I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World

What is this? 870792d1198a971d1c57e6bfb84400f4d7ec9a72 ©Miku, Rein Kuwashima/KADOKAWA/Cheat Skill Production Committee. A door to another world stretches out ...

You can tell that even the show is bored by this, because it speeds through his skill acquisition so quickly that you never have time to read the dozens of stat screens and RPG menus that constitute his training montage. Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. In the hands of any other director, Cheat Skill would be a flavorless waste of 22 minutes. Here, it's still just as bland, but delivered with the clarity of a half-remembered nightmare. I really do like the way Yuuya is characterized and how he reacts even with his new strength to his old monsters. It's just another aspect of the inherent power fantasy, and leaves Yuuya with less depth than The Ugly Barnacle. It feels almost like he's playing house in a fantasy land where none of his tormenters can reach him, and smiting monsters that can't actually harm him through the magic barrier around his new cabin could be sort of cathartic for him. But I can also see this being unable to maintain its momentum and sliding back into the realm of isekai harem OP pabulum. The scene where he lashes out at the mirror, watching the blood drip from his knuckles as he cries in impotent rage, is great because his pain is palpable and it hurts not being able to comfort the poor kid. Mostly that's because of something that we see at the end of the episode, that even though protagonist Yuuya has become ripped and gorgeous on the outside, on the inside he's still that same kid who spent every day being bullied by his family and classmates. However, while the episode does have its problems in the back half, it gets all the setup done so we can get to exploring the actual premise from here on out—him being overpowered in our world as well as the fantasy world. Watching him face constant oppression but still strive to do the right thing—even knowing the beating that awaits him—is more than enough to win me over.