This show started out painfully slow. The characters received very little development individually, and plot seemed to be far from any form of existence. I was about to drop it and not look back.
A curve ball was thrown that I couldn’t have seen coming from a mile way during episode 4. The show seemed so light-hearted, the chances of a main character dying was not something I foresaw, nor expected. I wasn’t expecting those themes in this show, though maybe just I didn’t look deep enough.
It was already made evident that the goblins weren’t “just” monsters. They seemed to fear death; they didn’t want to die. They had enough intelligence to understand and comprehend the world around them, what magic was, and who their enemies were. It made me question the moralities of Ranta mercilessly killing a goblin in the early few episodes.
Looking back now after completing the final episode my opinion has slightly changed of the first three episodes. Mostly in the areas of team-building, where a group of unwanted and inexperienced individuals were forced to group up in order to survive in the world. They weren’t very good at it though, they stumbled around and almost died multiple times. They recognised that everyone wasn’t very good either. I feel like the author of the light novel paid a lot of attention to minor details than I first saw.
Manato’s death served as a turning point of the series. Some characters in particular received a lot of development. Haru was forced into the limelight as the new group leader, a position he never wanted to be in, a choice he was never able to make. His personality evolved a lot, or at least became more evident as the show went on. As a leader, he was in a position where his caring nature leadership qualities could truly be utilized. Prior to Maru’s death, he strikes me as a person who although still cared about those around him, preferred to watch from the outside, never stepping up to take responsibility.
Ranta was an annoying brat whose feelings towards the group seemed to change as the show went on. At the very least, he began to realise how the bluntness of his personality affected the people around him. He showed guilt towards it in the final episode, although it didn’t stop him from being a smart arse one more time. I was happy to see he realised the effects of what he was saying.
Mary’s stuck up attitude made it seem she cared very little for those around her. Unfortunately I felt the reason behind her attitude to be very cliché, I saw it from a mile away when it became obvious she wasn’t happy spending her mana. Manato ran out of mana too, which led to that conclusion rather quickly. In terms of her development though, stuck up bitch to best girl in 4 episodes? What can I say?
Manato was also not a character that was ever forgotten either. Very often you’ll see death in anime quickly forgotten about by the characters, never showing any form of personal attachment, possibly ever again past the next episode. They always had him on their mind. They didn’t want to take risks for the sake of being a hero, they didn’t want to go through the suffering of losing another friend again.
I didn’t feel the remaining characters got enough development later in the show to comment on further and more episodes would have been needed to accomplish that. I do want to say I’m very happy with the range of character personalities the story has without overusing archtypes. My only qualm would be with Shinhoru, seemingly being the only one that was a true archtype/trope girl. All the others seemed to have their own charms and quirks, like Mogozo very politely saying “thankyou” every time he went to make a big strike.
Having Mary’s friends return in the mines was definitely a highlight for me. It was revealed earlier in the show when Manato died that the dead rise if they are not turned to ash within a set amount of time. So often, a plot device such as this gets completely looked over later in the show, leaving some major inconsistencies. Honestly it almost bothers me that I have to praise it for this; it should be expected by default. Unfortunately, this is often not the case in many airing shows.
Where I’m critical about the story is its lack of direction. It’s strange, I’m not sure if I need to be critical about it. There always seemed to be a goal. In the first few episodes it was defeating a goblin efficiently. Later it was finding a new healer. Taking revenge. Helping Mary get over her past. Defeating the kobolds. Even at the very least, they wanted to find out who they were themselves as they had forgotten their pasts.
One part of me argues that because there was no pre-defined goal there wasn’t much of a story. But there was always a story despite that. There was always a reason behind what they were doing. Nothing they did felt pointless. But we never found out how they got there. Though I can’t blame it for that as the light novels continue far past this season. With all that being said, an over-arching plot of some kind definitely would have helped this show by a considerable margin.
The voice acting was another highlight for this show for me. Yume’s voice actress stood out to me in particular. I’ve never criticised someone’s voice acting before so I’m finding it hard to find the words to support what I want to say, but her voice acting had a legitimacy about it. She wasn’t trying to be a moe blob at the very least, she seemed like a real person talking. Mogzo and Shihoru’s voice actors also had a legitimacy behind their voices. I always enjoyed hearing the three of them speak. Interestingly enough, all three are very new voice actors/actresses to the scene, with Mogozo in particular starring in his first major role. I’m looking forward to hearing more from them in the future.
Lastly, one of the highlights was the shows aesthetics. And wow, every scene was like a painting, I can’t recall ever seeing a scene that felt lazy. Character designs were on point too, though I must admit I prefer their light novel designs more, I guess they might have been hard to replicate in an animated form especially with time constraints. I’m glad the studio was able to give justice to how pretty the world was, especially since the characters liked the views.
I think this will be an anime I will remember for a long time, particularly in its standards set with its character development and how it turned itself from a 3 to an 8. Season 2 announcement when?
+ Character development
+ Aesthetics
+ Fitting soundtrack
+ Consistent plot devices
- Slow pacing at times, particularly episodes 1-3.
Strory: 6, Art: 10, Sound: 8, Character: 9, Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8 (this score is not intended to be an average of the above).
