Miyuki SawashiroToshiyuki ToyonagaFairouz AiAlice in Wonderland
Bye Bye, Earth, seasons 1-2
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2024
Director: Yasuto Nishikata
Writer: Hiroyuki Yoshino
Original creator: Tow Ubukata
Actor: Ami Koshimizu, Fairouz Ai, Junichi Suwabe, Junya Enoki, Kenjiro Tsuda, Koki Uchiyama, Miyuki Sawashiro, Natsuki Hanae, Saori Hayami, Satoshi Hino, Setsuji Sato, Toshiyuki Toyonaga
Keywords: Alice in Wonderland, anime, fantasy
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: Two 10-episode seasons
Url: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=26581
Website category: Anime 2024
Review date: 24 March 2026
bye bye earth
On a character level, it's mostly straightforward. (Sort of, approximately, except in the vicinity of crazy story points.) Belle Lablac is a girl on a quest with a whopping great sword. She explores a fantasy world and meets various people, one of whom would like to sleep with her but neither of them has the slightest clue about that kind of thing. It won't go smoothly.
The worldbuilding, though... well, let me quote someone explaining the show on reddit. (Warning: I haven't edited for prose flow.)
"This is my basic understanding of the show. I don't know anything about it other than the episodes of the show that have aired. I think this is an isekai. As you already know she is trying to become a Nomad but you have to go through the proper channels to be released from your faction or affiliation. The tree god obviously runs things and uses that total recall surrogate as a mouthpiece. She first had to become a soloist but to do so she needed the final battle with her master. Once that happened she got the curse of a soloist which is different from person to person. For example the cat dude cannot use his own sword so he takes others. Their swords have a type of soul attached to them which need to be attuned with the user hence "growing their swords". Once that was completed she moved forward to become a Nomad which requires tasks by the tree God the same as with Hercules tasks. There is no other way around it for her. The rabbit dude sees her as an anomaly probably with a fate that is intertwined with his or maybe he is the one who brought her over from earth."
...and it's hardly much clearer if you've actually watched the show. You'd probably go berserk if you're a viewer who likes everything clear and nailed down, but you just have to go with it. There's an Alice in Wonderland influence, e.g. the White Rabbit with a pocket watch, although his name for no clear reason is "Kitty". (There's also a sheep called Guinness, although the subtitles call him Gwen.) Anyway, just let the weirdness wash over and you'll be fine. It doesn't matter if someone's a weird gender-switching mermaid who forms emotional attachments so strong that they rewrite your physiology. The show's oddness was a big part of why I watched it in the first place, but unfortunately it diminishes after a while. However, here are some examples from the first few episodes:
"We live by the Law of Theme in Park City. Everyone here's destined for good or evil the moment they're born."
"Behold Yggdrasil, the throne of the god who dwells in this land. A cancerous sword that has been growing since the dawn of history."
A rabbit eats metal swords and a sword transforms into wood. The king has a talking face sewn into his chest. There's an undead army, so I was happy to see zombies. Someone in Park City who can't enjoy anything any more is going to join the Army of Insatiable Emptiness. Then there's the dog: "This is my shell. It's always eating itself, so it doesn't exist anywhere." All that I enjoyed... but it's not a narrative. I love weird stuff and it makes things more fun, but it's also, ultimately, just background colour. What's the plot? What do our heroes want/do?
On a storytelling level, the show's okay. I quite like the cast. Belle Lablac is the only human in a world of animals, but also a manly hero who lives by the sword and might not even recognise skirts and dresses. That works. She's a decent protagonist. Her friends are entertaining too and I'm happy with the relationships. However, the plot loses something because the world's so unintuitive. Straightforward magical quest stuff is fine, but there are other factors for which you might want to take notes. The worldbuilding's stronger than the narrative, so the pacing can be slow even though the explanations aren't thorough. Also, character motivations will sometimes be based in something weird, e.g. your mentor will wipe your memory so that you can kill him without feeling bad about it.
I certainly don't dislike this show, but I wouldn't say it grabbed me. The first few episodes are my favourites, because they're the weirdest (although wait for those mermaids). If you like odd things, you might perhaps consider trying one or two of those early episodes... but on the rest of the show I'm neutral. I'd give it seven out of ten.