English Dub Review: Farming Life in Another World “Return to Ordinary”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
A feast celebrates the excavation of the black stones.

Our Take:
Following our little hot springs adventure, it’s back to business as usual in Hiraku’s ordinary village.  However, it isn’t without two things from that expedition that he and his friends are dealing with.  The first being the consequences of messing with the black stones, which were used as a prison for an evil god named the Archfiend.  Because Hiraku didn’t know how to leave things alone, he unintentionally set the god free.  Thankfully for them, in typical low-stakes fashion, the dreaded Archfiend ended up becoming a cute little cat to serve as Hiraku’s pet rather than becoming the show’s big bad of the second season.  Regarding my experience with the series so far, I wasn’t surprised that the supposed powerful being would end up being a member of Hiraku’s community. However, it would’ve been interesting to see how it would depict that threat within its tranquil tone.
Another aspect is the young girl, whom they named Urza, who was formerly the Lord of Death and is possibly the hero queen with amnesia.  Following Urza’s brief mistrust of Hakuren, the former discovers that Hakuren also possesses dragon scales powerful enough to be considered dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands.  Aside from that brief development between the two, her role isn’t enough to consider that Urza may serve as a more prominent role for the remaining episodes, if not a potential third season.  Fortunately, the Mountain Elf Developers put the scales to good use through their new “helpful” inventions rather than using them as weapons.  Aside from those new elements, “Return to Ordinary” offers exactly what the title suggests: a return to the ordinary village routine filled with more slice-of-life problems to solve for the sake of a peaceful life.