The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (2020)

[八男って､ それはないでしょう!]

Director: Tatsuo Miura
Studio: Shin-Ei Animation
Starring: Junya Enoki, Asuka Nishi, Hiro Shimono
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A salaryman wakes up in another world in the body of the eighth son of a minor noble family and must find his own way to fortune.

Impressions:
There's a lot of isekai trash out there, but this is rather remarkable in how unremarkable it is. There's nothing dramatically bad about it, but nothing much that stands out either. It's like a bowl of plain oatmeal. There's some potential with the characters and the settings, but events get glossed over and conflicts are so easily resolved that there's no real tension. This is technically a harem show, but the romantic elements are incredibly flaccid. Besides the primary love interest, once the additional members are added to the harem, there's absolutely nothing, to the point where you could reasonably expect the concubinage to be entirely pro forma. In the latter half of the series, they bring in court intrigue, but it doesn't get built up sufficiently and, like I said about the conflicts in the show, it gets resolved with little effort or sacrifice. Our main character is rather passive and naive, which would be fine as a starting point, but he never really seems to grow out of it. I know all this doesn't sound like much of an endorsement and it isn't, but I've trudged through a lot of isekai trash and I can at least say that watching this wasn't a chore. As a time-waster, you could do worse. If an unchallenging fantasy story sounds like something you're up for, you might want to give it a shot, but you won't miss much if you pass on it.

Rating:
50/50