First Impressions / Rokka no Yuusha / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「Cry for the Truth」 by Mich

“The Strongest Man in the World”


「地上最強の男」 (Chijou Saikyou no Otoko )

Leading up to the Anime:

There are several things that have attracted me to Rokka no Yuusha, despite the fact it seems like the type of anime I usually don’t bother watching. Fantasy LN anime adaptation aren’t usually my cup of tea, since they’ve been done to death and I don’t usually get much from them. Thankfully, there’s enough about Rokka no Yuusha that had me curious to look into it. And the more I read about it, the more I wanted to watch it. I’ve been keeping up to date with the promo material, I read the beginning of the first light novel, and I wrote the summer preview for it. I’ve gotten myself pretty hyped for this anime, and I was just hoping that it wouldn’t disappoint. After all, it’s done by a fairly new studio that brought us the masterful RAIL WARS, so that wasn’t exactly a big selling point.

The Mythos and the World:

As it turns out, I had nothing to be worried about. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode for all the reasons I thought I would. Without even diving into the main premise or the characters, the setting of the series was enough to initially catch my interest. I’ve heard that the anime may have taken liberties with changing this from a European fantasy series to an Aztec fantasy, and it that is the case, it was a fantastic choice. Why? Because there’s not many series with a world like this one. It feels different, from the architecture to the clothing of the side characters. If this was just another European-inspired fantasy, I don’t think I would have given this a second glance.

With this interesting world comes an equally interesting mythos. There’s a lot of lore to this world that’s already been explored in this premiere – midway into the episode we pretty much got a solid info-dump. It wasn’t the most creative use of getting the exposition across to the audience, but because what was being told was interesting, it made up for it. The idea of powerful heroes coming together to defeat a deadly foe isn’t exactly revolutionary, but learning about the Saints of certain powers, and the history of those six heroes chosen 700 and 300 years ago helps build up to the current story. Could this have been shown and not told? Of course, but we’ve only got 12 episodes with this one (sadly), so I’m not complaining about getting into the real story as soon as possible. Also, this is a light novel, so I was already expecting less showing and more telling, which is, unfortunately, all too common with that form of storytelling.

Two of Seven Heroes:

The Goddess of Fate is at the centre of the entire premise, and as expected, her tale is vital to the storyline. I’ve already discussed the extra juicy part to the plot, so I’ll mention it again briefly despite this first episode not acknowledging it quite yet. There may be six destined heroes, but there’s going to be seven in this generation – meaning there is an impostor. Whether they’re the true villain in disguise, or just there to cause mischief, I suspect they’ll have something to do with the demon side of things.

This week, however, we only meet two of the seven heroes. First is our spunky and confident lead, Adlet Mayer (Saito Soma). Like all the heroes to come, his design is very bold and identifiable, and from what we’ve seen this episode, his personality is just as memorable. Sometimes it’s good to just have an asshole of a main character – or at least for them to seem that way. He’s not cruel or mean spirited, just cocky in his own ability and utterly sold on his own desires. Luckily for him, they do come into fruition with him gaining the mark of the chosen one. I really liked what we saw of Adlet this episode; he’s very sure of himself and doesn’t seem to have any flaws just yet, but seeing his ten year old self looking starved and weak under his old master’s teachings promises that there’s more to him than meets the eye.

Princess Nashatania Loei Piena Augustra (Hikasa Yoko) is the second hero to be introduced this episode. She’s got a long-ass royal name, so I’ll just call her Nashatania. We didn’t see as much of her personality, apart from her curiosity and outgoing attitude. She knows all about the history of the Six Heroes, and she made for the least convincing maid ever. What maid gets to walk into a well-guarded prison without being caught? What we do know, however, is that this princess is powerful. Adlet already suspected that she’d be one of the chosen six, so I’m sure her name is famous around the continent. She did say that other potential candidates for the Six Heroes were being killed by the recent rise in demon spawns, so those who did get chosen in the end were indeed the best of the best, and even though we’ve still to see the rest, I’d count her among the best (it’s just a hunch – I have a lot of hunches about her). Even if Aslet thinks he’s the strongest in the world, I feel like Nashatania (and the other five) could give him a run for his money.

