Okashi na Tensei

This show takes the standard Isekai tropes and plays them with a level of honesty and groundedness that is hard to come by (and by this I mean any groundedness at all).

There are some concerns about this not being a cooking show, and that there are politics and war instead. I see this as a strength; I appreciated the sort of bait-and-switch of expecting to see a MC living in leisure and doing what they love, but instead seeing them being confronted by the responsibility of being born noble. Desserts are left mostly in the background but they are used as a plot device here ... and there.

I like to think of this as Ascendance of a Bookworm but with desserts instead. That is probably the highest praise I can give an Isekai series.

Overall, this is an enjoyable show. The elements of Isekai that make them bad are mostly absent -- I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a big prejudice against the genre.

There’s nothing sweet about the show nor about his reincarnation.

Let's be honest, at first, we surely thought this anime would be that slice of life isekai, where the mc is making pastries and sweets in another world. Just like the "Parallel World Pharmacy" but with sweets and pastry, and with the MC opening a bakery or sweet shop. But sike! It's actually "How a realist hero rebuilt the Kingdom!"

While I don't hate the show for what it was, I can understand why others dislike it for this very reason. The actual story was relatively decent, but it seems to be diverging from its initial ... premise. After all, the show is called “Sweet Reincarnation” for a reason. We were expecting a cooking and baking show centered around pastries and sweets, not another politics and war isekai.

It's a slow burn show with an okayish pace. The worldbuilding is present, although it's a bit shallow in every aspect. Nevertheless, it's better than any other current or previous generic isekai. As we progress through the episodes, we get to learn more about the geopolitics, magic system, and war, all of those funsies details slowly build up.

Strangely, this anime reminds me a lot of “Ascendance of a Bookworm,” but it lacks the unique charm that Honzuki has. In Honzuki, the story is primarily focused on Myne/Main, the main protagonist, and we intimately follow her struggles and journey to make a single sheet of paper for her dream of becoming a librarian. However, in this anime, it seems like the story revolves more around the people surrounding Pastry, the main protagonist. While he faces similar struggles to Myne, every time he tries to pursue his ion, it's constantly hindered by others, whether it's his father, his friend, his brother in law, or unnecessary diplomacy with other fiefs. For God's sake, let him cook for a moment!

All that aside, yet it still lacks baking or making sweets. For a show called Sweet Reincarnation it's incredibly lacking on those thing. I swear I could probably count how many sweets he's made throughout the entire series with just one hand. All I want is just one episode dedicated to making pastry/sweets and with Pas as the main focus, no politics, only sweets and pastries. Maybe a second season would bring justice to this anime.

Anyway to sum it up, it's a fun show about a patissier that reincarnated in another world although slightly a bit lacking in the pastry/sweet department. If you are looking for a foodie show, this is not it. If you are looking for another generic isekai that is slightly better than the others, this would be perfect for you.

Maybe the real sweets were the friends that he made along the way. Seriously, his fiancee's name is Licorice.

I was promised anime about baking in isekai instead I got this boring stilted political "talks". Thats probably the reason why they had to put that "he is amazing patissier" schlock in front of every opening - otherwise everyone would probably forget by the 3rd episode. I am a huge fan of cookig/baking anime and I usually rate them higher than they objectively deserve to be rated because I just enjoy them so much. This was just disappointing and a waste of time. Frankly I had to watch the last 4 episodes on 2x speed because it was so boring. Dont watch it unless you ... want to be put to sleep.