I Dare Not Reincarnate! Five "fantasy anime that don't reincarnate into another world" that you should watch now, as recommended by Sugomori! Akiba Research Institute Writer's Choice: Anime Samurai Selection No. 8

A state of emergency has been declared in many parts of Japan, and today is a critical time. It looks like we will once again be spending our days indoors, refraining from going out.

What soothes these days is, of course, anime! Among them, fantasy works set in other worlds, not ours, are sure to make us forget reality, even if only for a moment!

...... Ah, hello there. My name is Shun Arita and I am an editor at Akiba Research Institute. This time I am writing on behalf of all the writers.

This time, among the many anime set in other worlds, I would like to recommend five new and old titles from fantasy anime that do not involve the main character being transported to another world!

Dragon Quest: Dai no Dai Boken

This is an anime based on the nationally popular RPG "Dragon Quest," and the original comic was a popular work serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" (Shueisha) from 1989 to 1996, after two read-aloud issues.

The story is about a natural child, Dai, who grew up on an island where monsters live in peace and goes on a great adventure to save the world from a crisis caused by the appearance of the Great Demon King, Burn. ...... While it is based on the world of "Dracula," it also boasts a high level of perfection as a battle-based boys' manga, It gained popularity as one of the signature manga supporting the golden era of JUMP.

Many of the spells and special techniques that appeared in the manga have been reimported into video games, making it an extremely influential work in the history of the "Dracula" franchise.

When I first saw the news that this work was to be adapted into an anime again, I was very excited! When I first saw the news that this work was to be adapted into an animated series, I was both happy and excited, thinking "Yay! and "Really? I was one of them. I was one of them.

This is "Dai no Daiboken" broadcasted in 1991.

Dai no Daiboken" was made into an animated TV series in 1991, but due to the TV station's programming, the broadcast ended at the very halfway point (about a third of the way through the story, up to the battle between Dai and Balan). The first anime version (referred to as the "old version" in this paper), which was mostly faithful to the original story with some original anime episodes, left fans with beautiful memories and the trauma of the final episode, which was cut short due to adult circumstances, leaving a love-hate relationship. Considering the fact that a toy of Rahalt, which was erased from existence in the old version, was released, it is evident that the end of the broadcast was a very sudden decision.

Now, "Dai no Daiboken" has been animated once again, and there are three key points in this animated version (referred to as the new version in this paper).

The first is that it is "an anime adaptation optimized for the age of 2025. Even before the new version was broadcast, it was stated that it would be adapted to the end of the original story, and although it is unclear how many episodes will be broadcast in total, it will probably take at least four episodes. However, if the episodes of the original work were to be visualized as they are, it would be very difficult to make it in that length of time.

Also, the speed of content in 1991 and 2020 is completely different. If you don't pack as many episodes into one episode as possible with a good tempo, viewers will get bored and change the channel. ...... Perhaps because of the demands of the times, the new version is a rebirth of the original comic. The new version is a rebirth of the original comic book, focusing on the episodes that cannot be missed, and making sure that the story is told in 30 minutes. The new version also seems to have been arranged in various ways, with a cliffhanger ending that makes you wonder what will happen in the next episode.

Here, an avid fan of the original story might complain, "This is a revision of the original story! However, the arrangements in the new version are very "knowing" and full of love for the original work, and so far there have been no major complaints on social networking sites.

One of the unique features of the new edition is that a single scenario writer is in charge of each section (Katsuhiko Chiba was in charge of Romos Kingdom from episode 1 to 9, and Katsuyuki Kumazawa was in charge of Papunica Kingdom from episode 10). This approach seems to be working well so far, as evidenced by a scenario that has been arranged in various ways, both large and small, without any breakdowns.

Next, I would also like to mention the splendid voice actors who appear in the film. Atsumi Tanazaki as the main character Dai, Ai Furuhata as Gome-chan, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as her best friend Pop, and Mikako Komatsu as Maam are all stable young to mid-career members of the initial party. The members who join the party from the middle of the game are also solid in terms of popularity and ability: Saori Hayami as Princess Leona, Tomoaki Maeno as Crocodine, Yuki Kaji as Hyunkeru, Takahiro Sakurai as Avan, and Kazuhiro Yamaji as Matliff.

The enemy Demon King's army is also well represented, with Tomokazu Seki as Hudler, Takehito Koyasu as Mistburn, Hiroyuki Yoshino as Kilburn, and Mitsuo Iwata as Zaboella, all of whom are recognizable for their strong voices alone.

For old fans, the high point is that Mr. Toyonaga, who plays Pop, gives a performance that one can only assume is out of respect for Keiichi Namba, who played Pop in the old version.

Finally, I would like to mention the stable drawing. No matter how great the scenario or acting is, it will all be ruined if it is animated with disappointing drawings that are different from what you remember! In this respect, the new version maintains a surprisingly high quality screen and can be watched with confidence every time.

