The Winter 2023 Anime Preview Guide

The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World

Haruyoshi is the strongest onmyōji (diviner) in his world. His friends betray him, and on the verge of death, he wishes to be happy in his next life. He then attempts a secret reincarnation spell. The spell is a success, and he is reincarnated, but somehow it's in another world. He is reborn into a distinguished family of wizards but is judged to have no magical ability. He soon realizes, however, that the magic in this world is nothing compared to his old onmyō arts, and he declares that he doesn't need magic. He thus begins his easy life in another world with his onmyō arts and a multitude of yōkai creatures who follow him.

The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World is based on Kiichi Kosuzu's light novel series and streams on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

Richard Eisenbeis
Rating:

Whenever I watch a show from a sub-genre as saturated as isekai, I always begin by asking the same question: “What's the twist—what is it that sets this show apart from all the others?” In the case of The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World, the twist is that our reincarnated hero, Seika, was an exorcist in his first life. While exorcism is not magic in the western sense, he had some control of spirits and was able to summon the demons he captured in battle. Moreover, even after being reborn in a new world with a new body, he can still utilize these techniques. However, whether it's because of his unique origin or simply due to bad luck, he is unable to use the magic of the fantasy world he finds himself in.

In other words, this story features not one, but two magic systems—which is a real bonus for someone in love with complex magic systems like me. It also gives Seika a major weakness. While his exorcism magic is quite powerful—especially compared to children of a similar age—it doesn't change the fact that he can't use this world's magic. Moreover, as he is not even permitted to learn about it by his father, he is completely ignorant of what it can and cannot do. This also means that Seika is largely at a fixed power level—be it an incredibly high one. There is no one to teach him new exorcism magic or work with him to increase his own power. Assuming there are mages out there who have studied the fantasy world's magic as much as he did exorcism magic in his past life, he could easily be the weaker simply due to lack of collaborative effort.

The only major weakness of the story so far is Seika's motivations—or lack thereof. In the past he thought power was the end-all-be-all which led him to be feared, hated, and ultimately betrayed. He says he's learned his lesson and will now aim for “happiness” in this life, but we have no idea what happiness means to him. Is it a simple life? Monetary wealth? Love and respect? It's hard to root for him because we don't know what he even wants.

So, all in all, this first episode is better than average isekai fare, but not by much. The idea of clashing magic systems is an interesting one, but the lack of distinct motivation for our main character makes him hard to like or empathize with. I'll probably watch the second episode of this one next week, but I'm unsure if I'll be willing to give it any more of my time than that in the long run unless things pick up.

You cannot, under any circumstances, convince me that the premiere of The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World was not a double-length episode. You can't do it. I don't care what the little timestamp on the Crunchyroll player says, and I don't care what the clocks on every device in my home say; I cannot accept a reality wherein that single episode was only twenty-two minutes long when it practically felt like slogging through the first act of a meandering feature film.

Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist is not without merit, and I'm going to give it a decent score for this Preview Guide because the show has some potential. The animation is decent, and the spritz of flavor granted by our hero reincarnated from a famous Japanese exorcist from the past is…well, I can't say it is revolutionary, but it's something. I also like that our hero, Haruyoshi, has at least one familiar companion, Yuki, to join him on his adventure. All of these characters, from the enthusiastic Yuki to the douchey Gly, aren't much more than your average archetypes, but the vibes that the story achieves in this premiere are decent enough. It almost reminds me of Parallel World Pharmacy, which is a compliment, even if I'm nowhere near as enthusiastic about this premiere as I was for PWP.

The big reason for that is the pacing. I don't know if it is because of Haruyoshi's constant, laconic narration, the script's function-over-form priorities, or if it's just because this is the seventh new premiere I've watched today. My eyes are beginning to glaze over. Either way, there was just something about this episode that kept me at arm's length and awfully drowsy from beginning to end.

