English Dub Review: I’ve Somehow Gotten Stronger When I Improved My Farm-Related Skills “Foremost First-rate Farmer”

Overview

Based on the Japanese light novel series written by Shobonnu and illustrated by Sogawa. The story follows the adventures of a young and simple farmer by the name of “Al Wayne” who simply wants to live a tranquil existence as a farmer. Unfortunately for Al, unwittingly rescuing the princess means his life is about to become far more complicated…


Our Take

Taking place in a medieval fantasy world where individuals can boost their abilities through JRPG-style upgrades. Farmer Al Wayne finds himself unexpectedly enhancing his farming expertise to level 10, resulting in a staggering increase in his warrior prowess to an astonishing “65,000 points.” His mundane day takes a whimsical turn when he witnesses adventurers battling an S Rank dragon and attempts to distract it by throwing a carrot, only to get unexpected yet comical results…

When Al gets to town to ply his trade, he ends up saving the Meigis village princess named “Fal-Ys” out of sheer happenstance who offers him a large chunk of land as a reward, but he politely turns it down to go home as he simply wants to preserve his pacifist lifestyle. Predictably, this doesn’t last for long when the King of that very same Meigis village is under political turmoil against the Demon Kingdom, and slowly the two storylines begin to converge when Al reluctantly decides to use his particularly unique set of skills to protect his home and aid the kingdom with the power of… Farming?

Overall, while the episode’s quirky premise seems appealing, it falls somewhat short in terms of animation quality as it looked a bit rough and janky in many scenes. At the very least, the content itself was fun and gave me a good laugh. The comical moments especially involving a carrot, added charm to the story. And the idea of a reluctant hero wanting to do nothing but continue his farming lifestyle no matter how much he was begged to work for the kingdom did give me a good chuckle or two. Now the real question is, what kind of adventures will Al have as both a Guild Warrior and a Farmer?