Going Beyond the Norm: Sekai no Hate de Aimashou

Synopsis

Ryouma was just a simple high school boy who didn’t have the easiest with how much his classmates bully him. One day he encounters a crash site and discovers a young man trapped. He makes the decision to save him only to get trapped in the rubble. However, he awakens to find himself not only safe but also in a completely different location. Not only that, he discovers that he not has he been turned into a girl, but the male she saved was in fact an alien prince who decided that she/he will become his wife?!

The Good

The first thing to note that makes this series so different from the rest is its openness in the gender struggle of the protagonist and the way it manages to slip in actual thought provoking moments in between the usual humor brought out from this concept. What really makes the series worth the read though is the way that the final arc played out. From the unexpected story of the villain to how it handled the emotional scenes of the main leads, the overall way the series took things is highly interesting.

Going back on the note of gender struggles, for the most part, when it comes to this type of stories, the whole gender change thing came off as a point of comedy, but here there are actual moments of frustration and questioning that is rarely if ever seen and it is highly refreshing. Each chapter takes on a different note but the way the story takes on the perspective of side characters and create their own story somehow helps tie everything together. It may not seem like it but just the outsider point of view at times makes for a dynamic storytelling.

Outside of the gender struggle, the comedy and the story framework though, there were also quite a bit of dark moments that the story was able to slip in and not only make it work but adds a good and dramatic dynamic for the male characters. Simply put, the character development, the struggles, the overall structure of the story gave a highly interesting read on different kinds of levels.

The Bad

The general issue with the series mainly lies in how the relationship of the main leads was handled. For the most part, the general tropes that are the comedy and the hate love relationship between the two is understood given the time it was released, but just the way it was presented could have worked out better. They way that only towards the very end that they are able to talk things out rationally is a little on the disappointing side.

Then there is the ending and epilogue, while the build up and presentation of the final arc was great, the ending did come off as rather rushed and the epilogue that was presented didn’t leave much room for the relationship development between the leads. Outside of the side characters stories, the tie on the main plot could have worked out better. Especially given how repetitive it got on certain points.

On a different note is the design of Ryouma; when you take a look over the series, you may notice that there are times that Ryouma’s design is not all that consistent. For the most part his face doesn’t show much change but there are times when it looks rounder or more feminine in certain scenes. Overall the design of the series seems in the personal opinion of this writer, a bit rough around the edges.

Conclusion

This a truly different and highly interesting series that is worth getting into. The struggles, the development and the overall plot has a lot to offer. Still, there is also the tropes, the old comedy and the slight design inconsistency to go through as well. There are times when certain scenes become a little redundant but for the most part, thee drama and plot make up for a lot of the issues in the series.

Rating: 8/10