So I legit thought this was another isekai when I read the title as it’s a fair assumption to make when any anime has the word reborn in the name. However, the story takes a very different turn as it stars a demon lord who dies and is reborn years later in the same world as a nobody named Ard Meteor. His goal was to leave his former life of being the strongest and terribly alone to being someone of average power seen as an equal and hopefully a friend amongst his peers. Though in the years between his lives the world entered an era of peace and everyone is weaker for it so his views of average in his old life are now far stronger than the rest of the world in his new one. So in a twist of fate he must find a way to live an average lifestyle with friends while being anything but.

I want to talk about the story first because this took me by surprise. From how the story was presented and the first episode it really looked like it was going to be mainly a comedy and there was a good bit of humor spread out in the entire season. Though as a whole the story is far deeper than what I expected. Ard actually has a very sad and complex motive behind ending his previous life to be reborn. As the story dove deeper behind Ard’s thought process, tragic background as well as his personality we get to see that he is carrying with him a lot of secrets, regret and so much more.

The story around Ard gets very complicated as well as his former self is regarded as a hero in the current time so he is surrounded by his own fame. Plays about his stories, celebrations of his success and even some of his former comrades are seen all throughout the season and seeing how he reacts to all of them is really entertaining as he tries to hide his real identity. To make matters worse because he is so much more powerful than everyone else displays of that power become an instant giveaway. It is very interesting to watch him react to all of this. Then the story continues to further complicate itself by involving potential time travel and the multiverse but any further explanation dives into spoiler territory, but what I will say is we get a lot of versions of Ard this season.

The characters are for the most part good as Ard is a complex and enjoyable character to watch and most of the supporting cast winds up bouncing well off of him. You do get a few forgettable characters here and there that show up briefly and don’t really do anything but they were few and far between. I will say though it seems like this show goes a bit of the harem route where Ard is constantly flirted with by his two female friends and the rest of his class. I don’t have any objection to harem stories as a whole but when you have a character this complex, a story this involved I just don’t think it needs a harem on top of that. I didn’t dislike the scenes where he was flirted with I just felt like it happened often enough it took some time away from a story I was really interested in seeing more of.

While this isn’t technically an isekai since both lives are in the same world combat in this show is very much like what you see in the genre. Because Ard is overpowered, even as he tries to hide his power he ends up ending combat rather quickly. Thankfully he’s also very flashy so we often get a great visual spectacle with each fight. Fights here are more of a brief visual entertainment designed as some kind of means of furthering the plot so if you like extended and well choreographed fight scenes you’re not really getting that here but to me this is fine because anytime you’re dealing with an overpowered protagonist that tends to be the case.

Overall I started this show thinking it was going to be mainly a comedy, but while it has humor it has a surprising amount of depth. Ard is a complicated character with a complex personality and background. The path to explore that background is very entertaining and his path in the present world is equally amusing. If that wasn’t enough you get this interesting decent into the multiverse where you get even more depth and more mysteries. I’m very curious where this story goes and I want to keep watching this show to find out more.