With the introduction of a new isekai anime, we couldn’t help but worry about how this one will stand out. Luckily for us, FunimationCon 2020 decided to grace us a special premiere of the first episode of By the Grace of Gods, and plenty of things stood out amongst all the numerous isekai anime adaptations.
Aside from the adorable, bouncing slime balls that can even do house chores for you, By the Grace of the Gods’ main theme focuses on the idea of healing and self-care. Unlike other isekai protagonists, Ryoma Takebayashi was a hard worker and had extraordinary mental and emotional tenacity on Earth. As a reward, the gods graced him with reincarnation in a new world in a new body. In his new life, he gets to live stress-free, happy, and fulfilled — a stark contrast from what had made his life hard, whether it was bad company work culture or even physical abuse.
Because Ryoma was a human with untapped, boundless potential, the gods chose him as the likely candidate and teleported him to a magically-depleted isekai world. Ryoma learned tame magic just so he could make best friends with slimes, much like catching new Pokémon and entering them into the Pokédex. What a truly graceful and peaceful life.
We were fascinated by the introduction of magical abilities and the introduction of the isekai world full of wonder and slimes. Alongside the narration of Ryoma’s backstory, the show makes us hopeful of what is to come as Ryoma settles into the new fantasy world, meeting new animals and characters.
As if the gods had not graced us enough, a potential love interest sparked our attention at the end of the premiere, making us wonder, exactly, what Ryoma will encounter in his new isekai life!
(But most importantly, Grace stands by the cute, bouncy slimes that do housework. She has been ultimately graced by their mere presence on screen.)
