This was a solid ending to the first cour, with the Dead End party finally acting like a real team, rather than having Rudeus bear all the decision making.
Man this episode was brutal for Rudeus, he was facing failure after failure, from letting a kid die because of him trying to maximize the situation for the Sperds reputation, to being to late to save the other guy from the dragon, to finally being caught by horse-guy and now being threatened with their licenses. And it all culminated in Rudeus nearly giving up and resorting to killing anyone whose in his way, so that he could take Eris home safely. If anything, you can't say he doesn't have resolve, but man I'm glad he didn't go down that dark path (which Ruijerd almost stayed on). Although it sucks for Ruijerd, I'm glad he stepped up and revealed himself to protect his companions.
Regarding Ruijerd and Rudeus' relationship, although things were pretty rough for a while, as Rudeus; idea of taking all the decisions on his own started conflicting with Ruijerd's moral principles of protecting children, I'm glad they eventually patched things up (with Ruijerd now viewing him as a warrior who'd do anything to protect those he cares about). Now they're going to work together as partners in the Dead End party in a new city.
Also, back to the Paul family, I'm looking forward to seeing him on his solo mission to search for Lilia, Zenith, and his daughter, and (though questionable of a father to his 10 yr old), I'm glad he had faith in Rudeus to survive on his own and return home. Also, I'm looking forward to see Roxy travel with Paul's old adventurer team as they search for his old family.
I'd also like to have updates on Ghislaine and Sylphette's status, given that they're in the main cast I hope they aren't dead.
Also man was the animation astoundingly beautiful during the monster battle scenes, everything from the camera work to the choreography--between Rudy's magic, Ruijerd's brute strength, and Eris' swordfighting--and the dynamic and fluid animation were all top notch and a blessing to my eyes.
Review by deanzelVIP 11BlockedParent2021-03-24T03:14:23Z
Oh damn. I just finished binge watching the entire first cour after stopping at Episode 2 and letting things build up. Jesus H. Christ. This was an amazing adaptation. I honestly didn't mind the pacing, and thought that the studio did a great job with it, especially with things that required a big exposition in the books. The studio was able to interject little explanations that gave us just enough info rather than the big info dump. Some of the slower parts of the books, the studio sped through which I thought was a good decision. The next set of volumes are much more interesting than the third for sure (which covered the beginning of the Demon continent).
And Eris is still my favorite. She's a little rough in the beginning, but she grows and gets so much better as we continue on. I loved the background music for her in the earlier episodes which had a "horror movie" sound to them. LOL. I absolutely can't wait for the second cour to hit.
Another BIG issue that I've encountered is that I now want to re-read (or is it re-re-re-re-re-re-re-read at this point?) the novels again. I just finished doing a re-read like 7ish months ago, but I want to go back AGAIN. LOL :D