The Winter 2023 Anime Preview Guide

Farming Life in Another World

After Hiraku dies of a serious illness, God brings him back to life, gives his health and youth back, and sends him to a fantasy world of his choice. To enjoy his second shot, God bestows the almighty farming tool upon him. Watch as Hiraku digs, chops, and plows in another world in this laidback farming fantasy.

Farming Life in Another World is based on Kinosuke Naito's light novel series and streams on HIDIVE on Fridays.

Richard Eisenbeis
Rating:

I've read the Farming Life in Another World manga weekly for years. I don't know exactly why I picked it up (as I usually find “slow life” stories painfully dull), but I've enjoyed reading it. Because of that, I have difficulty separating this first episode from what I know the series will become. For example, in my eyes, the opening teaser is an awesome chance to see all these characters I know and love animated for the first and possibly only time (depending on how far they go into the story). But for someone who has no prior knowledge, I'm sure the scene seems pointless.

In fact, I wonder if the whole episode seems pointless to new viewers. Everything we see is basically Hiraku just meandering through his reincarnated life with only a super-healthy body and magical transforming tool. He digs for water and then makes a home, outhouse, and some fields—which conveniently grow food despite the lack of seeds. He even gains a pair of wolves (and, soon after, their litter) as pets. And... that's the episode. While you might break a smile here or there at him digging straight down or being unable to go to the bathroom without some walls to hide behind, there's not much in the way of comedy, either.

The only hook that might catch people's attention is that the episode (and the series in general if it continues to follow the manga) always shows how he does what he does and the problems he has to overcome. After all, while he may be healthy, that doesn't mean he has super strength or the ability to magic up nails out of thin air. So if you enjoy the idea of him starting from zero and building everything up step-by-step to the massive village we see at the start of the episode, this one is for you. That said, the story's basic pattern remains the same even as the cast expands to give Hiraku more personal interactions, so if you found this episode boring, it's safe to pass on this anime.

I'll give Farming Life in Another World this much: it's precisely what it says it is. You load up this episode, you're gonna watch a dude farm in a fantasy world for 20 minutes. He will cut down trees, dig wells and till fields, and accidentally domesticate wildlife for nearly half an hour, and you'll watch it. A cold open promises he'll eventually have a harem of anime ladies around him, possibly multiple children with those anime ladies. His farm will span countless acres – but that's far in the future. Right now, all this show will offer is the most boring HGTV animated programming.

And yes, it is very dull, especially since this is still an isekai, and the guy naturally gets an overpowered cheat code to make the whole experience even easier. This time it's a transforming “Almighty Farming Tool” that magically prevents him from starving or dehydrating and cuts through logs and soil like a hot knife through butter. So instead of needing to survive, Old McDonald here has to be patient and figure out how to build structures without nails, and he's set. The tool even causes plants to grow in tilled soil without any seeds! So basically, this premiere is like watching a Minecraft Let's Play on super easy mode.

I don't want to be too mean to this thing since I can see the appeal, at least. I occasionally have daydreams where I imagine what I would need to do to survive in a remote, isolated wilderness. Watching our gormless hero slowly build a homestead in the woods scratches a similar itch for some people. Personally, I found the viewing experience deathly dull, especially with the barely present animation and nigh-incessant narration, but I don't begrudge anyone for finding this calming and pleasant. I've also heard that this eventually turns into the story of him banging all those anime girls in the cold open, so I guess if you can sit through a few episodes of this, you'll get to see some anime boobs? Godspeed, because I sure ain't sticking around to find out.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

There's a reason why creative writing teachers always emphasize showing, not telling - because when you do it the other way around, it makes for a pretty darn boring experience. That is the chief problem with the first episode of Farming Life in Another World: it tells us absolutely everything while showing us the bare minimum. And it bears saying that just because we have seen farming isekai stories before does not mean that they are inherently bad; the problem here is that this one is just so dull as it slogs through every step in the process protagonist Hiraku goes through. So thrill as we listen to him describe how his farming tool can turn into anything! Bask in the wonder that is him describing the toilet he built in the middle of the forest! Gasp in wonder as he digs a well! Yes, it is nonstop farming action that he tells us about while we see the least we possibly can.

It doesn't help that from aside, Hiraku is the only person in it. Yes, there is an obligatory group of mostly blonde women surrounding him in the opening moments, including the all-important one in a maid costume. Still, for the most part, the episode is set during his first moments in his new world, which drops him in the middle of the forest. This feels odd because when he dies in his first life and finds himself orb-to-face with God, he specifically says he wants to live as a farmer in his new world. Since the divine being agrees with him and secures permission from the God of Agriculture to permit this, it is a little weird that the place they decided to plop him down is the middle of an old-growth forest. But how else would we know that his ultimate farming tool transforms into an axe, hoe, and watering can? Stardew Valley, eat your heart out.

It is easy to guess where the story will likely go from this point. Once it is discovered that someone has made a successful home for himself in the middle of the so-called forest of doom, people will start flocking to his farm, most of them probably busty fantasy ladies. Since the title of the second episode is “The First Villager,” it doesn't take a genius to figure out that he will eventually become the founder of a town, something borne out by the fact that the oni girl in the beginning refers to him as mayor. This might turn out to be a perfectly fine relaxing show, but at this point, it is taking that too far. Rather than relaxing, it feels flat-out boring, and the limited use of animation certainly doesn't help. At this point, I'd recommend watching your own garden grow over watching this show.