English Dub Review: Hell Mode: The Hardcore Gamer Dominates in Another World with Garbage Balancing “Showdown At The Academy Tournament!”

Overview:

Allen faces off against the hero. If he wants to win, he’ll have to use his new summoning abilities.

Our Take(Spoilers):

We might have to start calling Allen Ash Ketchum if he keeps this up. That boy called out every move for his summons to do, and I felt like it was my childhood all over again. I’m aware that this wouldn’t be the first series to use that formula since it’s so successful, but up until this point they had managed to avoid that issue. Allen has more or less let his summons act with autonomy; he’ll give some vague orders, but he hasn’t called out moves before. Then again, if you’re going up against the hero of the land, then maybe you need a little bit more of a hands-on approach.

You might remember that we left the episode with Krena fighting her mentor, who lost control and was about to get wrecked. Luckily, Helmios, the hero, stepped in to block the blow and save Krena’s life. Allen isn’t a big fan of Helmios, but he was grateful that he saved his childhood friend’s life. If you were to ask me, I would say that means Krena should be called the winner by default, but maybe that’s just me.

Allen is kind of refreshing as a main character because he’s not a typical protagonist trying to show how strong he is. He only participated in this tournament so that he could get that MP recovery ring. Near the end of his fight with Helmios, the hero gave him the ring he was after and revealed that he had another one. He asked Allen if he wished to continue the fight, and now that he had nothing to gain, Allen said no. Most anime protags want to fight just to fight, so I like that aspect of him.

I’m looking forward to the gang going back to their dungeon-crawling ways. Sometimes I prefer a show to have a more overarching narrative, but I think with this, I enjoy seeing all the friends hanging out. I’m a big fan of RPG games as well, and seeing characters make slow and steady progress towards improvement hits some sort of receptor in my brain that makes me really enjoy it. I don’t have a lot of hope that this will get a second season, so I would like to see something with some sort of resolution.