Crossover Spoof 'Isekai Quartet' Surprisingly Works Well – Really, Really Well

What’s the best new anime of the 2019 spring season?  Well, if I’m to be asked, it’s the short-form Isekai Quartet.  Now, it didn’t start out that way; in my initial rankings, it was third place.  But as the weeks progress, it became apparent that it was the one among the newcomers that I was most consistently entertained with.

Isekai Quartet is a chibi-style, presumably non-canon crossover between four of the most popular isekai properties out there – KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World, Overlord, Re:Zero – Staring Life in Another World, and Saga of Tanya the Evil.  After pressing a mysterious button that came out of nowhere, the respective characters of these isekai shows are transported to a world where they have to go to school together as classmates.  As expected, hilarity ensues.

Going in, I had seen three of its four source materials, which provided enough background knowledge already to understand and appreciate what was going on in it.  However, it made me so keen of maximizing my enjoyment for it that I quickly proceeded to binge the only one that I hadn’t seen yet (which was Saga of Tanya the Evil by the way).

Being a short-form and all, Isekai Quartet has a limited runtime with each episode.  However, it’s efficient.  It does a terrific job in taking full advantage of its bizarre premise to produce extremely amusing and satisfying interactions between the characters, whose traits and abilities are consistent with how they are depicted in their respective home anime shows.  Each episode is packed with high-quality comedy being generated from the clash of personalities occurring and the scenarios they find themselves in.

Honestly, I never imagined from the start that the idea of bringing all these isekai characters together into a school setting and make a slice-of-life spoof out of it would work – let alone, end up being this clever, hilarious, and pleasing.

The season finale ends (major SPOILER) with transfer students joining the class.  But before revealing who they are, it cuts with a cliffhanger.  Now, I’m genuinely excited to learn their identities.  Are they simply additional characters coming from the same four isekai or are they characters come from a fifth isekai property?  If the latter is true, will this anime become known as Isekai Quintet as a result?  Can’t wait for season 2!