English Dub Review: An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29 “Rirui’s Talent”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
An acquaintance of Hajime’s comes to verify Rirui’s identity, but may have even more in mind.

Our Take:
There are plenty of weird ways to kickstart an adventure’s grind.  However, rescuing a young girl who is actually a succubus isn’t something I expected to be on my bingo card this year.  Honestly, this surprising reveal from the previous episode has left me concerned about how the rest of the series will play out.  With Rirui, a young girl who magically transforms into a young woman, I couldn’t help but feel the show would romanticize the bond between Hajime and Rirui.  If so, then I’m certainly going to be in for the long haul.  Thankfully, the episode somehow acknowledged that through Hajime’s acquaintance, another succubus named Veronica, and her warning about what would happen to him if he did something uncomfortable to Rirui’s adult form.
That aspect alone should ease my concerns about its seemingly questionable concept, at least for now.  However, I should be more concerned about Veronica, who’s eager to take Rirui under her wing throughout the episode through her seductive manipulation tactics.  It also highlights Rirui’s development, explaining why she wants to become an adventurer like Hajime.  While she wants to be helpful to the adventurer who took her in, she still has a ton more stuff to learn if she wants to support herself.  Of course, that includes learning how not to lose her weapon during a dungeon raid.  Additionally, it further showcases Hajime’s stubbornness and thick-headedness, not just in being fooled by Veronica’s tricks, but also in how he treats Rirui compared to others around him.  It’s possible that Hajime’s personality could become more annoying if handled poorly.  But it’s easy to admit that it continues to offer some cute moments in Rirui’s childlike nature, which help me tolerate its middling execution of the show’s tropes.