Re:Monster (2024)

Director: Takayuki Inagaki
Studio: Studio Deen
Starring: Takuya Sato, Kenta Hosoda, Ai Kakuma
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
After being murdered, a man is reincarnated as a goblin in a world of swords and sorcery with the ability to absorb the ability of any creature he eats.

Impressions:
Imagine Tensura but worse in every way and you've pretty well got this series. Yes, "well, actually" readers out there, I know this came out first, but the early bird didn't get the worm in this case. There's a possibility that the source material and/or its manga adaptation are better, but I'm not nearly invested enough to go down that rabbit hole. I won't say there aren't any interesting ideas, but none of them are executed particularly well. Characterization is thin, the game mechanics are ill-defined, the plot beats not all that compelling, and the challenge level is mostly nonexistent, but at least in this version, the rape is kept to a minimum. (You know how Shousetsuka ni Narou WN edgelords can be.) The main conceit is the main character and most of the supporting cast evolving and gaining new abilities, but particularly in the case of Gobrou/Ogrou, each time he eats a new opponent, we get spammed with all these abilities that may or may not be relevant later and the evolutions themselves tend to be vaguely defined at best. Needless to say, any novelty of the premise wore out real fast and no matter what you might be looking for in a series like this, you're almost certain to be disappointed. Maybe if you have always wanted to ding-ding-dong like King Kong, the OP will at least do something for you. There's nothing to recommend here, so just pass on it and watch S3 of Tensura instead (which is something I haven't done as of yet as I kinda checked out of that series, but maybe I'll pick it back up to reengage with the same general concept done better).

Rating:
Avoid It