Hi, kids, and welcome to another anime review. Let’s walk over and open up the Special Magical Chest and see what we have awaiting us. Well, who would have guessed that is another in a long series of isekai that litter the landscape like Starbucks cups. Is there anything more enjoyable than seeing another one of these shows, for the third time, this week, alone? Well despite some degree of misgivings, we do find ourselves in ancient-ish times with this offering, “Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World” (“Isekai Meikyū de Haremu o”, or “Building a Harem in Alternate World Dungeon”).
We begin with Michio Kaga, who manages to find himself in an online game. He thinks it’s all VR and has no trouble in working out the logistics of the game and eventually dispatching a lot of bandits and gathering up their powers and abilities, as that is what you do in these games. The concerns begin to surface when he realizes there is no log-out function, and he is shocked to learn he has really killed real people. He tries to sell his loot from the plundering of the now dead bandits, only to learn that a villager stole an item, an item he really wanted and needed. This means the villager is now a slave and must be sold off, at the nearest town, where these excess items (mostly weaponry) can also be sold off.
When visiting the town slaver, Alan, said slaver introduces Michio to Roxanne, that rather buxom Wolfkin creature. As abhorrent as the notion of slavery is to Michio, he wants to buy her to save her from falling into the hands of those folks with less than pure thoughts, so he goes on a major campaign to raise the necessary money to make the necessary purchase. She is also a versatile combat expert, and they proceed to plumb the depths of the labyrinths that dot the countryside, to make money, to have a better life for themselves. This is their tale. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
The real problem with the series is the title, as it has the word ‘harem’ in it. The credits show you the party of slaves that he will get, but for the bulk of the show, it’s him and her. For a slave, she is unusually well educated in combat and labyrinths, so she is vital to his plans. It’s just the labyrinths are like a Disney ride. We are all stacked up in front the Floor Boss door, each of us awaiting our turn to dispatch the boss, get our booty, upgrade our stats and hit the tavern. And it’s a long line. How many times a day does this happen?
By pushing down through the levels, we get tougher monsters but better prizes. This allows our hero to buy a house and purchase a vat, which he uses as a hot tub, so our two can go bathing together. As a rule, an episode generally proceeds as having breakfast, hit up the labyrinth, kill some monsters, go home and have a bath, then some hot sex and to bed. And since she is a Wolfkin, pregnancy is a distant memory, so they have sex at least every episode. I mean, she has some very nice boobies (the reason you want an uncensored site, as modesty bars are an annoyance) which you get to see in all their glory.
Humor comes into play when he decides that if they want to head into the lower lower floors, they need more members, so he goes back to the slaver and gets a dwarf elf, Sherry, as he really needs some blacksmithing skills. Well, hilarity ensues when Michio has to learn the new hierarchy of the slaves, so no one is offended. Remember, he treats them like people, not property. The last episode rushes to the conclusion (setting up a second season) as he gets in no time flat Miria the Catkin, Vesta the Dragonkin, and Rutina the Other Elf. Hooray, he has his harem! And just before the ending credits!
Overall, it is kind of a ‘meh’ series, as a lot of time is taken up with the sex aspect of things. We do see his pangs of mortality, especially when an adventurer he meets is disposed of in a Floor Boss clash. But, in this world, things are played out as all or nothing, so it is the “A” game all the time or else, your clothes are lying in a pile of the floor.
As to binging, I am against it, as it falls into the rut pretty quickly. True, it isn’t all fighting monsters, but the formula rarely changes and you get kind of bored with all the sex. I must make a vote for episode ten, where Roxanne is introduced to the joys of fellatio. That one was a laughfest! Still, it’s an isekai, like the rest of them, so if all you want is the fan service, you can have it. I feel you can do better elsewhere.
On a scale of 1 to 10:
Artwork 7 (Pretty standard, but nice boobies)
Plot 7 (Rather typical)
Pacing 7 (Falls into a sameness trap)
Effectiveness 7 (Goals are a bit skint)
Conclusion 6 (It reaches a coupler point, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service 8 (A similar show would be “Sekerei”)
Bingeability 7 (It follows the formula)
And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I will protect you.