Don't Hurt Me, My Healer!

Recommendation: Skip it. Comedy is a subjective medium, so it isn't always a meaningful criticism to say that a show "isn't funny". What's funny varies widely from person to person, and something that I find laugh out loud hilarious might bomb with a different audience. I tend to give comedies a fair amount of latitude with this in mind. However, when I tell you that Kono Healer, Mendokusai isn't funny, I mean it in a different sense than that. This show is *structurally* unfunny, by which I mean the problem isn't the jokes themselves, but the technical construction of those jokes. There aresome good one liners and gags in this show, but even when it's funny, the jokes are constantly undermined by Alvin's reacting and screaming. Nothing kills a joke like explaining the punchline, and that's *all* Alvin does in this show. It's supposed to be like manzai comedy, which is hit or miss in and of itself, but the effect is just that Alvin is constantly stepping all over punchlines with his angry reactions. The show has some other issues as well. Bits will often go on for far too long, with gags that should last 3 minutes regularly stretched into half the length of an episode, and it gets old fast. It also does not make effective use of side characters, with Carla and Alvin being the only regular characters for most of the series and only having one off run ins with other characters that don't come back until the end of the show. It means there is nothing to change the pace from the bickering between the two of them and contributes to the show's problem with episodes dragging or getting boring. At the end of the day though, those issues would be easily forgotten if it was funny, but the jokes just aren't well constructed enough to get the job done. It's like watching a standup comedian that has some decent jokes but still bombs because they get the delivery and timing all wrong.

Not sure what went wrong with reception of this show, but I guess the main point here is: Don't Hurt Me, My Healer! is pure gag comedy and very competent at that, but if you don't like this style of simplistic, practical humour, you'll hate every minute of it. It also doesn't look or sound particularly amazing, meaning you either enjoy it for what it is or have no reason to watch it past the first episode. It doesn't evolve much or build much of a storyline, it just throws new, somewhat repetitive gags onto the pile. On the other hand, I don't think this showis brainless. It absolutely dismantles typical fantasy tropes in a way I found highly amusing and unlike those people in early negative reviews, I think the Karla/Arvin duo has its own appeal... Especially Karla who at first might seem like a useless idiot, but the show constantly throws you hints that while she's a massive weirdo, she's both powerful and smart under that quirky surface. She mercilessly trolls nearly everyone she meets, and can talk her way out of most trouble, but also shows extreme skill and magic prowess whenever it's genuinely needed. She has all the tools to properly do her job either as a healer or as a sorceress, but just refuses to do so, because it would be boring. Than, Arvin is just plain mockery of the typical fantasy protagonist – a wannabe adventurer high on heroic tales, who was never able to grow beyond being a useless rookie. A bit of a Don Kichot kind of character, picking pointless fights to prove his non-existent abilities and dreaming of greatness that is fully beyond his reach. For Karla, he's the perfect trolling victim, but also a companion that is in no position to reject her help, while proper adventurers are unlikely to put up with her antics. And by the end of the season, they grow to understand and appreciate each other probably more than either of them expected, while still maintaining the comedic dynamic in which Arvin is theoretically the straight man, but actually understands the least about what is happening around him. So, is this show some kind of hidden gem? Well, no, but I did really, really enjoy it nonetheless. I've seen quite a few gag animes that had no sense of pacing and were horrible at delivering jokes and this one, while very much not for everyone, was very consistent and knew exactly what it was going for – a full-on slapstick parody of typical fantasy shows. If you don't immediately like its style after watching the first episode, you should feel justified in dropping it, but if you do, it's going to be one amusing ride all the way through.

