Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout

A Bad Concept That Somehow Worked

Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to / 異世界美少女受肉おじさんと) is an anime that exists. It’s also called Fabiniku, for short.

Yes, it’s yet another isekai. And yes, it has a twist that sets it apart from the countless other isekai series out there.

Of course, as is tradition, the twist is spelled out right in the title. In this anime, an ordinary guy gets reincarnated into a total fantasy knockout. That means he reincarnated into a fantasy world as a cute girl.

But, there’s a second part of the twist, which is what actually makes this series unique. Notice the “Life with” part at the start of the title. In Fabiniku there are actually two guys who get reincarnated, but only one becomes a cute girl.

Two guy friends, Hinata and Tsukasa, find themselves reincarnated in a fantasy world. But, while Tsukasa retained his normal appearance, Hinata is now in the body of his ideal girl. That doesn’t sound so bad. However, the two soon realize that they might actually be attracted to each other.

To save their friendship from going down a path of no return, the pair set out to defeat the demon lord. You know, because of course there’s a demon lord in this random fantasy world.

But, how did Hinata and Tsukasa come to be in this world? The Goddess of Love and Beauty decided it was Hinata’s time to die (and be reborn). And Tsukasa happened to get dragged along with him into the other world.

It’s this goddess who tells the pair to defeat the demon lord. But, she never actually said doing so would return them to their old lives.

Main & Supporting Characters

Hinata Tachibana is one of the two main characters. Originally, he was an average guy who never stood out much. But, now that he’s a cute girl in a fantasy world, he’s the star. In this world, Hinata has very low stats. But, she has a powerful charm ability that makes her irresistible.

Tsukasa Jinguuji is the other main character. He’s Hinata’s childhood friend. But, unlike Hinata, he always excelled at everything he did. Academia, sports, attracting women — Tsukasa could do it all. Though, he never showed any interest in women until Hinata’s gender swap happened.

Schwartz von Liechtenstein Lohengramm is literally Kirito from Sword Art Online. He’s another person who reincarnated into the fantasy world. But, rather than the Goddess of Love and Beauty reincarnating him, it was the Goddess of Night. Schwartz’s character design is the same as Kirito’s, he has a cursed sword, and he’s cringey.

Personally, I don’t find Hinata to be that cute. Instead, I’m much more of a fan of Tilolilo Lilili Lou, the chieftain of the Elves. I actually didn’t realize that was her name until writing this review. But, she’s a petite, green-haired elf-girl like High Elf Archer and Ryuu Lion.

Another girl cuter than Hinata is Muria. She’s some sort of attendant to the king. What she does isn’t that important. Instead, what’s important is that she has twin tails. Oh, and she gets tied up a few times, which gives her bonus points in my book.

Yugrain is the last character I’ll mention. She’s the princess of the kingdom — and is also cuter than Hinata. When we first meet her, she’s about to end it all by jumping from a window in the castle. But, she decides to keep on living and start a coup instead.

It’s Generic, But I Want More

If you couldn’t tell, Fabiniku is a comedy series. And, in a lot of instances, I didn’t think the comedy was that great. Hinata charming guys and the romantic tension between the main characters didn’t do it for me. On top of that, it’s very generic from an isekai standpoint.

But, I still enjoyed the series and would definitely watch a second season if it ever gets one. When I first started the anime, I didn’t expect I’d be writing this now. However, there were quite a few times that Fabiniku made me laugh.

I’m going to spoil one of my favorite jokes, so you can skip on down to the end of the review if you want to go in blind.

When our heroes were visiting the church of the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Tsukasa has some concerns. Based on how the goddess acted, he thought the church was going to be some pool party/sex palace.

Hinata and Tsukasa then meet a sister of the church and realize she seems normal and pious. So, of course, they’re relieved. But, it then becomes clear that everything isn’t as it seems. And in the end, the big reveal is that the church is exactly what Tsukasa feared it would be.

If you’ve seen KonoSuba, this church is similar to the Axis Cult that worships Aqua. So, even this joke wasn’t very original. But, it was different enough from what we got in KonoSuba to still be funny.

At the end of the season, there’s a clear setup for future seasons. After all, Hinata and Tsukasa didn’t get any closer to defeating the demon lord. But, they now know where the demon lord is located. So, that’s a start. Hopefully, we get another season.

Conclusion

I ended up rating Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout as a 7/10. It’s a good anime, even if it’s a bit generic. My main complaint is that the supporting characters I liked didn’t get enough screen time. I would have liked to see the elf, in particular, join Hinata and Tsukasa’s party.

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