Light Novel Adaptation by Passione
Streaming on Hulu / Disney+

Premise

In a fantasy world at the nexus of dimensions, the Demon King has finally been defeated. Without a common enemy, the “Shura” – beings from other worlds powerful enough to face the Demon King in open combat – now war with each other to determine who is the strongest, with no regard for collateral damage.

Iro’s verdict: We Cannot Escape

Put Ishura down on the list of “premises that could be pretty cool if they were not poisoned by isekai and its genre expectations”. The core idea of a bunch of diversely super-powered freakshows with names like “Regnejee the Sunset Wings” fighting it out with the little people getting caught in the middle is solid, and the sort of North African set dressing is appealing… but the show also focuses on Japanese Guy who will certainly conquer them all with his Superior Yamato Katana. I suppose “I did not instantly hate it” is a ringing endorsement for an isekai show these days (the Anime Overton Window is real), but I also have no cause to watch another episode.

Zigg’s verdict: Trapped in the Cage of Cliche

There are appealing aspects to the presentation of Ishura – the faux middle-eastern setting, the striking design of the mechanical enemies, in particular the ‘dungeon’ monster – but any promise is drowned in the overwhelming stench of isekai-light-novel stank that this thing gives off. Even if we put aside our showy, invincible, immediately unlikeable main character, we’ve got codependent girl who’s emotionally crippled but secretly an ultra-powerful mage, another storm of cliches I’m very, very tired of. Ishura also shows many of the traditional light-novel adaptation weaknesses when it comes to pacing and dialogue, with long inner monologues dumping loads of lore and exposition on us, and extremely stilted, unnatural feeling character interaction. I will say that the action sequences are nicely done for the most part, and there’s a glimmer of hope in the ending, because if you have to do a shonen battle series the best thing you can do is provide a constant supply of weird boss characters with increasingly wacky looks and powers. Still, it’s pretty hard to feel too great about the prospects here. Also does it still count as fridging when the character you’re killing for is also female?