The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (Saturday Spin-off) – Two Minds, One Body
The new season of anime has just begun and already, I’m getting ideas. It may be premature and could end up as unrealised potential, but I think there could be something interesting in The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
What’s going on?
I’m back with yet another idea for a spinoff anime series. This one, however, is a little different… haven’t they all been? Anyhow, something came to me while watching the first episode of The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. There is a chance that this may well come to be true and in which case, all I’ve done is predict the series, although I doubt it. Anyhow, let’s get into the idea.
What’s the pitch?
There’s some character in someplace fairly normal and something happens to end their life… Vague, right? It’s fine, that part doesn’t really matter. This person then wakes in a new body that is not their own, in a world that isn’t their own. For this occasion, let’s say it’s a teenage boy’s body. They have no memories of the years leading up to this point and people around them make fairly regular comments about how they’ve changed suddenly and it’s a little unsettling. The main character brushes this off and goes about creating the life they wish they had had back on Earth.
Fairly standard Isekai stuff so far, but wait, here’s where it gets interesting. It turns out that this person’s consciousness has somehow taken over another person’s body. The original consciousness has been shoved to the back and is trapped, forced to watch someone else take over their life. This, of course, makes them a little crazy and resentful. Then, one night, they find a way to temporarily take control and go about trying to find a way to regain their body. By morning, however, things are back the way they were, but there are clues that they did something while they were sleeping. Things are about to get very weird!
Where did the inspiration come from?
So, seeing Shingo wake up in a five-year-olds body made me wonder what happened before that point. His brothers and family all knew who he was and it wasn’t as if they were suddenly surprised to see his talking. So, what happened to the Wendolin that existed before Shingo took over. For my knowledge, most Isekai characters are either born into a new world as a baby, appear as themselves, or as someone that never existed. I have been informed that in Ascendance of a Bookworm, the main character takes over another’s body, but that’s the only other time I can think of. This story has the potential for a lot of Jekyll and Hyde style shenanigans. I think The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? is more likely to end up as a harem fantasy comedy, but I certainly wouldn’t mind if it detoured a little into this idea.
Other posts in the series
- Rin and Myura (Isekai Cheat Magician)
- Valkyrie (Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious)
- Susamaru (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)
- Hinawa and Maki (Fire Force)
- The Exercise Video (How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?)
- Cain Madhouse (To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts)
- Shizuku (Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest)
- Kohaku Lost? (Dr. Stone)
- Chio’s Daily Commute (Chio’s School Road)
- The Noob! (Overlord)
- Shizu (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime)
- Noir (Fruits Basket)
- Sniper of the Dead (Highschool of the Dead)
- Liu Xuelan (Darwin’s Game)
- Two Minds, One Body (The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?)
- Plundered (Plunderer)
- Japanese Mochi! (Fruits Basket)
- Pokemon NO! (Pokemon)
- Every Action! (Infinite Dendrogram)
- Hunted to the Ends! (Somali and the Forest Spirit)
- Is It Wrong to Use Sex to Try to Beat a Dungeon? (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?)
- Two Blades (Jormungand)
- Regeneration (The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armor)
- Samurai School for Girls (Project A-ko)
- Meet the Takagis (Highschool of the Dead)
- Far From Fantasy (High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World!)
Sounds horrifying, being trapped and watching someone else control your body. Seems akin to possession at that level.
Agreed. I think it would make a pretty dark psychological thriller, especially as neither persona is necessary evil to start with.
no i think akin probly died in his sleep and then well the main character just in habited his body because the body did not have a soul.
That’s still pretty dark. Not as dark as two souls stuck in one body, but for him to live a five year old child had to effectively die. Can only hope he got Isekaied someplace else.
It’s interesting somehow. I might try watching this.
It’s very possible that this is all just speculation and the series doesn’t follow up on this idea, but I would be delighted if it did. I’ll be watching and hoping.
[…] On the whole, this was a fairly uninspiring episode although it wasn’t bad. There were some funny moments such as Alfred using wasabi as if it were ketchup, but then it had no effect on him. That’s right, Alfred was the whispering dead which is a person that is on their way to becoming a zombie. Woohoo! Only the second episode and we are well on our way to a fantasy world zombie apocalypse… Well, at least that’s where I hope we’re heading, especially as I doubt it’s going to do anything with the ideas that I put forward in my spin-off idea – Two Minds, One Body! […]