Name: Interesting older hero gets by on willpower alone animation story and character development were all lackluster
Item: The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible
Rating: 45
Author: Obbieuth

Waifra

Interesting older hero gets by on willpower alone animation story and character development were all lackluster

The concept of this anime was interesting. An older hero who kind of waited too long to chase his dreams and who gets by on luck alone. I do feel like there are far too many anime that focus on an extremely narrow band of years in a person’s life. Usually high school age students. There is nothing wrong with some of that but life is a spectrum. And writing endless narratives that end when high school does I feel simply does not send the right message about life. Add to that the fact that there is a growing pile of older anime fans now and writing to a more diverse crowd makes sense.

Sadly that one core concept is about the only thing this anime had going for it. The animation wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t great. It was bland and lifeless. There were a lot of scenes with talking to pad out the animation. And you might say, well talking is important to drive the story and develop the characters. Yes, it is. Which is why it is a shame that this talking did very little of that. The characters risk nothing. There is no struggle, no strife. Nothing that the characters must overcome. We get constant references to a two year training montage. But even that has no real risk to it. The character’s primary teacher has the ability to resurrect him from even death. So, flawless training that is at most physically uncomfortable with no risk at all.

I think this anime is trying to be wish fulfillment. The world we live in is so difficult and oftentimes hopeless. Wouldn’t it be great if we had the ability to grow to our full potential without any of that twisted pain? Well, that isn’t how growth works. Not at any level. The discomfort IS the growth. Feeling like you aren’t getting it and pushing back against that feeling is where growth occurs. This isn’t shown at all.

Then when we move past the training you’ve got the story. Or do you? Exactly what story is there to go on here? A band of friends tries to gather 6 jewels together to fight a dragon to grant a wish...Hey! Wait a minute! Take that wig off right now Dragon Ball! Though that is a bit disrespectful to Dragon Ball because that has some of what I’m criticizing this for lacking. They don’t explore the motivation for fighting the boss dragon at all. Did it kill someone you care about? Do you just want the akashic records (aka wish)? And if so for what purpose? Dead mom? Fix poverty? Anything? Bigger junk? The world may never know because it isn’t developed.

The story is padded out with threadbare cliche’s and barely detectable character development. And the anime’s arc is ended on one of the most tired, old, useless depictions ever, a bloody tournament arc. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.