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The Beginning After The End(TBATE) is a solid series that is finally getting an anime adaptation this season. The original novel and its webcomic adaptation have been able to gather a strong fanbase, and there were high expectations that the series would become a hit.
Many people have claimed thatTBATEwill be “the nextSolo Leveling”, which made many curious about the potential similarities between both series. With that in mind, is it fair to compareThe Beginning After The EndtoSolo Leveling?
Why Is The Beginning After The End Compared To Solo Leveling?
Since the anime was announced,TBATEhas been seen as a solid candidate to eventually become a big hit. Just likeSolo Leveling,it was originally a novel created by a Korean-born author(the author ofTBATEis a Korean-born American who moved to the US at a young age).TBATEsoongot a webcomic adaptation— both the novel and the webtoon are available on Tapas.
But, honestly,that’s all there is to it.The Beginning After The Endis very different fromSolo Leveling, both in setting and plot.Solo Levelingis about a low-ranking Hunter (a “loser”) who gets the chance to level up and become the strongest Hunter around. On the other hand,TBATEis about a former ruthless king who was killed and reincarnated as a newborn baby in a medieval world to atone for his sins. These two seriesare nothing alike, although there are many people who enjoy both.
Part of the comparisons may be an attempt to boost the marketing of the series, as dubbing it “the nextSolo Leveling” or something like that would certainly draw attention. There are also those who hope it will become a hit likeSolo Levelingdid (honestly, the story has the potential to become a huge success).
TBATE Looks More Like This Other Anime Series
However, there is a famous anime with whichTBATEhas some similarities — it could even have served as an inspiration, but there is no information about it. We’re talking aboutMushoku Tensei: Jobless Incarnation.
The design of Arthur Leywin, the new name of the main character in the new world, resembles Rudeus a bit, but that could just be a coincidence. In addition, both stories are told similarly, with the main character eventually making self-explanatory remarks to the audience as a narrator. Both main characters are also aware that they were not “good people” in their former lives, even though they were “bad people” for different reasons and in very different ways.
Some users have even"accused"TBATEof copyingMushoku Tensei. However, while the series may have a few things in common withMushoku Tensei, accusing it of being a rip-off seems more like crossing a line. The final moments of Episode 2 putTBATEin a completely different direction thanMushoku Tensei. Also,medieval isekai series will natrurallyshare some similarities as they usually rely on similar tropes.
What About the Animation of TBATE?
Much more concerning the potential inspiration fromMushoku Tenseiis theharsh criticism thatThe Beginning After The End’s animationis receiving from fans. People are complaining about “poor animation quality” on social media — many of these complaints focus onthe animation employing too many still framesin action scenes, which would require more movement:
Userson Reddit commented thatthe two episodes that have already been released were outsourced to other studios — Studio A-Cat apparently only works with 3DCG animation, so they would have to rely on other studios to produce 2D series.
The only resemblence of animation in this entire episode was that with the black haired girl attacking the wolves, and then [it] immediately goes back to [a] slideshow animation.
—imtherealdazza on Reddit
Most of the comments about the latest episode on Reddit don’t even focus on the story; the quality of the animation is the main topic, meaning that fans are deeply dissatisfied with it.
Is There Any Hope The Animation Will Improve?
Thefirst three episodes of any anime series are usually the ones with the best quality— of course, there are exceptions, but series that have well-animated final episodes usually already started off well. It is unlikely that a series which started off with poor animation will get better later on, mostly due to budget reasons.
However,there might still be some hope. Depending on how much attention fans are able to bring to the series, the production committee may realize that the series has a huge fan base, and that they will lose money if those fans are not satisfied. So they could invest more in the show (probably in future seasons), and then the studios involved would be able to deliver a better product. Still, the probability of something like this happening seems low, although not zero.
The Beginning After The Endisavailable to stream on Crunchyroll, subbed in many languages. Dubbed versions should be added at a later date.
