English Dub Review: Cautious Hero: The Hero is Overpowered but Overly Cautious “This Goddess Is Too Spooky”

Overview

After Mash recovers, Seiya finally accepts Mash and Elulu into the group. Mash and Elulu suggest that they go to Dragon’s Den because according to Nakashi Village lore, the pair was brought down from the heavens as babies. The legend says that they’re supposed to team up with a hero and that in order to help save Gaebrande, they need to break “the seal” in Dragon’s Den to gain a mighty weapon — Igzasion. Before they go there, though, the gang decides to go back to the Divine Realm so that Elulu and Mash can level up more.

Once there, Seiya tracks down Cerceus so that he can train Mash. While initially hesitant, once Cerceus sees how Mash is nothing like Seiya, he happily trains him while Hestiaca, the Goddess of Fire, trains Elulu in fire magic. After a threatening run-in with the Goddess of Destruction, Valkyrie, Aria suggests the Goddess of War, Adenela would be a good trainer for Seiya. He levels up with the gothic goddess quickly, but she falls in love with him. His rejection of her causes a destructive meltdown, and the gang hurries to Dragon Village.

Eventually, the gang meets the Dragon Village monarch, Leviae. Elulu is concerned about her destiny because she was unable to learn magic from Hestiaca, but Leviae confirms that her destiny is different from Mash’s. Elulu is to be sacrificed, in order to become Igzasion.

Our Take

Let’s start with the bad!

How is it that despite how horrible Seiya is to literally everyone he meets, someone — let alone a goddess — is guaranteed to fall in love with him? In a time where many have accepted the Mary Sue/Gary Stu trope as “dead” due to almost every protagonist having certain “Sue/Stu” traits, Seiya still manages to hone in on the aspects that made us hate Gary Stus in the first place. Granted, Adenela had a reason for falling in love with Seiya, but she literally lost her whole endearingly creepy personality when doing so.

Seiya is stereotypically attractive, has no personality, and people fall in love with him despite his horrible attitude. His “flaw” is that he’s…overpowered, but overly cautious. However, his other flaw is that he’s a gigantic a-hole to everyone, and has no courtesy for anyone but himself. Here’s the thing that makes a Gary Stu a Gary Stu: even if they have flaws, if they never face repercussions for those flaws/actions, then they’re not actually flaws. This is why Seiya’s character is so annoying, frustrating, and unwatchable.

Also, in response to Valkyrie violently sexually harassing Rista and Aria: Yikes. Why is good LGBTQIA representation so hard for anime to execute?

Onto the good, the twist with Elulu was genuinely dramatic and unforeseen. Considering Rista’s suspicions that Seiya may not hate children (considering how he kept the flower from the little girl in the first village) there’s a possibility Seiya may show some personality to his character and attempt to save Elulu.

…But considering how he also burned down an entire village without thinking, it would be completely unsurprising if he just killed her at the very beginning of the next episode.