The Beginning After the End Puts a Fresh Spin on the Isekai Genre

The Beginning After the End‘s first episode was recently released, and it dropped audiences head-first into a new isekai world. Based on the web novel by TurtleMe, Studio A-Cat’s new anime is one of Spring 2025’s most anticipated shows. The series follows King Grey, who is reborn in a magical fantasy world as Arthur Leywin and given a second chance at life. Having spent his first life as a violent dictator, Arthur now dedicates his second chance to understanding love and compassion.

On the surface, The Beginning After the End looks like yet another basic isekai story. The series follows the Mushoku Tensei formula of having King Grey reborn as a child in the new world, giving him a second life. Thanks to shows like Mushoku Tensei, isekai has become a well-worn genre with its own tropes, trappings, and memes (although Truck-kun isn’t to blame for King Grey’s death). But The Beginning After the End manages to separate itself from its predecessors in a very interesting way. The following contains spoilers for The Beginning After the End Episode 1!

How The Beginning After the End Separates Itself From the Isekai Genre

Most hardened anime fans know the isekai formula. The world will be based on medieval Europe, there will be some sort of magic system, and the isekai’d protagonist will develop a special skill that makes them one of the most powerful people in this alternate world. Their story will then bounce between their new life and flashbacks of their time before their first death. But The Beginning After the End puts a fresh twist on that formula.

The world that Arthur is reborn into isn’t what makes The Beginning After the End special. While things might change further down the line, the debut episode presents the setting as another generic isekai universe with magic and medieval influence. To Arthur, the fantasy world is a new experience. But through the initial flashbacks we see of his life as King Grey, his past world is also far different than our own, especially compared to other isekai stories.

In his past life, King Grey was a violent ruler. When King Grey is first introduced, his appearance is used to trick the audience. Donning a golden crown and holding a giant sword, he leads us to believe his past world was also a medieval-inspired fantasy land. But, as a horde of sci-fi battleships flies over above him, dropping bombs on his enemies in a cyberpunk-esque city, we realize that both worlds are a complete mystery to us.

The Beginning After the End doesn’t just give us one new world to explore. Through Arthur’s flashbacks across the season, we will also learn more about the world he used to live in, which is also vastly different from our own. Most isekai tend to ignore the protagonist’s original world (which is almost always our own) as they settle into their new life in a fantasy world, clearly a nod to the escapism of the genre. But The Beginning After the End has cleverly doubled down on the element of mystery.

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The Beginning After the End Needed Its Fresh Spin

Only one episode of The Beginning After the End has been released so far. The episode acted more as an introduction to the new world and teased Arthur’s past life than the true beginning of Arthur’s story in his new world. The premiere episode understandably received some complaints from audiences due to its heavy use of exposition to overtly explain the world’s magic system rather than naturally introducing us to it throughout the show (which is one of Mushoku Tensei‘s biggest strengths).

Without the added mystery of Arthur Leywin’s homeworld, it would have been very easy for The Beginning After the End to get lost among the endless other shows in the increasingly saturated isekai genre. Not only does his unusual past life add fresh perspective on the events happening in the new fantasy world, but it also adds a layer of murder mystery as Arthur attempts to work out how he died as King Grey.

The first episode of The Beginning After the End is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. New episodes will be released weekly on Wednesdays. Check out ComicBook.com’s guide to The Beginning After the End‘s release schedule to keep track of new episodes.