Warning: The following contains spoilers for A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics episode #10!
Summary
A Salad Bowl of EccentricsonCrunchyrollhad already been exploring thebrutal difference between regular and reverse isekaisince episode #2, when the character Livia Do Udis begins living homeless in the new world she gets transported to. However, Livia has been experiencing some new scam or another horrible aspect of humanity in almost every episode since then. Because she’s from another world, Livia usuallydoesn’t understand that what’s happened to her is wrong, giving the series the unique excuse to explain in average terms why, as if she were a child, making her some sort of scapegoat.
After being homeless, Livia ishired to be an illegal escortfor men that the police raid on the first day,gets duped into joining a cult, leaves the cult but agrees to model for the cult to make dolls of her as their new savior, becomes a scalper, and even plays pachinko,Japan’s more elaborate version of slots.
In the latest episode, Livia is able to avoid getting conned by the man who usually scams her, but he ironically introduces her to more hardcore gambling beyond pachinko, including horse betting. What’s odd is that Liviaalways remains upbeat and rarely suffersthe downside of such experiences besides feeling shame and regret.
Based on the light novel series by writer Yomi Hirasaka and illustrator Kantoku; produced by SynergySP and Studio Comet
In almost every other case, anyone who would normally experience Livia’s misfortunes would fall into a deep depression. However, Livia’s mental fortitude and resilience give her the means to bounce back and find some other way to live in this strange new world. This undoubtedly allowsA Salad Bowl of Eccentricsto remain lighthearted and fun, which is critical, since the series is renowned for being an oddball and amusingly absurd.
Interestingly, the series' unique set up actually would have providedA Salad Bowl of Eccentricswith more leeway to get darker. The story also follows Livia’s princess Sara Da Odin, whose life successes are a stunning juxtaposition to Livia’s failures.The show could have therefore afforded to get a little bleakerwith Livia’s portion of the tale.
Of course, this would have made it more difficult to justify Livia being able to pick herself up after each scam. Livia’s purpose in the series is clearly to showcase howhard it would be for someone from a fantasy realm to start from scratchin the modern world. By keeping her story upbeat, Livia can continue getting scammed.
Livia’s failure at horse betting is particularly important due to how Sara’s usually separate story coincides with Livia’s experiences in this regard. Sara is very adept at gambling and her endless success almost minimizes the seriousness of the whole situation, especially since she’s underage. So,while Livia’s struggles already greatly contrast with Sara’s good fortune, this particular instance allows the anime to give a more realistic take to the absurdity of Sara’s good luckin gambling.
This fascinating dynamic between Sara and Livia has greatly but not surprisingly overshadowedthe series' incredible twist on a usual isekai trope. An earlier episode revealed that their world has a very distinct connection to modern-day Earth rather than being ambiguously connected as is usually the case in isekai. This would understandably be the main focus in any other isekai, but this is clearly not like most isekai.
Truth be told, it wouldn’t be that shocking if the same viewers who originally were more interested in learning more about the direct correlations between both worlds would suddenly rather want to see if Livia’s horrible luck had deeper meaning besides just being a collection of fables. That’s just how blatantly thematic Livia’s struggles have been inA Salad Bowl of EccentricsonCrunchyroll.
