As a Reincarnated Aristocrat Review: Medieval Fantasy with a Unique Ap

As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World

If you suddenly woke up in a medieval world one day, what would you do? Personally, my first priority would be to determine whether the setting is fantasy-based. If it is, I would promptly begin the process of acquiring a dragon. Whether they are common sights or ancient beings of mass destruction would not hold me back from finally having my very own winged reptile, because the heart wants what the heart wants. More often than not, you’ll find yourself ill-equipped to reach your true goals at the beginning, so that is why the process is crucial in determining victory!

As a Reincarnated Aristocrat Review: Medieval Fantasy with a Unique Appraisal Twist | Pinnedupink.com

“As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World," also known as “Tensei Kizoku, Kantei Skill de Nariagaru” or “Reincarnated as an Aristocrat with an Appraisal Skill," is a 12-episode TV anime series that aired from the 7th of April until the 23rd of June in Spring 2024. It was produced by Dentsu, Lantis, CBC Television, Kodansha, Crunchyroll, U-NEXT, Tencent Japan, Bushiroad Move, Bandai Namco Filmworks, and Bandai Namco Music Live, and brought to life by studio MOTHER. The main staff behind it include Kurosu Nobuhiko, Vig Julien, Miyamoto Emi, and Shibata Tomohiro as producers. It features the genres of adventure and fantasy, alongside the themes of Isekai and reincarnation. Each episode runs for 23 minutes and earned a rating of PG-13 for teenagers 13 years of age or older. It was even released on Blu-ray as three volumes from the 24th of July until the 25th of September, 2024, while also being aired on CBC and TBS' Agaru Anime block.

The anime is based on the light novel “Tensei Kizoku, Kantei Skill de Nariagaru: Jakushou Ryouchi wo Uketsuida node, Yuushuu na Jinzai wo Fuyashiteitara, Saikyou Ryouchi ni Natteta," which is the work of author Miraijin A and artist jimmy. It began publication on the 2nd of July 2020 and is still ongoing, getting published in English via Kodansha USA under the Vertical imprint since the 14th of March 2023. The LN was also adapted into a manga series of the same name, which began publication on the 26th of June 2020 and is still ongoing and getting serialized in Magazine Pocket. While it has the same author, the art is handled by Inoue Natsumi. On November 15, 2022, Kodansha USA published this in English and K Manga Simulpub.

A sequel TV anime series titled “As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World Season 2” aired for 12 episodes from the 29th of September until the 22nd of December in Fall 2024. This season is done by the same studio and follows the original LN, which was also aired on CBC and TBS' Agaru Anime block. The sequel “As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World Season 3” TV anime has also been announced, but no release date is known as of now.

The story focuses on your typical Japanese office worker who died in the real world and finds himself reincarnated as a noble in another world. Now named “Louvent Ars," he is the newborn son of the Louvent family and is now overlooking the Summerforth Empire, which is a small territory ruled by their lineage and is home to only a few thousand people. But this land is set in medieval times and is rife with issues like social inequality and political instability. As our protagonist gradually grows up and learns about his new environment, he soon realizes that war is simply on the brink of eruption. Unfortunately, he was not granted your typical fantasy-setting powers like undisputed strength or exceptional magical aptitude upon reincarnation, but what he does have is a skill known as “appraisal.” This unique little ability allows him to instantly grasp a person’s current abilities and latent talents by just looking at them! Determined to work with the cards he had been dealt, Ars begins preparing his small but special domain for the war looming on the horizon, and this demands the support of capable people. Using his skill, he starts enlisting the most exceptional people he can find, and his search is devoid of unfair filters like race and social status. In his eyes, all such demeaning social constructs are superficial qualities that have nothing to do with a person’s true worth, and he is determined to save his home alongside capable people!

