Skeleton Knight in Another World is the latest isekai anime from the current spring season. In this one, protagonist Arc explores all the ins and outs of his beloved game world… but there's a catch. The anime series based on the light novel of the same name has been part of the Cruchyroll portfolio since April 7, 2022, where it is running in the Japanese original sound with German subtitles in the simulcast and in German in the SimulDub. John Victor Schwab

ATTENTION: Any statements in this preview only reflect the personal opinion of the author and not (!) those of ITweakIT and its partners.

The Fleshless Knight

Arc is an ordinary young man who likes to immerse himself in the world of RPGs to get away from it all. When he falls asleep in front of the television one evening, completely exhausted, this is said to have consequences.

After some time, Arc wakes up feeling weird. A few glances are enough for him to realize that from now on he will find himself in his game. Appropriately, he is exactly the character he chose before: a knight in splendid armour. Arc is over the moon and it's a dream come true for him. It doesn't take long for Arc to find out that he's armed with the best weapons, as well as all of his physical and magical abilities, just like in the game.

After extensively testing his powers, he now wants to know what he looks like. He goes to a river and takes off the helmet of his armor. The image of himself reflected in the water destroys his ideas and his situation turns out to be more difficult than expected. While Arc has many powers and armor that make him look like a great knight, his body is all bone. In short: He is a skeleton. In order to survive, however, he needs food and money. With the thought that he might be stuck in this new world forever, Arc decides to start his new life with fun. Now it's time to mingle with the crowd and not attract attention.

image and animation

Skeleton Knight in Another World (Jap. Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekake-chū ) is based on the light novel of the same name by Ennki Hakari, which has been published in Japan since June 2015 with 10 volumes to date. The two studios KAI and HORNETS are adapting the series, directed by Katsumi Ono, as an anime series, which has been celebrating its TV premiere in Japan since April 7, 2022. In Germany, Crunchyroll secured the license for the Isekai title and shows it in the OmU version as a simulcast and with a German soundtrack in SimulDub.

After the first few episodes, it can already be judged that the anime adaptation of Skeleton Knight in Another World is largely a success in terms of looks. In addition to high-quality images and intense colors, there are scenes with magic or monsters that stand out in terms of quality.

In addition, the animation is quite fluid, while Tōru Imanishi's general character design is kept quite simple and almost seems a bit bland in contrast to the beautiful main character. Many beautiful and elaborate details in scenes in terms of the amount of objects and characters are not really present and could have been a bit more quantitative. Nonetheless, the visuals and animation are generally consistent, if still a little clumsy.

German translation and music

As already mentioned, Skeleton Knight in Another World not only runs in the original Japanese version with German subtitles, but also with German dubbing in the so-called SimulDub. The German version is being produced by TNT Media GmbH in Berlin, for which Daniel Gärtner is writing the dialogue book and Jermain Meyer is directing the dialogue.

The comparison of the two language versions is correspondingly exciting, but at the same time sobering. Above all, I was positively surprised by the Japanese original version, whose cast is made up of numerous experienced speakers. The German version, however, could not convince me.

On the one hand, the German dubbing seems very dull. The speakers do not really come out of themselves and thus lose enormously in conviction. Furthermore, subjectively speaking, certain voices do not fit their respective roles and the audio quality is not good at times. In comparison, the original Japanese setting is very impulsive as usual and the main character achieves the intentionally humorous effect that is lost in German. In fact, so far I can recommend the original version rather than the time-shifted SimulDub, which is a shame given the effort involved in production. The musical accompaniment, composed by eba and Tsubasa Ito, is okay, but not outstanding and could be more eye-catching.

Click here to watch the series on Crunchyroll!

Conclusion

The new Isekai Skeleton Knight in Another World from KAI and HORNETS has so far presented itself with an appealing main character, high-quality images and smooth animation. This is strongly reminiscent of the hit series Overlord , but is still very reserved in terms of plot, while being quite predictable at the same time.

As a result, you quickly lose interest, which unfortunately the subtle humor can't compensate for, as it seems a bit artificial in my eyes. On the other hand, the Japanese original soundtrack should be noted positively, which, compared to the German soundtrack, is particularly convincing with its expressiveness and quality. The musical accompaniment, however, is often irritating because it is virtually non-existent in the first few episodes.

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As a result, there is always a feeling that something is missing and that the anime itself is not sure what it wants to convey or, if so, how it is supposed to convey it. Some scenes are mature and pull you in, while others seem rather dreary and misplaced. This in turn confirms my previous statement that the viewer quickly loses interest due to the overall sobering appearance, which means that I cannot make a recommendation at this point in time.

short conclusion  

Skeleton Knight in Another World comes up with a beautiful picture and a nice main character. On the other hand, the anime has so far hardly been supported by other aspects such as the music or good dialogues, which means that you quickly lose interest in watching.

Images: © Ennki Hakari, OVERLAP/Skeleton Knight Project.