Suspect of the Week – Nashatania:

Since I’m going to be blogging this anime, I’ve decided to include a week segment called: Suspect of the Week. Basically, once we meet all seven of the heroes, I’m sure we’re going to get some hints as to who the fake hero is. For now, I can’t go on too much, but out of the two characters we’ve seen so far, I’d say Nashatania is the more suspicious. She knows a quite lot about the heroes (which probably isn’t a good enough reason by itself), and she seemed prepared to keep Adlet in her kingdom, even if she wasn’t chosen in the end. Maybe she was just very confident that she would be, or maybe she’d pretend regardless, because she wants to be one of the heroes. Who knows at this point. There was also that shot of her staring at the burnt orange sky, making her look rather dubious. And in the opening the light dims as it focuses on her face.

At this point I’m just listing the things that have me curious, which may amount to nothing in the end. But that’s why I wanted to blog Rokka no Yuusha in the first place; I don’t want to trust any of these seven who claim to be the chosen heroes. One of them is lying, and all of them will be suspicious at one point or another. I want to have fun trying to pick apart each of these characters, deciding who I feel is the real impostor along the way.

Overview – What’s Next?:

I should also mention how well choreographed the action sequences were. There may have been moments where the background animation or CG was poor, but when it mattered most, Rokka no Yuusha looked damn good. If we see more battles with that much impact and detail put into how each of the seven fights, then I, like Nashatania, will be a happy bunny. This first episode totally met my rather high expectations. Now I’m excited to meet the other characters and explore this Aztec demon-infested world week on week.

Note: No spoilers. Please. I know the LNs are ongoing, but I don’t know if the fake hero has been revealed at this point. If not, then feel free to clarify that and add to the discussion (without spoiling content that hasn’t been adapted!). If it has been revealed, just keep it to yourself. Let’s have fun with this one~

Full-length images: 05, 19, 30.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Secret」 by Mich

59 Comments

  1. I gotta ask, what’s with LN adaptations and heavy expositions? The conversations between Adlet and the maid girl inside the prison was so tedious i had to fast forwarded it few times. It was expositions involving lots of jargons and in world mythologies that really don’t make a thing for me at all. I don’t want everything to be spelled out in just the first episode.

    Aside from that, it’s quite a decent premiere.

    Amiluhur
    Reply

    1. I suppose it’s just the LN approach to storytelling. If they can’t hook the audience in by the very beginning, then it won’t be a ‘success’. Of course, there are plenty of ways to weave the exposition into the storytelling. Info-dumping is all to common with these sorts of anime, so i wasn’t exactly disappointed… but I do hope we get away from this trend at some point. Let the audience discover the worlds along with the characters, goddammit.

      But yeah, it doesn’t take away everything else I enjoyed about the episode (which was a lot).

      Samu
      Reply

    2. Honestly, I have no idea how you can show a world’s history as opposed to telling it. Or this world’s history in particular, with the whole prophecy thing.

      Hanabira.Kage
      Reply

  3. Anyone else getting Mondaiji-tachi vibes from this? Everything from our resident bunny girl princess to the “strongest man in the world”, complete with the special powers spread out amongst a group of heroes. The only thing separating the two right now appears to be the setting and story. Not that I’m complaining as I enjoy these types of shows, but I can’t help but think it’s getting to the point where many are starting to have a little too much overlap.

    Either way I’m withholding judgement until we start seeing what happens after the discovery of seven heroes as that is when the main story begins. The curiosity is there, just remains to be seen if RnK can capture my attention.

    Pancakes
    Reply

    1. Look closely enough and you can find any number of overlaps between shows. Whether it’s a good overlap is another question entirely, and at least between Mondaiji-tachi’s Izayoi and Rokka’s Adlet, that’s a good thing as far as I’m concerned. What makes these kinds of characters entertaining isn’t that they’re overpowered, but that they’re fun and enjoyable about it. It’s when characters like these turn into a damn Gary-Stu like Tatsuya from Mahouka that it turns into a slog just to watch them.