While the tale begins as your typical Isekai fantasy, with the MC possessing a cheat skill and all, what sets it apart is the journey that follows. He starts off rather simply, using his appraisal to bring promising people to his side in an attempt to build up resistance against his enemies. What I expected was an intense fantasy power struggle that took a direct approach, but instead I was treated to an indirect approach focusing on external powers via gifted supporting characters. Ars doesn’t go around “collecting” powerful people either; he encounters and connects with them through adventures along a very organic narrative. The storyline itself is progressive, and it’s just perfect to execute the fateful “chance” encounters that Ars experiences, each delving deep into socioeconomic factors and taking a closer look at the minorities that hold potential. This is where the problem begins, because they keep repeating the same formula until you get sick and tired of it. Soon, the “chance” meetings all seem forcefully planned in the name of plot progression, and each of them holds less and less impact in the grand scheme of things. There’s also this increasingly confusing political aspect to the story, especially the politics between multiple municipalities that are very difficult to follow. Towards the later half of the show, these become impossible to follow owing to a lack of initial development.

In the character department, I like how they made the MC quite a few steps below the top but isn’t a complete nobody either. His family is at the lowest level of nobility but is still important enough to have a house, a few servants, and just enough soldiers to form an infantry. Ars’s father is the strong and masculine highborn type but is also smart enough to know that war is coming, preparing in whatever way he can for the chaos to come. Meanwhile, he’s also glad that his kid has good enough skills to be relevant. Ars himself is a smart and good-hearted guy, understanding full well that a healthy kingdom equates to a strong economy and little to no poverty. I felt he lacked integrity for the majority of the show, all until he showed overwhelming growth thanks to certain changes in plot direction later on. Moving on, there’s the generic slave Mage girl that you have already seen thousands of times, but at least neither she nor the remaining supporting cast are complete idiots with the personalities of cardboard.

The character development is solid because Ars' journey leads the audience through various avenues where he must put faith in odd people with controversial backstories and ethnicities. Thankfully, we don’t have the typical harem of anime girls either; instead, there’s a plethora of characters with highly varied backgrounds and personalities that grow alongside Ars. While it’s nice to see the group growing close to each other, the characters also start to feel repetitive, and they overuse the theme of “Ars searching for special individuals in unexpected places.”

The art and animation department is just decent. The color palette follows a muted theme, giving it a weird, bland, and generic vibe you’d find in countless other shows, and I couldn’t help but feel brighter colors would’ve looked better on this show. This isn’t the kind of show where you’d find many flashy animations either, but the ones it does have are above average. I can say this only because this isn’t an action-heavy anime, where the lacking animations don’t drag it down much. You can tell the creators were on a budget here because the quality noticeably drops in the latter half of the show, where it feels starved of action and movement in general. The wider frames suffer a lot with character designs just falling apart, and most of it is dialogue-heavy with characters just exchanging information anyway, bringing the show down further. Character designs are okay, better than most Isekais, with some kind of memorable trait for each character that tells something about their history.

The Sounds and Music department is also serviceable, but there’s nothing special or memorable about it. The opening theme is "Blue Days" by TRUE, and the ending theme is "Finally" by Licia Pleide, sung by Kana Hanazawa, who is the voice actor of supporting character Pleide Licia, both of which are decent pieces I forgot in record time. The OSTs are mostly thematic orchestral tunes that do a good job of elevating the show’s highlights quite a bit, so kudos to those. The voice acting deserves some praise, though, because they did a superb job of conveying all the dialogues and portraying the character dynamics, the latter of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Overall, “As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I'll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World” is an anime that held much potential had it not gotten repetitive with its series of events. Sadly, the unique pros of the show got watered down by the generic elements that are far too prominent throughout the run. The setting, magic system, supporting cast, and theme of evil discrimination have been used far too many times for me to genuinely enjoy at this point, unless it is some kind of masterpiece. While I won't advise anyone to avoid it, I do recommend it to those who are interested in its offerings. However, it's important to note that it's not particularly memorable.