Therefore, for the first "fantasy anime that does not reincarnate into another world," I would like to choose "Dai no Dai Boken" which lets you enjoy the world of "Dracula," the milestone of fantasy RPGs, to the fullest.

Kingslade: The Inheritors of Will

From the anime currently being broadcast, I would like to recommend another one, "Kings Raid: Successors of Will".

This work is based on the smartphone app game "Kingslade," which has been downloaded more than 16 million times worldwide. If "Dai no Daiboken" were a royal road fantasy boys' manga, this work would be a royal road RPG-style fantasy.

Set in the Kingdom of Orberia, where various races coexist, this work depicts a battle between humans and demons led by the demon king Angmundo, who once planned to rule the earth. The main character, Carsel, who turns out to be the son of the heroic King Kyle who once sealed Angmundo, sets out with his friends to revive the holy sword used by his father and restore peace to Orberia.

This alone is a typical fantasy anime based on an RPG, but there is another character in this work, Licht, who should be called the main character behind the scenes. He is a descendant of the Dark Elves who sided with the humans in their battle against the Demon King Angmund in the past, and after the war, he swears revenge against the Kingdom of Orberia, which persecuted and exiled his family. In collusion with nobleman El Moriham, who plans to expand his power within the Kingdom of Orberia, Richt leads the Dark Elven mercenary group "Dark Edge" to heroic exploits and a growing reputation within the kingdom. Behind his actions, however, lies a dark passion to one day rule ...... the humans who have persecuted him.

Thus, the story of Richt, who plans to use the critical situation of the Demon King's resurrection to realize his ambition, is depicted in the same volume as Carsel's activities.

Also, since Richt is an original character from the anime version, even those who have played the game can enjoy his story with a fresh perspective.

Thus, this work, which allows viewers to simultaneously enjoy an adventure fantasy and a human drama of intrigue and intrigue in a fantasy world, is an anime that is twice as good as it sounds.

This work is recommended for those who enjoy fantasy RPGs such as "Final Fantasy" and "Tales of" series, as well as epic fantasies such as "Chronicles of Rhodes Island".

Will Carsel be able to defeat the ambitions of the demon king Angmund? How will Licht fulfill his revenge against the humans? Where and in what form will the two heroes' stories intersect?

Stay tuned for further developments.

The Battle of Rhodes

Therefore, we are pushing "The Chronicles of Rhodes Island," which was probably one of the image sources for "Kingslade.

What we are going to push this time is the OVA version that was developed from 1990 to 1991.

This work is based on a replay article of a table talk RPG (a game for adults to enjoy using conversation and imagination) that was serialized in the magazine "Comptiq" (KADOKAWA), and the characters and stories that played an active part in it were rebuilt in novel form, The original novel "The Battle of Rhodes Island" was the result.

This was long before the term "light novel" was even defined. Novels such as this one, influenced by manga, anime, and video games for high teens, began to sell well, and the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko was born as a goodwill split from the Kadokawa Bunko. Well, if I go into this area too much, the Ranobe Police will swarm in, so I'll leave it at that.

At any rate, "Rhodes Island Senki" was a milestone work that was born in the early days of the light novel genre.

This work quickly appeared in the Japanese fantasy scene, where only RPGs with a visual image similar to that of "Dracula" or RPGs with a hard worldview like "Wizardry" were still in existence. The series has updated the image of "otherworldly fantasy" by taking an authentic worldview and setting influenced by foreign fantasy novels, movies, and table talk RPGs, and wrapping it in a heroic character and storyline that will appeal to young Japanese anime fans.

In particular, the novel's illustrator, Yutaka Izubuchi, drew the elf girl Diedrit with blond hair, blue eyes, and long rabbit-like ears, which had a strong impact on the image of elves. Her blonde hair, blue eyes, and rabbit-like long ears had such an impact that it firmly fixed the image of elves.

The great adventure of the eternal heroine, Deed, and the young man, Pern, who dreams of becoming a knight, captivated many boys and girls at the time (the original novel was stocked in my junior high school library, and the otaku in the school literally fought over it).

) It is hard not to have high expectations for the anime version of this work, which will be 13 episodes in total, the same volume as today's one-cour anime. The OVA version has 13 episodes, which is the same volume as the current one-cour anime, so it should be easy to watch for today's young anime fans.

It should be noted that the images are too beautiful! The character design for this work was done by Nobuteru Yuki. He is an animator who later designed characters for "Escaflowne in the Sky," "Space Battleship Yamato 2199," and "Apollo of the Slope," etc. His male characters are powerful and his female characters are endlessly beautiful. The animated version is perfectly visualized without losing any of Yuki's taste. The entire film approaches the viewer with a power and solemnity that makes one feel as if they are watching a magnificent painting.

