Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin – Episode 1

Content Warning: Racialized fantasy violence, death from chronic illness

What’s it about? Ira Takuto has lived a life of chronic illness—that is until he finds himself reincarnated in a world that resembles his favorite video game. However, he’s not just your average protagonist. No, Takuto is a god in this world, and with the Sludge Witch at his side, he’ll be able to find more than simple success as his reign in another realm begins anew.

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I plucked Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra: World Conquest Starts with the Civilization of Ruin from our proverbial bag of premieres like I do for most anime: without knowing what it was going to be, but I did have a clue from the eleven word title—probably this was going to be a fantasy isekai. That’s easy to guess when you’ve done quite a few reviews: titles tell a lot these days, especially when they’re in the overall isekai genre.

In cases like this, I tend to go in with medium expectations because I like to be surprised. Isekai isn’t something I hate, after all: it’s just a genre that can be…exhausting. However, I’m eager to have my socks knocked off, or at least have my socks tugged on. Will this long title do the trick? Maybe, maybe not; naturally, I already know the answer. But you’ve got to read to find out!

Episode 1 starts off with Takuto dying in bed. This is note a joke: there’s literally no table setting for the fact that he, hunched over his laptop in a hospital bed, just eats it. Granted, it’s because of a life of chronic illness, but still, it definitely establishes that for our intrepid hero, being sent to another world means the ability to live life without being in the space of a hospital room.

Immediately, we’re thrust into the world of Eternal Nations, only Takuto’s experience is very real—especially now that he’s the king of the demonic race. With Atou, his faithful companion and favorite character made real, he’ll reign supreme over the Civilization of Ruin as the highest rank player, gaming memories, skills, and all.

It’s hard, in many ways, not to liken the isekai bit to Overlord in the sense that this is a protagonist decidedly going a dark route. Like Momonga, Takuto has also chosen to be one of the inhuman races—though Atou, his companion, feels much more like a D&D dark elf than an actual monster. Her red eyes and pointy ears are the only mark that she’s less human, but I can forgive that because it’s just part of the trappings of this show. 

While this doesn’t have the nuance of Overlord and the willingness to go full-on calculated evil with its protagonist, I did find that was actually enjoyable, largely because it feels so immediately cringey when characters start spouting video game lines and then have to find their footing as actual people. There’s charm in that for sure, especially since this is the start of Takuto finding vim and vigor in his ability to move through the world without debilitating sickness.

What results is Takuto combining his previous experiences with his ability to be a benevolent leader. When he encounters dark elves in exile, rather than subjecting them, he feeds them and understands their pain, inspiring a different form of sworn confidence. Sure, it’s no Overlord, but I think there’s a place for this type of story in the “revitalizing a fantasy race” subgenre of isekai narratives. After all, you can’t always raze a village and destroy humanity to earn your evil underlings respect: sometimes, you have to demonstrate you’re on their side by just being altruistic and nice.

I actually think this is one I’ll stick with, largely because I like the lack of mechanics. It feels less like a protagonist going from playing the game to being the game and more like a young man understanding the mechanics of a game, using those memories, and living in a realized world. While Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra is definitely still in its tender beginnings, I actually can envision sitting down after work to watch this on a weekly basis.

The realism of Takuto’s transition from Japan to Eternal Nations actually feels natural: he’s no wunderkind, imbued with the power of a thousand gods. Instead, he’s just a young man who lived a difficult life and now, gets a chance to use his prior knowledge to support one of the most downtrodden groups in this fictional (now real) world. That, to me, makes for an actually good premiere in the ocean of isekai series, doing more than enough to make me think, “Yeah, I kind of wanna keep watching this!”