Alternative title(s): Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori
Manga Adaptation by Tatsunoko Production
Streaming on Crunchyroll

Premise

Yuri is a typical Japanese teenager on the verge of adulthood, having just experienced her first kiss and about to embark on a new chapter in life. However, when she is suddenly pulled through a puddle by magical means, she finds herself in an ancient city in the Middle East, where she is quickly captured by the queen who summoned her to this world. Rescued in the nick of time by the queen’s stepson, Prince Kail, she must now find a way to survive the palace schemings – or else become a human sacrifice as the queen intends.

Artemis’ verdict: Ancient Turkish Isekai

Do you miss isekai anime when the word didn’t exist yet in the popular lexicon, a la 12 Kingdoms, Fushigi Yugi, or Magic Knight Rayearth? If so, Red River will probably be right up your alley. From the very ‘90s bishoujo (and bishounen) character designs to the dramatic royal scheming and magical-girl(esque) plot points, Red River looks like it’ll have it all.

The main difference here is that instead of being transported to a pseudo-medieval fantasy world, our main character finds herself in the Hittite Empire, circa 1500 B.C. Now I certainly wouldn’t go into this expecting any major historical accuracy – I’ll just assume it’s to be treated like an out-and-out fantasy series in all but name – but the ‘real-world’ aspects of the show are nonetheless refreshing after being treated to a slew of “this person got isekai’d to a made-up world so we can do whatever we like and not have to worry about any internal realism or consistency.”

It’s a bit too early for me to decide whether I’ll stick with Red River or not, which will largely depend on how the main character develops beyond damsel-in-distress-rescued-by-hot-prince archetype. The nostalgic vibes sure are strong with this one though, so I’ll at least give it another episode or two before rendering a more thorough verdict.