Why did this Japanese term, 'isekai', become so popular among overseas anime fans? I mean they could keep calling the genre simply 'another world'. The genre itself is nothing new, but you wouldn't see many heated discussions mentioning 'isekai' anime series in 90s or 00s. There should be some difference between an anime about 'another world' and an 'isekai'. And unfortunately, the difference is that the new 'worlds' are just plain generic.
However, the most ridiculous thing happens when such an 'isekai' pretends to be serious while having no substance to support the claim.
Now, 'Otome Game no Hametsu Flag Shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shite Shimatta' has all the qualities necessary for us to call it a generic isekai-plus-reverse-harem. Some dozen words in its title. Your usual positive tree-climbing girl who is kind to everyone for the MC. She gathers a harem of admirers around her. All negative events are cleared by her good will. All of this happens in a pseudo-European pseudo-Renaissance/Victorian setting with rose gardens, long skirts and jewellery, white horses topped by princes, like wedding-cakes, and some magic.
So I was positively determined to give this series its well-earned 3 out of 10, pressed 'play', and for some reason... couldn't hate it.
The advantage of 'Hamefura', the unavoidable contraction of the monstrous title, is the fact that it's a parody on itself.
Yes, the heroine has some of the typical qualities of a harem queen, but in everything else - she's not. Not a 'I'm-clumsy-but-I-know-you-love-me-for-this'. And not a trembling leaf at a sight of another bishounen dead ahead. Not a girl who must prove she can while she can't. Not a girl who can't and doesn't.
Yes there's a harem, but it's not entirely a reverse harem, but, surprisingly, a mixed one? Yes, it's a different world, but the heroine gets a good chance to say goodbye to the real one, that scene making me almost cry. Yes, there are bishounens representing the common types of otome-games characters, but... they don't act the parts. In fact, their would-be selves are constantly made fun of, because none of them becomes the generic character he or she was supposed to be. Maria, the original heroine, who was not supposed to have any personality, because visual novels mostly feature faceless characters easy for the player to associate with, Sophia and Mary, some secondary friend-characters, all acquire a real story and a past. The bishounens only turn on their otome-game-capturable-character-mode when Katarina or other characters imagine what could be, but they never speak in the same manner in 'real' life.
And the backgrounds are not digital models but beautiful, almost like traditional Japanese paintings you wouldn't expect to see in a isekai reverse harem.
But the biggest achievement of 'Hamefura' is that they actually did draw a piano performer's hands the way they move in real life.
Yes, it's nothing of a masterpiece, it's just a funny story with bright colours, which in 2021 is almost an achievement.