The "Battle of Lord's Island" is a masterpiece that cannot be forgotten when talking about Japanese fantasy, and it is worth watching as a basic education for anime fans!

Incidentally, in 1998, the TV anime "The Battle of Lord's Island: A Biography of Heroic Knights," which faithfully depicts the final stages of the original novel, was aired. It is also worth watching along with the theme song "Kiseki no Umi" (Sea of Miracles) sung by Maaya Sakamoto! It is also a great movie!

Rage of Bahamut GENESIS

This anime is based on a social game released in 2012, with the first season airing in 2014 and the second in 2017.

As a game, it was very popular right after its release, but I don't think there were that many anime fans who had high expectations when they heard that it was being made into an anime. The reason is that (and I dare not choose the right word) when you think of an anime based on a social game or smartphone game, the characters from the game appear one after another, but the story of the original game is incomplete, so the story unfolds without any sense of closure, and then the story just fades away. I have the impression that many of them are neither more nor less than promotions for a part of the fans.

Everyone thought that this work would be one of those shadow anime ....... I thought so too.

However, anime fans with such preconceived notions will be turned upside down when they see this film.

The stylish and lifelike characters created by Naoyuki Onda take us on an action-packed and hilarious adventure in a magnificent fantasy world, and to be frank, you don't even need to know the original game to enjoy this work. In fact, the film is so good that it will make you wonder what kind of game set in this world would be like.

The director is Keiichi Sato, who directed "TIGER & BUNNY. The story is about Toratetsu and Barnaby's unusual road trip with a devil girl who acts crazy, if that gives you an idea of the story.

The most important point of this work is the film scoring.

Generally, the music for TV animation accompaniment is created by first ordering the composer to create an "image of this scene" and then fitting the resulting music into the scene. This process reduces the cost and time required to produce the music, and for this film, the music is created after each video is completed.

I wonder how much budget and how much production management was required to carry out this process for all the episodes. Just imagining it makes my head spin.

However, it was all worth it, as each episode of this work is of a rare, theater-class quality.

The overwhelming visuals and sound created an unknown other world, and the happiness of reliving the journey of the fascinating characters can be felt at ......!

In a sense, this work can be said to be the ultimate in otherworldly fantasy in TV animation, and now is the time to rewatch it carefully.

THE HEROIC LEGEND OF ARSLAN

Lastly, I would like to introduce "Arslan Senki," a milestone in fantasy war stories.

This work is a masterpiece of novelist Yoshiki Tanaka, whose works such as "The Legend of the Galactic Heroes," "Souryuuden," and "Titania" have been capturing the hearts of boys and girls all over Japan who want to grow up a little bit from the 1980s to the present. It was a news item at the time! Some of you may remember that it was in the news at the time.

Set in an alternate world similar to the Middle East, this is a fictional war story in which Arslan, a young prince of the Kingdom of Pulse, is conquered by the Lusitania Kingdom, and he and his friends fight to take back the kingdom. The story is about Prince Arslan, who was unreliable at first, and how he grows up after going through a number of rough patches, as well as his passionate exchanges with his beautiful men and women vassals. The film is full of highlights, such as Prince Arslan's growth through numerous ordeals, passionate interactions with his beautiful men and women vassals, and heated confrontations with powerful enemies. It was first developed as a theatrical anime and OVA from 1991 to 1995 (referred to as the "old version" in this article). Then, in 2013, Hiroshi Arakawa, known for his "Fullmetal Alchemist" series, began a serialized comic book version in "Bessatsu Shonen Magazine" (Kodansha). A TV anime series based on Arakawa's version was broadcast twice in 2015 and 2016 (this is referred to as the new version in this paper).

The old version is impressive for its aesthetic characters created by Sachiko Kamimura, and seems to have inherited the image of Yoshitaka Amano, who created the illustrations for the original novel. The theatrical version, in which these move grizzly on the silver screen, is not at all inferior to today's animated films. In fact, the bewitching atmosphere that is created by the analog celluloid images is unique to the old version.

On the other hand, the new version is characterized by the coexistence of strength and delicacy typical of Arakawa's boys' manga, and depicts Arslan in a different flavor from the old version. It may be interesting to compare the characters depicted in different interpretations.

The old version was interrupted by a family dispute at Kadokawa Shoten (now Kadokawa Publishing Co., Ltd.), which resulted in the filming of only up to the fifth volume of the original novel. The new version is still being serialized in Mr. Arakawa's comic book series, so the visualization has been limited to the sixth volume of the original novel. The next visualization will be interesting to see, but after all, the original novel was a huge work that took 30 years to complete. Let's wait for the sequel slowly while thinking about the heroes' exploits!

So, here are five "fantasy anime that don't reincarnate into another world".

It seems that the days are still numbered when it is difficult to go out or travel abroad to experience another world, but why don't you watch the fantasy anime introduced here and have a virtual otherworldly experience!