#fallfthoughts

Boys love anime notoriously get really crap budgets and based on a number of the previews, this was going to be no exception, and yeah... yeah it kind of is (not by far the worst I've seen but ouch the corner-cutting...). There are a lot of moments with like... really not great art. But generally the character designs are really good, environments look decent, and Aresh principally is pretty. Even Rhoda looks nicer than in the manga. Camile looks okay, too! Helmut's cute! Yurius... he's fine. In moments. Generally, overall, it does look nice. It's just... hands in particular suffer, and a lot of characters change how they look drastically between frames (and I'm not slowing down or anything to check: Camile looks wildly different in different shots at the meeting). But still, generally, it looks pretty decent. Maybe they'll fix things for the physical release. At least as of yet they're not doing the freeze frame thing that Twilight Out of Focus did, so I'm holding out hope.

Seiichirou is such a good guy! Decent human being, anyway. Trying to help a stranger while most would ignore that.

Norbert looks like a manga/anime protagonist lol (Like he's just Arthur from Fate/strange Fake). Alas, Norbert, you are, as you wish, sidelined by the true protagonist, the tired Japanese accountant in his 30s. I'm just going to pretend this is Len's moment in an anime.

Literally all the budget went to Aresh shots, you can't convince me otherwise (and he looks gorgeous).

It certainly did not go to the ED/new OP(?), which is nice enough (love when they hold hands), but... still kind of not great.

I get obviously this is boys love, there was no chance Seiichirou was ever going to be interested in Yua for a variety of reasons, but it is fun to think about how, in other stories (including this one, given Yurius), Seiichirou and Yua would be like... given shippy vibe moments. And that's not what happens. Seiichirou has zero interest and the show does not pretend to put them there. Seiichirou is trying to be a generally supportive adult to a child who is stuck at the whims of a mysterious magic nation. Meanwhile, Yua's in love with Aresh. And Yurius is well... himself, as usual.

This shot of Yurius was very handsome, though:

I feel so bad for Seiichirou T-T He has such a tragic backstory with becoming a corporate drone, slave to capitalism T-T You can break free, Seiichirou! A certain purple knight will help!

Camile is going to devour this accountant. Honestly if I love anything this episode, it's how they don't shy away from how besotted Camile is with Seiichirou. He only gets much worse down the line, so I'm glad XD

This, minus the flirting, is something upper management totally always does when they sense potential middle managers in the water. It's terrifying. I hate it. Been in Seiichirou's shoes (minus the pink fox prime minister and grabby hands flirting at me while purple fire blooms behind me). Do not want. But also I love how well Yatsuki Wakatsu (the novel author) translated modern capitalism onto this pre-industrial society.

I wondered if we were going to end in the alleyway, and they did :D So next episode will start with... The Scenes. It'll be interesting to see how much of it they censor. The novel kind of cuts the scene short and the manga is generally similar, though it gives more in visual implication. Non-hentai m/m anime tend to scale it back, though, so I suspect some cutting will occur. But Twilight Out of Focus, one of the more recent BL anime adaptations, didn't cut everything (they just turned scenes into multiple still shots), so we'll have to see. This seems to have less budget than that did.

I love how the ED (I assume this is the new OP and we'll get the true ED next week) has this shot of Seiichirou reaching out for and grabbing Aresh's hand. It's really cute. And them walking together T-T

Though they seem to be really confident they'll get pretty far in the story judging by this section in the OP...

Siegvold, Selio, and the related storyline doesn't appear until Volume 2 of the light novel, and Siegvold only first appears in Volume 4, Chapter 22 of the manga. And there's at least one decently large plotline to get to before that. Not to mention how big the one involving Siegvold + co is, especially for just 12 episodes and an OVA. Hypothetically you could squish those plotlines into that much time, but... it would be really tight, and based on the cutting that was done for episode 1, I'm not really optimistic... But I guess maybe volume 3 would be its own cour or season? Who knows...

Generally, though, a great start, even with the, well... animation art problems. Looking forward to next week!

