Kuro no Shoukanshi 黒の召喚士 he Berserker Rises to Greatness.
Synopsis
Black Summoner story is about Kelvin who prepare for reincarnation in another world, he gives up select memories from his previous life in exchange for powerful abilities, additional skill points, and an S-class summoner title. As a bonus, the goddess facilitating his rebirth, Melfina, offers him a choice of any companion to give him a head start in his summoner role. Kelvin—who has fallen head over heels for Melfina at first sight—promptly chooses the deity, confident that his passionate feelings for her will resurface even without all of his memories.
Kelvin embarks on his exciting new journey with Melfina as his guide. However, in order to summon his beloved goddess’ physical form, he needs to acquire significant amounts of mana points—and the best way to accomplish this is to level up by fighting strong enemies and making contracts with even stronger companions.
Review
EHHH…how many generic Isekai anime adaptations are we gonna have in each and every season until the folks in Japan realize that the forumla’s starting to get stale? Certainly no, no not one, because it’s all the good rage in the East while everywhere else in the world is getting dysfunctional at this stage.
And for one Doufu Mayoi (which I believe is the pen name for the author, and also, I just like that the given name is literally Doufu “豆腐”, which means “tofu” in Chinese), his first-ever work that is Kuro no Shoukanshi a.k.a Black Summoner which got its start as a Syosetu title in 2014 before being a serialized LN in 2016, certainly was telling of a time where a lot of other authors were concocting their various Isekai ideas as well for a trial start. From the likes of Ryo Shirakome’s Arifureta which debuted a year earlier in 2013 to Dojyomaru’s Realist Hero debuting the same year as this show’s web novel, it was untested waters when Rifujin no Maganote’s Mushoku Tensei was the unbeaten domineering Isekai title at the time for at least 2 years. It was definitely a trying time for all to see what could capture the attention of the Japanese folks, and Black Summoner was one of the few that thrived that is now 17 volumes long and ongoing.
But numbers alone don’t tell the success of the source material, and rather it leans on the story plot, which is just a skimpy Kirito rip-off travelling in a world that he was just Isekai-ed to, and making his establishment based on what he has going for him. And for Kelvin, he is just that same boring, cliché and OP MC that you’ve seen a million times over with no originality put whatsoever. Only except that he is a reincarnated Summoner, a class job that is practically unheard of but to the certain few in the fantasy world that’s known for being the strongest: the S-rank notion of powerful abilities in exchange of his real world’s memories. And in his class, he’s the best battle junkie: someone who’s always looking for a worthy fight with powerful adventurers and monsters to tackle with. This is what makes Kelvin unique.
How Kuro no Shoukanshi a.k.a Black Summoner went is by the best of both worlds, and by that I mean that it combines this season’s Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life and Isekai Meikyuu Harem’s formulas into one with the whole monster tamer thingie-a-bob and the OP MC purchasing a slave and having a harem of his own (though it’s not explained explicitly). Oh, and some other shows like Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to for the whole Isekai “god” angle (that thankfully ain’t a criticism-based one)…and I think that’s it. It honestly sounds like a wishy-washy premise, yet how novelist Doufu Mayoi envisioned this work to be, it’s one of a typical slow burn, something that like Isekai Meikyuu Harem was going for in terms of its pacing, which to be honest isn’t a bad thing, and it opens the opportunities for a future season to come. But why watch mediocre trash Isekai like this when you can spend the precious limited time watching something better, like Mushoku Tensei?
Kelvin’s party of members isn’t all that bad either, in fact they are quite decent. Starting off with the monster tamer’s side to contract (which really looks a lot like Pokemon but different), we have the blue monster slime that is Clotho. Sure, it doesn’t have the same personality as say Tensei Slime’s Rimuru Tempest or the batch of slimes in Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life, but I quite like its own unique personality that always never fails to put a smile on my face. Next is the unequivocal trope of “elves being slaves to torture and sell” that is Efil. Honestly, this idea is getting more overused and more often than not, brings a sour taste with it, but with Efil, Kelvin raised her to become an archer, so that’s character development. Next is Gerard, a Blackghost Knight, bound to Earth by the pain and anger of losing his wife and kids, and fights with Kelvin in some dope-ass (well, not really) CGI to become his 2nd contractual monster.
After that, is Sera, the daughter of a demon lord (or demon king in this case). It’s as typical as it comes to be on a master-servant level after some fights or so. The other gap to fill comes from Melfina, the Goddess of Reincarnation, the same goddess which brought Kelvin into the fantasy world but hidden from view as an interactive game menu. Together, the S-rank Summoner and his 4 party members, plus one Rion, travel across their land, seeking for wild adventures and as per Melfina’s direction to improve the summoned Heroes (because it ain’t an Isekai without one) to face their fated destiny to defeat the Demon Lord. Just interpret at how antiquated all of this looks like, it’s just your standard stereotypical and generic Isekai with nothing unique to offer.
Where everywhere shines in its mediocrity, the same story could be said about its production. This is easily one of Satelight’s most recent low points (same as is with last Fall’s Sakugan), and the studio really hasn’t had a hit since Winter 2020’s Somali to Mori no Kamisama a.k.a Somali and the Forest Spirit and the Symphogear series At this point, I’m thinking that it’s the beginning of the end for the once prolific studio. This show easily screams of a low budget production, and that could be why Gerard is the only character that acts in full-on 3DCG. I wouldn’t say it’s a shame, but that it wasn’t that impressive to begin with in the first place.
What’s not a wish-wash is definitely the music and its kinda subpar OST. The OP itself is amazing, courtesy of popular Vocaloid producer Kaikiri Bear that just recently launched her newest project under the name “RetBear”, an “anonymous” unit that she is paired to with a different unknown vocalist for each song. And this is evidently shown in the OP, smeared with the psychedelic visuals coupled with the unknown vocalist 10fu’s high vocals that’s tuned exactly to the pumpin’ beats. The same story goes to the ED, which Minori Suzuki has been hitting banger after banger songs, and the 2 renditions of her song “Wherever”: the earlier original which helms the majority of an instrumental melancholic feel, and the later full-on vocals (which is the remix version) that brightens the song more, both versions are great, though I will opt for the original version instead being a very musicality person.
When all is said and done, an Isekai’s an Isekai, that’s the hard-and-fast awful truth, and this show is really nothing special from the story to its characters. It just all speaks genericness, and if this does get a Season 2, it may still be the trashworthy Isekai, but I’m willing to see what lies ahead that actually is accountable and tallied towards its popularity in Japan.
But for now, it’s just a cake walk with no challenge that can be taken seriously, and this is just about as diminishing as the overall show can be.
