Anime Review: Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! Episode 1

Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!

Studio: Project No. 9

Genre: Fantasy, Comedy

Streaming: Crunchyroll

There’s an awful lot of anime this season which take on a similar premise – someone from our own world thrust into a fantasy world full of magic and mystical creatures. In Japan, this particular storyline is known as isekai, and in the last few years there have been numerous series following this concept. This season alone is no exception and Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?! adds it’s own twist to the subgenre.

Mile is the protagonist of this anime: formally an over-achieving Japanese high school student, after being hit by a bus whilst saving a child, she is offered the chance to reincarnate however she wants as a reward. Mile asks that she be simply normal and so she is given average abilities in her new life… but in rather literal meaning as her abilities are instead the average between the weakest creature and the strongest…. meaning that her powers are still far beyond that of a typical mage and indeed many of the other inhabitants of the world

The premise is amusing and played for the sort of laughs you would expect – everyone Mile encounters is shocked by how easily she performs magic  Poor Mile tries so hard to appear normal to others but inevitably fails very quickly. After visiting a village, mysteriously absent of children, Mile gets involved in tracking down the culprit behind the kidnappings, enlisting a few other women along the way.

So let’s get the highlights of this show out of the way first  – despite an underwhelming opening scene, the pacing is pretty good in this first episode effectively introducing all four of the main girls in memorable ways. Mile herself is fairly charming and thanks to her modern background, reacts rather hilariously and with surprising excitement to the fantasy tropes she sees around her. The art while somewhat washed out is reminiscent of the light novel’s hand drawings in style which is a nice change from some of the more polished cgi art seen in other series. Also worth noting is that this anime is an isekai with a female protagonist and an all-female cast – something rather rare in other isekai series so far.

Otherwise though… living up to it’s title perhaps, the first episode of this anime is somewhat average. Aside from Mile herself, the rest of the cast feels rather two-dimensional, falling into typical archetypes of both the anime world and the rpg  style world they inhabit.  We have the dashing and honourable knight, the quick-tempered tsundere  witch, and the sweet and motherly healer. None are necessarily unlikable characters… but none seem particularly deep either. It’s a shame as the series has potential b y deviating away from some of the more typical isekai tropes such as having a protagonist who wants to hide rather than revel in their new-found abilities.

So far, Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!  is cute but sadly lacking in substance and when it has so much competition on the market, it risks getting lost amongst the crowd.

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