Isekai Quartet 2 – 12 (Fin) – Breaking a (Giant Metal Spider) Leg

IQ’s second (but by no means the last) season wraps up with two parallel performances: first, that of the school play Cinderella, to which Rem contributes a…shall we say unique version of Cinderella, who exploits the masochism of one of her stepsisters, derides the homebrew pumpkin carriage as “pathetic” (probably because Subaru is part of it), can’t help but ruefully laugh during her glow-up, and kisses her sister.

As that farce unfolds, the “Battle of Maidens” plays out in the schoolyard, with the all-female defense force all contributing their unique talents to keep Destroyer from ruining the play (and likely the school buildings as well). Raphtalia and Filo only need to hear the first few words of Reinhard van Astrea’s motivational speech (which he also gave during the giant whale battle in Re:Zero) to join in.

Aqua actually ends up scoring the coup-de-grace with a God Blow, echoing a similar battle in KonoSuba. As the episode flips from the battle to the play, it employs clever transitions that tie the two performances together. With a strong finale, Isekai Quartet remains a fun lightweight, pocket-size diversion. I honestly wouldn’t mind if they kept it up indefinitely, continually adding characters from popular isekai anime.

Isekai Quartet 2 – 11 – The Show Must Go On

The school festival is on, and immediately attracting characters from a sixth isekai anime, Cautious Hero. Sadly for Ristarte, Seiya deems it too risky to enter school grounds. While he may not be aware that an attack on the school by Mobile Fortress Destroyer is imminent, he’s not entirely wrong to be wary, but he surely possesses enough power to defeat such a boss.

Many of this week’s visual gags come in the form of the ridiculous costumes, in which none of the animal masks fit over the chibi-fied characters. Ainz in particular is just Ainz with a horse head plopped on top. Still, Raphtalia and Filo think Naofumi looks cute, while Albedo & other followers of Ainz are no doubt that much more smitten by his new look.

The issue becomes, how can the MCs participate in the play when Destroyer is out there, ready to…destroy? Simple: by relying on their friends, or in this case Albedo, Emilia, Visha and Aqua. Everyone mostly hopes Aqua won’t undermine the efforts of the other three. Tanya and Ainz then use reverse psychology to get Megumin to play the Fairy Godmother in place of the indisposed Aqua. Everyone has their roles, all that’s left is for the curtain to rise!

Isekai Quartet 2 – 10 – Who Killed Mr. Archie?

The Cultural Festival is approaching, which means Class 2 must choose a play and a food stall. The play chosen is Cinderella, with Ram(!) in the lead role and Rem(!!) playing the Prince. We also learn Naofumi will be Class 1’s Ugly Duckling.

The four MCs, meanwhile, will play…horses. They probably don’t mind stepping out of the spotlight in this instance, but Shalltear is not happy about her master’s lot. Master of food Visha spearheads Class 2’s choco-banana stand.

In the midst of lively preparations, bouts of destruction take hold on campus, starting with the hutch sheltering Hamusuke and Death Knight. While Reinhard and Beako are stumped for the moment, we Konosuba watchers know the culprit is the massive robotic spider known as Destroyer.

One wonders how such a huge foe is keeping itself hidden from everyone, but its next victim is “Mr. Archie”, Aqua’s affectionate name for the hand-painted arch it would seem Kazuma mostly worked on. Fretting over how long it took and how little time remains until the festival begins tomorrow.

Aqua has an extended temper tantrum, and can only be snapped out of it by a determined Rem, who substitutes Aqua for Subaru in an abridged reenactment of her seminal “Return to Zero” scene from Re:Zero episode 18, a rare instance in which we see both her eyes.

I knew as soon as Aqua said “step one” that it was coming. As for the faculty, they seem to know a lot more about why they’re all here, and leave it up to the students whether it was the right choice or not. Between those words and Destroyer, something big is on the horizon during and/or after the festival.