Other thoughts:

Episode 1 (you are here), Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13/OVA

Read the novel in English. Listen to it as an audiobook. A fourth Bean light novel was announced: 国境治安再構築計画, to be released 1 April 2026 in Japanese.

Read the manga adaptation in English

If you’d like some Aresh/Seiichirou fanfics

If you're looking for more isekai BL recommendations, too, there are a lot, though if you want one that's near-identical from Japan, and complete at two volumes, My Younger Knight Takes Care of Me in Another World is pretty decent:

(This is hardly everything, just stuff I'm seeing as I rewatch this too many times)

The animation style is so beautiful!

This is one of my favorite shots.

The X trio + ????

For folks who don't remember, Nine and the unnamed person in black (????) were introduced in Episode 12: Fall of the Star, in an info collection that DOS (Mickey's organization) was doing on X's background:

???? is next to Rock, and Nine is to X's right. I think people are assuming ????, tarot lady, and 0, the woman in black who's sometimes matched with X, like in Episode 1: Nice, are the same person.

It's not entirely clear at the moment if ???? is the same as the tarot lady in the MV. One of the series' official artists, ShaDow, who does a lot of the hero art, posted this, with the trio (tarot lady, X, and Nine) earlier:

Certainly the colors on tarot lady's cards and on her tie match with ???? that we can see in Episode 12 and in the MV. And her design somewhat matches a bit with 0 (e.g., the color scheme, the long dark hair, the glasses, even the diamond/x black and gold pattern).

Interestingly at one point^ we see tarot lady, X, and Nine standing alongside each other and gazing up to fight the floating cards(?) ejecting goop enemies to fight, which has no one floating with them (Seen below)

The next scene is of only X and Nine standing to fight together. Tarot lady is gone.

Nine fights briefly and is knocked back, to be caught by X, who gazes upward (towards the floating cards, presumably) in slight worry. We then flash to a montage of other heroes fighting goop enemies (e.g., Lin Ling, Queen, Nice, Loli, Ghostblade, E-Soul), and then we have a shot of ???? floating with the cards and they and X are gazing at each other a bit antagonistically.

Given how tarot lady pulled X into the restaurant to chat and his body language, it seems like she wanted to convince him of something he wasn't that into. But they also appear to be allies, at least by how they stand up to face the goop monsters together. It's notable, however, as other folks on twitter pointed out, that we don't see her actually fighting, at all, especially before ???? shows up.

Was this some kind of fighting test to train them, set up by tarot lady? Is this a stunt to help make X look some way to someone (creating an enemy for him to fight, similar to how Wreck was designed to make Nice look stronger)? Perhaps so they can infiltrate an organization like the Commission or Spotlight? Were the goop monsters/???? a known enemy they all faced and X and tarot lady disagreed on how to face them? Did tarot lady switch sides to join the goop monsters/???? Or was tarot lady secretly always working for the enemy and just revealed her true colors when she appeared as ???? Did she/her organization recruit X to become Hero X? We initially see civilian X walking out of/away from somewhere (potentially the same place he seems to be shaking someone's hand for some reason earlier/later): did someone attempt to recruit him, he said no, and then that's why tarot lady is running after him, to try to recruit him herself or for her own group, which would include her, X, and Nine?

The way Inertia is modified, so it's a woman's voice and a man's voice now kind of combating/arguing with each other, is also a neat change that maybe signals some things with their relationship:

Woman singing: I always knew where I stood/I tried to be so good/Look at me now/I dunno how but/I'm a real hero

This would go along with the hero that the tarot lady and/or ???? were here before X was (potentially) and had plans before he came along. (An alternative is that she's mocking him)

The male voice (who's presumably meant to be X, as people have speculated in the past) takes over as the tarot lady rushes after civilian X: No hiding in the shadows/Time to strut/I'm gonna make a splash to make this cut/You've got to believe that I am free/So no hesitation

He has to deal with these powerful organizations coming after him/other people. He has to make a spectacle of himself to show his stance on things, and it's maybe just for show/as a distraction.