"I love being an enigma. Every time I'm tempted to respond to someone who tries to put me in a box, politically - you know, someone who gets on the Internet and says, you're pro-gun, or you're anti-gun - I stop and say to myself, 'This is great; this is what I wanted. I wanted to be the guy you can't figure out.'" - Brad Paisley Kono Healer, Mendokusai a.k.a Don't Hurt Me, My Healer! by the relatively unknown mangaka Tannen ni Hakkou is an adventure series. It's set in the fantasy world. It's also a comedy. But what this show is in one summarized package...well,it's high-class, expensive humour on a page-ly basis that when turned into anime thanks to low-budget studio Jumondo's production under wonky director Nobuaki Nakanishi's spotty track record, it's comedy in an episode basis that depending on your tolerance for humour, will easily make or break your experience in the amalgamation of how the jokes land in this show. It's definitely an enigma of a comedy show that a few will like, and many others will naturally hate. Kono Healer, Mendokusai only features 2 main characters: the dark elf healer Karla and the no-face (or eyeless) MC adventurer Alvin. Both seemingly misfits with the former being a sarcastic girl with her own sense of peculiar humour and insults for days, while the latter may be at level 100, but can also be a total beginner whose adventurer life has just begun like any other adventurer in an RPG would by accepting low-level quests from the guild, defeat monsters, and then wash, rinse and repeat. Oh, did I forget to mention that in this fantasy world of theirs, apart from the absurd request that Alvin MUST stick by Karla at all times due to this "curse" that restricts his distance with her that results in death, all monsters act like monsters but have an actual brain for comedy-induced humour to gladly wait until both Karla and Alvin have finished bickering (because they won't ever finish)? Honestly, I'd sign up as an adventurer if there was this kind of fantasy world where humans and monsters can co-exist, and the only thing to get away with is just counterarguments with a healer that heals AND curses, and call it a day. It's flawed, but it also knows what it's doing to derive its own charm for that obnoxious feeling that you'd take or leave it for what it is. There is no story in this, so the characters drive their very own story (and thus the show), and this is the biggest selling point of the manga and the anime. Karla is a dislike/hate-worth character for her implied catechisms meant to mock Alvin, while he is the butt of the joke, so it's playing on an even field, matching a healer that only opens her mouth and talks batshit about other people with an adventurer that most seasoned veterans will dismiss for his lackluster use. So you can technically say that they're actually meant for each other, intertwined not by the cliche red thread of fate, but by crass jokes and the supposed companionship in Alvin's adventurer journey, and this is important as the base foundation for the source material and its adaptation counterpart. For someone like Aguri Oonishi to act as the titular dark elf whom never once shuts her mouth at hurling insults, I felt somewhat eased to say that she fits Karla's character to the T, being all that inquisitive and tomfoolery with all the mocking that has both hits and misses. And for Takuya Satou whom recently has VA-ed for Yuukoku no Moriarty a.k.a Moriarty the Patriot's Albert James Moriarty, his performance to sound the irritated and frustrated beginner adventurer, also works. And together, they make for a VA performance that so cringe at times, yet cultivate its own charm that's truly one-of-a-kind. This same effect trickles down to the OST, and I thought that it's interesting to show literal spoilers for the entire show, yeah that sounds great...NOT. I mean, for a no-name studio like Jumondo, this cost-cutting measure is just as predictable as it comes, and it wasn't surprising that budget is not the only limiting factor here. What makes this show a saving grace, is that it's parody insults all the way, and it's very clear that is what Tannen ni Hakkou has penned for his very unusual manga that is like the "Spiderman Pointing" meme where both MCs can be quite powerful, or so much as they proclaim what they're made out to be: the unintentional clown vs. the straight man comedy routine that can get old pretty fast, and the tension and wordings between the sarcastic healer and the total amateur adventurer being a mixed bag of intentional comedy, kinda makes you think that it's such a waste of time trying to be popular when all you have is absurdity at your disposal. Yet, the adage of "beauty lies in the beholder" sums up this show in the most perfect of ways, and I really can't help to think that I'm experiencing something "unique", when in fact the majority writes off as being uninspired and unoriginal. The crux is that even bad shows like this one have something good in them, and that's literally if you take this with a grain of salt for the nonsense humour that somehow clicks and tickles your fancy at times. And I have to say this show ironically works, it's just that you have to turn off your brain to experience crude comedy of the finest kind it's unironically good. Take it or leave it, Kono Healer, Mendokusai is an unique one in the bunch.

This Healer's a Handful actually prompted me to write my first review. This anime is ridiculously misunderstood. If you like anime where every episode is either filled with quick jokes or mindless banter between characters with a sprinkle of surprisingly wholesome moments, you'll probably at least like This Healer's a Handful. If you want something with depth or an amazing story, this isn't the show for you. Personally, this is the AOTY for me so far. At least until Mob Psycho S3... Plot: Not important. Story: There is no story Sound: idk, it's forgettable and at its worst, it's painfully generic. The thing is, I wouldn't put itpast the studio to make it sound generic as a joke. Animation: Mostly average, sometimes a little stiff even. However, it's a comedy anime made by a seemingly new studio (formed in 2009 from what I can tell. Credited with only 12 anime on MAL, with seven of those roles as producer, five as a studio). Art: Characters aren't exactly pleasing to look at and the character designs come off as bland, but this works towards the strength of the show. Characters like Alvin, who looks like a typical knight, is actually just a loser. Carla, although she looks like the typical kind and patient healer character, is actually extremely rude and obnoxious. For what it's worth, I think Carla looks cute. Characters: This is easily the best thing about This Healer's a Handful. Both characters play off of each other perfectly at the start, but it somehow gets better as the show goes on. There's not much development to speak of, but when there is, it manifests as something really cute, wholesome, or both. There were even times where I felt sympathetic towards Alvin. Most of the side characters like Mostly Bear, Dryad, Altargaia, and Thief are great additions and I almost wish they had more screen time. Comedy: I can see why people wouldn't find many of the jokes in this show funny. If I were to describe the comedy style, it's like a lite version of a 21st century meme video with the way the jokes have minimal build up and the next joke comes just as fast as the last one. The first episode was the hardest I've laughed at an anime in a long time (Some of my favorite comedies are Nichijou, Joshiraku, Lucky Star, Love Lab, and Gintama'). With the bar set as high as it was in the first episode, the rest of the episodes definitely couldn't reach that level, but a few episodes came close. Especially the last episode. If you're looking for a heavy emphasis on building up a joke to then deliver a solid punchline, this isn't the show for you. I've seen too many people criticize the show for having a bad story, unexciting plot, poor world building, etc. The issue with that is it's not fair because that's not what this show wants to be. It's not Attack on Titan and it doesn't want to be Attack on Titan. If you didn't find the jokes funny and you don't like it for that, that's completely fair. But when rating an anime, or any form of entertainment, it's so important to review and criticize it for what it wants and sets out to be.