For the last few years, the “isekai” fantasy subgenre—where a normal person from our world is transported to a fantasy world—has been maddeningly popular. In many of these shows, our protagonist has some hard-earned skill or magically given gift that allows them to not only survive but change the face of the world they find themselves in. More often than not the protagonist is in a completely different league from all those they encounter—which can easily drain tension from the story if handled recklessly. After all, if the hero is invincible, what danger is there to overcome?
Image source: 『 月が導く異世界道中 』TVアニメ公式 on Twitter
That said, there are several ways to handle an overpowered hero that keeps things tense and exciting. As I have written about before, How Not to Summon a Demon Lord, builds tension for its overpowered protagonist simply by having those he cares about being put in danger—danger often caused by his own roleplay persona and crippling social anxiety. This season’s TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy-, takes a different route towards building drama—but a no less effective one: making our overpowered hero have clear and obvious weaknesses.
TSUKIMICHI is the story of Makoto, a teenager from our world who is taken to a fantasy world—before being cast aside to die by that world’s goddess for being too ugly. However, as the son of two heroes who fled the fantasy world for Earth—and the god of Earth granting a portion of his power to Makoto—the young man might be the single most powerful existence on the planet (despite being “level 1”).
Image source: 『 月が導く異世界道中 』TVアニメ公式 on Twitter
Much of the humor of the series comes from his overpowered nature. Unsure of what is “normal” in the fantasy world, he assumes that the things he can do are nothing special. It doesn’t help that his closest companions, Tomoe and Mio, are some of the world’s most dangerous monsters—which further eschews his perception. This is, in fact, his first major weakness—not just his ignorance of his overwhelming strength but his lack of knowledge about the world overall as well.
Time and again, Makoto finds himself caught up in events unrelated to him—events he just smashes his way through in a fit of ignorance. So far, his actions have led to the destruction of an entire town and the elimination of all the elite adventurers in another. But this is only the first of his clearly defined weaknesses.
Image source: 『 月が導く異世界道中 』TVアニメ公式 on Twitter
Another is the fact that he is unable to show his face or speak the human tongue. To remove his mask or to speak at all would reveal him to be someone without the goddess’ blessing of beauty and speech—i.e., a monster. And if the war between demonkind and humans is any sign (not to mention the exile of non-human races into the badlands where the series takes place), revealing his true nature would mean social exile and outright hostility for Makoto. Heck, an entire town of adventurers tried to kill him based on his aura alone (which in turn requires him to wear magic draining rings to lower his power to believable levels).
While Makoto may have friends among those living in his village, it’s clear that he longs for human contact. More than that, he wants to travel around the fantasy world—perhaps retracing the steps his parents left before they departed this world decades before. Thus, he must deal with keeping his identity hidden and mouth shut or risk losing his ability to enter human society at all.
Image source: 『 月が導く異世界道中 』TVアニメ公式 on Twitter
The final big weakness for Makoto is a magical one. In terms of raw power, no one we’ve met can stand up to Makoto. Even his basic spells are devastating to high-level opponents. If he gets the first strike, it’s unlikely he’ll ever lose. However, very early on the series makes it clear that there is one important type of magic Makoto can’t use: healing magic. This means that in any kind of prolonged battle, Makoto will be at a disadvantage—and that he is quite vulnerable to sneak attacks.
So in the end, while Makoto no doubt fits into the “overpowered protagonist” mold, there is still a lot to work with on a dramatic level due to his numerous weaknesses. His ignorance of the world, the need to hide his identity for social reasons, and the simple fact that he can’t use healing magic all make for potential points of tension in the story. And while for the most part things have been played for comedy in the series so far, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t some real, serious danger for him lurking on the horizon.
TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy- can be seen on Crunchyroll.
Top image source: 『 月が導く異世界道中 』TVアニメ公式 on Twitter.
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