Let me just start off by saying, the premise is interesting and I was surprised by how strong the storyline was to keep me entertained throughout. Unlike other anime, this one doesn't include excessive internal dialogue which is a saving grace as that's normally what detracts from their potential in my experience.
The backstory, that being an indestructible protagonist that must face off in combat, is at odds with there being character development or risk. The episodes are too short to properly explain the motive for the main character. In the fourth season, a mysterious dragon is introduced which carried promise, however nothing more seems to have released since 2022. And four seasons later is a bit late to introduce an antagonist. So in a way the meta storyline is pretty slow despite the short episodes.
There's a lot more that could be done here. For instance, why is he there? Nothing has been explained. There's no game-breaking exploits, glitches, etc. He's sexually distant despite being in what can only be described as a man's dream, surrounded by beautiful subjects throwing themselves at his feet for sex. Very little panic about the fact that he's in an inescapable simulation? Why's he still hung up on players when the NPCs seem to be fully sentient and practically real?
It has a game of thrones style political discourse which is excellent. But then why make it so obvious who the victor is? His enemies are trumped at every step, it's just giving the expectation that they're insignificant.
Despite what other people said, I thought the ego-stroking was a good feature of the show. It was really funny when they attributed his coincidental presence at the arena to a stroke of strategic genius. I thought they were building up demiurge to be the main antagonist, but that never happened. Four seasons and basically nothing changed.
Shame, I'd like to see more but it seems to be getting made quite slowly.
