WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR "Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest". You have been warned.
Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest is a fantasy anime. With a title like that, you might've wondered, "Is this an isekai?" Well, surprisingly, it's not. This is a straight-up fantasy show with no reincarnation or other-world travel. It starts as your typical underdog story, where the weak rise to prove themselves against the odds. But, to my dismay, the plot quickly turns into a ridiculously generic mess that might as well be an isekai.
Ein is the main character of the show, but before that, let's talk about his worthless class first. Appraisers in this world seem to be very common. Non-combatant jobs like theirs are seen as worthless and useless, known for being unable to fight. Their whole purpose in this world is basically to be a pawnshop where you can trade in goods from your dungeon-slaying adventures, or an item rarity checker with a fee, of course.
But our MC had a terrible life as a child; he lost his parents in a house fire, which left him growing up penniless. Since he doesn't have a house to act as a pawn shop, he decided to maybe join an adventure guild. He figured he could appraise items for his party members, checking if they're worth taking or not. To our surprise, everyone rejected him because they didn't want dead weight in a party, seeing as they believed Appraisers cannot fight.
He later found a party willing to accept him, but of course, being a class that's was deemed useless and only good at one thing, he was treated like absolute shit by his two party members, Zoid and Jolene.
One day, out on a dungeon exploration with his party members, they battled a giant rat. Ein, being the Appraiser, was treated like trash, told to inspect the body for anything of value. He then found a rare B-tier enemy called a Hellhound, which would fetch a pretty penny. Ein got scared, knowing the dungeon map said you'd only find these specific creatures deeper in.
Seeing a dead Hellhound, knowing it was a mob that wasn't supposed to be here, made him even more scared. He told his party members, Zoid and Jolene, that they should leave. But them being arrogant people, thinking a few adventurers already came here and cleared it out—even leaving dead corpses for them to pick—they pushed deeper. To their surprise, as they went deeper, they found a pack of Hellhounds.
Zoid, in his sadistic thinking, then said, "We will make Ein as bait!" and told Jolene to cast a paralyze spell on him. As the two made a run for it, Ein was left to be ravaged by the pack of Hellhounds. Miraculously, still being able to walk, he arrived at the entrance they came in, only to find it was broken by his two party members, so those Hellhounds couldn't escape.
Ein later saw another passageway, but to his surprise, it was just a dead end with a giant hole in the ground. He jumped into the giant hole while regretting living in this world, and that's the start of the story.
The mechanic of the Divine Eye being able to enhance the user's spell while letting Appraise gain/take abilities of slain foes this single mechanic single-handedly makes power creep utterly ridiculous. You're telling me he can gain the abilities of any foe he defeats just by appraising them? Seriously? So every other ability's latent potential is locked behind a Divine Eye? And a Human Eye is the one holding the shackles of its potential?
He quickly goes from strong to overpowered within just four episodes because he keeps taking each of his foes' abilities NOT TO MENTION THEIR S-TIER ABILITIES! This results in him feeling super bland, with all the fighting ending within 10 minutes while the other half is a mess for the MC to resolve, or just a comic relief scene.
#What I liked
The way Appraise was showcased as a skill that could predict what enemies would do, instead of just short descriptions, rarity, and so on.
Do you like characters with too much power? Is owning a harem enjoyable for you? If so, then watch the anime. If not, don't waste your time. Since episode 12 left the audience wondering where the other World Tree Spirit sisters were, hinting a season 2 of this anime.
I give this anime a rating of 6/10 for me.
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