      Ryan Ashfyre
      Reply

  4. If I can genuinely enjoy watching an intro episode more than once, that’s a success in my book, and that certainly was the case here. Well done.

    As far as suspects go, considering that we saw his Brave Mark actually appear on his hand, I’d say that takes Adlet off the list, at least for now. So that just leaves the elusive Nashatania and the remaining five. Let’s see what next week reveals, shall we?

    Ryan Ashfyre
    Reply

      1. Fair enough, but also keep in mind that we still don’t know anything about the relationship between the Demon God and the Original Saint. I’d honestly be disappointed if everything were as straightforward as we’ve been told thus far, though I’m fairly certain that’s not the case. Who’s to say that the other Braves didn’t experience exactly the same scenario when they received their marks?

        Ryan Ashfyre
        Reply

  5. LN readers say this episode actually added extra scenes not present in the LN.

    Also, only 5 volumes have been published so far. The author has only released 1 volume per year since 2011 (except in 2012 when he released 2 volumes).

    zztop
    Reply

  6. Great world building, interesting characters and fascinating premise – looks promising.

    Re exposition, i don’t really see how else it could have been done given the way the episode went and considering it is only 12/13 episodes long. I was quite happy with the way it was done – i’m sufficiently up to speed that im not confused but curious to learn more (which will probably be revealed as we go along).

    grayne
    Reply

  7. Even though he self proclaim as the strongest man in the world, he ended up beaten to pulp and got hand broken by common soldiers :p Though that made him looks very humane; with decent preparation and tactics he can win, but he can also lose if the situation is way out of his favor.

    cryarc
    Reply

      1. Not entirely? Maybe about the rest, but the buildings screamed Mesoamerican to me. It’s as if the anime crew had been studying pictures of Teotihuacan:
        https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/SSA41434.JPG/800px-SSA41434.JPG

        And Chichen Itza:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichen_Itza#/media/File:Chich%C3%A9n_Itz%C3%A1_pyramid.jpg

        And the capital city’s situation and image is a blatant copy of Tenochtitlan:
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reconstruction_of_Tenochtitlan2006.jpg

        Mistic
        Reply

      3. oh, btw. the last News about this Maya site was about some “secret Tunnel” they found under some Pyramid, and done some research. They found out that this tunnel gone under the Pyramid. And there my News flow cut off. But it was told this Tunnel was filled nearly with sand…

        So 1+1 = ???

        This “Secret Tunnel” is nothing more then a underground Water pipeline, that with time got stuck with Sand or the Glacier that gave the water, dry out

        So this “Secret” is just an ordinary Water play thing. Perhaps it was under Pressure to lift the Water to the Top of the Pyramid

        Sorry, for the Offtopic

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

      4. If you’re talking about the discovered ‘Secret Tunnel’ in Teotihuacan.

        First Teotihuacan isn’t Mayan nor Aztec, it’s from another extinct civilization that lived in the central Mexico valley long before those two others.

        Second, the tunnel isn’t a water tunnel because they’ve found multiple artifacts in it, as well as a laid out room, structures and artifacts right under the center of the pyramid of the sun where this tunnel leads.

        Kamui04
        Reply

  9. I’m more interested in the fake’s motivations rather than his/her identity. Are his/her motivations benign or malicious, selfish or selfless, did they evolve from one into another over time, and how do these motivations tie into the world that has been built? Ultimately how well the author deals/dealt? with these sorts of issues shall determine critical quality- actual identity alone being inconsequential…

    Zen
    Reply

    1. Agreed. Here’s another thing to consider: What if it’s unwilling? Even if we take Adlet at face value, he could be the fake through no desire of his own. (And this could be true of anyone else as well). Take this scene:

      https://randomc.net/image/Rokka%20no%20Yuusha/Rokka%20no%20Yuusha%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2038.jpg

      My first instinct was that was the demon reaching out for him. The fake could not even realize it, until they’re activated…

      Though honestly, that would be disappointing. I wouldn’t mind if Adlet ends up being the traitor, though. What a twist that would be! (Though I’m not holding my breath, because that could be a tricky tale to tell.)

