Over the past couple of years the things Ive been looking forward to most during every anime season are the videos different anime YouTubers release going over each anime that premiered that season some of them have even gotten me to check out anime that I wasnt even intending on watching before One of those YouTubers is Gigguk a.k.a. Garnt Maneetapho with his In A Nutshell series. This along with the several other animerelated videos he has put out in the several years hes been on YouTube may make one wonder What would an anime he made be like? Okay I dont think there were many people asking that question but the world still got an answer when Garnt announced his original anime short film Ban: The Boundary of Adulthood or Ban: Otona no Kyoukai in Japanese earlier this year. With this answer there is something Im sure most people who watch his content were actually thinking: OF COURSE ITS AN ISEKAI. No matter where you stand in whether you like or hate the isekai genre though I think we can all agree that Garnt has created what is probably one of the more unique isekai stories in the anime sphere even if its not perfect. Ban as it shall henceforth be called is set in two different worlds Euthania a fantasy world home to different magical races and our own world with the segments of our world being set in modern day Japan. Anyone from either of these worlds can easily cross over to the other through a warp gate and even start a new life in that other world. Thats pretty much what Rinrada Rin Ratchamanee and Daichi Arai set out to do Rin travels from Euthania to Japan and Daichi from Japan to Euthania. From there we see how their new lives in their new homes pan out. As I said before this is probably one of the more unique isekai anime there is out there. Im not necessarily talking about the isekai part itself although there arent many there are a few isekai anime out there where the person crossing over to another world does so on purpose such as seasons two and three of Dog Days. The thing that I think is unique about it is how instead of some epic grandstanding fantasy adventure that weve seen multiple times although there is an action scene in the middle of the story that would be right at home in a story like that its more focused on how its two protagonists feel as they go through their lives in their new worlds. Homesickness is a big part of the story that is felt from both characters albeit one more than the other thats something that anyone who has moved far away from their original home can relate to and the homesickness Garnt might have felt after moving to Japan is really felt here even if the only few times Ive personally moved in my life has always been within the same area. It has a genuine emotional core to it that I really appreciated. One aspect of the story that I felt was a little lacking however was the worldbuilding at least on Euthanias side. Euthania is a world that definitely sets itself apart from other isekai worlds by having aspects inspired by Southeast Asian mythology but it doesnt feel like we get to know the world that well beyond that which undermines its uniqueness a bit. Personally if the film was a little bit longer than the 18 minutes we got and had some more scenes with Daichis adventure in Euthania with some more scenes of Rins life in Japan to balance it out of course there could have been more aspects of Euthania added to flesh it out. Then again though I do feel like the 18minute runtime does allow the story to not drag itself out longer than it needs to. All in all I have conflicting feelings on the runtime and how it affected the worldbuilding but hey if Garnt got the opportunity to produce a sequel to Ban that showed more of what Euthania was like that might address my concerns with it Well even if I feel like the short runtime negatively impacted the story I dont feel like it impacted the characters and their development particularly Rins. Im not sure if I would rank Rin anywhere on the list of my favorite female anime characters and I definitely wont draw any R34 art of her even if I was the kind of person who drew R34 art which should be a relief to Sydsnap but she is still a likable protagonist who goes through some relatable struggles. Daichi is also relatively interesting in how he has his own reasons for going to Euthania that isnt necessarily having a grand old fantasy adventure I wont spoil the reason but it is something that most young adults will relate to. They also have an interesting relationship to each other that I didnt expect them to have going in I thought they were just two characters with opposite situations there for viewers to compare to one another and that they wouldnt interact at all Not many other characters stick out in my mind and it doesnt really help that there are very few named characters other than Rin and Daichi but I do want to give a shoutout to An another EuthaniatoJapan immigrant she is a warm and motherly character who also serves as a great example of how people who have moved to a faraway place might adapt after a while of living there. Of course the story and characters arent the only good parts of Ban. The animation studio behind it Studio Daisy is a relatively new studio having been established in 2020 and while the animation they put out isnt perfect such as one part where it felt like some inbetween frames were missing it still looked good and had natural movement for most parts. The character designs were good too with clear distinctions between those from Japan and those from Euthania being made. Kevin Penkin also did a good job with the music with it sounding gorgeous and like it really came from a fantasy anime. On the note of music the ending theme Ban by Elspeth Bawden which you can also hear in the films trailer is a gorgeous song I dont know what else to say about it. Finally due to me being unable to switch languages I did have to watch the English dub during the premiere but luckily its a very good dub with some very good voice performances especially the aforementioned Sydsnap a.k.a. Sydney Poniewaz a.k.a. Garnts own wife as Rin. Its clear that Connor Colquhoun better known as CDawgVA has put his experience fixing bad voice acting to good use with his ADR direction here. Overall Ban was a good anime film and Im glad Garnt was able to produce it and release it. If you like his content in general or isekai anime in general Id recommend you to give it a shot its available for free on YouTube so you have nothing to lose by doing so. Hopefully the fact that this turned out as well as it did is a sign of good things to come for Garnt as he continues his YouTube career and his life in the home he has found in Japan.