Warning: The following contains spoilers for Let Me Check the Walkthrough First episode 2!
At first glance, the isekai anime Let Me Check the Walkthrough First on Crunchyroll doesn’t appear to be capable of revolutionizing or subverting anything. It’s overly cute, and clearly fails to take itself seriously to the point where many of the tropes it does pander to are done almost too conspicuously. And yet, this new series actually gives a fresh take to the classic “summoning” trope that very few have attempted.
When it comes to reincarnation tropes in isekai, some series involve the protagonist being magically reborn in a magical realm with amazing powers, searching for some new purpose after holding on regrets to their past life. Others involve an omnipotent force summoning a normal person to their magical world by killing them because that person has been preordained to save them from whatever calamity has befallen them. The latter is what happens to Lin Yinuo, except she’s summoned by accident in Let Me Check the Walkthrough First, a series that originally aired in 2022, but is currently being simulcasted on Crunchyroll for the Fall anime season. Moreover, Lin’s real body hasn’t died yet, so she can still return to her body before she officially passes.
Let Me Check the Walkthrough First Flips Another Isekai’s Innovative Formula
Created By Kung Fu Frog Animation
After being summoned, Lin learns during the stereotypical rundown from her summoner that someone else by the name of Tian Enya should have been summoned – not her. Lin later saves that person after embarking on her own adventure, and by episode 2, it’s discovered that Lin got caught up in the summoning spell because she and Tian share the same birthday. However, rather than getting sent back to her original body as she would have liked, Lin is talked into accompanying Tian as her bodyguard.
Very few isekai have tried to subvert the usual summoning formula where the protagonist is correctly summoned and subsequently saves everyone despite having been a normal person in their previous life. Interestingly, another 2022 Crunchyroll anime series has, except it flips Let Me Check the Walkthrough First‘s own fresh take. In the first season of The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent, the protagonist Sei is summoned alongside another girl named Aira. Like Lin, Sei’s summoning is believed to have been an accident until later events prove she’s the actual hero. Meanwhile, Aira turns out to have been summoned alongside Sei because they were in close proximity to one another in their former lives. In contrast, Let Me Check the Walkthrough First has definitively proven that its actual protagonist was summoned accidentally, which is the least expected outcome for obvious reasons.
Let Me Check the Walkthrough Shares Similarities With Oshi No Ko
In addition to subverting isekai’s stereotypical “summoning” trope, Let Me Check the Walkthrough First does something else unexpected in its second episode by revealing the connection between Lin and Tian during their former lives. Not only is this rare, but if any parallels are to be made in an isekai, the series generally withholds this information until much later. The only notable exception happens in the popular anime Oshi no Ko where the doctor Gorou and his former patient Sarina are reborn as pop idol Ai’s children, Aqua and Ruby, respectively, in the first episode.
The difference is that Let Me Check the Walkthrough First‘s Lin and Tian are informed of their former relationship immediately for comedic effect, while Oshi no Ko has kept Aqua and Ruby in the dark to increase dramatic suspense. The reason for this is that, much like how Let Me Check the Walkthrough First is a much less serious version of The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent, so, too, is it nowhere near as dramatic as Oshi no Ko despite being innovative.
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