The Spring 2025 Anime Preview Guide

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman

Beryl Gardinant, a self-proclaimed "humble old man," is a sword instructor at his dojo in a rural, backwater village. In his younger years, he dreamed of glory as a master swordsman, but those days are long behind him. Out of the blue, he receives a visit from a famous former pupil who brings him world-shattering news—he's been appointed as special instructor for the knights of the Liberion Order. With his life now turned upside down, Beryl travels to the capital and reunites with some of his former students: elite knights, an ace wizard, and even an adventurer who's attained the highest guild rank possible.

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman is based on a light novel series by Shigeru Sagazaki. The anime series is streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Saturdays.

I have two main things I want to credit From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman for. The first is that I genuinely buy Beryl as a middle-aged man. He has a streak of white in his hair, his face is lined, and Hiroaki Hirata plays him. But more than that, he has the careworn demeanor of a man over 40. He's a passionate teacher and can still hold his own in a fight, but when he's off-duty, there's a sag to him and his expression that speaks to a man who no longer has the energy levels that come with youth. It's the heaviness of time, not to mention decades of listening to his parents hector him about when he's going to reproduce. After years of anime describing men in their early- to mid-thirties as middle-aged, I'm positively delighted to see an ossan who is actually moving past his prime. If I hear any of you whippersnappers on my lawn say that thirty is old, I'm going after you with my cane.

The other is the big action setpiece in the middle of the episode, Beryl's fight against the uppity and poorly-named Henblitz Drout. The fight is done entirely in 3DCG, but unlike most cases where a hand-drawn show switches to obvious three-dimensional rigs, it looks good. Like, really good. Henblitz's aggressive power and Beryl's craftiness come through, and there's a sense of power to the blows when computer animation runs the risk of nothing ever looking like it's really coming into contact. The camera follows them as the spar moves through the room, but it doesn't fall into the temptation of hyperactive swoops and loops intended to make the fight look impressive when there's not much going on under the hood. There's real craft rather than empty flash. I have no choice but to give it respect.

But the critic giveth, the critic taketh away, and I must register my complaints as well, all of them having to do with the female cast. For the love of god, I thought we had moved on from harem bickering! But the dominance of light novels from writers implementing tired tropes have brought it back in full force, as they give their protagonists a supporting cast of girls who want nothing more than to ride the protagonist's dick. In this case, it's all Beryl's former students, and since they can't do anything about their crush on their once-teacher who is multiple decades older than them, they squabble with one another instead. And they do it all in armor that would cut into their chests the moment they received a good body blow, skintight bodysuits with hip cutouts that show off the sides of their thongs, and other garments that would be sliced through seconds into a fight.

With such a simple central conceit as “old man gets called upon to move to the city and teach sword fighting,” it's all in the details. And some of those details are bedeviling.

I have a bit of an odd relationship with From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman. I actually read the original self-published web novel before it was picked up and turned into a light novel and then a manga. And I've noticed that with each iteration, it gets better and better—including this anime. (Who would have thought things like editors could make for a better final product?) To say I'm a bit familiar with the story and where it's going to go is a bit of an understatement; however, finally seeing the story in action and fully voiced is still a real treat.

This is the story of Beryl, a middle-aged man who once dreamed of heroic adventures but never left his hometown. Instead, he spent his life studying the sword and later passing on his knowledge to the village children and orphans that found their way to his dojo. The trick here is that despite how he views himself as a slightly above-average swordsman, he is one of those people who grows stronger through teaching—and is a darned good teacher to boot. Over his decades of teaching, those who trained under him have gone out into the world and universally made a name for themselves—all crediting their success to the mysterious (and now legendary) Backwater Swordsman.

Yet, none of that fame has come back to him in any meaningful or material way, and he still sees himself as a man whose only positive contribution to the world is giving kids the ability to defend themselves with a sword. However, it drives his former students insane that their savior is languishing in obscurity—until one of them has finally had enough and abuses her position as the head of the royal guards to get a royal order to drag him out of the countryside and into the spotlight.

While this is obviously a harem anime on one level (do you prefer thighs or abs?), it is also a story about a man learning his self-worth—not to mention gaining recognition for a lifetime of hard work. Moreover, the fight scenes in this first episode are excellent. We have none of the cheap cutaways or other animation tricks to imply the action rather than show it, and the fighting feels grounded with its realistic-looking parries and strikes.

I had a blast with this episode. And as for the series as a whole, while I highly doubt it will be topping the best of the season lists, it's still a fun, straight-forward fantasy adventure with fun characters and exciting fights. And, honestly, sometimes that's more than enough.

From Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman has a fairly interesting premise that revolves around a main character that's well into middle-age, which was enough to pique my curiosity. Usually, I feel like we'd be dealing with a clueless dork who is all-powerful and unbeatable in the way of the sword, which inevitably attracts a bevy of cute anime girls to fawn over his prowess. Either that, or we'd have an edgelord loner who badassery is only matched by his willingness to do whatever it takes to have his revenge (or whatever), which inevitably attracts a bevy of cute anime girls to fawn over his prowess. Here, though, we have an anime about a seasoned but directionless teacher who has spent years training up some of the kingdom's greatest knights and warriors, even as his own latent potential goes untapped. However, his wisdom, experience, and—of course—badass sword skills inevitably attract a bevy of cute anime girls to fawn over his prowess.

Look, I said it was “fairly interesting,” not “a staggering achievement in unique and creative storytelling.” At its core, From Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman is your typically breezy and escapist action-adventure fantasy; we just have a slightly novel protagonist to follow instead of the usual Potato-kun. That goes a long way, as do the solid visuals and decently choreographed action scenes. Given that the show is about a mentor to knights with potential yet to be exploited, it would suck if the show couldn't deliver on the swordplay when the situation called for it. We don't get a lot of spectacle here, since we spend most of our time just introducing the cast and establishing the plot, but a minor duel near the end is surprisingly well done.

Granted, one decent action scene and an ever-so-slightly-above-average setup do not an amazing anime make. As serviceable as this premiere is, there's not much to suggest it will ever go beyond being just that: Serviceable. Outside of the fairly sluggish pacing and lack of any especially gripping narrative hooks, the supporting cast may be the show's weakest link. Allucia, especially, is a middling co-star, since all she really gets to do is awkwardly dump praise and barely-disguised romantic affection on her former teacher, without ever establishing a personality. The fact that so many of this guy's students are now attractive anime waifus that adore him unconditionally is certainly a choice, and it's one that will likely turn off many prospective viewers. I am at least thankful that they are all presented as adults who have been able to live their own lives and establish themselves before getting slotted into Beryl's harem. It's still not great, but the power dynamics could have been so much worse, and the show is better for Beryl not being painted as a creep who is actively lusting after people he last knew as his underaged pupils.

In the end, I'm neither impressed nor disappointed by From Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman. It's doing exactly what it sets out to do, and fairly well at that, but what it does is only marginally more interesting than its weaker competitors. I only recommend it to folks who are really hard up for a traditional, Western-RPG-inspired fantasy anime this season.