By the Grace of the Gods (神達に拾われた男, Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko) is a 2020 television anime series based on Roy’s light novel series of the same name. The series was produced by studio Maho Film, and the staff credits include director Takeyuki Yanase, screenplay writer Kazuyuki Fudeyasu and music composer Hiroaki Tsutsumi. The series was first broadcast in Japan on October 2020.
Background:
“After dying in his sleep, Ryoma is reincarnated by three divine beings into a world of magic, where he spends his time researching and caring for slimes. But after healing an injured traveler, Ryoma and his slimes decide to set out and use his power to help others.”
Plot Synopsis via Funimation, February 2022.
The Isekai genre continues to develop thousands of stories and a lot of them have gotten anime adaptations. So it should be no surprise that By the Grace of the Gods got the same treatment.
That said, By the Grace of the Gods was announced by Funimation quite early on because they also co-produced the adaptation, given it’s an Isekai they probably wanted to cash in on the genre more. That said, the series did have a following with its light novel and manga being distributed in English by J-Novel Club, which probably helped the publisher’s decision to fund the anime.
By the Grace of the Gods did get some attention when it first aired, and while I know a lot of people didn’t bother due to the same introduction concept that every Isekai has had (dying and reincarnated into another world with abilities), from what I have heard this anime is more on the slice-of-life comfy side than your regular power-fantasy harem, which does help make the series stand out more. And it’s gotten a Season 2 announcement already so that will make the fans happy.
Funimation also had home video rights and dubbed the series when it was airing (simuldub). Since its one of their co-produced shows and has a bit of a following, they also offered a limited edition box set. The UK only received a standard edition (and lost part of the artwork due to bizarre decision making), and considering I like my Isekai I decided to go for their limited edition box set.
Limited Edition Contents:
Funimation’s limited edition releases are pretty consistent on the design layout with the differences being the artwork and physical items included. By the Grace of the Gods is no different, but the artwork choices are pretty good.
This package offers a rigid box that houses the series in an Amaray Blu-ray case alongside a 100-page art book, which includes character designs, two light novel chapters, illustrations and background designs from the series. The rest of the physical items are in a separate cardboard box which includes 6 Art Cards, Puffy slime Sticker Sheet, and a Slime-themed Glasses Cleaning Cloth.
The artwork is free of any information and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Funimation limited edition releases have done over the years. Unit count wasn’t specified for this release, while the SRP was $84.98. A standard edition Blu-ray was also available on the same day as the limited edition release. Since I imported the set from United Publications, the price was £63 plus postage.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with clean artwork and Amaray packaging
- Info sheet for specification
- 100-page Artbook with Light Novel
- 6 Art Cards
- Puffy slime Sticker Sheet
- Slime-themed Glasses Cleaning Cloth
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Funimation
Released: 15th February 2022
The limited edition release for By the Grace of the Gods contains all 12 episodes across two Blu-ray discs and two DVD discs, with the encode & authoring done by Funimation. The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are accessible to Blu-ray players set to A & B and DVD players set to 1, 2 & 4.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 BD-50s |
DVD Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | Standard Definition in NTSC format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | 1 2 4 |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 2 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 2:
- By the Grace of the Gods: Voice Actor Q&A
- Pre-reincarnation Ryoma & Tabuchi’s 4-Panel Video
- “Slimes’ Idle Conversation” By the Grace of the Gods Introduction
- Home Video Original – “Slimes’ Idle Conversation: Ryoma Is on Trial for Doing Too Much”
- Next Episode Previews
- Textless Opening Song “Yasashii Sekai”
- Textless Closing Song “Blue Rose knows”
DVD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras across all discs
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
The limited edition release for By the Grace of the Gods Season 1 is available to order on Amazon UK via AmazonGlobal, Rightstuf and United Publications. A cheaper UK standard edition Blu-ray is available to order on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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