Alternative title(s): Riadeiru no Daichi nite/World of Leadale
Light Novel Adaptation by Maho Film
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Keina (with a K) is in hospital on life support. To get some sort of enjoyment out of staying alive, she plays a VRMMORPG. There’s a power cut and the life support stops, but while the body died, Keina’s mind entered the game and became Cayna (with a C and a Y), an overpowered half-elf. 200 years passed but Keina’s efforts in the game in the past are still relevant and available, such as the children she made in the game. Oh right, yeah, she has some adopted children in the game, who haven’t seen their mother for 200 years.

Peter’s verdict: There’s a sub-genre of isekai that I seem to enjoy

So, I’ve watched episode 1 of this show, as per typical GLORIO First Look regulations. I thought the first episode lays the groundwork for a potentially fun and/or wholesome show, depending on how things continue. I am noticing some similarities in some other shows I’ve enjoyed, and also some sidestepping of certain overused isekai tropes that the more generic shows vomit up each season. And that’s sorta lead me to figure out that there’s a particular sub-genre of isekai that I seem to do OK with.

Looking back at isekai shows I’ve watched and enjoyed, such as I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level, Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense and Ascendance of a Bookworm, there’s an ongoing theme of, as someone succinctly put it, “the female protagonist just wants to chill”. From episode 1 and the overall plot summary, I think that Leadale might fall into this sub-genre, and that’s good! In particular, I am drawing comparisons with Killing Slimes in that the protagonist slowly builds an adopted family of the various misfits and amusing characters they meet along the way. Leadale might take the family part a bit more literally, although the “children” are only mentioned fairly briefly in episode 1, so it’s not clear how they’ll handle having their “mother” show up after a 200 year time skip.

I mentioned that some isekai tropes are avoided, and one I really appreciate not being present is the infodump of how the world works, getting your skills, etc. Leadale’s protagonist has been playing this game a lot and so doesn’t need to learn everything, it all comes naturally. Heck, when she wakes up in the world, she subconsciously opens an item box to get a piece of candy for a child while still being half asleep and not realizing where she is. It means that we can just watch what happens, and not have to have it explained to us in minute detail.

Something that’s a little off-putting is how quickly Keina/Cayna accepts that she died in the real world. She gets it confirmed that the power cut happened and her connection to the life support was lost, but doesn’t really spend too long thinking about it, or at least not that we get to see. On the other hand, this show is leaning more into comedy so having a character lament their death might be out-of-place anyway.

Animation-wise, the show looks fine. Nothing super fancy, although they do have a lot of fun with character expressions and reactions throughout, which is great fun. I believe the cool kids call this a “Faces Show”, in that it has good faces. From episode 1 alone, I’m not one to argue.

So, looking forward to episode 2 and onwards, it’ll be interesting to see how they handle the adopted children of our protagonist, the hints at a now-resolved(?) war during the timeskip before Cayna entered the world, if Keina gets brought back to life at all, what conflicts are going to happen, how many people will end up in Cayna’s extended family, etc. Lots of questions, but I think it’s going to be a fun time either way.