Sara Talks Anime

Video version:

Text version:

Imagine this: you are about to die, and you recognize that you’ve made mistakes that have led the world onto the path that it is currently on. Your very last wish before you die is to be able to go back and change everything—only to find yourself wake up before the event that started the whole chain, with an opportunity to fix everything. How would YOU react? What would YOU do?

While some of you may think I’m describing a type of fanfic known as a “fix-it fic” and are probably busy drafting comments about how I’m being clickbaity, look at the video’s title again. You’ll probably realize why I brought up that hypothetical. The Do-Over Damsel Conquers The Dragon Emperor is the original work equivalent of a fix-it fic.

This isn’t even the first time I’ve watched something that involves being sent into the past to fix mistakes. That other show, however, is another review for another day. In fact, my hypothetical also kind of recaps the beginning of the first episode of The Do-Over Damsel Conquers The Dragon Emperor…which I will refer to from here on as Do-Over Damsel because, unlike The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians, I actually have an easy way to condense it down instead of being stuck to say the entire series name every single time.

The story begins with Jill, our protagonist, getting sentenced to death, supposed to be killed by her fiancée. After fighting back for a bit, she gets hit by a spear, which is a homing thing, and she’s pretty sure she will die. I believe she wishes for a second chance or something. I don’t know; it’s been several weeks since I saw Episode 1, and I want to do as much of this video off of my memory as possible.

Getting back on track, instead of seeing the pearly gates of heaven or the fiery pits of hell, Jill is instead greeted by waking up in her body back on the day that she was set to become the main antagonist’s fiancée, and this time, she’s determined to make history go a different way than it ended up going for her. She thought she could avoid becoming the main antagonist’s fiancée by heading to the balcony. However, after seeing him still pursue her, Jill returns to the main hall and proclaims that a man close to her is already her fiancée.

Unfortunately, the man she proclaimed her fiancée just so happens to be someone who would’ve ended up being her enemy if she weren’t changing the future. Also, did I forget to mention that Jill is a child, and her new suitor is an adult? Remember, this is based in medieval times, so it is historically accurate. Just remember: even though I’m watching a show that has an age gap relationship that the average Twitter user would say causes the show to be heinous, it does not mean that I condone these types of relationships IRL. Historical context is what matters in determining whether or not something should be treated as a sin. Since this takes place in a world that seems to be based on medieval times, I’m only going to consider it okay within this context. If it weren’t for the context, I’d probably be dragging this series through the deepest depths of hell to lock it in a vault, never to be seen again except by the devil himself.

Anyway, they do stuff to bond, and decide to get married in name only…okay, can I talk about the biggest issue I have with this series now? WHY THE HELL ARE THE EPISODE TITLES SO LONG?! Ready to hear each one? *Ahem*

Episode 1: I Tried To Avoid The Route To Destruction And Somehow Ended Up Courting My Greatest Enemy

Episode 2: I Already Know The Tragedy That Is To Come, So I Will Do What I Can To Avoid It

Episode 3: The Situation Is Desperate, But As The God of War’s Daughter, I Will Defeat The Enemy With Brute Strength

And this is just the first three episodes. Episodes 4 and 5 have already aired, and trust me, the episode title length did not get shorter with those episodes. Honestly, each one seems like it could be the name of a completely separate light novel…though I’m mostly saying that because of their length.

This isn’t enough to turn me off from watching the series. I mean, it’s just episode names. If I can survive One Piece and Dragon Ball episode names, I can survive Do-Over Damsel episode names.

Episodes 2 and 3 of Do-Over Damsel basically revolve around them being in the country where Sir Dragon Emperor is the emperor and events that occur there to kick things off!

…they’re not all that pretty; I can say that much.

Okay, I’m done covering the series plot because I really don’t want to get into the criteria that our good sir Dragon Emperor has for his bride…and an episode past my three episode cutoff clarifies why he has this criteria, but since it’s past the three episode cutoff…yeah, I can’t talk about it.

The animation is done by J.C. Staff, who is also doing—WHY DO THEY CURRENTLY HAVE FIVE ONGOING SIMULCASTS, TWO CONTINUING FROM A PREVIOUS ANIME SEASON, AND THREE OF THE TOTAL SIMULCASTS I’M FOLLOWING THIS SEASON ANIMATED BY THEM?!

I kid you not: Do-Over Damsel, The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians, and Delico’s Nursery are all animated by them. I didn’t even bother bringing up animation studios until now, but since I just learned this the day I originally wrote this (November 8^th, if anyone’s curious!), I figured it was worth mentioning.

Anyway, the animation is okay. This series does appear to have a more comedic tone, and there are plenty of scenes with a style that perfectly complements that. However, sometimes, the lines on the outside are noticeably thicker than the ones on the inside. While someone who’s done practice with art may notice this easier outside of the times I’m talking about…the times I’m talking about are where they arguably stand out TOO much. Of course, this could just be a stylization decision that I have an issue with instead of the animation actually being bad. Who knows.

While the songs used for the themes are good, I don’t imagine myself listening to them often outside of the context of the anime. Like…I have the opening in my Spotify playlist, but I won’t be rushing to add the song used as the ending theme to my playlist anytime soon. Sorry.

Uhm…right, where it streams! It’s on Crunchyroll, and for free users…you’re stuck with the first three episodes at the time I originally wrote this (November 9^th), sorry. If age-gap romance isn’t an ick for you, I recommend checking it out.