Hazurewaku no [Jôtai Ijô Sukiru] de Saikyô ni Natta Ore ga Subete o Jûrin Suru Made

Paralyze, poison.

Get used to these words because that is going to be the entirety of this anime. I've never reviewed an anime but this one was so offensive to my time that I had to.

I managed to get through it because I do enjoy "so bad its good" content and this definitely falls into that category most of the time. But do be warned; the entire anime, every single encounter, ends with paralyze, poison. There are 0 stakes anywhere in this anime. Even when faced with the greatest hero in all of the world all it takes is 2 words for him to defeat.

And the story isn't anything to write home about either; very simple and bare bones. The over arching plot is mildly interesting but the moment to moment and episode to episode plotlines are very weak and except for a single exception wraped up entirely instantly.

The graphics are what you'd expect from a PS1 game; I thought it was going for a dark souls feel and it nailed it if that was its goal but then the themes shifted quickly and now it has nothing in common with darksouls except the low quality CGI and it is used SO MUCH; two characters could be having a casual chat and suddenly everything turns into CGI for 10 seconds for a character to get on their knees and say something and its back to normal, very jarring.

Overall if your fine with 0 fighting animations due to everything dying in 2 words in every single fight(without exception) and you like shonen anime (because this anime has 0 stakes and risks etc) and sloppy CGI then this would be a perfect fit for you

SPOILER also for anyone thinking I didn't do my due diligence I watched the entire thing, I know about the panther, his new skills (ice and such) and his 80 person limit and so on. This is my opinion after suffering through the entire thing.

Personally I've always loved the old video game animation. But the show does use a lot of it and if you're not into it then it's not going to be for you. But the storyline is great I mean sure most animes kind of replay the same thing over and over again. But I like this one it gives him a horrible backstory showing the abuse and instead of him becoming a hero and saving people the normal way he has a more sadistic side so he's more like an anti-hero like Batman or Catwoman. The plot is incredible how each character has their own personality that's pretty much great. And this is a very adult animated has adult words and adult content so it's not something a child should be watching. But if they lessen down on a lot of the old CGI animation it would really help out the show. Bits of old CGI animation here and there is great especially for the far away frames but the closer ones or even the fighting frames shouldn't have old CGI animation.

Cinematography / Animation

Animation was not the worst. But I did not care for it. It is along the lines of Berserk in terms of animation style... I won't say quality, but in terms of style... yes. (And I mean this specifically in reference to fight scenes, every fight scene is the same animation style).

Editing

The story progressed pretty smoothly. Each scene goes in the order that it needs to, leaving out no inconsistencies in continuity. There are on occasion backstories that exist within an episode, but there is no stand-alone backstory episode, at least that I can remember.

Mise en Scene

In terms of the setting of specific scenes, I think the coolest moment in the anime comes in episode 6, personally. There is another moment when the MC travels to a location which provides a similar cool moment. This happens around episodes 9-10.

Performance

The actors and actresses did a great job of showing the specific emotions of pride, ego, and anger. As much as it makes you dislike certain characters, they were portrayed really well. So... a shoutout to:

Ryouta Suzuki & Ayami Tsukui (Touka) Masaaki Mizunaka (Takuto) Tsubasa Sasa (Agito) Emi, Hirayama (Asagi)

Sound

The soundtrack was good, the only thing that bothered me was the noise you heard when the MC used one of his abilities.

Overall... I think the anime had a good story and good pacing. I didn't care for the animation style, but that was not enough to keep me from watching it. The MC actually is highly intelligent and basically does whatever will benefit himself and the people he cares about.

I got about seven episodes into this and couldn't really get much further. This one has a lot of the usual Isekai tropes. But just because something recycles ideas to a point doesn't make it a bad piece of entertainment. This had a lot going for it in terms of potential. I'm always up for a good revenge plot, particularly against a deity simply because there is a lot of growth potential in that sort of story. The premise was pretty interesting as well (but got thin quickly). Our combat mechanics were interesting as well, but became a bit inconsistent and, well, boring. I stayed with it in the hopes of improvement due to the premise, but wasn't rewarded.

Let's go.

First off, practically every relevant named character is a basically an a-hole or moron in some capacity. Once you get passed that, we learn that, aside from our male protagonist and one other character that I can recall, every single male in this one is either a rapist or an elf fetishist. This basically makes the world around the character uninteresting and probably requires parental permission for younger audiences.

Then there's our protagonist. Without giving away much, we'll say our boy had some potential. His existence up to the starting point in the series has been apparently miserable. In fact, the entire point of the first episode is to beat this into your head thoroughly with a blunt force instrument. Along the way, we learn that he actually had some nice points in life, which he later discards, then reasserts, then drops again, then... well, you get the point. Basically, his characterization is inconsistent. This did make for one very, VERY nice twist in episode three, but that's about it. In a general sense, the writer of the series couldn't really decide what they wanted to do with him. Basically, he's like the usual nice-guy-turned-harem-target without any appreciable depth beyond his flip-flopping "I am a hardass but really a nice dude inside I think" characterization.

But roughly about three episodes in, it begins to hit you that what you are watching is a self-insert power trip fantasy turned into an anime. Now, I've got no issues with fanfiction or self-insert stories. You do you. But if I wanted to binge that sort of tale, I would drop my local Anime streaming service and check out some fanfic website.

There is some storytelling whiplash, deus ex machina, and even writer arsepulls as wel. Without giving away spoilers, the entire point of one episode about the range of our male character's attacks and builds around his needing to draw them in closer so this modus operandi would be effect. Then after a particularly gruesome demonstration of our protagonist's abilities.... he gains range!

I was done after that. To the writer's credit, they did build this up some, but there didn't really seem to be a point after that. But it's really difficult to stay with something when the rules change in a world because of plot convenience. Our other fan-service protagonist has her own special power in this world, which I think involves her glowing and warping in some cool armor, but doesn't seem to have any actual combat value because the writer and animators couldn't be bothered to give us a demonstration of it.

There are some issues with the animation as well. For about half of the scenes in this series, this was done pretty well. But in other parts, the CGI overlay on photo-realistic backgrounds was actually jarring. In some parts, it's fluid and smooth, but others (particularly in the Inn scenes for some reasons), it feels like the video cards needed a driver update because the FPS was horrible. The action scenes were adequate, but not spectacular. Just.... Meh.

In summary, I can't really recommend this one. This one had potential to be something, but fell flat nearly from the outset and I can't really think of a reason to watch this unless you an animated OP self-insert story turned anime.

"Failure Frame" defies traditional expectations by presenting a villainous protagonist, Touka Mimori, whose journey from abandonment to revenge is both captivating and thought-provoking. The anime's unique blend of dark fantasy, isekai elements, and strategic storytelling makes for an engaging watch.

*Strengths:*

• Touka's complex character development and moral ambiguity
• Intriguing supporting cast, particularly Seras Ashrain
• Strategic battles and magical systems
• Subversive take on traditional hero's journey

*Weaknesses:*

• Subpar animation and excessive CGI usage
• Unnecessary fan service detracts from the narrative
• Pacing issues in some episodes

*Verdict:*

Despite its flaws, "Failure Frame" is a compelling watch for fans of dark fantasy and isekai genres. The anime's ability to balance action, strategy, and character development makes it an entertaining ride. While not perfect, the show's unique perspective and engaging storyline make it worth watching.