Banished From The Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside Review
-Written by: Krystal
When it comes to the fantasy genre I typically expect action, colorful characters, a little bit of romance and a good amount of magic. Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside (whoever approved this title needs to be demoted) had a lot of the things I listed, they were just executed in the most boring way possible. There were so many things wrong with this book that made me lose interest within the first ten pages. The writing was repetitive, the plot points weren’t really intertwined in a way that made an interesting story and nothing of import really happened. And I know that it said that the protagonist’s goal is to live a quiet life but quiet is not the same as boring.
Before I get too far into my review, let me try to summarize what this story is about. Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside follows the ex-knight, Red, who was originally a part of a team of adventurers whose goal is to defeat the evil Demon Lord Taraxon. The team was led by Red’s younger sister, the prophesied and gifted hero Ruti. Each of the team members was gifted by God with a divine blessing that gives them all a certain amount of power and skill set. Red was gifted with the blessing of Guide that was automatically matured to level 31, (in this universe blessings were measured by a confusing number system) which is a maturity level that most people don’t get to until they are ready to retire. Because of Red’s already very high blessing level, he didn’t really improve like the rest of his comrades which made the Sage Ares see him as a hindrance and forced Red out of the party without consulting the rest of the team. Red then traveled to the land of Zoltan, a town known for its lazy residents and slow way of life. Red assumes the identity of a low level adventurer and opens an apothecary. He eventually reconnects with a past comrade named Rit who had also been living in Zoltan as a high level adventurer in order to escape some family drama. Rit moves in with Red and they decide to utilize their skills to run the apothecary together.
I think this book has a lot of potential of being a good story but was poorly executed and resulted in being very dull. First, the premise of the blessings system was so confusing. I got what the writer was trying to explain, but the way they explained it just felt like a really confusing math class. I think this would have been easier to comprehend if the writer would have written a previous book about a child first discovering their blessing and learning how it works. There is a part in the book where Red explains to a couple of ten-year-olds how their blessings will affect their temperaments and futures, but it was toward the end of the book and would have been more helpful closer to the beginning. The writer is also constantly updating how the blessings work almost like they were just coming up with the system as they went along. Again, I think explaining the point system would have been easier to explain if there was in a prequel or if it just wasn’t so complicated.
The second point that made this book so unattractive to me was the way the author, Zappon, introduced the characters. The scene that introduces one of the more prominent characters involves them becoming sick and without Red’s help they would have gone blind. While I think this could have been a good suspenseful scene, they didn’t introduce the character until that moment so I wasn’t really invested in the outcome of whether or not Red would succeed in getting the proper herbs to make the medicine. I wish the characters were introduced more before the action starts so we could have time to feel for the characters that are in trouble. There were also scenes that just didn’t flow well with the overall story that could have been taken out and wouldn’t have affected the overall plot.
Lastly, and probably my biggest peeve about this book, was the unnecessary reiteration of the same point throughout the book. There was so much of this book that felt like I was reading the same paragraph over and over again that I sort of just started skipping things because I remembered already reading it earlier in the book. It was also really difficult to try to figure out who was talking during the conversations amongst the characters in the book because there was rarely any “he said/she said” used to indicate the speaker. The formatting was just annoying to me.
There were some good points in the book. Some of the flashback scenes were okay and explained Rit and Red’s relationship a little bit more. I do wish there were more flashbacks with Red and his sister. She was probably one of the more interesting characters to me and she wasn’t really included very much. Also, I really hated Ares that I was happy whenever there was a scene with him in it because they were mainly him getting chewed out by the other members of the hero party because of his idiocy for dismissing Red. There was a decent fight scene towards the end that wasn’t awful but by the time I got to that point I was already so bored of the book that I just wanted to finish it. I really just wish there was more excitement and less of Red debating different things in his head. The majority of the book was just him explaining things to the reader and there wasn’t very much action. It honestly felt like one of the run-on stories I used to write when I was a kid.
I’m sure someone out there read this book and thought it was the best thing ever, that person was just not me. If you like a nice mediocre read that isn’t going to put you to the edge of your seat while the protagonist fights some evil monster and leaves you unsure if your favorite character is going to survive the fight, then this is the story for you. I, on the other hand, am going to search for something that's going to be a bit more exciting.
