English Dub Review: Jack-of-All-Trades, Party of None “The Jack-of-All-Trades Makes Them Train Hard”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Orun starts to train the new recruits.

Our Take:

Orun is once again assuming the role of teacher in this week’s episode, as the Management Division tasks him to mentor the Guild’s trainees.  Of course, those trainees are Sophia, Logan, and Caroline from his earlier dungeon raid.  For an anime involving a highly powerful adventurer banned from a hero party, Jack-of-All-Trades seems to like taking its time exploring its characters outside the thrilling dungeon raids.  This was evident in the previous episodes that occurred after the Black Dragon’s defeat at the hands of Orun.  They may result in the narrative pacing being a tad slow, but they also help in providing enough depth in its formulaic characters to make its familiarity tolerable.  This episode is no exception, as it further explores Orun’s new friends amidst his attempts to train them.  It’s not just about their selfless reasons for becoming adventurers, but also about their pasts.  

One such case is Sophia, who’s revealed to be Selma’s half-sister whose mother married into her family.  However, the character getting the most attention is Caroline, whose cheerful facade hides her traumatic past as a prisoner of the villainous Cyclamen Church.  She was eventually rescued by Albert, but she never recovered from the abuse she endured.  Not only that, but Caroline also possesses regeneration abilities akin to Wolverine.  This episode highlights these recruits as supporting characters who conceal their dire pasts through perky, charismatic personas, with Caroline’s trauma as its highlight.  Its execution falls a tad short on emotion, and Caroline’s voice still risks being obnoxious, even during her moments when she shows her true colors.  Fortunately, its focus on character exploration rather than dungeon exploration was enough to survive its first training session with the new Guild.