Score: B+

It is tough for an isekai to make a good mark in present times. Seasons are so saturated with them that it is easy to either tune out and get tired of the familiar elements. But I will say that Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu (another one with one heck of a name) does a nice job right out of the gate. One thing I will give this show is that it isn’t something terribly recent that jumped on board with the whole isekai craze. The original material came out back in 2012 which is in the ballpark of the Realist Hero which we’re also getting to enjoy this season. Of course that doesn’t guarantee anything. But the approach of making fun of some tropes while embracing others was at least a bit more fresh a decade ago when it starting coming out XD.

Best god?

I enjoyed this episode, but I expected to. A few years back I did get into the manga although when things got busy it was one of a few that I just didn’t keep up with. Makoto is a good guy overall. Life was pretty ok until he effectively got drafted into action. At least this method is a bit more interesting than usual. He didn’t need to get run over or anything. It was simply something that he was effective born into. Of course it’s not exactly cool for his parents to promise a child to a goddess so they could reach another world. But in part I do get it. A lot of focus tends to go on leaving our world for another. But our world would be pretty nice if you had the magical means of getting established wherever you chose.

Worst goddess?

This goddess could be a contender for one of the worst I’ve seen in this kind of genre. Makoto wasn’t attractive enough for her taste and so…tossed to the ends of the Earth! I get having tastes and preferences. Heck, Makoto wasn’t eager to have Emma turn into his main heroine which reflects his tastes too. At the same time though, there is a good and bad way to go about it. Makoto was literally just brought there to save her world. What he looks like isn’t a big deal when it comes to that actual task. She could have just given him some blessings and sent him on his way. Considering the power he was already given by Tsukuyomi, it wouldn’t have taken much by her to make him an unstoppable machine. Instead she lost it and stupidly flung him off to the ends of the world.

Thankfully Tsukuyomi is a really good guy. Even just his blessings will make Makoto a monster on top of the good old ‘living on Earth makes you OP’ business. He’s got all the tools he needs to at least get by in that world. Thankfully that Goddess wasn’t 100% worthless and gave him the ability to communicate. Being left unable to interact with anyone effectively would have been pretty terrible

The conflict with Shen in general was cool. Makoto is a beast at level one and it does make you wonder how OP he’ll become by the end of this. But the part beyond the actual action I liked was the bit with the flashback/illusion. Using that memory against him was pretty potent. The interesting thing is the reality that he was apparently confessed to by Hasegawa. The illusion made it look ok since she handled his shock and hesitation with persistence. But in reality things didn’t go nearly so smoothly. He was uncertain for a number of reasons (she’s taller than him, he didn’t expect it, not a high opinion of himself, etc). But regardless she didn’t take it well. Even for that brief moment at the start of the episode we could see how things were still awkward.

There was a lot to enjoy there. Emma was the most likable orc I’ve ever seen. Top tier choice for her voice actress in Saori Hayami. While I understand Makoto not wanting her to be his main heroine of this series, I’m glad to see from the OP that she’ll be hanging around. They aren’t going to necessarily hold back on the mess either after seeing him jump kick a monster’s head off! But beyond that I’m just happy this show has gotten an anime adaptation. It’s not the greatest show in history. It is still a fun show though. Another solid contender to watch and enjoy this season. But we’ll see how the coming episodes play out.