Woman singing: Picture your planet in disharmony

^^ this line suddenly becomes really threatening, especially in light of ???? seemingly standing in opposition to X and the other heroes. Is ???? bringing the disharmony or ???? and X disagree on how to stop the disharmony? Or "picture" is perhaps alluding to the fact this is all for show/a performance?

The male voice immediately comes back and takes over for the fight sequence, with X, Nine, and the other heroes combating the goop monsters.

The woman comes back, in a ruined city that X stands alone in, with: All my life they said that I was strange/But I knew that I could be the change

If ???? is the antagonistic figure here, it sounds like they are ready to destroy the city/get rid of the people there if it means changing things for what they believe is needed/right(?).

And as X walks forward, the male singer returns: I still ain't done enough/Not even close

This encourages this antagonism here between the two singers. X fighting for what X believes and maybe ???? doing the same, but perhaps at, no pun intended, cross purposes.

I also find this shot interesting: the goop arm is grabbing for X rather than punching at him (like they do with other characters). As if the goop wants X. As if ????, if ???? is in charge, wants to take him/have him join her, rather than just defeat him. And X is averse to that ("You've got to believe that I am free").

I also find this idea of whatever is happening here with the goop monster fight being a performance and tarot lady and X are grabbing a cast of characters (more on that in a bit) because the whole X/0 dichotomy in Episode 1 with Nice's apparent suicide, and X seemingly putting Nice up on the building before he falls implies it's a set-up. That one/both of them arranged the apparent suicide for a reason. And X's reticence perhaps shows he didn't agree with it/had issues with it. Perhaps X saved Nice but 0 ensured Lin Ling was trapped/Treeman was distracted? Or they just both had to work together to set up the scenario?

I really love Nine's powerset, with all the rainbow tools. I'm curious if X gave Nine their powers, similar to how gods in Heaven Official's Blessing can give their subordinates powers, or if X just buffs people as he chooses (it seems like he's buffing Nine when X snaps as they start to fight), similar to what Do Sehyun does in Surviving as a Player. Also the animation with Nine is really pretty. Nine's initial fight sequence just looks really cool, and I love how worried and protective X seems to be over Nine.

I love the continued concept that this mysterious figure isn't a lone wolf: he actually has at least a small network of allies/people who know him. And it's just fun to see him fighting alongside people rather than just running in, being badass, and then leaving.

Though if this is for show, perhaps Nine is just meant to be part of it, too, and X is worried about the whole thing working, given the danger. Maybe tarot lady/0/???? pushed too much, risking the death of the people involved, and he's not a fan. Maybe that's why the woman is singing this part of the song: "I always knew where I stood/I tried to be so good/Look at me now". And maybe that's why the usual X in the OP is singing it.

I am fascinated by the scene of X in the bathroom, seemingly panicking as he deals with his powers/his powers take him over.

He's struggling, perhaps ill, right before his pupils shrink and his face/head lights on rainbow fire. Seems kind of like a Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation, which makes Smile's comments about X switching to Hero X to chat more interesting. Unless this is just him struggling with his initial powers/how strong he's getting, and trying hard to keep his personal and hero lives separate and not quite succeeding, especially as he grows stronger.

The rainbow focus further goes with the theory that X is somehow at least partially responsible for Nine's powers. Or at least buffs them to let Nine use the rainbow tools.

Wreck v X

And we finally have a tease(?) of at least one of the alleged fights between X and Wreck, with this shot of Wreck walking past a diner where X is eating (Wreck is mentioned as fighting X at least once in that Episode 12 screen):

Interestingly, this reminds me of Nice's longer PV, where Wreck is walking along the street, destroying buildings.

The difference being Wreck doesn't have his sword over his shoulder in the music video. I don't know that this is meant to be the same event, and maybe the music video is just before Wreck and Nice fought in the PV (he just got his sword out later), which would align with X seemingly keeping an eye on a lot of the other heroes (and villains), but still. Neat. Glad this is getting brought up somehow!

