Every series will inevitably have one, especially if you’re aiming for a tonal shift or substantial change in the narrative, so of course No Longer Allowed In Another World episode 5 is that “transition episode”. It’s far and away from filler, but equally so from being just an exposition dump- it’s a sort of hybrid that points the series in its new direction and gives it a kickstart to get it moving again. That certainly does mean that it can be a bit sluggish, but once it gets going, it’s really just like any other episode… plus a new character.
So, the slower parts. Thankfully No Longer Allowed In Another World episode 5 sticks them all at the front of the episode. In truth, I’m not really sure how many ways you would be able to slice a meeting of religious heads and have it be interesting in this world. While they’re very much just figureheads here, it remains important to expose them to the viewer for two reasons (as well as exposing their dysfunctional nature). Firstly, it helps explain the world and its organizational structure. While kingdoms remain independent, the Church is implicitly displayed as the pinnacle of order in the world, and the priests that are part of it comprise most of that ruling class. Secondly, they provide explicit context for some of the background happenings that have been chatted about here and there. We get a clearer picture of what’s going on, what needs to be stopped, and how Ysha thinks that Sensei is the person that can fix this world. Also, for the keen eyed there are certainly some interesting pieces hidden in and about in their conversation.
Anyways, perhaps the most interesting piece in all the exposition of No Longer Allowed In Another World episode 5 is the Seven Fallen Angels. Previously, when we were alerted to the death of the Dark Lord, there were only two characters present- (presumably) Sacchan, and a rather well dressed man. Now, the man does mention that their “allies” have gone out to stir up trouble in the world while they stay at the castle, so it is possible that we simply missed them in the first view of the Dark Lord’s domain…. but even if that’s the case, these two are obviously separate from the group of additional five Otherworlders.
Past the rather quick meeting with these fallen angels, and at a little shy of halfway through the episode, we move on to proper content. Well, about as proper as you can make two women dragging a not-yet-dead man in a coffin around, I suppose. It’s around this time in the manga that I found myself thinking, “Hm, there’s quite the formula of finding trouble in every town”. If it weren’t for the style and atmosphere provided by Sensei, it would surely get tiring, but additionally, there’s actually a good degree of difference in how each conflict arises and is managed. In No Longer Allowed In Another World episode 5, it’s by brewing a bit of conflict through the deceit of a little boy with big dreams. It’s hard to say that it’s a bad idea, but it’s also very easy to say that the series is (doing a good job of) walking a tightrope with this sort of repetition in regards to conflict and story that isolates events so much.
As I just said though, the balancing act gets a lot easier when you involve Sensei. Sure, a lot of that extravagant nature comes from outside of him specifically, but he himself is the catalyst for the strong composition, color design, and storyboarding. He’s just a creativity magnet, as is befitting of a novelist. Though, our new friend Nir finds himself with quite a few creative cuts before his second run-in with Sensei. It’s hardly on a level comparable to the esteemed writer, but there’s enough to keep you engaged before his last second arrival that spooks the other Otherworlders.
More exciting than the visual work with Sensei in the episode is the exposition provided by a nameless henchman in the trio of Otherworlders. Sporting an Analyze skill, he pokes a hole directly into the source of Sensei’s… individuality. Why has the man not died yet? Why can he endlessly survive regardless of his own wishes? It’s a very interesting quirk that you’d likely call a curse. While we don’t know what stops him from dying on 1hp by his own hands, we get to see how he survives against others. When faced with the threat of death, Sensei’s hp scales like mad, almost mimicking the excitement he has in facing down death. To Sensei, it’s very much a curse, but in the case of his gift, it was very clearly delivered to him as a sort of “selflessness switch”. When he steps in to save another, he basically becomes invincible. It’s really interesting little piece that places the objective view of his actions against Sensei’s subjective experience of them.
Okay, so maybe my description of No Longer Allowed In Another World episode 5 isn’t that great. It’s just that I’d read all of this previously, so revisiting the front half without too much of a difference proved to be a bit of a slog. Thankfully, P’ontdarc steps up to the plate, and even under Ryuuta Imaizumi (a first timer for storyboarding), you end up with something worth watching. Now, it’s hardly up to the feats of episode three or four, but it can comfortably fit in with the earlier episodes in the season. For being such a transient patch of content that really only matters for its exposition and set ups, it’s done quite a commendable job of delivering what needed to be to the viewer. Now, with that said, I’m much more excited about how the next episode will shake out than what this one was able to do. For that though, we have to wait another week.
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