Oh man, not another kicked out of the hero’s party anime. My problem with these shows is twofold. First, the circumstances are always ludicrous. The protagonist will have this amazing, “can’t do without it” skill that nobody appreciates. There was a show where the main character was a red mage who practically did everything for his party, but he still got kicked anyway. In fact, the party leader was a former childhood friend! Keep that in mind for later. My second big problem with these shows is just how vindictive they can get. You know the saying “Living well is the best revenge?” Well, the people who write these stories would scoff at such a statement. They don’t want to just live well. They want to rub their enemies’ noses in their success. Sometimes, they straight up want to torture their former party members.

But you still gotta be the good guy, right? And good guys don’t go around torturing people! So what ends up happening is that the former party ends up being comically evil in order to justify torturing them. For example, I think the red mage’s former party threatens to rape his current party. As a result, the red mage leaves his former childhood friend in a state where he gets killed but keeps coming back to life just to die again. It’s a punishment straight out of something like “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” But y’know, in colorful anime form!

Alright, so we already got the basic plot structure down. What makes this show “unique?” How exactly are we pushing the envelope? This time, our protagonist barely even participates in the questing. Lent is just an MP battery. Yep, he’s got deep reserves of MP, which he loans out to his party so they can cast their spells non-stop. Now, anyone who has ever played an RPG knows that infinite MP is broken as all hell. But just like how people inside the horror story don’t know they shouldn’t split up, the party inside the anime slop genre doen’t know it shouldn’t kick its most useful party member! So naturally, the rest of Lent’s party looks down on him despite being addicted to his MP like crackheads. When the party stumbles upon armbands that regenerate MP, they think they can do without Lent. They think they can reach new heights by replacing him with someone who can actively participate. Shouldn’t you go test those armbands out first…? See if you can really cope without your MP battery? Nah, let’s just kick the guy!

I just have to laugh, because it’s not enough to just kick Lent out of the party. Oh no, the show doubles down on the childhood friend factor by giving our protagonist two former buddies instead of one. Even better, Misa, one of those buddies, used to be his crush! She probably even liked him back when they were kids! But five years later, she only looks at him with disgust and disdain in her eyes! I bet you she even likes the other childhood friend Guy now! Oooh, not only does Lent get kicked from the hero’s party, he gets NTR’d too! That’s extra spicy! Worthy of a torture or two! Look, she deserves it! MP batteries always finish last! Ugh, hot, booblicious mages and healers only go for stupid Chad warriors! They even have the guy walk off with the hot girls, it’s so funny.

Call me crazy, but I think revenge is nasty business. I know, I know, what a hot take. I also think most writers start with a destination, then slowly figure out how to get there. I think this is especially true of stories like the show we just watched. Nobody starts writing, “There was a boy who lent out MP… but then he got kicked from the party because they thought he was useless. What happens next, I wonder~!” No, the writer already has the revenge in mind. They want Guy and Misa to be punished for betraying Lent.

Ultimately, these shows want to have their cake and eat it too, so Lent won’t just stay an MP battery. It might be interesting if he had real limitations that he had to work around, but I bet you anything he’s going to be overpowered before the story is over. Hell, he’s already evolved his gift by the end of the episode by merely screaming in anguish. Lent wishes he could get all the MP he loaned out, which is enough to trigger the evolution. What does the evolution entail? For now, it summons a rather ugly fairy. Yeah, this is not a very pretty show. The character designs are completely lacking in charm. But hey, we’re just here for the revenge, right? Anyway, I’m sure the fairy will start pointing Lent in the right direction, i.e. attaining power. And eventually, his former party members will realize that they do need their walking, talking battery after all. Even better, because Misa used to like the guy, I bet you she’ll even try to seduce him only to fail. After all, it’s the perfect incel fantasy: “Now that you want me, I don’t even want you! I’ve already met someone new, and she’s hotter in every way!” Pfft, whatever, man.

Still, I have to admit there’s something absurdly humorous about the MC chucking his pink piggy bank in the rain. I think my problem is that I can’t just take a story like this at face value. There’s this streamer I watch who normally plays video games. But when she isn’t up to it, she will usually read through “Am I the Asshole” posts instead. She always starts these streams off by saying, “It’s more fun if we just assume every story is true.” Sure, it takes the fun out of the exercise if we start doubting every story. But it’s also undeniable that Reddit is full of bots nowadays — y’know, dead internet theory and all. And so I ask myself… why can’t I do the same with these anime series? Why can’t I just take them at face value? Aw man, it’s no fair! This nice kid is being treated cruelly by his former friends! That makes me so mad!

…

No, I can’t. The reality is that I’ve lost count of all the shows I’ve seen with this exact premise. At that point, face value goes out the window. There are only so many childish revenge stories you can consume before it becomes ludicrous. Personally, I like to draw the line at one. What was the first vengeful “I got kicked out of the hero’s party” anime? Honestly, I can’t even remember anymore. All the anime slop will eventually be lost in time, like tears in rain~~~~