Redo of Healer is a satire of the generic fantasy and revenge plot. (I'm looking at you Shield Hero). It's also a "I can't believe it's not hentai" series. The show's story is as terribly beautiful as its premise. A broken man in a broken world is going to get his sword bloody.
This story is a neat break from generic fantasy stories that anime is known to have. It's different, and it can be disturbing to some audiences. However, it's honestly not the worst thing compared to what's in reach of a several keyboard strokes. For a hentai, I would say it's actually better. Seeing pixelated genitals has zero appeal, the trick is showing the face and body language, and Redo of Healer has boobs full of that. The author is setting a new standard for eroge, and I am here to bear his flag. God Bless this man and his accursed pen.
This anime features heavy themes, the most notable as of episode three are rape (from both men and women, the rape also has a place in the world-building since people gain some degree of power from the heroes if they take in their body fluids, it's not explained in-depth), torture, mindbreak, drug abuse.
The main theme of the story is revenge. The main character was abused by his old party and tangential secondary/tertiary characters. He's gone back in time after getting his hands on the philosophers stone, and is preparing his body for revenge (quite literally prepping his body).
The protagonist is a villain, it's debatable if he's an anti-villain, but the tag doesn't really matter. His motivations are clear cut and focused: taking revenge on the people that destroyed him (psychologically) in his previous life. Each character so far is a piece of shit. Everyone is a terrible human being, save for the Demon King (Queen?) who said something about protecting something, which is ironic. It's the humans that are the real demons. There's no deep meaning or anything, the main plot is just a backdrop for the protagonist to have sex with characters. Cool.
It's a bold story, as in: Redo of Healer is a hentai like how Game of Thrones is a time period piece porno. It's a good story, the protagonist is easy to emphasize with, he's extremely proactive, and he's scary competent. It seems inspired by Rising of the Shield Hero, taking on similar themes to that story but focusing in on the story rather than becoming silly after the introduction of the chicken character. Let's hope that it doesn't follow the same path. Shield Hero ended when the princess had justice brought down on her, and left the second half of the story floundering. I believe that the author of Redo of Healer is attempting to write his own version of that type of story archetype. There's only several characters so far that we know he has to take revenge against, and I can smell more to come.
I'm interested in what the rest of the show will bring, but its first four episodes have clearly set the rest of the tone of the story perfectly. I would expect more of it and perhaps even an escalation. I'm not expecting anything amazing, it's obviously a mediocre story, but hey, we're all in for the ride ;). The outrage this show is causing is giving it a lot more press than it could possibly generate through ads.
I would also like to note that rape, even as a tool for revenge, is NOT good. Though the majority of topics in your life will show degrees of nuance, rape veers heavily into black (don't be racist). Like video game violence, rape depicted in stories and porn does not encourage people into performing it. Weak, sociopathic, damaged, and sick human beings will rape other humans and try to make excuses. There are no excuses for rape. The protagonist of this show, if I haven't already pointed out, is psychologically damaged and is not in anyway being used as a role model by the author. He should be both reviled and a target for sympathy, because the author is attempting to make the viewer feel a mixture of emotions, which is the ultimate goal for any piece of media. The worst feeling to have while experiencing anything is boredom. Redo of Healer is anything but boring.
This is the best hentai of 2021. 10/10