Crunchyroll’s Rising of the Shield Hero Replacement Isekai Isn’t For Everyone (And That’s Okay)

When it comes to discovering new isekai to love and enjoy on Crunchyroll, the platform never forces users to look very far. Whether it’s the “good isekai slop” that produce enjoyable romps like Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon, or generational successes like Overlord, Mushoku Tensei, TenSura, or Re:Zero, there’s a good spectrum of variety. Some series, like The Rising of the Shield Hero, feature a reasonably subversive take on the isekai genre, partially achieved by taking big, risky narrative swings that quickly landed the series in controversy for newcomers. But for The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System, that same isekai spark exists, even if its anime takes a different set of peculiar risks.

Instead of the troublesome plot devices surrounding Naofumi’s backstory in Shield Hero, the use of slavery, and general anti-hero self-insert shenanigans, The Exiled Heavy Knight’s anime adaptation takes an interesting, different direction from a similar starting point. The result is practically undebatable in terms of how much less outwardly problematic the anime is, but instead, The Exiled Heavy Knight’s visual presentation is the only real aspect promising a polarizing reception for its episode #1 premiere. Courtesy of Crunchyroll, ScreenRant got to view the first episode’s screener ahead of its July 2, 2026 streaming release, bringing with it a striking visual aesthetic, and messy kinetic execution.

The Exiled Heavy Knight Is A Different Type Of Risky Isekai Joining Crunchyroll

The premise of The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System is fairly pedestrian in the grand scheme of isekai anime. Its protagonist, Elymas Edvaughn, is a young scion to the Edvaughn family who bases their individual value on producing new members of what’s perceived to be its world’s elite class. During his introduction, Elymas continuously notes a surge of memories from his past life where, in another world before being reincarnated, he was obsessed with a VR RPG named Magic World, which is seemingly the world he’s living in now. In his past life, he even discovered a broken class, the Heavy Knight, which could blossom above all other classes.

The kicker is that this Heavy Knight is scorned as the worst class to be sorted into, with Elymas’ family prizing the Master Swordsman class, seen as simple and powerful at face value. To Elymas’ delight, he learns this is to be his class going forward, but in that same moment, his father violently disowns him in favor of Malice Edvaughn, whom he declares his new heir after she gets the coveted Master Swordsman role. Elymas is instead exiled from his home and sent to Rondalm, where he must strike out on his own and grow, which he is glad to do. Having lost his home, his family, and his life, Elymas is elated to have the Heavy Knight class.

This is practically all information one can glean from either glancing the novels or even reading summaries. Elymas’ class situation is comparable to Naofumi’s in that he starts with little offensive power to speak of, but in the former’s case, he has far more prior experience with the game’s world, however changed it is, to equip him in his first encounter with a swarm of dangerous, but individually weak beasts. They’re the perfect fodder to test his Heavy Knight skill tree ability, Oath of Heavy armor, creating a pretty engaging introduction to Elymas’ progression. None of this is uncommon in the isekai genre, only running the risk of being generic. But where it sets itself apart, for better and very much for worse as well, is its visual presentation.

GoHands Is At It Again In The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How To Game The System

Some may know GoHands for the various anime in the K franchise, Student Council Staff Members, The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, and more. It’s a studio known well for its heavily stylized use of 3D CGI backgrounds, aggressive yet mesmerizing hair animation, and somewhat insistent shifting of visual perspectives. It’s known for strong animation, but in the case of The Exiled Heavy Knight, its predictable traits are also what will disengage many from its premiere. To an extent, that’s perfectly okay: anime is a wildly varied medium, so not every project should be enjoyable to every viewer. But it’s difficult to imagine any viewer enjoying the premiere’s visual packaging.

Within the first moments of The Exiled Heavy Knight, fans are introduced to Elymas in his Heavy Knight gear as a sort of glimpse of what’s to come. While it’s perfectly fair to try and convey depth using CGI backgrounds, The Exiled Heavy Knight’s backdrops, resemble a clunky drone camera view of a city from Octopath Traveler, while the Edvaughn estate looks less like a regal home, and more like an old Resident Evil cutscene introducing its mansion-of-the-game. This is all to say, strip the traditionally-animated characters bringing these scenes to life, and the scenery looks dated. And worst of all is the fly-by angle introducing this and many other shots in the first episode.

The camera angles are unnecessarily varied even in mundane moments of The Exiled Heavy Knight’s premiere. To put it into words, it’s almost like continuously swapping video feeds in Grand Theft Auto V but with stick drift throughout. These movements often land on visually striking shots, but the wind-up is entirely unnecessary, and often just pulls focus instead of grounding it. It’s a worthwhile visual risk to try and create something different in the anime scene, but it is also highly distracting, and is at its worst during indoor scenes. Thankfully, by the end of the episode, this problem alleviates itself, but it’s a rough introduction, even if it will certainly produce excellent action in future episodes.

The Exiled Heavy Knight Shows Heavy Promise, But Has A Weak Introduction

The premise and interior camerawork aside, there’s plenty to like about The Exiled Heavy Knight Knows How to Game the System. Viewers get a set of brief glimpses of Luce Rubis, one of the key supporting characters, with her featured heavily in the end credits, whose portrayal by Shion Wakayama will surely be a highlight. Luce will also almost certainly be a solid cosplay concept for upcoming conventions. Hair animation, typical of GoHands, is still nice and striking, if occasionally distracting with the long locks for characters like Malice. Beyond typical fanservicey traits like unnecessary zettai ryōiki shots and spontaneous breast jiggling, the issues largely lie in overwrought technical execution.

This is all to say, The Exiled Heavy Knight is a perfectly fine isekai concept, bearing similar initial mechanics to The Rising of the Shield Hero, while bringing with it some truly striking animation. However, the quirks with GoHands’ production in episode #1 go slightly out of hand, and although it’s arguably worth it to set up some potentially excellent kinetic battles with great visual depth, its presentation feels disorienting in this first outing. It’ll almost certainly be a polarizing premiere, with some viewers greatly appreciating the boldness of the presentation, and that’s okay. Crunchyroll is never exactly going to have a shortage of isekai alternatives, for this season or the next.