One new anime I’m enjoying this season is Magical★Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim, about a man who wakes up as a comic-relief side character in his favorite ecchi visual novel. I believe the Magical Explorer anime might be the best isekai-adjacent show of the season. Also, the waifus are all top-notch!
It’s a very special time for us at J-List, because 30 years ago this week, we started the first anime and hentai shop selling to fans around the world. And we’ve been able to make it this far thanks to our wonderful customers. We’re celebrating with a huge 20% sale on all in-stock Japan products, through October 7th. Start browsing now!
Magical Explorer: A Familiar Story
You can probably guess the setup from the title. Our protagonist wakes up inside his favorite erotic game, called Magical Explorer (or MajiEku among fans). But instead of being the main character, he realizes he’s Kousuke Takioto, a side character who never gets any girls to date. Happily for him, he knows the game’s story backwards and forwards and decides to rewrite it, with himself as the game’s strongest character!
Obviously, this is a “reincarnated in a video game” genre anime similar to My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! No one watches an anime like this expecting a totally original take on the isekai genre. The question is, will the execution be good? And more importantly, how are the waifus?
Happily, they’re excellent! So far we’ve got Ludi, a cute elf princess Kousuke saves from an assassination attempt. Then there’s Claris, her maid. Marino is the motherly head of the school who takes Kousuke in, and her thirsty daughter Hatsumi, who has an “Onee-san” complex.
Because both Ludi and Kousuke are under attack from the evil Church of the Malevolent Lord, they’ll all have to live together in Marino’s mansion. I’m sure that won’t cause any sexy misunderstandings!
How’s the Fan Service in Magical Explorer?
I’m a fan of how animators use sexy situations to make us feel positively about the characters we’re being introduced to, which naturally makes us feel more connected to the anime and its story. This helps ensure that we’ll come back for the next episode.
So far, the sexy fan service in Magical Explorer is entertaining without distracting from the overall story. Honestly, I’m liking the story quite a bit too. How will Kosuke use his knowledge of the original game to change everyone’s destiny?
An Anime for Eroge Fans
“Eroge are usually riddled with contrived situations that are totally over the top. Most eroge protagonists don’t have parents at home. Why not? Maybe it’s so they can be woken up in the morning by a cute younger sister or a helpful childhood friend. Eroge do not respect common sense. They’re set in some supernatural realm.”
It’s been quite a week for me, as I looked back on thirty years of running J-List and helping introduce the world to 18+ visual novels from Japan. I remember the early days of eroge being available in English, back when all the now-famous game tropes were first being established. The scene where a character rushing to school crashes into a girl who will become one of the game heroines was one of the first events in our VN Season of the Sakura.
Magical Explorer is an anime that’s very aware of eroge’s structure, since the whole story takes place inside one. So if you love visual novels, you’ll probably enjoy this anime!
Is Magical Explorer Worth Watching?
The animation quality is excellent. It’s produced by Studio White Fox, which brought us popular titles like Re:Zero, Steins;Gate, and (heh) Goblin Slayer. The show seems to be receiving major marketing support from production committee partners like Aniplex, which is a good sign.
In the end, if you’re a fan of the isekai and “trapped in a visual novel” genres, you should give this show a try!
Thanks for reading this blog post exploring the new Magical★Explorer: Reborn as a Side Character in a Fantasy Dating Sim anime.
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It’s a very special time for us at J-List, because 30 years ago this week, we started the first anime and hentai shop selling to fans around the world. And we’ve been able to make it this far thanks to our wonderful customers. We’re celebrating with a huge 20% sale on all in-stock Japan products, through October 7th. Start browsing now!
