Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig (2023-2024)

[豚のレバーは加熱しろ]

Director: Masayuki Takahashi
Studio: Project No.9
Starring: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, Tomori Kusunoki, Miyu Tomita
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A man is reincarnated as a pig and joins a girl from a persecuted race on her pilgrimage to the royal capital.

Impressions:
When I saw the PV for this, I thought it might be funny. If we can have an isekai where the main character is reincarnated as a vending machine, why not a pig? Now, you might worrying that they're going the Inukai-san route with Jess and Buta-san, but while there is a bit of an ecchi factor involved, it never dips anywhere close to those levels of degeneracy. That may be some comfort, but what isn't comforting is the middling story and poor production values. It gets laughably bad in a rather significant action sequence in the latter part of the season. Project No.9 generally has a better reputation than this, but they had three series out this season and it's clear that most of their resources went into Hikikomari-san (which, of the three series in question, was the right call, even if I wasn't all that bowled over by it, but that's a story for another time). I was stunned to hear that this series represents one novel in a nine-volume-and-growing series. I can't imagine a quality narrative sprawled out that long, but if you happen to be invested in the story, I imagine you'll have to go there because I don't expect a continuation of the series on the small screen. It's not a total waste, but there's not that much to gain either. Being generous, I'll say take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50