The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist is not an awful show so far, and it is probably the most competently written and executed of today's isekai premieres. Still, I can't shake the feeling that it is missing…something. Some vital piece that would make it more compelling to me. If reincarnation isekai is more up your alley, give it a shot. Otherwise, feel free to ignore it for the many other better anime that are coming out this season.

This is not an amazing show. It is, by all standards, below average in most aspects. But after having my brain melted with a ton of poorly put together isekai-adjacent light novel shows this season, I'll take it. I can see the appeal and might even watch a second episode out of curiosity. I'll count that as a win.

For one, Strongest Exorcist has a mildly interesting twist to the typical reincarnation formula. Instead of being a nobody from modern-day Japan, Seika is reincarnated from a powerful exorcist from ancient times who once commanded countless powerful spirits. It combines the typical isekai formula and the “Oda Nobunaga time travels to somewhere” genre that used to be all the rage. It's a clever explanation for why our hero is secretly super powerful in his new life. Moreover, his status as a teacher in a previous life allows him to connect with his new family's slave and teach her his ways. A protagonist caring about somebody besides himself and not being pro-slavery is a super low bar to clear, yet this show still leaves many of its peers in the dust by stepping over it. It's still chock-full of cliches, but there's a world of competence between it and, say, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World.

Even the production is kind of nice, though the character designs are as generic as any other show with “Reincarnation” or “Another World” in their title. But there are a few cuts of nice animation and even some interesting storyboarding in a couple of places. Sure, the action leaves a lot to be desired, and maybe my eyes are just busted after sitting through Saving 80,0000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, but I didn't hate looking at this thing while I was watching it.

This is a lot of damning with faint praise, but I'm sincere when I say this was a mildly pleasant watch. I also meant it when I said I'm curious enough to watch more, even though I suspect things will quickly turn into magic school pablum. But by god, this thing got some goodwill out of me, and that's not always a guarantee with Preview Guide.

Does anyone remember a show called The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest? Because if you do, elements of this one will seem very familiar. They have essentially the same premise – that someone super powerful in their dying breath manages to finagle a reincarnation wherein they will have the same or more powers. Where The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest was in an entirely fantasy-based world, The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist In Another World takes someone from Japan's past and plops him down in a fantasy land, which we can tell because it has two moons. Despite what it at first more or less looks like, our protagonist is not Abe no Seimei. Still, he might as well be – in this case, exorcist seems to be a translation of onmyouji, and his spiritual talents lie in that direction. And like in many a similar tale before it, his spiritual powers negate any potential magic powers he might have in his new incarnation, leading people to grossly underestimate what he is capable of.

Unfortunately, this is one of those first episodes that make you feel like you must be missing an awful lot from the source material. Over twenty-three minutes, Seika goes from being killed in his first incarnation to being a three-year-old to twelve, hitting a few ages in between along the way. Presumably, this is in the interest of getting us to the point where he's old enough to enroll in whatever magic academy his father is eventually convinced to send him to despite his lack of apparent magical talent; the song that closes out the episode certainly indicates as much. But we can't jump in at that point because we need to understand what makes Seika so different and special from everybody else, and how else that could happen without us getting up close and personal with his terrible brother and neglectful parents? Oh, and he also has to meet the busty young maid Yifa. Can't forget that.

The pitfall with this style of information packing is that it doesn't give us a chance to get to know Seika as a character or to have anything more than a superficial understanding of what makes him so purportedly awesome. It simply ends up feeling like isekai #27B, with nods to other similar isekai stories just tossed in, hoping that if enough of them are combined, we'll have something worth watching. So there's paper-making like in Ascendance of a Bookworm, Yifa looks awfully like Latifah without the fox ears from Seirei Gensouki, and plenty of other bits and bobs are strewn about the plot. The result is that it feels less original and more cobbled together. While that won't necessarily be the case in the future, when you pair it with uninspired art and animation, you have an episode that's just sort of there. Having an onmyouji be reborn in a fantasy world isn't a terrible idea – it just doesn't look like it's one that this show is going to be able to do justice.