English Dub Review: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest “Reunion with the Past”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

The head of a guild locates Nagumo, Yue, and Shea to contract them for a rescue mission. Nagumo originally refuses but changes his mind when the guild head says that he’ll make sure they don’t ever get in trouble for violating Adventurer’s Guild rules. They set off to a mountain, where a gaggle of adventurers had gone missing, but stop by a lake town to get some curry.

At the same town, coincidentally, is Ms. Aiko and the students who went with her. They happen to be at the same exact restaurant that Nagumo, Yue, and Shea go to. Although they don’t recognize him at first, Ms. Aiko jumps at the realization. While she’s initially elated to see him, she becomes angry by his refusal to explain anything to her, or even express any type of joy at the reunion. He tells her he’s not rejoining them, and to stay out of his way. The trio leaves, and Ms. Aiko and the students stay confused.

Later that night, though, Nagumo finds Ms. Aiko and tells her that his fall wasn’t an accident. He then explains that long ago, the original group of Mavericks discovered that the God of this world was igniting wars among its people for its own amusement. The God labeled them as blasphemous, and that was the reason the Mavericks fled to create their own labyrinths to hide in. Nagumo reveals that someone who could garner all the powers of each labyrinth could potentially defeat the God. While Nagumo states that he’s only using the labyrinths to garner to power to go home, Ms. Aiko insists on Nagumo at least allowing her and the few students to join him on his rescue quest. He agrees, and they leave.

Our Take

Well, this was unexpected. It brings us back to the beginning of the show, and how Nagumo’s original contempt for Captain Loggins sort of fell to the wayside. It was as if when Nagumo gained monster abilities, his class was no longer of importance to him — from loved ones to enemies. He still seems to at least care about how Kaori’s doing, but simultaneously death threatened everyone (including his old classmates) at the curry restaurant. Moody, much?

Plus, at certain parts of the episode, he even sounds like his old self (such as when he’s talking about curry.) Does this mean he’s just been doing a tough guy voice this whole time? It’s okay dude, we get it. You’re edgy.

While Ms. Aiko adds a level of genuine goodness to the show (her voice acting is great as well) her appearance with the students really outline the show’s pacing issues. How much time has exactly gone by? It’s unclear. Plus, when did Nagumo learn all that information about the Mavericks? Most importantly: why didn’t he just tell Ms. Aiko who pushed him into the abyss?

Based on the “God” lore this episode revealed, it really seems like this show is just based off of a D&D world. A god who plays with its creations just for fun? Complete with monsters and classes? Sounds like a DM. It’s such a fun concept, but just like any D&D campaign, the story is the most important component. Arifureta needs to seriously recognize this.