Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside

I didn't have super high hopes for this one, as it looked like, basically, all the other animes with this type of title: Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside. BUT! There's no harem! The main lead and his lady love actually have a decent, relatively mature romance! There's some good world building! The Hero also doesn't want to be forced to be a hero!

So, basically, the (kinda evil and/or stupid) deity in this world gives everyone "Blessings" -- which are sort of like guides for their life. You might be a Weaponmaster or an Assassin or, in the case of poor Ruti, the Hero with a capital H. Gideon (our protagonist) is her older brother and Guide. It's basically his job to help her on her hero's journey to kill the Demon King. 

Incidentally, why is it always a Demon King?

Anyway, Ares, the Sage and the biggest wanker I've ever seen in an anime, banishes Gideon from the hero's party by convincing him that he's putting his sister in danger. Gideon changes his name to Red and moves to the part of the world where people go when they don't want to be found. Not even the Demon Lord would bother coming here. He sets up as an apothecary and carries a "D" rank in the Adventurer's Guild even though he's far more capable than pretty much everyone else in town.

Except for Rit, who's actually a princess from Loggervia, who had briefly traveled with the Hero's party some time ago and had a serious crush on Gideon. When she figures out he's there, she immediately gloms onto her second chance (she was a bit tsundere around him before) and moves in with him. 

Here's the refreshing part -- they actually have a good relationship and while there's some blushy bits, it also actually progresses and they are relatively mature about it and realistic. AND THERE'S NO HAREM. Everyone but her kind of underestimates him, but he likes it that way.

Of course, there's stuff going on and the scenes of Gideon are interspersed with what's going on with his sister. She's got a truly tragic life trajectory going on -- her Hero Blessing precludes her from sleeping, enjoying food, experiencing different temperatures--basically, living. And she misses her brother -- BUT NOT IN A CREEPY WAY -- because the last time she really felt things was when she was young and he's her only tie to that.

There's demon blots, betrayal, people searching for each other, and also bits of Slow Life in between. 

It's really good and I'm so happy that it had none of the bad. I mean, Rit could have done with a boob reduction and why anyone would wear clothes with holes in them in the snow while literally complaining about how cold it is, I dunno, but other than that, I can't really fault anything. Okay, maybe that they take a lot of baths and there's some clothes rending--all "okay" because they magically have no nipples. Like, no one does. It's a little weird, mostly because the boobs are just SO THERE.

Tisse, the assassin that's brought in to replace Gideon, was also a joy because she becomes Ruti's first actual friend (and not just a party member) PLUS she has an adorable spider pet called Mister Crawly Wawly. With the Mister as part of his name. 

There's also humour too. Just a really good anime. There's also a second season, but I'm debating about saving it for a while before I watch it. I kind of went fast through season one.

So, am I glad I watched it? Definitey. Would I watch it again? Hm, very possibly, though I'd take a break in between. I will definitely watch Season 2 at some point as well. 

And would I one punch Ares? Yes, yes, I totally would.

Ready, Set, Love

I have watched very, very little Thai dramas/shows because every time I start one, they just have killed me with the overacting, similar to Taiwanese stuff. I started Ready, Set, Love, not realising it was a Thai show (though, obviously, it took seconds to figure that out once it started) and because the premise sounded different enough to be appealing. Even though there's definitely some "larger than life" acting in this one too, it's at manageable levels and I stuck through it. 

I'd also hit the part of King the Land that's annoying and I thought Ready, Set, Love looked like it would be enjoyable fluff. And it was generally enjoyable and I was pleasantly surprised by the not-fluff aspects of it.

In a dystopian future, male births account for less than 1%. The Thai government (no mention of what's going on in the rest of the world after the pandemic that killed off so many dudes) now has the state sponsored "Farm" where all boys/men are supposed to go and lead pampered, cushy lives (albeit ones where they have little control over their lives). A periodic competition is held -- kind of a hunger games for picking wives for them. This is all very nonsensical as, while I can see the Farm thing happening, the most likely thing would be men would be relegated to being sperm donors or studs and there wouldn't be a monogamous marriage concept any more. 

Anyway, the women who compete are usually (of course) chosen from the elite and rich. But this year they've introduced a lottery system so that the "common woman" can have a chance. Of course, they aren't actually supposed to have a real chance. It's for ratings and to keep the masses down. Day, our heroine, winds up with a winning lotto ticket courtesy of her younger sister. She's actually got no interest in it, but her younger sister is deathly ill and when told that the winner would also have access to really good medical care for their whole family...she decides to stay.

Complicating matters is that one of the contestants is Son (the dude in red), who had, as a young child, briefly escaped from the Farm and was 'saved' by Day when she was young. Yeah, childhood friends trope. They have matching halves of a necklace. It's kind of a ridiculous set up, but, hey, let's go with it. Because he is at first completely put off by her over the top awkwardness and enthusiasm until he sees her wearing the necklace that he has the other half of. 

