Isekai Shikkaku

I feel like I don't know enough about Japanese culture to properly enjoy this anime.

So, in the first half of the 20th century, a suicidal author (based on real-life figure Osamu Dazai) gets isekai'ed just as he and his lover are about to commit double suicide. In this other world he is told that he's one of dozens of Earthlings summoned there supposedly to save that world from the demon lord. He is not interested in that whatsoever, only wanting to find his lover here in this new world so they can finish their double suicide pact together. And so with the first two ... members of his harem, an goddess and a cat-girl, he climbs into a coffin to get dragged around this new life in a new world to find the love of his life... so they can both end theirs together.

It's dark humor, and I'm there for it, but it's just not landing for me. Watching this anime makes me feel like an American at a Robbie Williams concert: my impression is that it's not terrible, but I don't understand the appeal. There seems to be a common trend in the Japanese parodies/satires that I've seen: stepping on the punchline (this is when you immediately point out what is supposed to be funny about what just happened, which in turn makes it not funny), and that happens all over the place here. We get set up, then punchline, and then just as I'm about to laugh another character stomps all over the punchline, leaving me not laughing at the joke. I've seen this often enough in Japanese parodies (it happens all over the place in Nozaki-kun) that I think it's part of the joke, but to my Western sensibilities, it doesn't translate.

However, this series is doing some fun things in the whole isekai parody sub-sub-genre. The idea that most people from Earth would be absolute jerks with their cheat powers isn't new, but it's an interesting way to play with the genre. I love that our protagonist is a true anti-hero; not that faux-macho, unchivalrous hero who gets called an "anti-hero" because they're a jerk, but a true anti-hero in the literary sense: a protagonist who is actively avoiding the plot; one who (in a literal sense here) is dragged from plot point to plot point with little to no agency in what happens.

I think I'll stick with this one for a few more episodes to see where it goes. I really enjoyed "Love After World Domination" from this writer-artist team, but I worry that the humor in this one feels too culturally specific to me.

Everything was good except the MC. hes was totally fake. here some point why hes so fake
1. keep telling wanna die but some plot keep him alive. meanwhile killing yourself was actually easy. some people struggling to keep alive.
2. just found reason to keep alive yet clearly he broke in less one eps
3. he has no effort to anything. his promise, his words, his action.
4. hes talking too much for someone who wanna die.

from i see here the author just trying to satire the the isekai trend. he tougth a negative person is so cool but actually is just so cringe to see how he ... brought the story. and then his harem eventually agree what hes said like wet dream every negative person u could be.
the story was made by a positive person who actually admire a negative person and tought he understand point of view being negative person.
the only reason why i keep watching this probably the animation was good and i like the MC voice and the heroine lmao. other than that its just trash anime with wet dream author.

Trash ecchi isekai and theres nothing else to it. If you like trash isekai and overly sexualized characters this is for you. Characters lack depth and motives. There are no consequences for actions and the characters lack communication skills. The women are sexualized and dumb yet the show isnt labled as ecchi? Most of the shading and detail work goes into the boobs tummy and hips of the women. If you are a woman then avoid this show. It left an uneasy feeling with me. The MC is just some depressed codependent loser who cant achieve his own goals. The show is extremely predictable full ... of overused tropes and poor voice acting.