      Stilts
      Reply

      1. There’s also the possibility that someone (LIkely Nashatania) is simply the first Saint’s reincarnation or something (Explaining why she knows so much)- making it so that there’s technically no fake, since she is the original. Another rather boring possibility, admittedly, considering that it’d be difficult to frame in a way that allows for interesting motivations beyond “The demi god wants to watch over her chosen ones” for one reason or another…

        Zen
        Reply

    2. for me is easy:

      The Fake will that the World Burns down, to make place for a new Fresh World (mostly the engine for Mass Murders Villains). Because the current one, is just shiny on the surface but mad in his Bones. and mostly victim of betraying, like Silver Mask as example

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

    3. Of course, the motivations of the fake will be very telling and hopefully provide a pay off. But I’m just as invested in finding out who it is, because I’m sure it’s going to be a mystery that’ll be dragged out so that the audience can keep going back and forth on who we think it is.

      Also re: Adlet, I think I’d be a little disappointed if it were him. Maybe he’s unaware that, if it is the case? We shall see (maybe, it’s only 12 episode after all…)

      Samu
      Reply

  10. In regards to the “Suspect of the Week”, I have to agree with Nashatania. There was no legitimate reason for her to skip the embarkment ceremony and break Adlet out of prison. Even going as far as to have horses ready to flee.

    In the end, Adlet would have been freed after becoming a hero, and would have joined the embarkment ceremony with Nashatania. She’s very suspicious!

    Kaze
    Reply

  11. That’s how it should be moderate, unlike of others this researched the anime and its source material.
    Unlike moderator Samu who had not the slightest knowledge about source material of Hibike Euphonium and out posting a lot of nonsense biased, spent the whole anime posting nonsense and trying to rewrite anime the through your point of view, tastes and desires personal.

    Androide18
    Reply

    1. Oh, an Expert Troll. Yes, even if you know the Manga from the front to the back. We are here mostly Anime only Viewer, and we want be entertainment, not only watching Manga scene animated

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

    2. Dude, get your dumbass comment off this blog. Hibike Euphonium was already finished a week ago but still you go out of your way to berate Samu in his blog for a totally different anime.

      You just reek hypocrisy, animosity and childishness.

      We don’t need that here so get lost.

      Raiu
      Reply

  12. As LN reader, I must say this first episode really impressed me. Mostly because the pacing, for once, was not rushed and there were no scenes omitted (as far as I can tell, anyways. I’m not planning to watch the series while actively looking for the smallest deviations from source material). And if any series deserves all details included it’s this one, at least in my opinion.

    While the Aztec setting was surprising, I agree it’s a great way to differentiate from other fantasy anime. Besides, the setting change shouldn’t affect the story in any way.

    Erimaki
    Reply

  13. I was expecting the episode to end with the introduction of fremy as a cliffhanger, but this is fine too I guess.

    read the novels to the latest translation, so I know this is a good series. I really liked how there was more to just “6 heroes going out to defeat the demon lord” and that there’s a lot of conspiracy and secrecy going on, add in the tension with the 7th.

    amado
    Reply

  14. the only thing i hate about this episode is when the MC is being in prison doing yadda yadda. I thing they can cut down that scene for about 10-15 sec and make something more. And the 6 heroes going out to defeat the demon lord thingie is just cliche. let’s see what they have in store to make this anime at least offer something that can make me follow it.

    Shinwinds
    Reply

  15. @Rokka no Yuusha

    The Timeline plays in the Land of Uruk, yeah in the Time of King Gilgamesh. The Setting is “fresh”.
    Well, the Maid in the Prison dais all what i think about our “strongest men in the World”. But well, and in the End…

    As i said the World setting is the Timeline of Land of Uruk. The City is an example of ancient Ruins. I remember of an old City that was surrounded with Water, and some old Race found it abounded, until the Water itself dry out, because the glaciers dry out, and the water lines became full of Sand. i think it lies in middle or south America.

