I'm Standing on a Million Lives

When I saw the title and read the promotional blurb from the distributor, I was expecting another generic fantasy isekai, or maybe some crap I would soon give up on. In the end, though, I was quite pleasantly surprised at how many interesting ideas this anime series threw up, in a genre already pretty much sucked dry, and was just slightly disappointed that the potential of these ideas was not fully exploited. Still, the transition between worlds is interesting, the Game Master character has a mysterious charm even if at first he seems rather strange, and I found the main protagonist quite likable, whether it is his aversion to humans that automatically sets him apart and makes him much more interesting than other typical (and mostly purely good guy) protagonists in fantasy anime, or his unwavering pragmatism. On the other hand, the other characters also have their strengths and weaknesses too. For instance, the main protagonist meets girls who also have something intriguing about them, and I got curious to see where they went from there. The best episode for me was definitely the last one, where the anime series finally started to fully explore the psychological makeup of the protagonist, outlining interesting conflicts and issues that promise to keep me entertained for quite a while to come. So, I am going to give the second season a go next year, and I just hope that Maho Film animation studio ditches the use of that ugly 3D CGI that is truly awful in By the Grace of the Gods and same here. I am awarding it 5.9/10. (26/06/2021)

I think the animation has improved and is better than in the first season. I am also quite happy that this anime series still manages to surprise me, in other words, the twists that come up are not as superficial and obvious as they can be in some other fantasy isekai shows. However, in order for this show to have been more impressive, and stand out a bit more, it needed more of an intense atmosphere and perhaps the psychological aspect of the characters could have been developed more. My impression of this show now after the second season is that it is a pretty good anime series. However, I was also left feeling a bit empty, lacking a feeling of tension or suspense, or that feeling that although I am curious, I was not that enamored with it, and that is just not enough for four stars. 6/10. (25/09/2021)