuse the viewer from casually bending a sword and scaring people to destroying things.

  There are other characters in this show but they are just background characters who make no difference to the story.

  Art & Animation - 5.5

  Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja’s general art and animation are average at best. Overall it looks more like a budget JRPG looking arts and colour usage.

  Character art wise, they are okay but they do look like generic budget JRPG game characters. I read the manga a bit and I can see the studio adapted the art style to be the same as the source.

  

  Background art styles are okay, very generic fantasy looking indoor, shops, houses, castles, etc... The details are also fairly decent. What is not so decent is the feel of the town, it feels empty. What is awkward is that there are parts where the close up scene got people around but the view from the sky of the area is empty.

  

  Animations are okay but won’t blow you away. Combat got some slight choreography and animation and is not all close up camera tricks with some background effects. I won’t say the choreographies are good, they are simple and the magic spells are generic looking. The show also loves to add more magic circles and rings to show that the spell is powerful but the spells themselves are not impressive.

  Sound - 5

  The opening song sounds generic even if it does fit the theme of the show. The ending song is pretty good with its chill and cute vibe.
  Background music exists only to support the scene. Nothing fantastic or memorable but the music does fit the theme.

  

  The sound effects are okay. Didn’t notice anything missing but some choice of sound effects such as clashing of the sword and shooting of smaller spells sounded very generic as if they are some stock sounds.

  The voice acting is pretty decent. Matty's voice feels a little bit bland or monotonous but the rest of the characters have good voice acting especially Iris with her accent and cute voice.

  TLDR:

  A generic fantasy anime with a bland story, simple plot and uninteresting characters. Can summarize the story as demons are bad, they mess with humanity's progress so the overpowered protagonist fights them with his party.

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• 

  Lytio

  25/100
  Shikkakumon no Saikyou Kenja: A Generic and Predictable Anime

  

  Synopsis

  In a world where magic is determined by one’s crest, Matthias is a sage who possesses the crest of creation, which is considered the weakest of all. Dissatisfied with his fate, he decides to reincarnate in a distant future, hoping to obtain a more powerful crest. However, he soon realizes that magic has declined in his new era, and his crest is now regarded as the crest of failure. Despite this, Matthias proves to be an exceptional mage who surpasses everyone’s expectations. He also discovers that the reason for magic’s downfall is the invasion of demons, and he vows to restore the glory of magic and defeat the demon king.

  Animation

  The animation of this anime is disappointing, to say the least. It felt like I was watching a bad animation from 2016, with no flair in battles. The magic effects are bland and repetitive, and the character designs are generic and uninspired. The backgrounds are also dull and lack detail. The animation does not do justice to the fantasy setting of the story, and it fails to create any sense of immersion or excitement.

  

  Soundtrack

  The soundtrack of this anime is forgettable and mediocre. It does not match the tone or mood of the scenes, and it does not enhance the emotions of the story

  Characters

  The characters of this anime are cliché and shallow. They do not have any depth or development, and they act as mere tools for the plot. Matthias is a typical overpowered protagonist who can do anything without any struggle or challenge since the author will somehow put something in to help the protagonist. He has no charisma at all since you've probably seen his personality in several other similar isekai anime. And this anime is that type of isekai that is becoming fashionable for the protagonist to meet two girls initially and that will only increase to go to his harem, they have no charisma at all you almost don't see any difference in personality between them and none have a story or something like that. The villains are also stereotypical and one-dimensional, with no motivation or backstory. They are just there to be defeated by Matthias with ease.

  

  Overall

  This anime is very cliché. There's nothing that will keep you interested in this anime, as the animation is lackluster, fights are uninteresting, music is forgettable, and characters are shallow and the end... As the protagonist claims that the strongest demon is invincible and it would take decades to defeat him, but in the end, it was a simple sword that defeated him the author of the excuse that the protagonist creates the sword in the past since he said they would have to become immortals to train and defeat this demon, it's very convenient for him to remember the sword after that. In summary, I found this anime to be very bad, as you might have noticed. In summary, I found this anime to be very bad, as you might have noticed.

  
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