English Dub Review: Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside: “You’re Not a True Comrade”

Overview: Moving to a quiet village in Zoltan, Red (Aaron Campbell) strives to open an apothecary and lead a simple life, different from his previous adventures as a hero. 

Our Take: Whenever I see these absurdly long titles that lay out the basic concept for the anime, I always brace myself for what kind of show I will get. Will it be a superficial series that doesn’t attempt to go outside the confines of it’s idea. Or will it subvert my expectations and deliver something that is opposite from the norm? I haven’t quite made up my mind where exactly this show lands and while the first episode definitely has it leaning towards the former, it has just enough meat on the bone to keep me invested. 

Red is the main protagonist of the series and he is about as protagonisty as they get. The bushy hair, an overall kind demeanor, doubt in himself and overall ability, this guy checks everything off the list with flying colors. So besides the elements everyone and their mother has seen a million times over by now, what’s left? There are some neat aspects to the world that I find interesting as a whole, like different blessings that serve as people’s unique abilities. Or even some of the creatures that inhabit the countryside Red has traveled to, like that of an owlbear, which is exactly how it sounds with the huge bulking body of a bear and face of an owl, which is truly the stuff of nightmare fuel. 

As for his reasoning behind moving to such a remote village, it goes back to his lack of skill, especially compared to his sister and other party members. The realization fully comes to him by none other than the resident prick of his former hero party in that of Ares. The scene is definitely a harsh one in Ares relentlessly throwing Red’s insecurities and weaknesses in his face. It does seem like a premature and odd move on Red’s part to leave so suddenly out of the blue because of his teammate’s criticism. It feels as if it’s mostly because the premise of the series has to happen and there’s no time for contemplation that would usually go into such a big decision in between that. 

What Red lacks in distinguishing character (as of now), the worldbuilding helps make up for with interesting with teases of intriguing characters in his orbit such as Ruti, Red’s younger sister, who has the strongest hero blessing at her disposal and seems to be a stark departure from him in how cold her demeanor is comparatively. This is all coupled with the fact that while, for all intents and purposes, she is the ideal/chosen hero of the land. This is a cool twist from the general norm of hero tales in which that title usually goes to our main character.   

Also, in all fairness to Red, there’s nothing particularly wrong with a simple down-on-his-luck nice guy. He’s likable enough. It’s just that there’s nothing especially unique established about him beyond that (yet). He is proficient at a variety of simple skills as detailed by his basic jack of all trade blessing. Time will tell if he truly is as “ordinary” as he’s made out to be compared to his comrades, both in his move set and personality, or if there is more to him than meets the eye. The same goes for Banished from the Hero’s Party in that time will tell if it is just a generic amalgamation of fantasy anime that have come before or if there is more depth beneath the surface than what is visible.