I loved the opening half of this episode, just super well done. We see the story from Alicia’s POV, get the reveal as we find out that it was all taking place in a game, and then later the final layer is that it might have originated in a game, but it is also real with this new character, Yumiella, lurking out of view in those previous scenes. The way they revealed those layers of plot is anime-original and it was fantastic, even including an entire fake OP. The way this opened up from a different character’s POV reminds me of how they did the first episode of Eminence in Shadow.

The comedy portion of this story hasn’t really kicked into gear yet, but I think they did a great job of setting up the story. The fact that they did such a great job rearranging and playing with POV/characters in this opening episode gives me a lot more confidence that they “get” the series and what makes it funny and enjoyable. Yeah, the animation is pretty lackluster with some sketchy CG horses/monsters, but I can deal with that if they tell the story well.