Shin no Nakama

[Ryllharu]

Overall, this whole episode was cute.

Ruti's true wishes getting revealed in full though they've been obvious a while, Tisse and Red sizing each other up, Tisse's inner thoughts about Ruti being revealed, Ruti scaring the crap out of everyone and being a horrible undercover hero, and Rit flirting as always.

I'm not sure that Ruti wanted him to come with her. She seemed almost ecstatic to take a drug that would reduce her blessing, since hers truly is a curse that apparently can't be channeled into any other activity. She can't even help being a hero when suppressed.

[Kraco]

I'm not sure that Ruti wanted him to come with her. She seemed almost ecstatic to take a drug that would reduce her blessing, since hers truly is a curse that apparently can't be channeled into any other activity. She can't even help being a hero when suppressed.

It's hard to say. Logic dictates she would want to be with him, since Red seems to be the only human who gets some feelings out of her. She desperately yearns for those emotions. So, would she want to be separated from him? I think not, but she might also realise as well that he's not anymore up to the task of facing boss demons, so her wisdom could be telling her to leave him be.

[Ryllharu]

I assume that the outcome will be that Ruti realizes her brother can be (temporarily) replaced as her favorite emotional support with Tisse, her first true friend in life.

Her entire party aside from Gideon are afraid of her, but Tisse at least is willing to help Ruti on a personal level while hiding her cold sweat. Hah.

[Kraco]

Episode 10



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The Hero's blessing really is no blessing at all. It's nothing but a curse. Even if she saved the world, it wouldn't matter to her personally at all. She couldn't enjoy it a single bit. Logic should dictate she would have no motivation to save the world either, but instead the need to save people is pretty much her only remaining genuine emotion, and thus all the stronger.

It's not so strange to see fantasy worlds where people are born with a certain fixed ability, which more or less dictates the single thing where they can excel in, but this takes it one unfortunate step further by making that fixed ability also affect the people's personalities to a high degree, with the stronger abilities being more affected. It looks like Assassin isn't an extremely strong profession because Tisse isn't overly crooked (murderous), but maybe her fearfulness is a sign of it.

Nevertheless, I'm really glad that bath scene happened. At least there are a couple of people more now who can understand Ruti a bit better. I have no idea what's going to happen now with Rit heavily sympathising with Ruti, but we will see.

[Kraco]

Episode 11


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I wonder if the Sage blessing actually drives Ares to want to accompany the hero, no matter what. So, just like Ruti is forced, by her Hero blessing, to look for the demon king, Ares is forced to try to aid the hero. He seems pretty bereft of wits already, as if he was a crack addict who hasn't seen as much as a glimpse of a dose for weeks.

Other than that, it's nice that Red and Ruti now know what the other one is thinking. Seeing how Ruti has lost pretty much everything, it's better she doesn't need to hide things from Red.

[Ryllharu]

But the true victim in all this is the double bed.

[shinta|hikari]

I've never agreed with Ryll as completely as now.

[Kraco]

But the true victim in all this is the double bed.

Indeed. At least Red and Lit can guess who did it, after the encounter with Ares, especially witnessing how deranged Ares was. Too bad Red and Ruti don't yet know what happened at the pharmacy/house. They could have claimed compensation from Ares, had they known. Maybe Ruti feels responsible and will pay for it. She ought to have plenty of money, being the hero (unless this is one of those destitute heroes stories, which the Japanese love). Or maybe they will meet Ares later and it will all be solved.

[KrayZ33]

I started watching this and this show is fast.

I kinda like it, but I kinda also feel like some things could use a proper build up.
Not that I expected a whole lot, I pretty much only watched it for the romance anyway, which I found to be rather cute and suprisingly well done after the inital teenager-blushing
I'm only at episode 8 right now but when they were going to bed together I thought "NO WAY?!" but the kid had to ruin it (I don't know why he was even there, wasn't that after the whole incident. I don't even know anymore because the show is zooming around like that.

[neflight86]

So the overarching theme here appears to be "does/should your talent/blessing define you?"

Ruti and Ares are the negative examples of this, being unwilling (or unknowing) slaves of their expected roles, while Red and Rit took the self gratification route and appears happier for it.

I'm afraid I'd fall more on the 'bad' side of this debate, essentially calling Red selfish and negligent to not return to the party trying to save the world now that he knows the gaping hole he left, just so he can keep playing house in the boondocks. This is young adult fiction, so I certainly expect the morality to be framed as it was, but it is sad, when I take a step back, to imagine such power/responsibility being in the hands of practical children. Not like this is the first time anime has given the big middle finger to societal expectations, but the attitude in this series towards it feels frivolous considering what's supposedly at stake.

[Ryllharu]

That was the whole argument Rit was having with Theodora though.

Who is Theodora to demand that Ruti be her savior? Theodora's only answer was her own interpretation of God's will, which Rit then also denied had any merit. Theodora and the other party members are all strong. They could all form their own hero parties and defeat the demon lords.

But Theodora and Ares demand that Ruti do it for them. Ares because he is compelled to bask in Ruti's glorious victories and satisfy himself that she won because of his support (when she's proven time and time again that she doesn't need him at all). What Ruti did want is emotional support, which Tisse provided better than any of the companions did so far, and Gideon was the only approval she ever wanted. Theodora wants the holy victory, but Rit pointed out that she was too scared to do it herself.

