Review: The Beginning After the End – Episode 1: The Rebirth of the King

Bronwen Winter Phoenix reviews a screener of new anime The Beginning After the End, kindly provided by Crunchyroll, ahead of its official release. Let’s see what she thinks! WARNING: SPOILERS.

I hadn’t read up on The Beginning After the End before I accepted the offer of a screener; but I did need a new series to get into! I was happy to accept, and I’m now glad I did. It’s based on an original comic series created by TurtleMe.

Before we go any further, here’s the official description via Crunchyroll:

After a mysterious death, King Grey is reborn as Arthur Leywin on the magical continent of Dicathen. Although he enters his second life as a baby, his previous wisdom remains. He begins to master magic and forge his own path as the years go by, seeking to correct the mistakes of his past life.

You can also check out the official trailer below:

The story

We’re introduced to our key protagonist in his role as the most powerful king in history. He’s dressed kinda medieval, and finishes off his enemy with a sword… but wait. Are those planes and bombs and skyscrapers? Interesting world!

We quickly learn that something mysterious has happened to the King, which seemingly leads to his untimely death. He awakes to find himself as a newborn baby called ‘Little Arthur’, but with the memories and patience of a 30-year-old man who has to come to terms with his new situation (spoiler: he’s not very patient).

Luckily for him, he’s got loving parents.

Despite the fact he’s a baby, he sets himself a mission to learn about the world around him and master his body. Cue exposition overload! Somehow, the first thing Little Arthur does when he learns to crawl is to secretly grab a book from the shelf and read it. He can’t even talk yet.

He learns about the world he’s been born into, which is really quite different to the one he was used to – although, there’s still a monarchy. There are people with magical abilities who can wield incredible power – including his parents, Alice and Reynolds.

It only counts to reason that Little Arthur wants to learn to master these skills. In fact, he puts so much energy into it that it doesn’t go quite to plan (I won’t tell you how). Luckily, disaster is averted, thanks to the love and devotion of his parents.

He begins to feel something other than just appreciative of the safety and warmth his family provide. Could this be the beginning of a meaningful journey? And what challenges will ‘Little Arthur’ have to face along the way? I have a feeling that it’s not going to be the easiest road for our young protagonist!

Initial thoughts

This was quite an enjoyable first episode (despite it technically being a bit of an obvious exposition dump), and I think the series shows a lot of promise. It’s an interesting premise, as wouldn’t you just love to live life all over again with the wisdom and knowledge you have as an adult?

It’s kind of the dream. Only in this dream, you were once a powerful king and now you’re in what seems like a happier world, in better circumstances, and have magical powers at your fingertips!

I’ll look forward to watching the next episode to see what happens to Little Arthur next. I’m also curious about what actually happened to King Grey in his previous life.

The Beginning After the End will be released on Crunchyroll on 2nd April at 18:25 (BST) – 10:25 pacific time!

What do you think of my review of The Beginning After the End? Will you be watching when it’s released on the 2nd April? Comment below.