Originally, I wasn’t planning to dedicate another post to this show. It would go into the “Everything else” pile, and I’d find something more interesting to talk about on Wednesdays. I’m still hoping for this to happen, but I wasn’t vibing with Let’s Play when I watched its first episode. I then ended up writing too many words about this show’s second episode, so… well, here we are.

So what’s the kid up to now? Well, the anime treats us to a bit of a time skip. As a result, Arel is a bit older now, and he has decided to leave home and hit up Bresgia, a city where all the swordsmen gather. Even though his mother is the sword maiden with probably more combat experience in one pinky than anyone he might find in Bresgia, our boy hero figures he can only get stronger by fighting a bunch of nobodies. But hey, variety is the spice of life.

The problem here is that Arel is already so freaking strong. On the way to his new temporary home, Arel’s group encounters an orc raiding party. Naturally, the two people with actual classes quickly bail, leaving the defenseless behind to fend for themselves. Luckily for them, our boy prodigy is here. And sadly, like most anime protagonists these days, Arel crushes his foes without breaking a sweat. So what’s even the point? This isn’t a coming-of-age story about a young, classless protagonist hoping to overcome the odds and becoming a hero. Apparently, he’s already overcome those odds, so what exactly am I watching this show for?

Anyways, you can already predict how this episode’s going to play out. None of the top guilds will want Arel simply because he’s classless. As a result, he truly knows what it feels like to face discrimination. Arel’s going to have to join a guild at the very bottom of the totem pole, i.e. this is totally a modern allegory about racism in our society. Yep, no doubt about it.

Enter Lilia, a.k.a. waifu no. 2. Why no. 2? We’ll get to that in a moment. The new girl is trying to recruit for the Dragon Fang guild, which has fallen on hard times lately. Why? Her father, the current guild master(?), lost an arm, so he is drinking himself stupid these days. I feel like the guild should still have people even if its leader is an alcoholic, but maybe him being a sad sack of shit drove everyone else away. Well, almost everyone.

Arel didn’t even want to join Dragon Fang to begin with, but he eventually learns that this is his mother’s former guild. And who should he find lurking about at headquarters? Why, it’s that redhead from his childhood! And his childhood friend was a girl all along?! No way! Who could have predicted this! Holy smokes, Batman, I’m so shocked! Guess she’s waifu no. 1 after all! Naturally, Arel doesn’t recognize Reiner, inadvertently rizzes her up, then they proceed to spar like old times. Reiner has a bone to pick with Arel, because she’s still sore about losing to him all those years ago. I have a bone to pick with her name, though. Is it really Reiner? According to Wikipedia, it’s Laina or Raina, and that makes a lot more sense than what the subs are telling me. Oh well, Reiner it is.

Do I even need to tell you that Reiner loses to Arel again? ‘Cause of course she would. She may have gotten stronger, but as we’ve already seen from the start of the episode, so has Arel. And again, we rarely get to see anime protagonists struggle anymore these days, so it’s not like waifu no. 1 would ever stand a chance. That’s not her role. Her job in this story is to be the tomboy who is made to feel all feminine around the peerless MC. So of course, she runs off to cry out of frustration while waifu no. 2 tells Arel about the guild’s huge debt problems. Oh boy.

This show feels so cheaply made. The animation is horrible, and the voice acting is lifeless. But that’s actually the shocking part, because there are some talented names in this cast: Kensho Ono, Saori Hayami, Sumire Uesaka, etc. Did they spend all their money on this talent just to skimp on the actual production of the anime? I guess if I close my eyes, I can pretend that I’m hearing Metaphor ReFantazio‘s Hulkenberg instead of Reiner… but that doesn’t really work either, because I don’t exactly want to hear someone as dignified as Hulkenberg fall in love with a dull protagonist like Arel.

The biggest problem with Arel is that he’s just so lifeless. He speaks in a flat, almost monotone voice like nothing matters to him, and that’s probably true. This boy has a one track mind: all he wants to do is get stronger, and that’s it. Does he have any other dream or ambition? What does he hope to achieve once he becomes the strongest swordsman? We don’t actually know, because Arel is pretty much a blank slate. I have no idea what direction they’re giving Kensho Ono in the studio, because our hero sounds like he barely has a pulse. Speaking of which, Kensho Ono was freaking Strohl in Metaphor: ReFantazio, and I know damn well Strohl had lines with amazing emotional delivery. All this VA talent is wasted on Arel. Completely and utterly wasted.

Plus, what’s even the plot? Are we really just in this to watch Arel get stronger (even though he’s already strong)? Look man, all that strength only matters if you use it to achieve something great. Like discovering an uncharted land, defeating the demon king, or whatever. For instance, I don’t watch Frieren because its eponymous heroine is a powerful mage. I watch Frieren, because I want to see the elf’s journey to Aureole where she might meet the love of her life. Her incredible powers as a mage are only there to facilitate that journey. The problem with this anime is that, for the moment, it feels like Arel being a great swordsman is the end all and be all of his “hero’s journey.” And that sounds stupid as hell.

Alright, I swear that after this week, this show will go into the “Everything else” pile. I just wanted to rant about Strohl and Hulkenberg’s VA reuniting for such a mediocre anime.