Theodora was belittling everyone she's ever come across, including herself, by believing that only a person with the Hero's Blessing can ever actually be the hero.

I'm very confused on where the Demons stand in all this. They seem to philosophically agree with Rit, but also want to ensure that Ruti's blessing overwhelms her. Maybe there's something we haven't been told, that the demons already know (evidence by his comments about her weapons and that these better copies will force her to become more controlled by the blessing). My only guess is that the Hero's Blessing will result in the holder to also become the demon lord once they kill the current one? Or something like that.

[neflight86]

That was the whole argument Rit was having with Theodora though.

Who is Theodora to demand that Ruti be her savior? Theodora's only answer was her own interpretation of God's will, which Rit then also denied had any merit. Theodora and the other party members are all strong. They could all form their own hero parties and defeat the demon lords.

...

Theodora was belittling everyone she's ever come across, including herself, by believing that only a person with the Hero's Blessing can ever actually be the hero.

I see. To clarify my position, I believe what I said under the assumption that both only the hero blessing can be the hero, and that only the hero can save the world. Those two things also require that the will/plan of their god is trustworthy and true, which I glossed over, may not be the case. If not, perhaps there is some wiggle room, but if so, the stakes are too high for someone's individual whims to have much weight. Assuming humanity is at stake, the decision to 'want to be the hero' is (or should be) bigger than Ruti if she has any perspective beyond 'I want to be with my onii-chan'. Its unfortunate, but into each life a little rain must fall. Actually, Red could alleviate this somewhat by re-joining the hero party, but no- his new waifu wants to be lovey-dovey, so he'll stay here, and Rit won't ask him to give of himself for anyone but her. It's a cycle of selfishness that leaves a few people self-satisfied at the expense of so many more. Again, this is assuming that without the hero, disaster will befall the remaining sentient life in this world. I'm unsympathetic, but also glad I don't live in a fantasy world with a demon lord rampaging. Maybe the depiction of the hero party itself and its objective are too vague for me to get a grasp on what is actually happening. As you mentioned, the demons themselves aren't all unreasonable, so maybe the demon lord could coexist; I dunno.

[Kraco]

Episode 13


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Considering what Zoltan is like, it seems to me the situation isn't so bad that Ruti absolutely can't make her own decisions. People in Zoltan are living relatively leisurely lives, so if they can afford to do that, why can't Ruti or Red, after everything they have already gone through? Compared to most, they have done their part. The only thing speaking against that is the whole Blessing thing, but if that's the decisive factor, then there would be no fighting it. Since folks can and do fight against that urge, some more easily, some with greater difficylty, then it's also okay. Things would be different if the whole world looked like a battlefield and not a single person would live a life not touched by the (demon) war, like in much of the WW2 Europe. That's not the case by far.

How the demons are connected to it all is quite interesting. Maybe the god dealing out the blessings is an artificial god, with its origin connected to the ancient civilization. The demons could share the same roots, in some way. Possibly a few demons still remember and would like to return things to how they used to be.

[neflight86]

It seems as you say, which means that either the demon lord isn't that big a deal, or he/she is, and zoltan is complacent and contributing to the downfall of the world. We haven't seen much of the outside world other than the battlefields the hero party was on in the flashbacks (and present day), so I could really use a more concrete explanation of exactly how important that conflict is, at the end of the day. It has been downplayed so much over these last few episodes that I'm not sure if that was the author's intent.

Ruti got another super rare blessing to suppress the negative aspects of her hero's blessing. I've should clean the floor before watching so my eyes don't get dirty rolling across it... Okay, problem solved.

Lewd scene was awkward, crude, and unnecessary, but I'm sure someone appreciates it.

I do like that the story was effectively closed off aside from the small post credits scene that teased a possible continuation.

[Kraco]

I've should clean the floor before watching so my eyes don't get dirty rolling across it... Okay, problem solved.

What got my eyes rolling was how Ares defeated Tisse. Tisse would have had all the time in the world to slay Ares after Ares attacked them, he even had his back turned to Tisse for a while. But no, the mighty level 1 assassin was just standing there before Ares bothered to turn around and one-shotted her. I have no idea why such a useless assassin was sent to join the hero party.

[Kraco]

S2 Episode 1



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Quite a relaxed and fluffy beginning for a season, just like I want this series to be. Of course the psycho new hero might eventually cause problems, I guess he wouldn't have been introduced otherwise, repeating their experiences with Ares, but who knows. In the meantime I welcome them sorting out smaller problems or even misunderstandings, such as with the knife ears.

Tisse is as weak as ever, though.

[Ryllharu]

Not sure I really needed a sequel to this, to the point that I failed to notice that it got one. I thought the end of last season was very conclusive.

I'm going to pass on this season of it.

[neflight86]

I likely will to, but after another episode or two. I had to re-read this thread to remember my disconnect with this series, and right away, the OP for this season suggests it is more about Tisse and Ruti being... fiends forever? Hardly any display or Red and fun-bags Rit, though they were in the episode plenty. New zealot hero brings nothing new, and elf companion I can't tell if I forgot or was never shown before, but I do know I don't care. Agree with Ryllharu; this needed a second season like tapeworm needs a colonoscopy.

[Ryllharu]

I'm not that harsh on it. I enjoyed last season enough. I just think that narratively, it didn't need another.

[shinta|hikari]

Guys, come back in. It is nice.