The Villager of Level 999 – Episodes 1-2

content warning: fan service and transphobia

What’s it about? In a world that has gradually been taken over by monsters and magic, Koji Kagami was born into a weaker class known as the “Villager”. He was supposed to live a life of mediocrity as a weak person, but to the surprise of anyone, he not only leveled up to 999, he wants to live peacefully out of the spotlight. That all changes when he meets the daughter of the Demon King named Alice, who wants to buy medicine to save her father’s life. Together they embark on a journey to save the Demon King and hopefully create peace between humans and demons.

I’m surprised this isn’t an isekai show since it has the makings of one. If anything I give points for some originality in the sense that everyone is able to show their stat screens to anyone without issue. Koji Kagami isn’t the most exciting protagonist, but to his credit, he doesn’t want to be a hero and he would much rather use his powers to enjoy the simpler things in life like a good meal. The biggest question everyone seems to ask in this double premiere is “how did Koji get stronger?” While the obvious answer might be that he just continuously fought monsters, there seems to be an air of mystery surrounding Koji and his life experiences. Either way, for the time being, the show isn’t willing to give an easy answer and focuses on the story’s actual “hero” named Rex who’s basically interested in creating a harem adventurer’s crew.  

Rex is a creep who rejects qualified people in favour of beauty and their “body potential for growth”, which already makes me want to tune out of this show. The few good things about this premiere is that Koji rejects a marriage proposal from a literal child and is “kind of” respectful of his friend Takako’s appearance. It’s honestly sad how low the bar is for these fantasy shows, but it’s unfortunately worth celebrating (for now). It is frustrating seeing how easily some of the girls tried to sell themselves in marriage proposals while bargaining with Koji, which makes me concerned about the direction this series is heading. Despite my concerns, I did enjoy seeing Koji constantly humble Rex for being an idiot and even calling him naive for not realizing how the world works. It’s not often these “heroes” are called a loser to their faces and frankly we need that to happen more often.  

I just wish that Koji’s friend, Takako, didn’t look like a transphobic caricature that is played up for laughs anytime she walks into a room. It’s annoying how often women are made fun of whenever they want to have a more muscular appearance rather than being traditionally feminine. Aside from that, I actually really liked Takako and it’s a shame that these kinds of character designs are still popular in the anime scene.   

Overall, it’s a standard fantasy show with an overpowered male protagonist and possibly a harem of women that will follow his lead. I’m not usually a fan of shows like this, but if our readers are fans of this genre then I suggest you check it out and see if you like it.

It’s a shame that we have returned to our regular seasonal fantasy programming after Witch Hat Atelier blessed our eyes and minds with fantastic visuals and a great story, but I suppose nice shows like that come to those who are patient.