Winter 2023's Chilling Fantasy Gem!
This was an easy, but incredibly satisfying binge.
The start is a bit rocky, but the more of it you watch, the more it grows on you.
This takes the "seemingly" classic; expelled from army/party set-up, and executes it on the highest level I've seen to date.
A show which does justice to the premise and theme, whilst telling it's own profound story. Unfortunately we've only got 12 episodes of this stuff, Utterly shameful!
Started it, and couldn't stop until it ended, I was completely immersed, you can tell it was written with a lot of thought.
Usually, with this type of anime, I need about 3 sittings to finish them. This isn't your average anime fantasy, the likes of which are cringe, cliched, filled with worthless fanservice, harems and other box-ticking garbage. Rather, it takes some of those familiar elements but uses them more sparingly to ensure the experience isn't overwhelmed by these tack-on tropes.
The MC is a breath of fresh air , something different, which also bolsters the experience. He isn't some giga-simp, self-insert, pathetic, "relatable" or on the other hand, omni-benevolent, pure-soul, dense, etc. He fits in well with the story his character is very consistent with his upbringing.
Later on in the story, you're rewarded with a very interesting, but foreshadowed plot-twist which creates a healthy paradox. Everything is quite well balanced in the show, most of the characters are used masterfully well for the plot. Some manage to receive a decent amount of development in these very short, 12 episodes.
It's really out of it's element here in this 'Banished from'/'Slow Life'' subgenre, in a sea of mediocrity this show manages to build incredibily realistic dialogue and relationships. It acutally features proper family structures, hierachies and dispositions shown almost as well as the chinese do it. The gags are funny and they never ruin the experience, the humor incredibly organic and borne from good writing.
There is very prudent deliberation in the orchestration of ideas brought forward, though at some parts perhaps this show is too idealistic, but at the end of the day we watch these shows for enjoyment as well as 'fantasy', and it certainly passes on that. Gives us some of those great old-fashioned tones without the common present day stitched-on degeneracy.
What could be better?
- A better opening, to captivate the audience, some started it but weren't too impressed.
- The Art, Animation and Sound are used efficiently but they aren't too remarkable.
- More episodes couldn't hurt.
- It does have some room to get a bit darker than it is, just to spice things up
It's good enough that if you stop here without a second season, it still feels like time very well spent.
On the other hand, it seems a second season is completely out of the question. Almost no studio wil do continuation projects for series like these.
The studio that originally made this in late 2022, early 2023 has realeased a single show since then: Akuma-kun in late 2023.
Skip to 2025 they've now re-branded from Encourage Films Ltd to Kachigarasu
Then they realeased an interesting new show this Spring season just gone;
'The Gorilla god's Go-To Girl'.
It's a shame that some of the best work out there gets stuck in such an undeserving predicament.
Apart from that this is easily the King of the entire 'Banished From' subgenre of fantasy and it's not even close. It really does shine on-screen but we will have to go to the source materials to finish this.
Haven't watched it yet? Need a quick taste of heaven?
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Make haste..__
