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The Beginning After the End introduces a simple but intriguing premise: after a mysterious death, King Grey is reborn as Arthur Leywin on the magical continent of Dicathen. Although he enters his second life as a baby, his previous wisdom remains. He begins to master magic and forge his own path as the years go by, seeking to correct the mistakes of his past life.

The appeal of a fresh slate for a character that we’re not quite sure deserves redemption is introduced to us in the very first episode of The Beginning After the End. While not action heavy or with spectacular animation as of yet, it promises future action, character development and daring choices starting off with a strong emotional foundation here, first.

The time skip of skipping young Arthur–the former King Grey in this new life–to a four year old is a welcomed one as it moves along the story in a way that keeps up with the pacing of the original story. After his explosive awakening, the kid’s potential is realized by his father, and a decision is made to bring Arthur to new opportunities. In doing so, we see a new side of Arthur’s parents: adventurers who reunite with their old party. This second episode of The Beginning After the End begins not quietly but with intent and great promise. 

Animation wise, more of the combat this episode expanded to actual creatures and beasts providing more of a view of this new world’s dangers. This is a plus as audiences are granted more glimpses of how the warriors and those who make up traveling parties of this land use their talents. It is a learning experience for young Arthur to have a front seat to seeing the abilities he will encounter as he grows and who to emulate as he one day becomes great in this life. I was worried about the combat scenes being more static and simple but later scenes do pick up the pace in a variety of shots and animated sequences and this made for better watching, thankfully. 

Anime fans will be treated with a very fun and very obviously memed to hell and back reference to one of Shonen Anime greats–in an adorable training montage of little Arthur. There’s a load of surprises in this episode for our young protagonist personally in his development and for the narrative of the series. The older King Grey’s monologuing via his narration of what sets the two worlds apart: the more technologically advanced place of his past and this newer one that seems more simple but with charm brings a needed balance and tone that hopefully continues through the series. 

The episode opens and ends with parallels of Grey and now Arthur’s lives: weaving an constantly evolving emotional thread about sacrifice, duty, and family that is easy to follow and digest as a viewer. As I stated in my review of the first episode, I still think that The Beginning After the End could have greatly benefited from a two-episode premiere. Doing so could have debuted the series with a stronger foundation for the story for audiences to connect with, especially for those who were on the fence about watching more or weren’t content with the lack of a flashier starting episode.

I do know that this second episode has me set to watching to watch more and that, itself is a success on its own with the stack of worthy anime titles this season. I believe that the biggest pull that this anime adaptation has is its dedication to the heart of the story making sure that comes across first. The-still-consistent-and-getting-better-with-each-episode-so-far animation is second to complimenting the story so many of us have been emotionally invested in and I’m fine with that (so far at least). I know adapting The Beginning After the End for anime was a momentous task and we’re all one step closer to see this adaptation get closer to hopefully proving why more manhwa deserve the anime treatment and why Solo Leveling success can’t just be a fluke.

The Beginning After the End is streaming on Crunchyroll with new episodes simulcast weekly.

Visit the Official The Beginning After the End Anime Website

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The post Sacrifice, Duty, and Family: ‘The Beginning After the End’ Episode 2 Review appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.