Love After World Domination

“What would you like to be when you grow up?” Most children say “a doctor”, “a pilot”, or other intriguing mainstream professions. These jobs all differ in functionalities and skill set but one thing stays the same, free will. Most children can choose of their own volition. But for Magahara Desumi that choice was never presented to her. At least not until the events of this anime. *This review contains minor spoilers that are highlighted* Love After World Domination is a story about 2 star-crossed lovers and their trysts whilst trying to hide their relationship from everyone in their lives. However, contrary to the show’s premise,this show doesn’t take itself too seriously. Exemplified by the villain organization Gekko being less harmful than a housefly and everyone’s Hannah Montana’s levels of double identity disguise that makes this moronic if you look at this anime critically. This show requires 2 things from you to make it an entertaining watch, these being your suspension of disbelief and an open attitude. This is because this show relies heavily on subversions of the norm and comedic reveals for its comedy, where at times, even at the cost of its own practicality from a storytelling standpoint. However, if you can look past this, this show is a blast to watch with its exemplary character chemistry, diverse side characters, and hilarious albeit slightly repetitive comedic sequences. *Minor spoilers ahead* Desumi and Fudo have some of the best romantic chemistry in a rom-com. With one specific thing that is really appreciable in their relationship that isn't present in other rom-coms. This being the way that they support each other in achieving what they want. Many rom-coms in this day and age only play to the attraction of each other’s appearances making the romance feel extremely superficial. In a similar vein of thought, some romance MCs do help their significant others improve or achieve but do so in the hopes of them fitting the mold they themselves lay out. Case in point a similar anime called Boarding School Juliet, where the female MC actually says she wants someone “who can change the world”. This isn’t genuine because it shows that the MC only likes a type specifically but not them specifically. Leaving the viewer unsettled as to whether the MC would leave the other one if a better option came along. Desumi and Fudo however, do not defy each other’s choices, but instead support their choice and freewill regardless of the outcome that might consequently affect themselves. Exemplified by Fudo pleading with Desumi’s father to make her own decisions and Desumi supporting Fudo’s writing phase. *spoilers end* Love After World Domination utilizes its side characters with a given purpose. The side characters are a bit generic but heavily contribute to the overall development of the story. They use your preconceived notions of them to subvert your expectations for comedic effect. As seen in the frequent reveals of many Gekko members and their many roles in everyday society. Similarly, the show also uses these side characters as an important catalyst for the events happening in each episode. Thanks to its largest cast of side characters, each episode feels relatively unique when they really have the same plot outline; the protection of their secret relationship from everyone else. However, this is also one of its weaknesses as the show sometimes trips over pre-established character traits in previous episodes in order to get an extra laugh or make the episode reach a happy conclusion. Thus requiring the suspension of disbelief and an open attitude to new developments. The animations of Love After World Domination unfortunately aren’t the greatest with this sentiment only perpetuated by the Gekko costumes looking like a 12 year old’s rendition of a skeleton on halloween. The regurgitated power rangers getups are also a massive throw off that seem overly effortless from an animation and creativity standpoint. Leaving this entertaining and intriguing premise seem somewhat silly when you begin watching the show. Overall Love After World Domination en masse had some outstanding MC chemistry and effective side characters that makes this a very worthwhile experience. However its animations and plot contrivances are a slight detrimental to the immersion of the show.