I think it's interesting that before Wreck shows up, tarot lady pulls out the card for the fool, presumably indicating X (again going along with the idea that she's mocking him/that he's a centerpiece for whatever show they're putting on). And then, immediately after the "Wreck walking past X in the diner" shot, we see tarot lady pulling out a card for the chariot, the latter of which is covered.

Admittedly I know basically nothing about tarot. But Wreck was meant to help build trust for Nice (to carry him, basically, like a chariot would). And given, well, Nice's everything... Maybe the cards are referencing them? An additional point is the background of the fool card - it's a masked figure (well someone with their face covered) over what kind of looks like a white rock valley. Very reminiscent of the vision/metaphorical scenario where Nice, Wreck, and Moon are on some white rock in space in Nice's PV:

The alternate idea is that fighting Wreck is meant to help boost X's profile. When I wrote my fanfic about X and Wreck's fight (or at least their first fight if they fought more than once), I thought it was fascinating that Wreck was the only person then listed in-canon as of Episode 12 as someone X was known to have fought (we see him fight someone else later in the timeline, so this would be before that), and before X fought Queen in the 18th HAC Hero Ranking Tournament in Episode 11: Road to the Crown, X was described as, "A contestant who barely made it into the top 10 right before the ranking matches, a dark horse passerby. His name has yet to be registered into the HAC hero roster." Given how powerful Wreck is, it'd make sense that X could have used fighting Wreck as a way to build up his rank relatively quickly in time for the tournament. In that sense, Wreck is carrying X to where X needs to be (like a chariot). Hopefully both cards are not meant to symbolize Wreck, as a fool who can be used, but I don't know lol

The other heroes

And then all the heroes show up. Lin Ling as the Commoner in what looks like a new/modified outfit!

(You can see his little white hair stripe, it's him)

Then Queen flying about... And then Nice! For some reason! (He looks pretty)

Given this seems to take place after Lin Ling becomes the Commoner/gains powers, presumably Nice jumped/fell off the building already, so is Nice really alive after all? Or is this just a reference to the fact that he and X know each other?

And then we've got Lucky Cyan, brief flashes of Ghostblade, Ahu, Big Johnny, Loli, E-Soul...

And then ???? and X frowning at each other. Following X getting up, alone, we see Little Johnny sitting with what looks like Ghostblade...?

At least judging by the dark coat and golden collar.

And then Ahu and Dragon Boy hanging out for some reason.

He looks a bit thoughtful, maybe vaguely worried (or at least a little wary), but generally he's calm. You can tell from his irises, which become more lined/staticky after the smash. Ivan caressing Till's face actually takes a bit of time before the smash (it's kind of slow, for all it's very brief seconds), and Till doesn't react to it: he's just letting Ivan do what Ivan wants to do. I don't think Till minds Ivan doing the face brushing/caress. It's when Ivan grabs Till's mouth that Till starts to struggle, and the smash makes him even more frantic. Before that, things were (at least relatively) fine.

I don't think that the point of this is that Ivan's love was unrequited, especially if you compare it to the other contestants. Luka is amidst the rubble of his relationships with Hyunwoo and Hyuna, with Hyuna having smashed her own heart. Mizi and Sua were seemingly both self-destructive, and in it to the end. And the shot focuses a lot on all the contestants, not just one. The scene isn't just about Ivan's feelings. It's about Till's reaction to them, and what we see isn't exactly rejection.

Well, unfortunately, it feels like they cut the first time scene even more than the novel and manga did. You don't really see much in either instance, anyway, but at least in the manga, there's a little more visual implication they get down and dirty. There's also a lot more visible tenderness on Aresh's side, particularly in the manga. (Also, for folks unfamiliar with the trope, it's called fuck or die, it's fun, it's popular, it's in a lot of romance, in and out of m/m)

That being said, this was very nice:

I also like that although the magic seems to sort of be chanting, when Aresh does it, it sounds a lot more musical (I know chanting is a form of music, but his just sounds prettier, and like he's actually singing, versus Quelbus, who sounded more like he was chanting).

