The Faraway Paladin

Episode 9

The Faraway Paladin's ninth episode drops a bit in terms of the impact compared to last week's entry, but that's to be expected coming off such a highwater mark. This week we see our fully formed adventuring party reach Whitesails and engage with a big city, a new occurrence for our heroes and the audience. This is very much the fantasy adventure vision of urban versus rural, where cities are gleaming metropolises full of wondrous amenities. Economic growth is the cornerstone of Whitesails and the constant hustle and bustle of the port pays for a wide range of benefits: paved streets, tall buildings, and magical bathhouses. Even the food and drink in Whitesails has a more refined aspect: “It tastes like civilization!”

It certainly is an interesting change for Will, who spent most of his formative years with only three other people. Well, his second set of formative years I suppose, since he's an isekai hero… does he still remember much of that life anymore? Does it matter? It's easy to forget he's from another world, which don't get me wrong I'm personally grateful for that, but it does bring up a few curious questions from time to time.

The wyvern attack is a nice fight overall. The animation struggles a bit with these sequences; it's certainly a step above what we see for more mundane scenes but I would not call it appealing either. The filter effect to give the wyvern a scaly texture was a bit hard on my eyes if I'm being honest. But I liked the coordination between Will and Menelder and their combo magic attacks followed by a nice choke slam suplex. Classic fantasy fighting baby. Most importantly, William learns that the more “established” members of civilization – here being the politicians and clergy – are at the very least brash, at worse scheming and duplicitous. In fact, Will's eagerness to do the right thing for free or at personal cost has the potential to upset the local political scene! How very civilized indeed…

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Grant is the cohost on the Blade Licking Thieves podcast and Super Senpai Podcast.

The Faraway Paladin is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.