The other equally oddly named Gentleman are Jin (who we barely see and is basically comic relief), Paper (who at first seems like the happy go lucky type but then they manage to give him depth and LGBTQ leanings as he falls in love with a guy who lives outside the Farm), Max (the sexy type who somehow immediately falls in love with the girl--Chanel--who's supposed to be intended for Son in the fixed game and is actually very loyal and decent enough, even if he does constantly take his shirt off), and finally Almond (who takes an immediate liking to Day and is also -- coincidence!!--the brother of Day's friend Valentine, who is a member of the underground resistance called City Ground who want to shed light on the fact that the government steals boys away from their families and incarcerates any women who dare to not go along with it. Whew.

There's actually a lot going on here. So it isn't just a cute "reality style" matchmaking show, there's some political, far-reaching stuff and questions about free will and what doing the right thing is. There's also Chanel, who doesn't love Son, but has been trying to be a dutiful daughter (her mom is, essentially, the big bad), the producer of the show who just found out she's pregnant with a son (which means that he'll be taken from her), and Bovy, Chanel's best friend who acts like she's in love with Max (and is supposed to be slated for him) but is really probably just in love with Chanel. 

Like I said, Whew. 

They end the season with a cliffhanger that obviously sets it up for a season 2 (Son and Day and Paper get away and there's a glimpse of Son and Day four years later, with a son of their own, living outside the cities in a place run by City Ground and then Evil Mom gets notified that they've been found, along with a picture of an older guy in a hoodie, who I'd have to guess is likely Son's dad? Who maybe she was in love with from way before? 'Cause she doesn't love her husband (Chanel's dad, who seems a decent, if ineffectual, guy). 

I did surprisingly quite enjoy this one. There are definitely REALLY ridiculous moments but it had WAY more depth than I thought it would. I was actually quite sad about Almond, who chose to stay back at the Farm when he could have run. I think part of that was unrequited love--he really did like Day and they did actually have great chemistry together and got along well. If Son hadn't had that childhood connection, there was literally no reason why Day and Almond wouldn't have wound up together. That said, Son and Day were nice together too. But Almond was definitely a Second Lead Syndrome kind of character. 

I thought it was interesting that Day did NOT, in fact, win the show, even though she tried her hardest. Chanel, the favourite, did, BUT Chanel grew a backbone at the last moment and picked Max (who she'd been trying to deny her attraction to the entire show), even though everyone thought she would go for Son and her mom was demanding it. If Chanel hadn't done that, then...who knows what would have happened. 

So, am I glad I watched it? Yeah. Would I watch it again? Probably not, but who knows. Would I watch the second season if there is one? Yeah, probably I would. Some of the actors were better than others, but the general quality of it was good (overact-y style not withstanding). I really didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

Sasaki and Miyano

This is one little dude started watching without me, so I started...and then passed him up. I've finished it now. Sasaki and Miyano is a BL anime and, quite simply, charming and very conciously does NOT contain any of the horrible almost-ever-present bad tropes that you see in a lot of BL shows/manga.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one and may even buy the manga too, as I'm sure there's stuff they didn't wind up animating. But, let me start over.

So, Miyano (the short, dark haired one), is a not-very closeted fudanshi. That said, the only time he's ever crushed on anyone (back in middle school), it was a girl. Sasaki has also never been attracted to a guy before -- until he meets Miyano. Strangely enough, Sasaki realises much more quickly how attracted he is to Miyano as they start spending more time together (and he borrows BL manga from him, something he has never read before). And, to his credit, he's not too weirded out by it--it's more of a oh, wow, I need to chill, I don't want to freak him out.  He winds up confessing pretty early on (episode 5, though it's pretty clear even to himself by episode 2 that he's smitten). 

BUT. Even though he bungles the confession a little, he's also very open about how he's willing to wait for a response. And wait he does. It takes Miyano, like, over half a year before he finally gets ahold of his feelings and confesses in return. Maybe more. Basically, the majority of the show is Miyano trying to figure out what he feels and Sasaki trying very hard (and doing well) not to be pushy and just be a good friend, if that's all Miyano wants. 

Seriously, find yourself a guy like Sasaki. He's a good dude. Even the times he's berating himself for slipping up, he doesn't really. He always stops himself and is so conscious of not pushing.

It was interesting that they flipped that, because you'd think that Miyano with his BL fixation would be the one to lead the way rather than the guy who's never even thought about it. 

The friends / side characters are also great with their own little stories and ways of helping out (or deflecting). There's even a one hour long "graduation" special where you get a bit more about Hirano and some of the others, see Sasaki and Miyano coming out a bit to their friends and family without any major hiccups. 

All in all, a really great feel good series and by far the least problematic BL thing I've ever seen. I hope that's a trend that will catch on. Some of the older shows (totally looking at you World's Greatest Love Story which should actually be re-named If Your Partner Does ANY of This, Run) is just really, really full of horrible stuff.