Overview (Spoilers Below):
Kurt accepts an offer from Bandana to go work at his first Atelier, which harbors a dangerous secret.
Our Take:
With Kurt’s immense power awakened, it’s only a matter of time before everyone else discovers his secret. As a result, Yulicia swore to keep his powers hidden from everyone willing to exploit him for devious purposes. Of course, she is also doing it due to her feelings toward Kurt, but we’re not yet at that phase. To its credit, the show continues to show minor signs of effort in being watchable despite its reliance on formulaic plot elements, mainly due to Erin Lundquist’s performance as Yulicia. Her reactions towards Kurt’s efficiency and rare discoveries may not provoke the biggest laughs out of me, but I couldn’t help but be amused by Yulicia’s episodes. However, if she keeps making a scene like that in front of Kurt, people will get suspicious.
The episode also continues to take cues from I Left My A-Rank Party regarding the Flaming Dragon Fang and their hot-headed leader, Golnova. Not only was the mighty team struggling to battle monsters, but Golnova also regretted firing Kurt, as the latter was the only person capable of cooking good food for him. Honestly, it wouldn’t be such an issue if Golnova hadn’t been such an asshole toward Kurt. But that short-tempered idiot got what he deserved by becoming a target for the guards after making a scene at a high-class restaurant. This resulted in Bandana leaving the group and telling Kurt to work for the Atelier Master Ophilia. It’s probably good that Kurt took the offer, as he unknowingly removed a curse from Lieselotte, the third princess of the kingdom of Homuross, with his homemade porridge.
“His First Atelier” didn’t take long to introduce viewers to the concept of Ateliers who create magic items and provide maintenance. Does it make the show any better? Not really, but it still has a long way to go to improve its characters and plot. So far, Kurt’s unwitting personality still struggles to maintain his likability compared to other protagonists with similar traits, and the narrative takes several cues from other fantasy anime without much effort in revitalizing them. Hopefully, things will start to turn around thanks to Kurt helping the princess, which also may put a target on his head by a mysterious adversary.