Isekai Quartet 2 – 09 – Filo Finds a Theme

Finally, a character from Shield Hero is featured on a mini-ep! To be precise, it’s Filo, who is tasked by Naofumi to ask around school for advice on what the theme of the cultural festival play should be. Unsurprisingly, everybody likes the cute and energetic bird-girl…except Beatrice, who doesn’t like much of anybody.

Beako does seem to be investigating how they all got to this chibi world, asking Mare about how her crew got there. No doubt if and when she discovers the means by which they were transported, she’ll start working on a way to get them back. The good news for her is that Re:Zero season 2 has been pushed back to July.

Another great trait of Filo is giving everyone a personal nickname based on their appearance or presumed age (Skeleton Guy, Wolf-Lady, Black-Haired Ladies, Old Guys), or borrowing someone else’s nickname for that character (Beako). As a pure, guileless character, Filo is a great breath of fresh-air among all the wisenheimers and cynics.

Filo stumbles upon the theme of The Ugly Duckling when Tanya’s subordinates cross paths with the famously human-hating Narbarel Gamma (getting some rare screen time with Alpha and Beta). Her reflexive insults will prove useful in a play where the main character receives verbal abuse. Come to think of it, Ram will be perfect in that role, too!

Isekai Quartet 2 – 08 – The Things We Do for Lunch

Hidden by the vertical sign: Ristarte from Cautious Hero!

Lt. Viktoriya Ivanovna “Visha” Serebryakova was a reliable source of comedy in Youjo Senki, but both she (and her seiyu Hayami Saori) been generally underutilized in Isekai Quartet. This week the doe-eyed beauty gets a spotlight of sorts, as the rest of her class wonders where she rushes off to after school. Turns out she’s working multiple part-time jobs around town to earn enough money to indulge in the ¥30,000 “Special Menu” at the cafeteria.

She also mentions that all of her workplaces feed her for free, and that, combined with the mystery of the Special Menu, compel others to seek employment (since the Butcher is present at all these locations I imagine this was a scheme on his part to get some cheap labor). Subaru, in one instance, serves the fully-assembled Pleiades combat maids, a rare sight indeed on this show!

The resulting discovery that the Special Menu is simply the normal menu served in ridiculously huge portions is a disappointment to all but Visha, who looks ready, willing and able to consume the food-mountain with ease in one sitting, garnering some unnerved looks from other characters. As for the others, they know to save the money they earned for something else.

Isekai Quartet 2 – 07 – Let’s Get Physicals

It’s a scary time for a lot of people across the world with the outbreak of the Coronavirus, so it’s somewhat inauspiciously coincidental for IQ2 to come out with an episode in which everyone gets a physical. This physical only seems to consist of taking the students’ height and weight, with no injections or other health tests taken.

What this episode does test is my patience with Pandora’s Actor. In the shadow of fellow Miyano Mamoru-voiced character Betelgeuse, PA’s quirkiness seems forced. He’s random and crazy enough to be annoying, but not enough to be fun to watch. Ram seems to agree.

As for the parties who strive to see members of the opposite sex in their skivvies, Rem prevents Shalltear and Albedo from glimpsing too many of Ainz’s bones, while the normally super-lucky Kazuma is a hair too late in initiating his peeping mission.

Speaking of hair, the prominent ahoge of both Tanya and Filo prevent Wiz from taking accurate height measurements, while Darkness is the only girl disappointed that neither Kazuma nor any other men decided to peep on them. The excessive Pandora’s Actor marred some otherwise funny moments in an unfocused outing.

Isekai Quartet 2 – 06 – Condiment Civil War

Personal preference for something even as trivial as chicken wing condiments can nonetheless cleave normally ironclad alliances. Tanya and Ainz may usually get along, but she’s a salt-and-pepper gal. Ram may love Subaru, but not enough to put mayo on her wings. Cocytus may be a loyal subject of Lord Ainz, but not to the point of using ketchup.

