Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman
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L'Imperatore
 Posts: 958 |
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2 episodes on, and the girls' armors still annoy me. What are they supposed to protect?
They fail at making their wearers look sexy either. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7455 Location: Maine |
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I'm mostly enjoying this show but I'm hoping we progress the plot at some point soon. He reminds me a lot of the dad from My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer. Very strong, great with kids, reputation precedes him, and tries his best to ignore the advances of the much younger girls looking to jump his bones.
Yeah... It's especially egregious when all the guys are wearing skin covering simple military uniforms while the girls are spilling out of tiny outfits with lots of adornments. The only two that seem sensibly dressed so far are the two mage girls we met in episode 2. At least they dress normally as kids in flashbacks. Emerje |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18670 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I also immediately thought of Belgrieve, to the point that I have to wonder if there's either an inspirational link between the two series or else both were inspired by the same source.
I've given up complaining about this over the years since this kind of thing is so common in so many fantasy series. (And this isn't limited to anime, BTW; the Western fantasy literature they draw on has been doing it for most of a century now.) That's one point I like about I Left My A-Rank Party; the armored female warrior is properly covered on her torso. In general, I can agree with criticisms that the routine with character introductions is getting repetitive, though I also find it realistic and relatable; as a teacher, I cycle through so many students over the years that I rarely remember names when running across them even a few years later, but I've had plenty remember and recognize me even 20+ years later. I especially appreciate the detail given here to actually teaching, rather than the insane "training" so often seen in anime series, and how little moves, rather than the grand ones, can make all the difference in a fight, and I feel that the animation effort deserves at least some credit for detailing the latter way more than most sword-fighting series do. I hope the series keeps up that emphasis. |
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Jabootu
Posts: 308 |
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From the review:
I have kind of an intrinsic love for series that can only afford limited animation but save their pennies and, more importantly, use love and sheer production talent to make the fights more impactful and cool than they should be. Fran's fight with Amanda in Reincarnated As a Sword or especially Shadow vs Beatrix and Iris in Eminence in Shadow episode 20 are two of my favorite examples. The latter I especially love because for all the (if you look for it) evident corner cutting, the direction, editing and especially sound design fool the brain into thinking the fight is much more fluidly animated than it actually is. |
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Flash33
 Posts: 101 Location: Florida |
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So far it's decent but nothing outstanding. The focus on basic fundamentals in swordplay over big flashy movements is something neat to see and is something not many shows do. I get why: big, flashy and over the top movements are what gets most peoples attention, so if nothing else this one doing something different is a bit refreshing to see as is the smart use of 3DCGI, which more and more studios seem to be getting better at using as time goes on. It's like reactor and professional musician David Heretic always says: simple can be effective when done properly.
As for the criticisms I can definitely see and understand them. The melee girls not being properly armored is a bit annoying but something that's not going away any time soon, though some shows do actually avert this, such as Marina from I Left My A-Rank Party being properly armored as a frontliner should be. I'm also hoping the "former students crushing hard on their former teacher" dies down & is eventually replaced by proper characterization. The English dub is not bad but I imagine it'll get better as time goes on since casts needing time to fully adjust & settle into their role is not something exclusive to English language actors, VAs or otherwise. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4609 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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while there are some similarities between this series and i left my a rank party to take my former students to the depts of the dungeon, i would say its more similar to other eariler series like the oosan newbie adventure and especially i parry everything. for if anyone watches the latter you will be able to see that our MC more or less have the same type of personality as rick gladitol and especially noor! |
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 11775 |
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That's what I said back in the Preview Guide thread: "I think I liked this character better when he was named Belgrieve and voiced by Junichi Suwabe." I did like Beryl a bit more in the second ep though. Still hating the ridiculous armor, especially once I got a better look at Allucia's "uniform" with its stocking/chaps or whatever they are. But I've always hated any school or military uniforms that include garters or garter-adjacent styles, even when they're on male characters (lookin' at you, Übel Blatt).
Nah, this season's Noor is Kurt from Unaware Attelier. 
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b-dragon
Posts: 538 |
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Belgrieve, if memory serves, had the additional wrinkle in the audience not knowing if he was actually as good as he was talked up being- he only started with one, very biased, proponent. That uncertainty added a bit, imo.
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Emerje
Posts: 7455 Location: Maine |
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Pretty sure Kurt is a copy/paste of Lloyd from LasDan, which is fine, I liked that show, but man are they identical characters. Emerje |
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Flash33
Posts: 101 Location: Florida |
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Sorry, I think you misunderstood me, I wasn't trying to say these 2 series are completely similar (though thinking about it now they do share a similarity in how the male MC teacher meets back up with his former students after a while), but rather comparing that shows frontliner Marina being properly armored to that of this shows female frontliners not being that properly armored, at least not yet. Aside from that they're both very different shows. Last edited by Flash33 on Tue Apr 15, 2025 8:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Flash33
Posts: 101 Location: Florida |
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I caught onto that too but while they are similar (good at basic chores, low self-esteem) I do think there's enough differences to make them stand out, with their self-esteem issues being for different reasons: Lloyd is really strong in combat but downplays it due to his fellow villagers being stronger, with him also being considered the weakest in his village, though said village happens to guard the final dungeon. He also had a good support network of friends & family established early on. Kurt fully acknowledges & admits he is weak in combat (couldn't even kill a slime by himself) while only being good for basic stuff like cooking, cleaning & mining (which is how he defeated iron golems with just a dagger due to assuming everyone mined them that way), and because of that was abused & eventually kicked out of his original party. Also while Kurt has been shown considering things like Mithril useless due to apparently being very common in his village (which we've yet to see as of E3), he's also been shown struggling to hold down a job for various reasons (being too good at it & unintentionally taking work away from others, the place of employment closing down, etc.). In a way Kurt also reminds me a little of Rein Shroud from Beast Tamer, someone who came from a now defunct village of tamers & assumed all beast tamers could do the things he could do such as taming multiple beasts at once, one who also got kicked from his party due to his lack of combat skills & who spent many long years doing basic things like cleaning & gathering water to survive after being rescued as the sole survivor of a monster attack on his village when he was little. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11775 |
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I agree that Kurt has as much in common with Lloyd as with Noor. But none of them, including Rick, are as much like Beryl as Belgrieve, which was my original comparison, and I'm sticking to it.
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jr240483
Posts: 4609 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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now that i think about it, you got a point though when it comes to being pecimisist about oneself and would rather take what they can get, noor was the definition of that term that all might from boku no hero academia said during the sports festival arc regarding bakugo's personality "there is a difference between those that aim for the top, and those that will settle. and that difference matters" and make no mistake. rick , noor , kurt and especially beryl all have that latter type of personality! |
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Cryten
 Posts: 1230 |
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I wonder if this show will be episode 1's Girl Magnet harem daddy or episode 2's mentor and level headed interactions with other students of the sword.
I have a feeling its going to be more interested in battling then teaching going forward but I am not sure. I am ready for the show to continue like episode 2 and actually impress me. Episode 1's fight ended up being somewhat shonen-esque with it coming down to a special move and the commentary about how he cleverly overcame it. If it steers more in that direction of standard shonen battle formula the show will go back to low expectations. Even with its inherently senin premise of overworked person finding a good life of recognition and pleasure. |
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