To all alchemy enthusiasts, forget about it, this alchemy has no laws to it they're just making it up as they go along.
Second of all I am sick.
I shall describe my condition:
I'm sick of being catfished: Here he's an alchemist, but then becomes primarily an adventurer, then suddenly the hero..
I'm sick of putting a character at the peak of unregulated, uncontrollable, post-pubertal hormonal surge putting him in-front of the flashing red targets of those hormones. No of not just one target, not 2 not 3... Can you guess how many? All at his mercy, his beck and call and then having nothing happen. Because he's a good boy!
I'm sick of fake, misplaced, misunderstood, morality, 'Paragon's of Virtue'. There's no story and the plot refuses to punish him meaningfully for any decision he makes.
I'm sick of dipping our toes into controversy, not going through with it and leaving at the first junction.
I'm sick of writers manufacturing vulnerable states then having none of the enemies take advantage of those states.
I'm sick of establishing hierarchies and cultural orders then smashing them for "modern sensibilities" ruining immersion.
I'm sick of being spoon-fed exposition instead of actually doing it.
I'm sick of harem overload with several characters serving no real purpose other than to be a pretty face.
I'm sick of stuffing entire volumes of LN's into 12 episodes.
I'm sick of introducing main characters as the pillars of the plot then turning them into jobbers.
I'm sick of main characters apologizing for nothing, like it's some sort of virtue.
I'm sick of reducing the various levels of interpersonal relationships between the opposite sexes to this grotesque word "Partner" which denotes this charade of equality where there never was any.
I'm sick of narrating events to us when you can just show it to us in dialogue.
I think you get the gist.
I shall now objectively review this.
Animation
I'm sure this isn't everyone's first rodeo, our expectations are low and in this case, for good reason. I mean I was straight-faced through most of it but then the last 2 episodes arrived and I felt almost delirious, I thought I was hallucinating or something I mean some of those animated moments were mysteriously trippy, and really lacking any fluidity.
That final fight was just, Wow!
Like finishing your school project on the last day after you started it then left it for while. The only thing memorable is how low effort and pathetic it is.
Sound
Just amateur, soundtrack was incredibly one note and in some areas in total dissonance. Rather poor showing here from the direction to the composer it's lackadaisical. OP and ED, girls singing in high pitched voices ever heard of it before?
Story
Not Found, There's a single character who undergoes any meaningful change.
Plot
Confusing, sped up, cut through randomly, a puzzle of weightless events and tasks that contribute nothing to any sort of build-up. There's no tension, no profound discoveries. Exposition which is repeated over and over again for negligible compounded effect. It's all too easy for the MC. Let's just add healing powers, let's just add conjuring stuff out of nothing, Let's just add interdimensional sleeves, and space manipulation/expansion. There's just no limitations on him at all, there's no hole he can't just immediately generate a fix for. It doesn't play like a comedy so it's rather farcical. No social barriers, No influence barrier, and it's just collect girls to put on the wall as a trophy, which is utterly pointless. Introduce 3 other main characters but the oh so familiar: 'girls good, man bad' theology makes for an exciting bonanza. These are main characters built up to be side characters.
What a difference those first few episodes were, focusing on alchemy with various non-female characters somewhat nuanced, fresh dialogue, fleeting humour, touching subversive topics like slavery maturely, subsequently 2 girls in and we are plunged into the valley of the shadow of death. The evil which we must fear, the harem. It loses absolutely all of it as we dive into the swamp of cookie-cutter, mundane mediocrity us Isekai fanatics have become accustomed to.
Characters
Initially seemed promising. The more I delved in, the worse it got, till I had to physically stop myself watching the later episodes, in absolute boredom and disgust. From the playing out of the dialogue roughly the same over and over again. Convictions recited constantly. It's so forgettable and after the fact it verifiably contributed to nothing.
To how much of a pathetic spineless simp the MC is there's no end, it really does get out of hand. There has to be balance or somekind of drawback, setback or disadvantage, unfortunately the writers don't understand how, they can't translate life experience into their work. There's just too many women it just ruins everything from the plot to the story to the narrative, It all gets dumbed down and subverted. The state of this guy, his own party won't even let him recruit a man. It's just draining to hear these harpies talk over and over again and none of them are banging him. I don't know how it's possible to talk like this as a reincarnated soul. He's a complete push over, the show breaks the fourth wall at a certain point talking about how pitiful he is. It's supposed to get better, but it doesn't because he has to be "respectful" to his female slaves!
This discourse between the main cast, it's a slow burn, it only gets worse. Don't get me started on the poor humor, for example, they have a rather obtuse obsession with toilets as a gag. It's utterly revolting, and just takes you out of any sort of engagement when watching this show a total immersion-breaker, didn't laugh once. Why are we talking about toilets in a fantasy world?
Final Rankings
Animation- 5
Soundtrack - 4
Plot/Story - 4
Characters - 5
Enjoyment - 5
23/50 - 4.6/10 - 5/10 - Garbage
It's a shame because it started off in a way that was quite endearing, but it was all a facade.
I don't recommend you watch it, I have no idea what the source fares like, but on a whole it seems the whole "Greatest Alchemist" thing is an attempt to differentiate it from other Isekai simultaneously riding on the coattails of FMAB. It's surface level attempt at alchemy foundation later pivoting to our modern fantasy classic of adventuring, pocket-girl collector, but you don't have any intimacy because you're a great guy. Themes mixed together hurriedly and achieving nothing.
There's no itch here scratched for anyone who's particularly interested in certain themes, so I can't recommend it in that way either.
I watched this dubbed in English.
A hard pass.
Hope this helps.
Reviewer's Rating: 5.