Rerugen sees that he won’t make any progress in class until the conflict is resolved, so he recommends the three factions play each other in condiment preference dodgeball, conscripting Shield Hero, Raphtalia and Filo to round out the teams. Visha and the butcher provide play-by-play and color commentary.

Darkness is predictably the first to be out, as the notorious M makes no effort to avoid a hard-thrown ball. Ram, Rem, and the Bello twins match kick attacks before Rerugen warns them that kicking is disallowed. Aqua’s God Blow is blocked by Albedo’s Walls of Jericho. The cats are not normal.

Eventually, Ainz and Megumin launch an explosive combo attack that Tanya manages to block with a magical barrier, only for the ball to burst. No one remembers what they were bickering about, so they decide to let the matter rest and go out for croquettes…only to start another argument about condiment preference.

Isekai Quartet is all about bringing all these heroes and villains down to a more realistic and normal planet earth, to a place more like where we live, and where in lieu of daily dramatic life-or-death disagreements, we place outsized importance on silly things like Coke-or-Pepsi (it’s Coke, obviously).

Isekai Quartet 2 – 05 – GIVE ME CHOCO…DEATH!!!

As Valentine’s Day arrives (or to paraphrase Tanya, “the triumph of capitalism over religion”), the concept of giving chocolate to the one you like spreads across the school. Albedo plans to infuse her chocolate with her love, and meets a kindred spirit in Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti.

Initially presented as the Home-Ec teacher, Betel is later booted out as a trespasser. I loved how these two demented weirdos fed off one another’s crazy. This version of Betel is also far more tolerable than his Re:Zero self, mostly because he doesn’t torture Rem!

Capt. Weiss wants chocolate, so he asks Kazuma the proper way to ask, and Kazuma messes with him by instructing him to hold his hands out and yell “GIVE ME CHOCO!”. This results in Weiss getting AL HUMA’d by Rem, shielding Darkness from potential harm Darkness was actually excited about, as Darkness tends to be!

It’s a pleasant enough exploration of to whom all these disparate characters from fantasy worlds would go about giving chocolate. Kazuma is happy to receive chocolate from all three girls in his party (even if its obligatory), while Subaru is happier to get a modest chocolate from Emilia than a huge heart-shaped box from Rem.

Finally, Beatrice is popular with Tanya’s underlings, the battle maids his up a sweets shop, while Yunyun either distributes or receives perhaps the most chocolate. Finally, for all the love Ainz got, he’s unable to eat chocolate.

…DEATH!

Isekai Quartet 2 – 04 – Time Cheaters

In a light, brisk episode that flies by even quicker than most IQ half-episodes, Roswaal informs the class that The Test is nigh, so they’d best study. Among the most nervous is Ainz, who in real life didn’t even finish middle school, and Aqua, who challenged Ainz to a bet to see who gets the higher score. Meanwhile Subaru feels nostalgic studying with Rem and Emilia, even though he can’t recall ever doing it.

The day of the test arrives, and a panicking Ainz stops time in order to copy someone else’s answers. However, Aqua is immune to the magic due to her goddess status, and both Subaru and Tanya also aren’t affected. When he sees Aqua blatantly cheating Ainz reconsiders doing the same and resumes time…before Aqua can get back to her desk. An unfrozen Roswaal makes her wait outside, while Ainz takes the chance that the answers on the test form the shape of its creator, Pandora’s Actor.

Unfortunately, the characters from Shield Hero don’t even appear this week after only the briefest glimpse of them last week. Hopefully they get something meaningful to do at some point…

Isekai Quartet 2 – 03 – Friends in Need are Friends Indeed

When the class is informed that Kazuma, Aqua, and three of Tanya’s underlings have been given “detention”, it’s natural for them to be curious about what form their punishment will take. When Darkness encounters them in a hallway, they look like they’ve been scarred for life, which only makes Darkness more curious (not to mention jealous!)

