Another season, another dude gets kicked out of the adventurer’s party. Is this one riddled with anxiety? Does this one have a cripplingly low self-esteem? Or is he perhaps a wannabe chef? My point is, what makes this guy interesting enough to watch week in and week out? Well, he kinda looks like Kirito from a distance, so we’re already starting off on the wrong foot. But let’s get to it after the jump.

• The episode opens with our generic protagonist cutting down bunny-like rats with horns. When people say AI can replace human creativity, this is what they’re talking about. Can AI ever replace the great of Rembrandt? No. Can AI replace even mediocre art that gets pumped out on a daily basis? No. But can AI replace this? Hell yeah, it could.
• Then he slays goblins with impunity. Yawn.
• Right on cue, our hero is kicked out of his S-rank party led by his own childhood friend. It’s not just any S-rank party either. It’s the Hero’s Party with a capital aitch. Ooooh~! That’s, um, not actually new or original at all. Whoops, strike two. On a more serious note, this guy was supposed to be a swordsman, but due to his party’s needs, he tried to fill the enchanter role instead, aka play the support class. Unfortunately, it’s hard to double specialize! So they’re gonna kick him out, regret their actions in a few episodes, then may or may not get their comeuppance. They usually do, but we’ll see if this show has a mean streak. The worst “kick of the hero’s party” anime are usually revenge stories in disguise, i.e. nasty tales penned by folks who want to torture all the popular people they’ve come across in their sad, pathetic lives. Am I sometimes envious of other people’s success. Of course. We’re all human. But I don’t wish harm on them. I don’t conjure up fantasy stories where the former jock childhood friend gets tortured for eternity in some dark, dank dungeon.

• If there had been more than a single girl in the party, one of them would feel bad about kicking the protagonist out. Maybe she was secretly in love with him as well. But since there is only one female party member this time around, she gets to be a complete brat through and through. This is all designed so you don’t feel bad for them when they meet their grisly end at some later point in the story. Again, I don’t know how mean this anime will be, so maybe nothing will happen to this uppity mage, but, well, the early signs aren’t positive.
• But first things first, we gotta save the the damsel-in-distress who will become undyingly loyal to us! In other words, our waifu!
• Our protagonist is all, “Fine, I’ll just be both a swordsman and an enchanter! I’ll show you! I’ll show everyone!” But I mean, again, this is nothing new? My BG3‘s bard could smite an orc, heal, buff the party with a song, etc. And yet, our protagonist’s ability to swing a sword and buff himself simultaneously is treated as something revolutionary in the world of Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None.
• This anime is destined for the “Everything Else” pile, because I don’t wanna blog two shows on a Wednesday. And between this and Tamon’s B-Side, yeah, I know which show I would rather focus on. Still, I should probably learn these characters’ names. Sigh. The girl is Sophia, and the guy is Orhun.

• First date acquired!
• So what is Orhun going to do going forward? There are three common paths he could take. First, he and Sophia can form a duo. Unlikely, but not impossible. Second, he could form a balanced party of girls and guys. We’ve seen this before with that show about the banished court mage. Last but certainly not least, Orhun can start collecting waifus left and right in order to build a harem… like that red mage guy from a couple of seasons ago! The third option is always the worst, ’cause it means one of the bad guys will threaten to rape one of the protagonist’s waifus. I’m sorry, but it’s just anime law. All harems must be defended from rapey dudes at all times.
• Welp, there’s a second girl already, and she also happens to be Sophia’s big sister. Hmmm.
• They also know each other. In fact, Selma, the big sister, is supposedly renowned for creating party specialization. Yep, just her and her alone! Wow! No one else had this bright idea until she came along! Imagine that in real life. Imagine a village full of people all trying to be farmers, carpenters, plumbers, etc. They, too, needed Selma to come along and tell them, “Hm, maybe we should, I dunno, divvy the tasks up?”
• Not only that, Orhun’s party kicked him out because they saw how awesome Selma was. Sheesh. Imagine your wife divorcing you after watching Spy x Family.

• Selma has a proposal for Orhun, but it’s not quite a new adventuring party. Rather, her clan is going to rush a bunch of newbies, and she thinks he would be a big help. Basically, we’ll find out real soon that the Hero’s Party made a mistake by kicking him out.
• Orhun initially plans on turning down Selma’s request, but when Sophia puts on the big doe eyes, he relents. I should mention that she’s only fourteen, so this isn’t a great look.
• He insists he’ll be going as a swordsman, but what does it matter? He already said earlier that he’s going to master both. C’mon, man.
• It sounds like Orhun is going to be one of those sad sack, low self-esteem “kicked out of the party” protagonists. Wah, wah, I suck. Why does she want to recruit me? She says she respects me, but she must be lying! I’m not awesome! Why does the shopkeeper keep praising me? I suck balls, man~! Sigh… are we really gonna spend the whole season tending to this guy’s fragile ego?
• And with that, the first episode comes to an end. Not exactly an auspicious start. Like I’ve said, this will go into the “Everything else” pile. I just don’t think it’s interesting enough to merit its own post every week.