Kurone Kansaki's light novel Maou-sama, Retry!, illustrated by Kōji Ogata, has become an anime. Honestly, my first impression of this was this would be another typical isekai anime. Same worn out plot, same worn out characters. Then I made it to episode 3 and this anime revealed an edge I was not expecting. It's true, it does starts out with a familiar story. A game creator, Akira Ono, prepares to shut down the servers of his creation, the MMORPG "Infinity Game", suddenly he is magically drawn into his creation (sounds like Overlord) and into the role of his chain smoking older character (Hakuto Kunai) in the game. Hakuto happens to be an overpowered Demon Lord (How not to summon a demon lord, deja vu). As he realizes what has happened and takes in his surroundings he notices a girl (Aku) who is on the verge of becoming a sacrifice to a demon, who he destroys with ease. After saving Aku's life, she is smitten with him. Despite his demon lord title, she can see the good in him. Intentionally or unintentionally, Aku looks related to Rem/Ram from Re:Zero. Not being too familiar with the lay of the land he asks Aku to join him. Together they travel through his world turning it upside down wherever he goes. Using a character known as the "Demon Lord" tends to sway public opinion quickly, fortunately for him, he can switch to the other character he created, a short haired, overpowered dragonkin, with a chip on his shoulder, who is viewed by all as the heroic good guy. Slowly Hakuto begins changing the world, for the better. Which makes the citizens realize that the Demon Lord isn't such a bad guy after all.
The plot is very similar to typical isekai anime. What makes this one worth watching is the characters. As far as short funny clips that could be made into funny GIFs, this is loaded with them. It is hard to find an anime that you can consistently create funny, unique GIFs from. You get the impression that this isekai anime is meant to poke fun at all previous isekai, and they do a pretty good job of it (if that was there goal).
But, keep in mind some of these characters push the boundaries of edginess (some people will get offended). After episode 3 I had made the decision to see this through to the end. It's not ecchi but the above GIF kind of shows how far the writers are willing to push the envelope for a laugh. Granted, most of the thin-skinned fair weather anime watchers, you know who I am talking about, will find several things "problematic" or "offensive" about Maou-sama Retry. I'm not sure if the plot or ending will satisfy me but just the GIFs alone made this a worthwhile watch for me. One thing is for sure, love it or hate it, there will be memorable lines and scenes that will make up for the shortcomings.
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