Review: By the Grace of the Gods

(Non-Spoilery)

Season Aired: Fall 2020 - 12 episodes

MAL Link: By the Grace of the Gods

I watched it at: Funimation

Review:

Sometimes anime series are just ephemeral clouds that pass through my eyes and out the back of my head.  I watched all twelve episodes of this show just a couple days ago and already I am hard-pressed to remember much about it.

This show follows the adventures of a Japanese corporate drone from our modern world who is transported to a fantasy world to make a new life. 

This type of show has become very common and formulaic. The main character who is transported to the fantasy setting possesses futuristic knowledge along with god-like power which makes them very difficult to challenge, physically.  Any stakes that the show raises for the main character are typically at the social or emotional level.

The Plot in a Nutshell:

The main character is a corporate worker in his 30's who literally works himself to death.  Having few good memories to show for his trip through life, the gods offer him the opportunity to start over as an eight year-old boy in another world.  A magic-based fantasy world, naturally.  That seems pretty typical of how these things go. Naturally, the gods gift the boy with great magical talent.

And so, the boy's journey to live a better life than he did last time begins. Along the way he will used his overpowered talents to assist those in need and also help make the often dirty fantasy world clean and fresh.  Yes, he does a lot of cleaning in this show for some reason.

My Verdict: 

By the Grace of the Gods put me in a vegetative mental state for much of it's 12 episodes.  I watched it, but I can't say I was particularly engaged with it.  I don't mind putting on an anime and relaxing my brain while the pretty art and images go by.  I'm perfectly fine with that.  In a show like this which has no antagonist, no stakes and nothing which challenges the main character or the audience, relaxing with it is about all you can do. 

This one mostly succeeds at that most basic of tasks, but not quite.  It does make your brain seize up and say, wait... this is dumb from time to time.

Score: 2.5 out of 5

Review Rating Scale:

5     Brain wildly entertained. Neurons saturated with entertainment. An anime masterpiece.

4.5  Brain extremely entertained. Neurons firing regularly. Outside world forgotten.

4     Brain entertained. Neurons well stimulated. Brain wants to look for the blu-ray.

3.5  Brain in Neutral. Neurons a little stimulated. Brain generally pleased.

3     Brain in neutral. Neurons flat lined. Meh, brain pleased just enough.

2.5  Brain in neutral but occasionally displeased.

2     Brain displeased and not entertained. Brain thinking about doing something else.

1.5 or less - Brain suffered through the show so it could tell you not to.