Red was born with incredible powers, and he seemed like the perfect candidate to join the front lines in the fight to save the world-but before he could, he was told this wasn't where he belonged. Instead, he finds his destiny in an apothecary..."
I am writing this on the day the final episode came out, and right now the rating for this show is 6.8 on IMDb and 7.14 on MAL. Honestly, I have no idea why. I know it's not the best show ever made, but I really enjoyed it!The characters were all fun, the story wasn't amazing but it served it's purpose, and I loved the development of the relationship between rit and red. Honestly that was the highlight of the show, you don't see many romances that progress believably in tv -especially in anime-but I just loved how those two characters worked together.
Overall this show is pretty fun and will not waste your time! I would definitely recommend it.
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Reading Time: 3 minutes
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside(Banished from the Hero’s Party) is a fantasy/adventure slice-of-life series produced by Wolfsbane and Studio Flad. Red was once an adventurer who traveled with the legendary Hero to slay the Demon Lord. But when Red is cast out of the Hero’s party because some say he is holding the team back, he journeys to an out-of-the-way town where he intends to set up shop as a simple apothecary. But when Red’s past comes back to visit him, the quiet life may not stay so quiet for long.
For a show that comes across initially as a light-hearted story about a former adventurer settling into the quiet life, Banished from the Hero’s Party tackles numerous themes that are significantly deeper than the show’s early setup would have one expect. Themes like duty, destiny, and how we measure ourselves against others are explored throughout 13 episodes. While it never dives too deeply into any of these concepts, it utilizes these themes well enough to give the story a bit more substance than the basic premise would have otherwise.
Much of these deeper themes revolve around Blessings. In the world of Banished from the Hero’s Party, every person is born with a blessing. Blessings dictate a person’s natural affinity for some skills, such as combat, magic, or wilderness survival. It can also grant immense powers like that of the Hero’s blessing, which provides numerous immunities, strengths and allows the bearer to go without sleep. Many people in the show’s world believe that the Blessing you are granted indicates what God wishes you to do with your life. This view fundamentally predetermines a person’s path in life. How valid this viewpoint is and how much a person owes society and God to utilize their Blessing to the fullest is ultimately the most significant theme of the season.
While Banished from the Hero’s Party spends a significant amount of time dealing with these issues, especially in the back half of the season, the biggest draw throughout is Red’s budding romance with fellow former adventurer Rit. Early in the season, Rit stumbles into the small town Red has taken up residence in and, upon reacquainting herself with her old comrade, decides to settle in and help him run his shop. From there, the two quickly fall in love.
While the speed that Red and Rit’s affection deepens at times borders on dizzying, the heartfeltness of the moments when the show dives into their feelings is always captivating. All too often, anime romances fall back on tired cliches of one or more parties spending entire seasons pining for the object of their affections from afar. How upfront Rit is with her emotions and how happily Red returns them is a wonderful breath of fresh air.
The biggest failing that I can level against Banished from the Hero’s Party is with its ending. The final few episodes that see Red’s old life as an adventurer finally catch up with him largely fizzle in their conclusion. The series seems to be unwilling to deviate too far from the lighter tones of the early episodes and refuses to commit to the big moments set up in its ending. This leads to a finale that feels a bit too cookie-cutter to powerfully impact the viewer.
The visual side of Banished from the Hero’s Party delivers the many fantasy elements of the show well. There aren’t any character designs or monsters that break the molds, but there aren’t any that fail outrightly either. The combat moments are short, and you won’t see anything particularly eye-catching in their execution. Like the rest of the visuals, they deliver what they need to, but little else.
So, when all is said and done, Banished from the Hero’s Party manages to deliver an enjoyable tale that tries to do a lot but only truly succeeds at some of its objectives. While the ending fails a bit, the wonderful romance between Red and Rit alone easily makes the series worth a watch in and of itself.
Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside is streaming on Funimation.
TL;DR
So, when all is said and done, Banished from the Hero’s Party manages to deliver an enjoyable tale that tries to do a lot but only truly succeeds at some of its objectives. While the ending fails a bit, the wonderful romance between Red and Rit alone easily makes the series worth a watch in and of itself
Charles is a lifelong geek who enjoys comics, video games, movies, reading, and board games. Over the past year he’s taken a more active interest in artistic pursuits including digital painting, and now writing.