Content Warning: Fan service
What’s it about? In an alternative version of Kyoto called Denji Heian-kyo, Narihira Takeru, a boy from our world, meets a woman named Tsukimiya—a woman he’s seen in his dreams. But his dream-come-true meeting is spoiled when an oni immediately attacks them, costing Takeru his life. However, time is on his side when he wakes up and realizes he can go back in time, opening a new path to saving Tsukimiya and his own hide.
I’m just going to get into it on this one because I have more thoughts than I expected, so pardon my lack of intro: let’s get right into the meat of things.
Episode 1, “Don’t Admit Defeat Even If You’re Dead! A Delinquent in Denji Heian-kyo!” kind of tells you what we’re getting into: an isekai where a young man is going to meet a young girl in Denji Heian-kyo, an alternative Kyoto capital in an alternative Edo Japan. What it doesn’t tell you is that this is also the start of a romance in another world for our protagonist Takeru.
Oh yeah, and he’s a delinquent, just to add that bad boy flavor.
The bulk of this premiere isn’t in our Japan: it’s in a fantasy iteration where onmyoji magic is very real and Takeru is unknowingly being thrown into the depths of a battle between humankind and the vicious ranks of the oni. Once of Japan, now of Denji Heian, he’ll have to do everything he can to find a way to survive and hopefully figure out who that pretty girl he’s been dreaming of really is and why they’re so deeply connected.
Mm, time for my dose of slop and wow, is this some good stuff! Hork hork, gobble gobble y’all: this is my favorite time of review season! Ah, this is the isekai I miss, plain and simple and rote with a twist—in this case, ayakashi and onmyoji sorcerer magic. Pass me a knife and fork, or just give me a spork instead: I live to devour shows like this not as a hate watch, but because I’m fascinated by the “why” of it all. (Oh, and no Truck-kun this time: our young, intrepid protagonist dies because he gets distracted on his motorbike and goes flying over the edge of a barrier.)
Okay, joking aside, Onmyo Kaiten is actually just okay, with a shockingly fantastic soundtrack that really evokes its alternative Japan setting. Nothing is revolutionary here, though the setting is interesting. It’s rare that isekai go to another version of Japan: usually, we’re in some sort of pseudo-European world with a mysterious and nebulous “eastern” nation. This time, it’s the west that’s a mystery, and I do think that’s for the better.
That said, interesting settings don’t make this anime a winner, winner, chicken dinner, not does it hide the glaring shortcomings of the premiere. That’s a shame, because this version of Japan combines the past with fascinating tidbits of futuristic tech that feel like Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin mingling with Demon Lord 2099. Onmyo Kaiten is, sadly, not like either of these in execution.
I have really complex feelings about this premiere. On one hand, I think there’s foundationally a lot of really interesting aspects to having the story be so heavily focused on the past being part of this hi-tech modernized future where yokai, ayakashi, and spirits of all kind manifest in a co-mingling of kaiji-like appearances that simultaneously feel straight of a video game.
I’m on the fence about whether or not I’ll continue with this premiere. Takeru is easily the worst part, combining meathead antics and way too much fan service up front with a hotheaded nature that had me rolling my eyes. Yet I find the world he’s placed in—the mechanics, the ingredients, the foundation–deeply interesting. Shikigami are no longer paper talismans but Iron Widow-esque mecha. The Black Mist that brings death and destruction tugs on the part of me that loves Kaiju No. 8. But there’s just this disconnect between it all, a sort of hodgepodge effect that makes Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth Verses ultimately feel quite weak.
I want to be surprised: I want to come back to this article weeks from now and be a fan. But for now, I’m…quite hesitant to say that I can see myself liking this series as a whole. I can see myself like aspects, but the entire series? Well…that remains to be seen. Guess I’ll be sticking around to see if this goes from unfortunate flop to potentially at the top, or at least somewhere near the realm of pretty good.
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