By now, it is obvious that the isekai subgenre is overcrowded. If it is true that not all material can be innovative narratively and visually, it does not mean that it is impossible to create a piece nice enough to enjoy in its simplicity.
Wise Man’s Grandchild introduces itself as the latter (or at least tried to) and after a short season, is a second one planned or even deserved?
What happened so far in Wise Man’s Grandchild
Modern-day Japan: an unnamed salaryman gets unexpectedly killed by an expected Truck-Kun and is reincarnated as a baby in another world. Found by the national hero and powerful mage Merlin Wolford, the orphan is named Shin and taken in by the Wolford family. Shin then receives the best training in magic and martial arts one could dream of and shows an unparalleled potential and talent for his young age. His prowess is due to the fact that he actually retained all the memories from his past life, making it easier to process information and mix some of his extra knowledge in.
On his 15th birthday, Merlin notices that for all his power, Shin lacks in several departments: he has no social skill, no common sense, and no sense of responsibility. Following the advice of King Diseum, sovereign of the Earlshide Kingdom, the young man is sent to the Magic Academy, where he is tasked to hone his skills and properly grow up among other teenagers.
However, he quickly becomes a budding celebrity thanks to his massive power and does not go unnoticed. Navigating between normal school life and his newfound friendships, Shin will have to also take care of the evils looming in the shadows and threatening the city.
What is going on with Silver Link?
Wise Man’s Grandchild premiered on April 10, 2019, and ended on June 26, 2019, after 12 episodes. The anime is directed by Masafumi Tamura, written by Tatsuya Takahashi, and Kow Otani composed the score.
Wise Man’s Grandchild starts in a rather typical way, akin to a lot of other isekai anime. The story is pretty basic, and there is no twist to how the tropes are used. But that is not an issue as the anime presents itself as a comedy. And that could have worked well if not for its lazy writing and wet cardboard cutout cast. It is an overkill of bad taste all across the board. The anime is supposed to be a parody, but that aspect is quickly lost in the redundant and overdone comedy. The jokes are the same, often forced and continuously getting thrown in our faces. The best running gag the anime has to offer is having someone warn Shin that he should hold back on his power, then Shin uses his power, destroys everything around him, and sheepishly says, “lol, I was holding back, promise.”
Emphasis on “the best running gag” so that you can gauge the comedic standard here. Not only that, but its pervasive nature destroys the rare serious and interesting moments the show offers. Strangely enough, there is no harm as the protagonist quickly finds the woman of his dreams (Sicily). However, that does not eliminate the useless fanservice and littered everywhere, you will find panty shots, deep cleavage, and groping sequences. Additionally, there is no world-building.
For an isekai, it is a big mistake. New terms are used without an explanation, the way their magic works is never explained, there is no history and no culture. The original medium, the light novel, is more of a slice of life isekai than an action or adventure isekai which is not translated at all in the series. Due to the show skipping a lot of scenes, the pacing is atrocious and events are all over the place.
The characters are bland. From the protagonist Shin to the supporting cast, they are all one-dimensional. Shin himself is the perfect Gary Stu for people who want to self-insert themselves in what could have easily been fanfiction written by a 12-year-old. Overpowered characters are difficult to manage and require good characterization to make sense. That does not happen here. Instead, we are served a mediocre hero who has no weakness and can end a fight in a matter of seconds. If you are not going to build any tension around the hero and his fights, at least make it interesting enough or give more space to secondary characters so that we can also see them progressing and struggling (à la One Punch Man). Anyway, that would be awfully difficult considering the fact that Shin has zero personality. He is your generic goody-two-shoes hero with a powerful disposition and innate talent. And it does not get better for the rest of the cast: each of them is given one stereotyped trait that should represent their personality: timid Sicily, friendly August, fiery Marina, etc. And that is why one of the nicest points in the show is then reduced to pure nonsense and finds no place in the narrative: the relationship between Shin and Sicily. How did that happen anyway? They even end up engaged, but viewers do not really get to understand why. The relationship is forced on us by the writers, and to hell whether or not it makes sense. The “insta-love” narrative device has never been a good thing, except when you know how to play humorously with the situation or can create a well crafted situation around it. And it has already been established that Wise Man’s Grandchild has none of these. The dynamics between all the characters are based on that lazy model, allowing the writer to throw in whatever they want when they want to. The only redeeming character is Merlin who shows genuine love and care for Shin and his efforts to help his grandson feel more comfortable around other people are nicely displayed.
The animation is subpar with off-model character animation, distorted eyes, no shading and body proportions looking wrong . It looks like action scenes were too much to handle as the frames look really awkward. There is no fluidity. The character design and background art are both generic and if you are reminded of KonoSuba when looking at the landscapes, it is because both anime share the same background art director. But he did not really try with Wise Man’s Grandchild as we can find the same house in 3 different instances in the show, a house he already used in KonoSuba.
What do we know about Wise Man’s Grandchild Season 2 so far?
There has not been any new announcement since the series ended. Objectively, it might never happen considering that the anime did not do that well and was mostly used as a tool to promote the novel and the manga.
What are fans saying about Wise Man’s Grandchild Season 2?
The community is really small. The anime did not encounter much success and the light novel and the manga have never been picked up for licensing in the West. The manga is being translated by fans, but no one is working on the novel. There is a subreddit that does not seem to be updated and the title is mentioned on Twitter, but barely and for unrelated topics. The Discord Server does not seem to be active anymore either. Not much interaction from fans can be found. Wise Man’s Grandchild received passable scores on Anilist, IMDB, MAL and Crunchryroll.
Will there be Wise Man’s Grandchild Season 2?
Wise Man’s Grandchild started as a light novel in July 2015 and is still ongoing today with 17 volumes out. It is written by Tsuyoshi Yoshioka and illustrated by Seiji Kikuchi. Yoshioka has also written 3 side-stories novels and a oneshot. The manga is illustrated by Shunsuke Ogata and started in March 2016 (ongoing – 17 volumes). In 2020, Funimation released the complete series in a boxset (Blu-ray + DVD).
The anime is not that old so goodies are still available. You can find t-shirts, acrylic stands, booklets, keychains, plushies, etc. Some of these are out of stock, but customers can order a restock which might mean that, instead of wasting money restocking something when the title is not that popular, companies wait for the demand. Google Trends is further exposing the lack of popularity of Wise Man’s Grandchild over the last 12 months with a graph that tends to lay on the deceased side. Weird peaks are observed towards the end, but they are pretty sudden and quickly lose their momentum.
When will Wise Man’s Grandchild Season 2 be released?
No date available as of yet.
What can we expect in Season 2 of Wise Man’s Grandchild?
There is not much hope for a second season considering all the factors. The anime was not really loved and the title failed at creating a big enough fandom. In Japan, the light novel must have its small audience since it is still in publication (and at a constant pace at that), but nothing that would warrant another season for the anime.
