The Beginning After the End Episode 1-2 Review

Being reborn in another world is a hallmark trope of the anime genre. It feels like with each new anime season, there’s a handful of shows that fall into the isekai/reincarnation category. With such abundance, disparities in quality are inevitable—while series like Oshi No Ko prove to be truly game-changing, others like Conception are often labelled among the worst anime of all time. The Beginning After the End appears to be your typical isekai on paper, featuring a tyrant king reborn into a new world and given a second chance at life. Unfortunately, it’s also typical in its execution, never striving for anything beyond mediocrity.

We open in a world that’s both medieval and futuristic, where King Grey (Makoto Furukawa), an emotionless tyrant, rules with an iron fist. One day, he mysteriously dies and awakens as a baby in a world drastically different from his own. Reborn as Arthur Leywin (Natsumi Fujiwara), he retains all the memories of his past life. As Arthur grows, he learns magic and begins forging his own path, seeking redemption for his former actions.

Even after two episodes, I still have no idea what the overarching story of The Beginning After the End is supposed to be. It feels like nothing of consequence has happened so far, and the narrative lacks intrigue. It follows a cookie-cutter “I was reincarnated in another world” storyline that does nothing to reinvent the genre or subvert its clichés. In an oversaturated market—where Re:Zero and Konosuba stand as top-tier examples of isekai and rank among the most popular anime in recent memory—failing to offer something new feels disappointingly lazy.

The animation, too, is nothing to write home about. It features a flat color palette and a generic art style that embodies what someone unfamiliar with anime might imagine anime to look like. It suffers from corner-cutting techniques that attempt to make essentially still images appear as though they’re moving. I hesitate to call animation “lazy,” as a great deal of work goes into producing these shows—but in this case, calling it animation at all sometimes feels like a gross exaggeration.

The Beginning After the End’s biggest failure lies in the fact that the fantasy world briefly hinted at during glimpses of King Grey’s life seems far more interesting than the generic realm Arthur now inhabits. King Grey’s world still has medieval aesthetics and combat, but also integrates futuristic elements like flying vehicles and what appear to be robots. This world feels far more fascinating and ripe for exploration. Yet instead, we’re stuck in a bland fantasy setting where any sense of creative visual identity seems to vanish.

The Beginning After the End isn’t a terrible show—but it isn’t a good one either. It’s trapped in a level of mediocrity that feels difficult to escape. Nothing in these two episodes compelled me to keep watching, and to be honest, I may drop the show if episode three offers more of the same.

★★

Available to stream on Crunchyroll / Makoto Furukawa, Natsumi Fujiwara, Kana Ichinose, Yamato Kinjo, Rena Maeda / Dir: Keitarou Motonaga / Crunchyroll