Saijaku Tamer revolves around Ivy and her slime companion Sora who are determined to persevere despite their cruel circumstances. A large portion of the series does lean toward the more iyashikei and lighthearted side as Ivy travels from town to town hunting small critters and rummaging through rubbish. However that is not to say that is the entirety of the show as the darker elements are a crucial aspect of the series whether it is the trauma suffered in her past or the dangers of traveling. There is also a rather interesting twist for an isekai as Ivys past self frequently communicates with her. Although its not groundbreaking Ivys anxiety and distrust of others are vital aspects of the story too which helps the series stand out from other similar series. Additionally the anime has some great art and animation accompanied by a gorgeous score that brings many scenes to life such as when she is standing in the middle of a field of grass or walking through a forest. Scenes are also given the proper amount of time to breathe which along with the beautiful musical composition creates some truly beautiful and even emotional moments. The darker undertones do not come across as shock value or offputting either. In fact they add an interesting juxtaposition against the beautiful landscapes and whimsical score. It reinforces the idea that Ivy and Sora are weak and the world is dangerous whether its bounty hunters chasing them escaping from giant ants or nearly becoming another victim of a maneating tree. Although the story has darker moments it also has plenty of cute and adorable ones as Ivy and Sora travel together. Even with the world seemingly against them at times Ivy continues to find joy in the little things such as eating a fresh loaf of bread or using field mice to count how much coin she has made. She also frequently encounters caring people but due to her past she has difficulty trusting others. However as Ivy meets more and more nicehearted people she slowly breaks down her walls and becomes more trusting of others. That is not to say she overcomes her anxieties and trauma overnight as that remains a part of her. Her fear of being abandoned and being perceived as a burden continually pushes her to do random and minuscule tasks even when it is not necessary. While she may suffer from these issues it is simply nice to see Ivy slowly realize there are caring people out there and become more confident through these encounters. The series is not perfect though. One area where it specifically suffers is by making Ivy almost comedically smarter than any of the adults specifically in basic detective work. Using Ivys past self to move the plot forward through common literary tropes such as a secret bookcase mechanism can be fine. After all Ivys past self was assumingly an adult exposed to media and a vast transmission of information so her awareness of these things can make sense. However when she comes up with every possible scenario it hurts the intelligence of the actual adults of the series who are veteran adventures and people who hold positions of power. Its also not just outsmarting her companions but an entire criminal organization too. It ends up making these characters feel like plot devices rather than actual people as they are essentially found out through literary tropes which dumbs down the world. On top of being a bit too contrived the child trafficking arc simply drags on for a bit too long. The series charm is Ivy traveling to new locations building relationships with people and discovering new things between the towns. Forcing her to stay in one location removes what makes the series so enjoyable especially when it involves some grand plot. It is clear that the author wanted to reinforce the idea that someone like Ivy traveling alone is dangerous and people can be evil but they lost touch with what made the series enjoyable. Ultimately even though the series stumbled a bit with the last few episodes it did retain most of its charm. The first half captured the best of the series but that does not mean the second half was completely void of good moments as Ivy did grow the most as a character in the latter half. Ivy is also an extremely adorable character and its hard not to root for her as despite being abandoned by her family and even hunted she perseveres. Although the darker elements are an integral part of the series they do not overtake the iyashikei nature of the series. Instead it is a nice touch that reinforces the worlds dangers. The art animation music and sound design also remained highquality throughout the entire season which shows the passion the staff poured into this series to create such a highquality production. Studio Massket honestly did a fantastic job for their first fulllength anime.