Warning: Spoilers for Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp episode #5Every isekai protagonist who gets reincarnated always has the unenviable task of trying to hide the fact that they either come from another world or have lived multiple lives, and the new Crunchyroll series Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp is taking that problem to the extreme. Further underscoring this point is another isekai from Crunchyroll’s current season whose protagonist has a similar background.
Doctor Elise already turned heads when its debut episode showcased a breathtaking way to incorporate Reverse Isekai into another already layered reincarnation experience. Now the latest episodes are underscoring how especially difficult it is for the eponymous Elise to make amends for her actions in a past life
Elise is trying to do that by performing top-notch surgery in her new world, when she isn’t even a doctor. To everyone, she is ostensibly only a noblewoman who just happened to one day want to be a surgeon after reading extensively about this physically demanding medical practice. This proves that the fantastic skills that isekai heroes bring to their new worlds can be sometimes hard to justify.
Doctor Elise Reveals The Difficulties Isekai Heroes Must Face
Produced by Maho Film, based on the web novel series by Yuin
Some isekai anime avoid this dynamic completely by just focusing on how amazed everyone is at the reincarnated protagonist’s supposed innate skills. Those who get suspicious of the protagonist in most isekai don’t alarm the viewer until much later in the series, if ever, since many of these skills can be innate or the protagonist can be easily labeled as a prodigy. However, surgery is another story, especially when these procedures are performed in the presence of other surgeons, like Doctor Graham in Doctor Elise.
Like many isekai supporting characters who are deceived by the protagonist, Doctor Graham comes up with his own explanations or theories as to why a noblewoman like Elise can be so proficient in surgery, noting at times that even prodigies can only learn so much from reading. However, episode #4 ups the ante considerably when Elise performs a form of surgery that hasn’t been invented yet. Doctor Graham even makes a rather poetic observation by saying that it is as though she was born with experience etched into her soul. Of course, Doctor Graham, a highly rational and scientific man, quickly brushes that idea aside for its absurdity.
Isekai Heroes Rarely Have To Explain Their Abilities
The fact that Doctor Graham can explain away something as a noblewoman with no purported prior experience inventing a new form of surgery on the spot creates peace of mind for viewers that it’s now unlikely that anything else will cause him to suspect anything again. However, it still highlights just how precarious of a position Doctor Elise was in, especially when compared to her counterparts from other isekai series.
Helping put Doctor Elise’s unique situation into perspective is another new Isekai on Crunchyroll, 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! Like Elise, Rishe has previous experience in medicine, except her specialty is in inventing cures. Although an impressive skill, it’s one that can, in theory, be learned from books, more so than surgery, which is a more experience-based profession that requires actual hands-on time with real patients.
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp, is proving to be a successful series, standing aside from other isekai in an oversaturated field. The choice of surgery has a theme poses interesting questions and challenges to the protagonist, including having to hide the source of her impressive skills, something that other isekai heroes rarely have to worry about.
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady With the Lamp is available on Crunchyroll.
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