Content warning: Blood, Gore, Murder, Photosensitive imagery
What’s it about? Chaos ensues when all at once, mysterious tombs surface, granting those who plunder them power and wealth beyond their wildest dreams. What ensues is a global power struggle for who gets what, and what countries to get to lay claim. Among the masses is Jooheon Suh, a man who is betrayed in the rush for riches. Yet something mysterious flings him back in time to years before the tombs with his knowledge intact. Fueled by fury and a hunger for what’s to come, it looks like Jooheon’s in the perfect position to make his riches before anyone else is in the know!
What would you do if you knew you could have a life of luxury by plundering a tomb that once was hidden from the entire world? Would you go and seek out the riches below, even if it cost you your life?
For Jooheon Suh, the answer was obvious—even up until the moment of betrayal and his death at the hands of a fantastical beast. Wielding a sword, Jooheon attempts to fell the beast, but ends up a bloody mess between tooth and claw. But this isn’t the end for Jooheon for his rage seems to unlock a second chance to find riches beyond his belief years before the world knows about the fantastical tombs hidden out of view.
Now back in the year 2025, Jooheon has the ability to map out a future where he makes off with the right riches for himself, instead of getting screwed over on someone else’s behalf. Instead of facing a horrifically bloody final end, he’s given all of the video game-esque tools he needs to succeed before anyone even has a chance…
It’s interesting to watch an anime adaptation that isn’t in English or Japanese. In this case, Tomb Raider King is a Korean webcomic adaptation, remaining in its native language versus being voiced by Japanese-speaking VAs. It keeps something of the spirit of the comic, but doesn’t necessarily make a somewhat predictable fantasy action-adventure series any more engaging.
I’ll admit: I’m not a webcomic fan. I find a lot of the stories to be underwhelming, predictable, and too heterosexual for my tastes. And while it’s nice to have a thirty-eight year old (he goes back into the past by fifteen years, so he becomes a twenty-three year old) as the lead, I don’t necessarily like Jooheon Suh. He’s… perfectly okay, a man turn asunder by a cruel fate who gets a second chance like all black-haired anime boys do, and… yeah, that’s really what stuck out most about him to me. He’s not bad, he’s not good, he’s just in the middle in a story that unfortunately, just doesn’t really stand out from the crowd in a packed season.
Plus like, dude doesn’t even backflip or wear daisy dukes and a tank top or even lock a butler in the walk-in freeze! And where’s his polygonal breasts?!?! I see not a tomb raider but a knock-off, in more ways than one…
Ultimately, Tomb Raider King is… just okay. I think if you’re a fan of the webcomic, you’re probably more keen on this adaptation, but if you’re a newcomer like me, it might feel stale. A lot of that is because it just feels like one in a million of the multitude of male power fantasy anime that involve time travel, and it’s not even one of the good ones. Instead, it’s just kind of middling.
Perhaps that’ll change with the next episode. Much of the premiere is setting the foundation for the series: it’s establishing who Jooheon is and how the world he’s in works. This is Earth plus: our world with the addition of magic and general fantasy elements. Maybe now that we know the rules, Tomb Raider King will become more interesting, especially since Jooheon maintains his memories.
However, I can honestly say that I don’t know that I’ll be checking in on this series until the end of the Summer season. Even with its plot and elements, it just didn’t set itself apart enough from its contemporaries, and even series that have come before. Outside of Jooheon being more complex than your usual male fantasy protag, I just found myself bored. So no recommendation from me this time, I’m afraid, though who knows: maybe I’ll come around when I check in on this in a few weeks.
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