Saving 80,000 Gold in Every other International for My Retirement

The show Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World has a decent enough plot and rambling execution. Although it doesn’t stay too long, it does make some strange decisions that weaken an otherwise promising beginning.

I wouldn’t hold that against the series, even though it is another isekai fantasy item. Despite the fact that stories about people fulfilling their dreams of traveling to another planet are so prevalent these days that many people roll their eyes at the mention of the word “isekai,” I believe this series manages to stand out by being a little more relevant. I have frequently stated that my personal problem with the majority of contemporary isekai stories is that they almost quickly veer into rather dull scenarios where the protagonist gets everything they could possibly want with little to no pushback or consequence, and frequently without giving any regard to the world they came from.

A lot of the problems are avoided by the protagonist character Mitsuha. The first line, “I need money to survive, these people pay for everything in gold coins, I should just bring a bunch of common everyday items from my world and sell them here for easy money,” is really relevant. The fact that her initial reaction was “How does this impact my actual life in the real world?” is such a breath of fresh air in comparison to many of the more ho-hum isekai I’ve encountered. Of course, not every isekai protagonist has the capacity to go back and forth at will. It also deftly parodies the fantasy cliché that all transactions are made in gold coins, which is so pervasive in the milieu of the genre that most people aren’t even aware it exists.

I really like how Mitsuha uses her family as a source of knowledge and support. She learned a lot of strange trivia and survival information from her elder brother, who was not only concerned with these subjects but also babbled on about them nonstop. In this other realm, Mitsuha meets a new family, and when their generosity prompts her to think of the family she’s lost — her true family in the real world — she is driven to tears by the memory. We are reminded of the value of the real world by these ongoing ties to her native country, which also add an emotional authenticity to these works that is frequently lacking. Even if the isekai protagonists loathed their previous life, it would be good to have some contemplation on why they did, but the wish-fulfillment material frequently takes center stage. Many of them seem to jump into these new worlds with wild abandon and joyously forget the one they came from.

The plot develops along with some entertaining concepts and intriguing issues. Mitsuha erects a storefront to advertise her goods. With the gold she has gained, Mitsuha hires private security after receiving guns training because she needs protection. These kinds of pragmatic concerns provide the actions on screen more verisimilitude and lessen the magical aspect of hopping back and forth between universes without rhyme or reason.

The series does have some issues, though.Visually, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World is quite uninteresting. The character designs are good but not particularly noteworthy. The characters Mitsuha encounters and the imaginary world she sees are all the same bland off-the-shelf medieval fantasy fare you’ve seen a thousand times before. Aside from the lack of any intriguing expression work or fluent character acting, there aren’t many animation moments to really get excited about. It’s a highly formulaic animation that never offends but also never impresses. The music is average and the voice quality is fair to good.

As the series goes on, the pacing and plotline deteriorate as well. Around the halfway point of the course, there is a general feeling that the plot has gotten off track and that nothing is happening in a way that makes sense. There are some issues that pertain to the real world, such knowing how to defend oneself.but what happens when we’re using machine guns and armored trucks to battle dragons? Given that a store owner must consider things like burglary and attempted theft, one would imagine that Mitsuha would eventually have to deal with thieves or bandits more directly. However, it never really is brought up in a significant way, which seems like a lost opportunity. And while I believe that the strategy of “we fight a dragon and the dark army” is totally acceptable in these circumstances, it feels way out of proportion to the pragmatist setting that the series began with.

Since the central idea is to sell items and save money, I had hoped that the problems would have more to do with real-world business issues than with imaginary ones. How do you operate a storefront on your own as a teenager? How are the things brought into and out of the other world? What happens if someone tries to follow you back to the other side from one? What happens if a competitor opens a storefront selling knockoff products in an effort to steal your customers? What happens if someone purchases a product only to copy it and sell it as their own? Although it’s not totally fair to criticize a work for what it isn’t, I am surprised that the practical business-minded concept does not result in various sorts of practical business-minded disputes. These are the kinds of issues I anticipated the program would deal with. It’s disappointing considering where we started when Mitsuha ends up dealing with all the same isekai issues that you would typically roll your eyes at.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World successfully extracts a significant amount of value from its compelling notion. The fact that such a sound principal investment can only provide simple interest when it could have generated compound interest is plain unfortunate.