Saving 80,000 Gold In Another World For My Retirement: The Merchant’s Isekai Story [Anime Rewind Review]

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement sounds like yet another word salad title isekai anime story. However, its stereotypically lengthy titles hides one of the most unique premises for an isekai story I’ve ever seen. Not only is this one of the rare isekai anime that stars a female main character in the form of Mitsuha Yamano, but she’s not even your typical overpowered isekai hero. For one thing, she’s far more interested in economics and merchanting than anyone other than Kraft Lawrence. Honestly, this anime does feel like it’s in the same general premise as Spice and Wolf. I just only wish that the animation quality was on par with the story.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement: Details

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is the anime adaptation of the isekai adventure novel, light novel, and manga series of the same name by writer FUNA (Didn’t I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!, I Shall Survive Using Potions!). Tōzai is the artist for the light novels, while Keisuke Motoe is the artist for the manga. Felix Film (Otherside Picnic, Aharen-san wa Hakarenai) is the animation studio behind this anime.

Hiroshi Tamada is the director behind Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement, with Akihiko Inari as the writer. Tetsuya Takahashi composed the music you hear in the anime.

Speaking of music: the opening theme music for Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is “Hikatta Coin ga Shimesu Kata” (光ったコインが示す方, “How the Shining Coin Is Revealed”) by Kaori Maeda.

Meanwhile, “Yappari Economy” (やっぱりエコノミー, “As Expected, It’s Economy”) by YABI×YABI is the ending theme music for the same.

Voice Cast

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement stars the voice of Rika Nagae (Trina Nishimura in English dub) as Mitsuha Yamano. Other notable voice roles include Jun Fukuyama (Anthony DiMascio in English dub) as the posthumous Takeshi Yamano, Rika Tachibana (Marianne Bray in English dub) as Colette, Koari Maeda (Sarah Wiedenheft in English dub) as Sabine, and Kenyu Horiuchi (Randy Pearlman in English dub) as “It”. You’ll know who/what “It” is when you watch this anime.

Where to Watch

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement made its debut on January 8, 2023. This anime ran until March 26, 2023 for a typical total of 12 episodes. You can watch this anime only on Crunchyroll.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement: Synopsis

Normally, this would be the part of the review where I would give a spoiler-filled summary of the plot of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement. However, this is the spoiler-free version of my reviews. Thus, you will all be getting Crunchyroll’s official synopsis for this anime. You can check it out below:

After losing her family in an accident, Mitsuha’s left alone with a mound of financial problems, but with a newfound ability, she’s got a plan. Thanks to a mysterious entity, she’s now able to jump between her world and another, and now her wealth management strategy is taking off. Mitsuha’s road map to retirement is simple yet effective—save money in two worlds!

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement: The Good

The story of Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is the main draw of the anime. As I said before, it has the distinct premise of having one of the most unique plotlines of any isekai anime, primarily because its main focus isn’t on action as is the norm for isekai anime. Rather, its entire plot is focused around economics and trade. Specifically: Mitsuha Yamano’s plan to become fabulously wealthy and retire in luxury via inter-world trade between her modern mundane world and the fantasy world she’s isekai-ing to.

In many ways, said story borrows from some of the best crossover fanfics. Because of Mitsuha’s ability to travel between her world and the fantasy world at will, it allows for a mixing of the worlds in a way that just isn’t present in the vast majority of isekai animes. If you want to see an isekai anime done right, then Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is the anime for you.

Even better though, towards the end of the anime, Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement becomes more like Saving Private Ryan. It actually turns into a bit of a military science fantasy story at that point. Even before then though, you have elements of military science fantasy in Mitsuha’s loadout. Without going into spoilers: she uses some of her wealth to obtain guns and training to use them. Thus, this is also a story about how modern firearms would fare in a fantasy world. If you’re a gun nut or military fiction fan, then this is also the anime for you.

And that’s not even going into Mitsuha Yamano being the rare female protagonist of an isekai anime. The entire genre is dominated by male protagonists, using with a harem or two. Thus, it’s rather refreshing to see a female hero for once.

Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement: The Bad

My one complaint about Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement is an inconsistent animation quality. For much of the anime, the quality is actually pretty good. Very high, really. Towards the end though, it feels like in places, the animation quality experiences some drastic drops. One particular scene with Mitsuha seemed to have the animators forget that shadows exists. It honestly felt like some of the final episodes were a bit rushed in development, and hurt the anime just a bit. I’m only giving this anime such a high score because the overall animation quality is good, and because the story is great enough to make up for those animation fails towards the end.

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