Episode 7 – The Legendary Hero is Dead!
Nicely, think about me pleasantly stunned. After the final episode managed to construct a little bit of comedic and character momentum, this week The Legendary Hero is Dead! was truly in a position to capitalize on it. Whereas the present hasn’t basically modified from its inert early entries, this episode fairly effectively introduces new supporting characters that really shake up the established order, set up some real stakes, and even handle to be kinda humorous in a couple of moments.
There are nonetheless issues, largely coming right down to the state of the manufacturing. This present simply can’t ship coherent motion, so the opening minutes of this episode wrestle arduous. Characters teleport from place to position between cuts, with no clear concept of the place anybody is in relation to one another. As I stated earlier than, that is not the largest difficulty when that is largely a comedy and any battles are largely setups for jokes, nevertheless it does drag issues down as they attempt to introduce a brand new battle and villain. I should buy that this new necromancer and his demon servant are unhealthy information, nevertheless it’s arduous to essentially really feel it when all of the magical preventing performs like a PowerPoint presentation.
That stated, the struggle did give me my first actual chortle of this present’s run, if just for the shock of seeing the villain get unceremoniously run over. It’s miles from a classy joke, however seeing the staff’s magic stagecoach slam onto the scene like an out-of-control Honda Civic hit my humorous bone good. I additionally like the way it was truly one thing Touka deliberate, once more utilizing diversions and bluffs to catch his opponent off guard whereas they labored on about Mana ranges and magic swords. It is a glimpse of what this present may very well be if it leaned into its stronger comedic concepts extra usually – a wacky farce a couple of misfit hero dismantling the unhealthy guys by throwing out the Shonen Battle rule guide and enjoying soiled.
We additionally get a full introduction to the different hero’s get together, they usually deliver some fascinating components to the desk. Yuna’s youthful sister being a strong fighter and her father being a former royal knight provides some much-needed texture to her personal character, providing perception into why she was so useless set on turning into a strong mage in the beginning of the present. It is unlucky that Plot Causes imply she is not truly current for this a part of the story, however on the very least it forces Touka to start out contemplating issues from Yuna’s perspective. I’ve no religion that it will encourage him to cease sexually harassing her as soon as this arc is completed, but when he at the very least learns to see her as an individual with hopes and desires of her personal, I will think about it a win.
Although not all the pieces about these new arrivals is optimistic. Having ever-so-slightly tempered Touka’s comedic pervert shtick, the present apparently wanted to compensate by having Yuna’s dad be loudly obsessive about boobs. There’s doubtlessly a model of this dynamic the place Touka sees how creepy and unsightly Fieri is and acknowledges how a lot of a gross lord he is been to each lady he is ever spoken to, however I haven’t got any hope that we’ll get that. As a substitute, it is only a low cost and simple strategy to undercut an in any other case historically heroic persona and to get some theoretical laughs about Touka calling the kettle black. I suppose I am grateful that his defining options of “loves his daughters” and “loves huge bazongas” are at the very least saved separate, however that is a really low bar to clear.
It is a disgrace as a result of in any other case, that is truly a strong episode. Introducing us an efficient new villain who’s a real menace, builds up lots of momentum for brand new adversaries, and even vegetation some seeds for potential character progress. In its finest moments, this episode presents a a lot stronger and extra entertaining model of the present than we have seen earlier than, and I am hoping this upward development can proceed.
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The Legendary Hero is Useless! is presently streaming on
Crunchyroll.