The first episode of the 2023 newcomer anime Working for God in a Godless World has left viewers as disappointed as they are amused.
The brand-new series from the fledgling Studio Palette, a Japanese animation house established in 2018, combines 2D and 3D art styles to shocking effect, making it an early contender for worst animation of the year. The anime community has been roasting the series on Twitter, with one particularly bizarre scene featuring a CGI-rendered buffalo-like monster taking the brunt of the criticism. Although the use of 3D in the pilot episode has been deemed outright laughable to some, others have pointed out that the 2D art style underneath actually looks decent and that the anime’s premise seems intriguing, making the distracting use of CGI a major disappointment for a new series that otherwise might be promising.
The Spring 2023 anime season has got off to a strong start with the debut of series like Demon Slayer Season 3, the first Ash-less Pokémon anime Pokémon Horizons, and many others all drawing significant attention. While there have been series like My Home Hero that critics and fans have all but rejected, it may be too early to dismiss Working for God as one of this season’s duds based solely on its animation. The source manga from writer Aoi Akashiro and artist Sonshō Hangetsuban, has found success in the seinen market, recently reaching its sixth volume and expanding with a spin-off manga titled, What My Older Sister Does in a World Without Gods. Given that Studio Palette is relatively new to the industry, with only a handful of anime adaptations to their name, they may simply need time and patience to find their footing as they bring Working for God to fruition.
Working for God in a Godless World is a Unique Isekai Story
Working for God in a Godless World follows the story of Yukito, a young man whose cult leader parents ritually sacrificed him, resulting in Yukito’s reincarnation into a strange new world. Yukito finds himself in a land entirely without religion but where an authoritarian nation controls the lives and deaths of its citizens. In trying to save a friend from state-mandated execution, both of them end up dying, only for the gods of Yukito’s old religion to resurrect them once again. The series offers a unique spin on the isekai genre, which has become notably homogeneous in recent years.
The first episode of the Working for God anime is available to stream on Crunchyroll. The manga does not currently have an English distributor, but is published in Japanese by Hero’s Inc.
Source: Twitter