A blurry circle of lights turns into a chandelier as an eye opens. A white-haired young lady smiles from above. Our viewpoint character, a newborn baby with crazy video game stats and differently colored eyes, starts wondering if this regal figure may be his own mother. Suddenly, a new face appears: that of an elderly, bearded emperor who is revealed as the proud father of our reincarnated thirteenth prince. In a religious-magical ceremony, the child receives the ominous name of Noah Ararat, is said by a black-robed mage to have an affinity for water, and is granted the land of Almeria (I had a classmate from there!) as his fief. After the opening, we listen to choral music and witness the beauty of the Meeres Empire in its golden age. At age six, Noah rules his Almerian castle and has six teenage maids of different heights and hair colors, the sight of whom makes me roll my eyes so hard that they stare back at my brain. But things pick up: Noah is determined to act as a nobleman should, acting for the good of everyone, whether he is surrounded by scheming brothers who want him to succumb to a cursed sword, devoted servants in tragic circumstances, or peasants whose villages have been destroyed by a sudden flood…

This was a pretty cool first episode! When a show has a name a mile long and opens with the revelation that an average Joe is mathematically guaranteed to win every fight, I tend to check out. Noble Reincarnation, though, is the rare show that managed to win me back from complete skepticism to genuine interest. Yes, it is technically an isekai (or a reincarnation story?), but we know nothing about Noah’s past life, except for the occasional hint here and there. The OP stats are mercifully absent from the narrative so far: He will become stronger if he earns the loyalty of a great number of followers, but that is also true of political life. Noah’s own allegiance is firmly for his father, subjects, and country, and the first episode treats us to some mysterious curses, cool visuals and sound design, power plays that make a certain degree of sense, and what I found to be a pretty compelling portrayal of how a figure of authority should handle a natural disaster affecting his people and its various economic and social repercussions. Unlike the bland opening, the ending song is pretty fun too. All in all, great stuff. The show is born blessed, but will it obtain the ultimate power? We’ll see. For now, I’m pretty sure I’ll check episode two.

Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power can be streamed on Crunchyroll.