    Anyway, i got drive off. Setting at start. Well bear with this Boy and his behavior and the OVA begin to take his first steps..

    Yes, the Episode feels like an OVA that is about to start. Like Chapter 1. Remember it is still an Fantasy World. So his Magic tricks is Anime Magic!! 🙂

    Episode 1: looks good. but you need to gulp this boys behavior at the start

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  16. My suspect of the week is Adlet. Since it looks like these heroes have power associated with themselves like Nashatania who is swords saint with power of the swords, or those heroes with Ice and Salt power (I think they should have the power) who were killed in the background story. Adlet currently doesn’t seem to have any special power except being very tricky with the way he fights. That, and his dream scene where the demons are reaching out for him.

    Serapita
    Reply

  17. I admit that the Mesoamerican setting sold the series to me. More than questionable designs such as “bunny girl” princess. Seriously, she was better with the maid dress.

    And talking about this: “What maid dresses as fancy as her”? Well, when they went to get the horses, we got a look at the princess’ true maids, and they were wearing the same dress and acessories, so her costume was the right one.

    Mistic
    Reply

      1. Those are part of her helmet. Which for whatever reason isn’t visible in most shots of her…
        Like said by RoyaiChaos below, animal motifs are a thing in their country.

        Erimaki
        Reply

    3. It’s mentioned in the novel that it’s a tradition for the royal family to have an animal motif in their armor. No one is questioning the bear warrior, what’s wrong with a rabbit warrior princess?

      RoyaiChaos
      Reply

      2. In this case, I think the only thing “wrong” with it is that our anime experience makes us think, “Is she a bunny girl?” The bear one worked fine because we (rightly) assume it’s a warrior thing, whereas hers feels like it’s tickling a fetish.

        Stilts
        Reply

      3. Yeah, the complaint about the bunny ears still stands, even if the source material has it make sense in that universe. It’s still a fetish/trope that permeates anime far too often and I’m sure it’s being included for the same reason as it being in any other series. I didn’t have that much of an issue with it, but I can see why others would.

        Samu
        Reply

  18. If there is one problem I have with this show it’s the character design of the 6+1 heroes. Not only do some characters’ designs scream chuunibyou – the mysterious white haired girl who has an eyepatch and wears only black except for the giant flower in her hair is the biggest offender, although Adlet’s flame coloured hair and the shirtless guy with the nipple censor bar are bad too – they also don’t fit the setting at all.

    While the NPC’s clothes all seem to follow, more or less, the aztec theme of the setting, the heroes’ clothes look like they were all simply made to look cool or cute without any regard to the setting.

    And don’t even get me started on the fact that the big breasted princess of course has to have her symbol placed so that she has to show off her boobs every time she wants to show it to someone.

    Zannafar
    Reply

  20. I think the author just portrayed Adlet and Bunny-Princess way too strong for my taste.

    I mean, cocky male MCs are not usual but for Adlet to be that obnoxiously cocky, telling himself to be the strongest in the world when his fighting only involves the use of so many gimmicks and traps.

    Then the Sword Princess is just a little bit too outgoing and direct that it feels so unnatural.

    Better wait for the other four… oh wait. Five other characters.

    Raiu
    Reply

    1. From my view, I think he knows that he’s obviously not the strongest in the world. He seems to talk as if he’s trying to set his mindset to think like that rather than actually believing he’s the strongest in the world.

      Silver
      Reply

  24. When I first saw the designs of the weapons and armor of the two duelists, I had hopes that this would indeed be an authentic Mesoamerican series with the warriors fighting on foot using hardwood swords. Unfortunately this world has both iron and horses, so it ends up being a generic fantasy with different looking castles and costumes.

    Kling_Klang
    Reply

  26. I was starting to think all anime impressed me while I was watching this but Overlord and Chaos Dargon brought me back to my senses. This episode was great, the MC was fun to watch and the conversation with the princess wasn’t long or uninteresting, and the mini training arc was cool. I am totally picking this up with Gangsta. Now to watch Charlotte.

    Aquarian DragonSlayer
    Reply

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