Story: 4/10
After reading the title, you already can make more than a few educated guesses about the plot of Cautious Hero. An experienced anime goer won’t be holding their breath over any twists and turns. That’s okay though, because that’s kind of the point.
The humor of Cautious Hero hinges on the viewer being familiar with the Stations-of-the-Canon of stereotypical isekai hero stories (the starting town, the demon generals, etc.), and letting Seiya’s questionable choices play out. It’s simple, but it works and the humor typically hits.
Art: 7/10
I know, I know. But stay with me for a moment. One word: Ristarte. Specifically, the many glorious faces of the goddess Ristarte reacting to Seiya’s BS. Her face contortions are reason enough to watch the show, or at least keep tuning in episode after episode. Yes, really.
Other than that, the character designs range from blandly forgettable to blandly-forgettable-sex-appeal-edition. The way the show’s opening plays up the minor goddess characters, having them take a significant chunk of that opening theme acting sexy and cool when in reality they’re mere supporting characters with not a lot of screen time... just doesn’t sit well with me.
Really, who wins in this scenario? The people who watch the show because of these sexy characters will inevitably be disappointed when their waifu gets hardly any screentime at all. The people who don’t watch the show because of these sexy characters get cheap cash grab sex appeal thrown in their face every time the opening plays.
Backgrounds are similarly devoid of anything that might set it apart from the general isekai soup. Were it not for Ristarte’s glorious mug, the art would’ve absolutely tanked.
So yes, Ristarte’s face carries the art score single-handedly, but oh, carry it it does.
Sound: 5/10
Not much to say in the sound department. I would be doing this review a disservice if I didn’t mention that Ristarte’s voice actress did a fantastic job in particular delivering her lines, but unlike her comedic faces, it can’t save the otherwise flavorless remainder of the audio here.
Character: 3/10
No surprises here. This is a sitcom gag anime, so the bar was never set high. Even the two leads wouldn’t be particularly compelling if taken away from the situation they’re in.
Usually this section is dedicated to a rant, but the whole cast is so bare bones or one note that there’s not a lot to say.
...that’s terrible in its own way, isn’t it?
Enjoyment: 5/10
In general, I find it very difficult to score fives. The critic in me so badly wants to skew things for the positive or the negative. For this reason, the averageness of Cautious Hero might be it’s most impressive feature, as unintuitive as that sounds. It’s the epitome of a mass marketed comedy, narratively safe and full of cheap appeals.
Who will enjoy Cautious Hero?
Do you want a corny jaunt into iseaki land? Sign right up, this is for you.
Do you want to watch something that’ll entertain in the junk food sense? Something you don’t need to take seriously, and in turn won’t take you seriously? Go right ahead, here’s the popcorn.
If you want anything out of a show that’ll actually make you think about it later, or even want to think about it in a creative sense, this is not for you. But you probably knew that anyway looking at the title, right?
Overall, 5/10.
