Some observations that don’t deserve to get their own post.
From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! Ep. 3-5
I wish this show was more amusing. I originally had a longer draft to cover recent epiosdes, but… I dunno, it didn’t seem that interesting to me when I read it back afterwards; I kinda feel the same way about this anime. It’s like the ingredients are all there, but the cake refuses to rise. The most interesting thing so far is learning that Grace-jisan’s family can watch him live his best ojousama life. In fact, his daughter has to help him out. First, it was her hands that reached out and created her dad’s shiny, new dragon familiar. She accomplished this by squishing together a miniature versions of Grace and Kenzaburo. What does that mean or signify? That Grace is still here somewhere? Is she buried deep within herself while Kenzo is piloting the body? Has she been watching everything that has unfolded? But moving along, whenever Kenzo needs to command the dragon, he also requires his daughter’s help in order to swap between the familiar’s elements. And with that, Grace-jisan is volunteered to participate in some sort of tournament. With Anna Doll’s help, obviously. Okay. Cool, I guess.
As always, I want these stories to be bolder, to lean harder on their premise. In other words, show me why it’s interesting to have an old man larp as an ojousama. So far, he’s… uh, nice to everyone so he’s turning their heads. The boys are in love. And probably Anna Doll as well. And um, he still does calculations with an abacus. I feel like we’re five episodes in and nothing has really happened.
Solo Leveling Ep. 17-18
I think Sung Jinwoo got a little too strong, a little too fast. It has been a meteoric rise from useless nobody to diligent grinder to suddenly taking on an entire army of high orcs all by his lonesome while a smattering of A and B rank hunters do nothing but watch in awe from the side lines. Then the hot hunter girl who has been slowly teased since the first season finally gets more screen time only to spend it blushing profusely because Sung Jinwoo is the only man on Earth who doesn’t stink to her. I get it, I get it. She’s never been touched by anyone else before. She’s totally virginal, you guys. Fresh and sealed for our chad hero! He won’t be cucked. No, Sung Jinwoo is too strong to be cucked! I swear, cuck becoming a thing is the weirdest shit to emerge from our shitty culture in recent years. All of a sudden, it’s cuck this, cuckold that. Out of nowhere, every other guy younger seems deathly afraid of being cucked. Meanwhile, I’m just wondering why I can’t see this supposedly badass S-Rank hunter do anything cool.
I don’t even bother to worry about the main character anymore, because I know he’ll destroy everything. The entire time I was watching these episodes, I just hoped the nobodies — the ones who get the privilege of watching Sung Jinwoo in action — survive.
The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World Ep. 4-5
I liked the show better when it was goofy and thus funny — when it reveled in its own silliness. But now there’s a plot. Something about a clown wanting to revive their nefarious leader or whatever. My interest has more or less petered out.
I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! Ep. 2-5
It’s got that generic setup that feels a bit… I dunno if pathetic is the right word to use here, but maybe? Hero is basically good at everything, and instantly wins over his new party members. They’re all girls, by the way. God forbid a… a…. m-m-man would join. Even the latest addition appears to be a cat girl. See? We accept every race here. Small girl, tall girl, dark elf girl, cat girl. Just no men. But we also have that “I want to have my cake and eat it too” setup where it’s blatantly obvious that the girls have a thing for him, but Yuke doesn’t notice it at all. He’s too busy prepping for the next adventure, guys! Knowing the ins and outs of every dungeon, every dungeon mob, preparing every med, potions, meals, etc. Gosh, this amazing adventurer is just too dense for love. He’s just that pure. C’mon author, this is so pathetic. You’re not even trying to make him seem real. Does Yuke really have no flaws? And no, not realizing that every girl in your party wants to date you is not remotely an interesting character trait.
Furthermore, the story really double down on Yuke’s awesomeness whenever we cut to Thunder Pike, Yuke’s previous party. One guy leaves and now the entire group is in shambles. They can’t do anything right. Can’t recruit any new members because they just instantly shit on the new person. And now that no one else is joining, they shit on the quiet girl. By the way, quiet girl is quietly watching streams of Yuke while quietly looking sad. Who wants to bet she’s always had a thing for Yuke but never spoke up, and now she regrets it? Anyway, Thunder Pike is so incompetent without Yuke that they’re in danger of de-ranking. They keep failing missions, because they absolutely refuse to take easier ones despite 1) not having a full party and 2) still not accepting that our hero did a lot for them so now that he’s gone, I dunno maybe someone should pick up some of the slack? It just requires absolute incompetence from every member of the group to continue functioning like this. And sure, you can find examples of this in real life. Like maybe management fumbles it, loses all the top employees, so now the company is going under but no one is willing to check their ego long enough to right the ship. Sure.
But I feel like there’s a certain kind of glee hidden beneath the surface of this anime. Like it just can’t wait to punish Yuke’s former teammates, and this is why they’re portrayed in such a one-dimensional way. They won’t learn, because they can’t learn. Thunder Pike’s tragically inclined leader has decided that they will forge ahead and plumb the depths of some really dangerous dungeon in the hopes of luring Yuke back. But they’ll probably do it in some nefarious way or whatever. Like maybe try to kill the girls in Yuke’s new party. Or sell them off to that pervy noble. I dunno what, but the end goal here is cruelly punish the old group. We just need to justify it somehow. And I guess I hate this, because on the one hand, you try to make the hero seem so pristine. He’s so innocent, he doesn’t even know the girls are down bad for him! At the same time, we’re crafting a story where something really, really horrible is going to happen to Thunder Pike. I just can’t square these two disparate elements. I’m not sure if my point is coming across correctly. It’s like… the character is nice, but the intent behind the story isn’t nice. So it makes me question the authenticity of the nice character.
They often say the best revenge is living your best life. Just move on. You don’t have to forgive and forget, but you also don’t need to keep looking back. But it feels like thie person behind this story can’t do that. They’re not satisfied with their Gary Stu gallivanting around with hot, cute girls who adore him. Not until we have “properly” punished Thunder Pike. Even from a novelty standpoint, however, other shows have done this before and likely way, way harder. Like Redo of Healer. So I don’t really know what I Left my A-Rank Party has going for it.
Geez, maybe this section could’ve been its own post after all. Oh well.
Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, I’m Actually the Strongest Ep. 4-5
Not much to say here. Ein is stronger. Now he’s traveling the world and women for his harem helping Yuri find her sisters. Yeah, we’ll go with that one. Every time he meets a new sister and her guardian, his eye gets powered up. And oh yeah, they join the traveling party. Ho hum. Also, Zoid’s got that whole “I won’t learn from my mistakes so punish me harder” vibe going for him like the I Left my A-Rank Party anime. Maybe people got bullied too hard as kids, so they’re trying to live out their revenge fantasies by writing these generic stories over and over.
