Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Ep12 – Jinguuji confesses to Tachibana and she is in love
Michelle Topham 
In Episode 11 of Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, we left poor Jinguuji about to be murdered by Tachibana — now in the monster robot Meepon, and out for revenge because Jinguuji has never praised him.
Yeah, this crazy anime just gets crazier by the episode, eh?
As Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout, Episode 12 starts then we are relieved to see Schwartz come flying in, grab Jinguuji and pull him out of range of Tachibana’s massive robot fist.
Review: Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Episode 12, “A Guy Who Reincarnated as a Fantasy Knockout and…“
After Jinguuji’s rescue, he spirals down into a self-defeating morass, blaming himself for Tachiban’s behavior and saying he would be better to stay away from him.
Because, don’t forget, this entire anime has been about the feelings Jinguuji and Tachibana have for each other, and how they both avoid the issue.
After all, when two 30-something guys spend all their time together, and have zero luck with girls no matter how they ‘try’, isn’t it a little obvious there might be something else going on here, instead?
Meanwhile Schwartz, who is still fighting off Tachibana’s attacks, shouts “Weren’t you listening? Even when Tachibana is hurling death beams at you, she is still saying she is proud to be your friend”.
“What do I need to do to stop this then?” asks Jinguuji.
“Praise her,” replies Schwartz, as he tells the guy who has never praised anyone in his life he should do that. And quickly. Before they both die from Tachibana’s attacks.
But, as Jinguuji goes round and round wondering if he can, as he doesn’t know how praising someone goes, Schwartz snaps and punches him.
He then SCREAMS at him, “You’ve dragged an entire kingdom into your baffling lover’s quarrel”, and then tells Jinguuji he’s behaving badly as he’s jealous the princess took Tachibana away.
But, it’s okay to be jealous. Even between guys, right?
This snaps Jinguuji out of his funk, and he finally goes on the offensive against Tachibana’s enormous punches.
And, as he tells Tachibana he has always been jealous of him, as Tachibana was always surrounded by friends while Jinguuji was always alone, Tachibana realizes how he really feels about Jinguuji.
And man, are we finally getting the long-awaited Boys’ Love scene half the fandom has been drooling over?
Because ‘lovers quarrel’, yep, that’s pretty much what the last 11 episodes have been about, right from when Tachibana got drunk and the Goddess spirited them away to a fantasy kingdom.
Of course, Kalm tries to stop this soon-to-be man-love fest, but Tachibana is having none of it, as he quickly flashes back onto he and Jinguuji being friends, and realizing he was always jealous of him as, to Tachibana, Jinguuji was always “a hero”.
He then rips Kalm’s contamination off the back of his neck as he remembers a moment in their school’s classroom, when he finds out Tachibana’s answer to a question the teacher asked, “What do you dream of being in the future?” was “a hero”.
But, as Meepon seems to die now that Tachibana is free from Kalm’s influence, the robot reactivates itself and threatens to annihilate everyone in the area.
That’s when Jinguuji knows what he has to do. Destroy Meepon and rescue Tachibana. And so he does.
But, when he breaks open the now-dead Meepon to save Tachibana, he is met with a tearful girl who tells him she’s worthless, as she did so many terrible things.
And, oh God, wasn’t the sexual tension just killing you like it was killing me right then?
It is only then Jinguuji tells Tachibana he thinks she is a wonderful person — a good person, a considerate person, an upbeat, kind person, someone everyone likes.
And then he reels off 99,000 things he likes about Tachibana ending with “And so I rate you higher than the average person” because, yep, this is Jinguuji’s confession, so it had better be a good one!
And Tachibana?
She is so overwhelmed with all the praise, she begs him to stop.
Meepon then self-destructs, with Jinguuji jumping off the exploding robot with Tachibana in his arms. Thus, becoming her hero once again.
And at this point, come on, shouldn’t they be heading out to get a room, as it’s obvious to everyone but themselves they only have eyes for each other?
Finally, Tachibana apologizes to the King for ‘kidnapping his daughter’, but the King apologizes right back for his treatment of Ugraine, until Jinguuji jumps in and says the only person at fault is the Head Maid — ie: the Demon Lord’s general Kalm.
Schwartz then reveals he knows where the Demon Lord castle is (massive symbol in the sky pointing right to it!), and Tachibana is pissed neither he nor the Goddess told her and Jinguuji how to find it. (Well, that Goddess is pretty worthless, am I right?)
Back in Tachibana’s apartment as the pair get ready for bed, Jinguuji takes off his shirt, and it’s then when the roses, sparkly lights and hearts start appearing around Jinguuji’s head she realizes she’s in love with him.
Can’t hide it from Jinguuji, though, as he quickly points out the ‘Charmed’ effect has just appeared over Tachibana’s head. Yikes! (Rewatch the scene in the video at the bottom of this review, as it’s hilarious!)
Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Episode 12 ends with both Jinguuji and Tachibana realizing they are in major trouble, so they need to get rid of the curse “before they fall in love with each other” and…
In other words, like we have known right from the beginning, Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout is all about two men who, supposedly, aren’t gay, being in love with each other and pretending it’s not happening.
With that whole thing about the Demon Lord a side quest, and Jinguuji and Tachibana’s feelings for each other being the quest itself.
Two men that, like Schwarz said, can destroy a kingdom together if their feelings aren’t being acknowledged by the other person, and who can save a kingdom just as easily when they realize how the other feels.
Two men who as, hopefully, Season 2 of Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout hits us before not-very-long will realize more and more that, when it comes to being in love, there really is nobody for them but each other.
So… right up to the very end Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 1 turned out to be the surprise gem of the Winter 2022 season. (With only Episode 10 being a bit of a dud!)
An isekai anime that seemed to be ‘more of the same’, but quickly showed us to be one of the quirkiest, funniest, craziest anime released in a while.
Each new episode introduced strange characters we all fell in love with (I’m talking about you Schwartz-kun!), silly situations that always seemed to end with an outcome none of us would predict, and with some of the smartest, funniest dialogue I have heard in any recent anime.
Throw in that crazy romance between Jinguuji and Tachibana — a romance these two have been in the midst of since they were just kids — and if I could name a funnier, more heart-warming isekai anime than this one, because yep, among all of this weirdness the relationship between Jinguuji and Tachibana is so damned ‘heart-warming’, I would have done by now.
So far we haven’t had any news about Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 2 but, with the first season being the huge success it has been, I doubt that news will be too far off.
Meanwhile, watch or re-watch (as I will be doing) Life with an Ordinary Guy who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout Season 1 of the anime, now streaming via Crunchyroll.
Because this one is comedy gold.
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