eksratu

I went into this one expecting mediocrity, especially given its mundane premise, blobby visuals, and initially-sub-7 rating, but it proved to be much, much more than that. There are nuanced character motivations, layered political schemes, and a surprising amount of humanization/justification for behavior that normally gets reduced to just "bad" in simpler shows. While no conflicts or plots are taken too seriously, each one gets multiple takes from different perspectives. The two main characters also have great chemistry with each other. I am recommending this show because it goes well beyond what I had initially expected and far beneath its seemingly surface-level tropes. It reminds meof the first season of Hataraku Maou-sama (2013), Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu (2021), and even Porco Rosso (1992) with its themes of redefining yourself and failing to fit in. I am somewhat surprised by its merely lukewarm reception, and I suspect that a lot of people are unfairly writing it off the way I was.

Marinate1016

One room hero is one of my unexpected hits of the season. It’s a rare example of a post-fantasy modern society and follows a former hero on his path to find purpose again. A fresh premise combined with great comedy, insane but loveable characters and some political drama make this a very entertaining watch. When it comes to fantasy shows, we’ve seen plenty of hero goes on a quest to defeat the demon lord style shows in recent years. We rarely get to see what that world looks like in the future and what happens to our heroes. If it’s one thing history has taught us,it’s that people have incredibly short memories and will quickly forget all you’ve done for them. What I like about One Room Hero is that it covers that unfortunate reality. Max goes from hero to zero quite literally. He has lost all motivation and purpose in life and things look bleak. That is, until he meets his former adversary, the demon lord. He and the demon lord form an unlikely but genuinely beautiful and organic friendship. I really enjoyed seeing their chemistry and how silly every moment they had on screen was. Seeing both of them try to live in a world that quite frankly no longer needs heroes or big villains was incredibly interesting. While there’s no real consistent overarching story, at least not until the final third or so of the show, it manages to remain engaging through the introduction of dynamic and hilarious side characters who bring their own quirks to the story, comedic situations and heartwarming emotional and personal growth moments for Max. It starts off very slice of life focused before branching into a more serious direction later on, but those slice of life moments had a degree of gravity to everything that’s to come later. Visually, the show is very pleasing to look at. It features a bright colour palette and some solid character designs. I haven’t read the manga yet, but I’ve heard some fans complain about how a few characters were “nerfed” if you get my drift, but as an anime only everything was fine for me. The animation is ok to decent up until episode 11 where the studio seemingly unlocked their full potential and went crazy with the action. In closing, one room yuusha is definitely worth checking out. It’s a shame that it aired in such a stacked season where it flew under the radar, but if you’ve been looking for a funny anime to watch or something new, this is a great candidate. Fresh story, well written characters and a fun ride. One room yuusha gets 8, out of 10.