As we learn, detention duties have been left to Nazarick Area Guardian Kyouhukou, as the offenders are thrown into the roach pit, where instead of eating them alive, the bugs simply crawl in and out of every one of their orifices. Naturally, their friends consider the punishment too severe for the crime of stealing booze, and wish to reduce their sentence if possible.

Emilia, the nicest and most “good” of all of the students, makes a passionate appeal to Mr. Rerugen, who decides that the punishment will be reduced if the offenders do a good deed. Their classmates then create a situation during a lab experiment that, while providing an opportunity for that good deed to be done, is still innocent enough on its surface to be overlooked by Roswaal.

In practice, this means allowing Megumin to light a Bunsen burner. Even though steps are taken to control her Explosion, the entire lab table within the bounded field is obliterated, and the broken pipes soon flood the school. Roswaal takes the hint that there was no malice in Megumin’s act (it’s the only magic she has!) and that people just have “bad daaaaays.”

When the water threatens the principal’s cigar stash, he agrees to lift detention if the offenders can solve the flooding problem. Grantz, Neumann and Koenig capture the water with their boundary magic, which allows water goddess Aqua to finally show that she is, in fact, a water goddess, redirecting the water out the window Kazuma opens (he did his part!) and dispersing it into the sky as a lovely rainbow.

Not only was this a great showcase for various characters powers, but a nice capper to a serial “two-parter” in which the classmates have each other’s backs when school discipline goes too far. Finally, it’s a reminder that no matter what isekai show you’re from, nobody (other than Darkness of course) wants bugs crawling all over their bodies!

Isekai Quartet 2 – 02 – Mission: Imbibeable

Life is pretty sweet in this strange peaceful world for soldiers like Lts. Neumann, Grantz, and Koenig, except for one thing: there’s no booze. But Grantz discovered that Principal von Rudersdorf keeps a stash of “the red stuff” (i.e. wine) in his office.

Kazuma joins the three in a operation to retrieve the wine and get hammered. Unfortunately for them, noted lush Aqua is wise to their plan, tags along, and recklessly opens a cabinet and snatches the wine, setting off a number of booby traps set by von Rudersdorf.

Just as the lieutenants use their military skills to deactivate all the traps, Kazuma admires the flag of their empire on the wall, only for four Giant Toads from his world to come bursting out from behind the frame. The three lieutenants sacrifice themselves, believing Kazuma will do “a man’s job” and do the same so Aqua can escape with the booze.

Of course, Kazuma has no intention of being swallowed by a toad, so he casts Stealth and escapes, leaving Aqua to run for her life and eventually get swallowed up in the hallway. Naofumi does nothing to help her, and since Ram snitched, Roswaaal discovers the scheme and gives the five would-be winos detention.

Isekai Quartet 2 – 01 – Make that QUINtet

You heard that right: characters from a fifth Isekai join the already huge ensemble cast of Isekat Quartet. The first of them, Iwatani Naofumi AKA Shield Hero, is introduced immediately when he peeks into the class where all the other MCs are. He’s not transferring to their class, however: their only transfer student seems to be Megumin’s familiar, Chomusuke…who unlike Puck, has “student” status.

Raphtalia suddenly encounters Kazuma and Ainz Ooal Gown in the hallway and immediately assumes the latter is a monster that needs to be defeated, but Kazuma calms her down and they join her search for Naofumi. Filo, meanwhile, ends up in the pet area with Hamusuke and Death Knight. Raphtalia and Filo are reunited with the Shield Hero when he protects them from a particularly hard-hit baseball from the bat staff of Mare.

That’s pretty much it! The episode’s only eleven minutes, after all. Naofumi decides that while he’s not 100% sure what’s going on, he and his party will try to settle into a school life of following the rules along with the others who have been teleported. It will be interesting to see if he befriends the other lads from Japan…and here’s hoping Melty, Malty, or others from his world show up at some point!