To anyone whom has read or seen William Shakespeare's Romeo X Juliet, it's arguably one of the most instantaneously recognizable plays ever to exist in the English playwright-cum poet and actor's life. And it's so famous that even centuries later, many forms of media exist taken as an inspiration (an ode or form of emanation to be precise) to create something original out of it. This happens a lot especially when it comes to mediums like anime, the most recent being mangaka Yousuke Kaneda's ever-so-popular Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet a.k.a Boarding School Juliet which wrapped up in 2019 (the anime adaptation is flawless inmy book, and that's saying a lot even 2.5 years later). It's then to my surprise to hear that the next successor to continue this tradition happens in the exact same Romeo X Juliet form, except that it adds the references from both the Tokusatsu-inspired Super Sentai and last season's monster-inspired Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san a.k.a Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department, and this is exactly what the mangaka Noda Hiroshi is going for in his rom-com series that is Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de a.k.a Love After World Domination, and it's arguably his best work to date. Also, I don't know why they didn't just go ahead and call this: "Love Is War" (whoops, sorry Kaguya-sama...) Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de, or as the translated title goes "Love After World Domination", is exactly what it sounds like: the battle of good and evil, where love triumphs all at the end of the day. And this is the setting to give both our heroes and villains the context: the Tokusatsu, Super Sentai (whatever you want to call it) inspired group Freezing Sentai Gelato 5 with the usual Power Ranger-type colours vs. the Kuroitsu-san evil organization inspired group Secret Society Gekko with Supreme Leader Bosslar and its Generals which are the Princess Series (which I'll get into) and monsters of different quirks and features. But what you just need to know in this show, is that the Romeo X Juliet plotline plays the same here between the main characters: the bufflord and dense-but-honest Red Gelato Fudo Aikawa and the superhuman strength and perceived sadism Reaper Princess Desumi Magihara, as they attempt their relationship stints in secret while being new into the romance game and hiding the fact from their respective organizations. And just like Boarding School Juliet, both Desumi and Fudo would do everything in their power not to get noticed, for if they're found out, then all hell would break loose. It's your typical simple rom-com setting that does its service well as intended. But what's your typical rom-com without the supporting character cast, and I think that they did an admirable job despite Fudo and Desumi having most of the screentime to one another. Kicking things off with Freezing Sentai Gelato 5, the ones that really stood out (in order of the anime adaptation as opposed to the manga) are the kid sister role of Pink Gelato Haru Arisugawa and the ladies' man role of Blue Gelato Hayato Ojino. That's not to say that there wasn't a reason for the big sister character of Yellow Gelato Misaki Jinguuji, the altruistic and protective Green Gelato Daigo Todoroki, and Professor Big Gelato (which definitely has that Astro Boy Professor Atom feel) to exist, they're merely team players supporting their team leader Fudo since he is the face of the Super Sentai group after all. Same goes with the Secret Society Gekko, where Supreme Leader Bosslar somehow looks similar to the General from the Mega Man X4 game, and the various Princess Series characters and monsters which all look up to the Reaper Princess. From the likes of the frenzy Beast Princess Kiki Majima and silent Steel Princess Kyoko Kuroyuki (whom has an internal office relationship with the beary Culverin Bear) to the Komi-san's Ren Yamai-yandere inspired Anna Hojo, you have lots of characters overall that lend their own quirky personalities to make the show better, that's not just a duo couple show between Fudo and Desumi alone, and for that, it gets a pass. Also, a shoutout to veteran VA Fumihiko Tachiki for lending his voice as the narrator, I don't ever think that background vocals get enough love as they should, and for someone whom's also the narrator for Golden Kamuy, that is really saying volumes of how great his vocals are. For such a manga that's easy to adapt, it falls into the staff team's hands at doing the best they could, and for newbie Project No. 9 in-house director Kazuya Iwata, that's what he did with his production team, and made it a heck ton of fun and enjoyment to be had. Personally, I find that this is one of the better shows that the studio has produced in recent years, and it's quite noticeable from the action to even the romance segments where punches and kicks are playfully done that still shows the extent of power. It's striking for a show that presumes to have limited budget, yet the sakuga in this doesn't make me feel it's unkempt enough. Overall, pretty good work. When it comes to music, I always anticipate what would come next of Masayoshi Oishi since most of his song repertoire have been nothing but bangers across the board, and this show's OP "Koi wa Explosion" featuring famed Anisong-cum-VA Yukari Tamura, is once again a no-brainer for me to say that it absolutely bangs the way that's a style similar-but-different to Kaguya-sama's OPs with Japan's King of Love Songs Masayuki Suzuki with whoever he's paired up with. The ED with the well-established girl group DIALOGUE+, do I really need to say that it's also good as well? It's another plus point from the same goddamn aspect I've churned out for so long that would "save anime", or rather save the world first through love, after dominating the world, HA HA, geddit? This show being a Romeo X Juliet Tokusatsu twist has no right to be this good given its inspirations, but it's definitely one of the better shows of the season that has a decent following and ample amounts of romantic comedy that would have you be Steven He slapping slippers on the floor and saying "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE!" that true than most, does inflict some emotional damage of the good kind. It's entertainment-worthy fun and doesn't take itself seriously, for the relationship works wonders and navigates like lovebirds wandering onto a treacherous path and carefully treading it to reach Paradise. Defo a show worthy of being under the TGIF banner of pre-weekend amusement.

Here is my recommendation before the review; just avoid losing time with ep 11. What I like about this anime is that it aimed to be a simple romcom, and it delivered. There was one obvious problem that almost every anime has lately, and a few small ones. The obvious problem for me was that episode 11 shouldn’t exist, it was a terrible filler that makes us lose time. Why not just make the anime shorter and have a great anime? The other problems was that there were some lazy material xD. Also mc was a little too easy on some people, the girl mc is dressed extra slutty for noreason, maybe I’m being naive here but idk, you guys tell me. Lastly, why was one team named Gelato? I still think it is a fine anime tho.

This show might be the dumbest thing I've ever watched, but it doesn't change the fact that it's pretty good. If you told me that there would be an anime where the Red Ranger dates Rita Repulsa I wouldn’t know how to react. I still dont know how to react after finishing it. All I can really say is that if you're looking for a funny anime that you can just enjoy then this is the one. Art: 9 The art and animation are pretty good. I think the character designs are pretty creative and I personally enjoyed watching a bear with cannons. In all seriousness,the art compliments the anime really well. Sound: 9 The sound design did what it needed to do. The sounds they would use in the background really suited the silliness of the show, also the op is actually perfect. An absolute banger. Characters: 9 The characters are funny and wacky and even though they might not be super fleshed out. They all complimented each other really well whenever they were on screen. Plus watching Fudo and Desumi's relationship was actually really enjoyed every week. Story: 7 The story is a really dumb premise that just hooked me, to be honest, but it was pretty much what I expected, and there would be times when the episodes would slow down and get a little bit boring. It's nothing too drastic that would take away my enjoyment of the anime, but still a flaw. Overall the show was still pretty good.