What a busy final episode!
So in this cute finale, Elaine is inviting the people of Kalta to her family’s mansion for a party. She’s decided she wants to show her appreciation to everyone for what they have done for her. How nice!
Reiji, Mina and Noela are all invited, and although Garo kinda bullies his way into getting an invitation, it’s clear to me that no one really wants him there. And I do genuinely feel a little bad for him because no one wants to be left out, but he’s so annoying that I can understand why Reiji and the others left for the party without him.
Reiji doesn’t think the party is anything fancy and wants to attend while wearing his usual clothes, but Mina and Noela want to get dressed up. Reiji agrees to wearing formal clothes when he hears Mina speak about him and Noela being her new family. The trio get the idea to wear Mina’s family’s old clothes, and once Reiji invents some dress cleaner to restore the fabrics, the clothes are wearable again.
The flashbacks to Reiji’s past come as small, fleeting moments. For example, the high neck covering that comes as part of Mina’s father’s formal suit ensemble reminds Reiji of his old corporate job that he despised because he used to have to wear a traditional tie. As someone else who is also stuck in a field they desperately don’t want to work in, I hear you Reiji. ^^;;
Reiji’s transportation from the human world to Kalta is repeated as it was shown in last week’s preview. It’s very anticlimactic, honestly, and I was slightly disappointed. No flashing colors or weird sound effects, just literally a breeze blowing through the air and a slow fade from the human world to darkness, then a fade in to Kalta.
After he arrives in Kalta, Reiji learns (via cute name cards that pop up to explain new things in his environment) that he has two new skills: Identification and Medicine Making.
When Reiji finds Noela in her werewolf form lying injured on the forest floor, he uses these skills to create a potion that will help heal her. It’s the same blue energy potion from the beginning of the series.
Later in the episode, Garo’s butler finally catches up to him at the pharmacy and, upon seeing that Garo will listen to and obey Reiji, leaves the Demon King in Reiji’s hands. Yippee. /s
Finally Reiji, Mina and Noela are ready to attend the party. When they arrive at Elaine’s family’s manor, everyone is decked out in their finest dresses and jewelry. So many sparkles~
Reiji’s a hit as an eligible young bachelor (he’s only 24 or 25!) but doesn’t know what to do with all the female attention he’s getting. Mina gets a little jealous, lol.
All of the characters from the rest of the series are at the party, although thankfully Feris and Zeral and their dysfunctional relationship don’t have more than a handful of lines. Kururu and Ririka are there too, as are Paula, Anabel, Doz, and many other previous characters. Garo is locked outside because he arrived late, so he’s stuck outside with his butler and Noela plushie.
It’s a cute episode to wrap up the series. We didn’t get as much of Reiji’s backstory as I would have liked, but the flashbacks were straightforward and gave some background to his relationship with Noela and how they met. Better than nothing at all.
Final Impression
I enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would! I thought it would be some cutesy, fluffy isekai without much substance, but there were definitely some episodes and scenes that pulled at my heartstrings or had me giggling out loud. Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life’s a good combination of fantasy, comedy, and slice of life.
While there isn’t a large overarching plot and each episode is mostly standalone, I did appreciation some casual continuity between each episode. For example, the episode with Elaine reacting to her father’s new scent tied into the following episode which had a short conversation about the effects on pheromones in humans.
Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life is a reverse harem so the nearly entirely female cast is the usual wide range of personality and temperaments. There’s a female character for everyone to like or prefer, and my only disappointment is that we never got to see more of Ririka outside of her original half-episode. She’s really cute but I guess realizing she’d fallen for Reiji was too much for her to make another appearance?
Honestly the only major complaint I have about Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life is with Garo Ejil’s inclusion and one-sided crush on Noela. I know it’s a cultural thing and I’ve already been on my soapbox about how Garo’s crush on Noela was treated by the other characters, especially Reiji, so I won’t repeat it here. Overall I just found Garo to be an annoying character, his crush bothered me, and the episodes or parts of episodes I enjoyed the most were when he wasn’t around.
I kinda wish Reiji had started to fall for one of the ladies in his reverse harem, but I guess that takes some of the fun out of having a reverse harem in the first place? I don’t think that, but maybe others do. I think the closest we got was Paula and Reiji kinda flirt-teasing each other, but aside from an attempted kiss on the cheek, nothing serious came of their friendship.
The animation’s fantastic and all the music is fitting. I’m not a huge fan of the opening or ending themes but they’re not bad, just not my musical cup of tea. If you’re interested, they can be listened to here (OP) and here (ED).
Would I Recommend This Show to Others?: Yep! It’s cute and kinda wholesome, and I’m glad I can finally say I enjoyed an isekai title. (I reviewed Endride back in 2016 not long after I started writing for AAB, I but definitely didn’t enjoy it.) There’s admittedly not a lot of depth to the series as a whole, but there are a couple of episodes which might catch one off guard and really get the viewer feeling all the feels. The music’s good and the animation is well-done too.
Final Score: 9/10
