English Dub Review: The Water Magician “Abel the Castaway”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Ryo finds a young adventurer shipwrecked near his house and agrees to help him get back to his party.

OUR TAKE

As much fun as it was to see Ryo dicking around learning his water powers virtually all by himself, it’s nice that we’re already adding another principal character to this cast: Abel, a full blown adventurer who, presumably, has lived here his entire life without the need to be Isekai’d like Ryo was. It’s about at this point that you really wonder if having the protagonist be from another world was really necessary if it’s not going to be much of a factor in how his character interacts with others or related to his development. Some of the Isekais I’ve covered have had that be a significant detail, with one I remember checking back in with the world that the protagonist left, while others basically drop it at the earliest opportunity once its purpose to provide a literary shortcut for the backstory has been accomplished. This seems to be an example of the latter, which is unfortunate, but also Ryo has ZERO details about what life he came from, how old he was, what he did with his life, nadda. So, he’s basically a blank slate and I guess it’s no big loss. Seems like that’s even the point, as Ryo’s start to this world is very much not how other people seemingly his peers have done it.

As far as Ryo knows, everyone starts off getting their own house in the countryside and some basic reading material about how to use a specific type of magic. Oh, and a non-speaking Dullahan who decides to teach you how to fight free of charge and hands you robes. But meeting Abel makes clear that is not the case, as someone who has actually lived in this universe knows the rules and customs of wielding magic, can’t help but notice that Ryo isn’t carrying a staff and uses magic very quickly that takes way too long and knows how to find AND KILL creatures that should take like twenty guys to kill. Ryo is pretty much going to be the odd one out when he really joins up with society in this world, especially when they find out he has eternal youth and won’t age. But for now, the goal is just to get this new friend Abel back to his friends, and I’m sure that journey will result in zero detours, no more massive battles, and be as peaceful and tranquil as a walk in the park on a summer’s day. Or maybe not.