Although Seiichirou's morning after actions (realizing he's late for work and running out the door) are still silly, for folks who don't know, Aresh is not the first person he's been romantically and/or physically involved with. Or even the second. He had relationships before (and girlfriends, plural!), but his workaholism got in the way and led to break-ups (or his partners just kind of walking out of his life while he wasn't paying attention). From what I remember, Seiichirou is Aresh's first partner.

Of course Aresh gets attached alkdjlaj Needs to fuck that crotchety accountant.

What they don't really explain in the smoking scene is that the stuff that goes into cigarettes/cigars is extremely chock full of magicules (makes sense, given, well, drugs, of course the more magical stuff is the best). So yes, Seiichirou taking them would kill him. And Seiichirou, like unfortunately a lot of Japanese working men, smoked back in Japan. He misses cigarettes in the novel in particular. What's kind of disappointing (from an angst perspective if nothing else) is we really don't get to see him fully experiencing withdrawal (though obviously his being really upset and the tonics being the only help is one way he might experience that). Stargate: Universe actually had a very good episode (my favorite) about going cold turkey with caffeine and cigarettes when you accidentally get stuck in a new non-Earth location.

This was cute. "This" aldkjalkdja

Really needs to pet Seiichirou's soft head. For no reason. And him grabbing Seiichirou like a bad kitten was just alkjdlaj It's actually cuter in the anime, despite the manga having better art and the anime having like no budget at all.

I also loved them holding hands. So cute.

Ciro: OMG THE POWER OF BOYS LOVE RIGHT IN FRONT ME!

(But really, the excited noise Ciro makes here had me laughing alkdjlaj)

Aresh is so mad his new husband is not eating and also that he stays at work late! One of the things I love about this series is the focus on how valuing your job more than your health is bad! You do not owe your job your life! It will not love you back! In fact, you will die! Overtime is dumb and do not work more than your allotted hours! Do not work for free! Go home on time!

A thing they kind of skip with the whole "it's fine if you throw up" thing is that, back in Japan, Seiichirou, rather than call out sick or say he was having issues, would go throw up on the job, and go right back to work. (He would also sometimes sleep at the office, which is normal in some jobs like, say, working at a hospital, but really not necessary for accounting) (and in a perfect world we'd have more medical staff so medical personnel and anyone else who does this wouldn't have to do it either)

As for the pillow thing, I'm wondering if they're going to keep the manga original pillow extra. In volume 2, Aresh gets them both butt cushions/pillows (mainly for Seiichirou). And the pillow saga carries over a couple volumes. It's really cute. But the anime is squishing and cutting so much, so who knows?

Aresh looks really cute in his outfit :3

A nobleman who chooses to work for fun has no place to stand on a guy who had to work for a living T-T Yes, Seiichirou is also now essentially working "for fun", but still.......

I really love when characters encourage other characters to eat. It's a nice way of showing love. Aresh wants his skinny husband to put some meat and muscle on those bones!!

I liked the ending ("ED"), honestly.

There was some nice art and the song is pretty. This was also a really good shot of Aresh:

I also loved the shot of them laying together in the grass, particularly when "you're my everything" sings out when you can see their clasped hands:

This other shot of Aresh smiling is really cute:

Generally, it was a really fun episode! Still has the obvious budgeting/rush issues, with Aresh looking kind of variable between shots, and a lot of cutting with scenes... But this episode at least didn't feel as squished. Even though there were cuts, too. Still a bit worried about how they're handling this, but hopeful!

Volume 6 of the manga adaptation will also be out in English for next week's episode, so it's a great time to catch up with the manga, if you haven't!

Other thoughts:

Episode 1, Episode 2 (you are here), Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13/OVA

Read the novel in English. Listen to it as an audiobook. A fourth Bean light novel was announced: 国境治安再構築計画, and released on 1 April 2026 in Japanese.

Read the manga adaptation in English

If you’d like some Aresh/Seiichirou fanfics