Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World

This show is the perfect example of an interesting premise with poor execution. A group of outcasts form a party and begin adventuring and learning to trust again. However, the show takes multiple weird turns like modern/advanced tech in ancient locations, multiple episodes on side characters no one cares about, and generally no adventuring outside of the town that they live in apart from a few dungeons. There's also the issue that some of the animation is rather unpolished in some places, whether it is awful perspective or missing frames of animation that makes movement stop-motion like. Finally, the show spends too much time on charactersindividually listening to their thoughts, watching them go about their hobbies, or listening to a long sobby backstory. There's not much meat on the metaphorical bone so I would recommend not watching this; 3/10 just listen to the catchy ending song and enjoy that.

This show is the epitome of the famous saying: One man's trash is another man's treasure. Or to put it another way: the majority thinks that this show is fantasy trash, but to me, this show is fantasy that's out-of-the-ordinary charming, in its own way. Ever since recent times, the "Banished out of the Hero's Party" fantasy sub-genre has been gaining lots of traction ever since the said series was released back in Fall 2021, and it's been almost a good 1.5 years having different shows showcase more of this trend. But as I've said before in previous reviews, when one show becomes too popular, theAniManga industry will start picking up on these trends and come out with the most trash and generic series of works that are popular in its own right, not caring for quality but pumping out quantity. Case in point, the lone novelist by the name of Shinta Fuji, with his sole work that is Ningen Fushin no Boukensha-tachi ga Sekai wo Sukuu you desu a.k.a. Ningen Fushin: Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World, which considering its time in Syosetu since January 2019, it's still quite a recent series that the difference of 4 years between novels (Syosetu and LN) and anime (adaptation), don't really matter quite a lot. For the Average Joe, once you hear a trope, you'll ALWAYS remember a trope. So many works have Heroes (in their own right) getting booted/kicked out from either their own party or organization (see this season's Kaiko Sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life), only for them to develop their new life and having their past's vestiges come haunting when necessary, NGL, it's becoming increasingly stale. But when you apply this formula into not one person but a group of people, it changes the formula and provides something fresh to the table. Case in point, this show's story about a group of adventurers who are betrayed in one form or another from whence they came from, all coming together to form a party after quote-unquote "being disllusioned and jaded by the people around them" enough to bear a distrustful mark on humanity, wishing for nothing but humanity's downfall. You have the typical adventurer Nick, the sorceress Tiana, the ex-priest Zem, and the dragonkin girl Curran, all with their same-old dispositions of how they got booted out in the first place. Starting off with Nick, his story is that the kick-out is not the only thing adding to his displeasement, it's also his girlfriend who scams the living hell and dumps him when he is not able to provide to her source of income. Dejected, he develops the otaku lifestyle in the form in idols through the teen idol Agate, which this is actually the first time that I'm hearing of an Isekai/fantasy world having such idiosyncracies that it feels whack-a-mole-ish, but I was definitely taken aback and surprised at the show's philisophy of "anything goes". The problem is, idolship also needs funds, and Nick goes in search for a party that would help support his lifestyle. It's at this juncture that he meets 3 individuals, all of them with their own story to tell. With sorceress Tiana, her story is that she is a magical prodigy, that like Nick, suddenly got slapped the other cheek by her fiance to become a gambling addict, thereby failing at her adventurer status because of her glaring, serious-looking eyes that scares away potential party mates. For the ex-priest Zem, he was a Healer Priest who was just your typical fan-favourite doctor, until a young village loli tried to take advantage of him, only to accuse him of rape, that despite the glaring truth, people just don't care and beat the living crap out of him and strip away his license of priesthood. Things got worse for Zem as in the midst of becoming an adventurer, he turned into a drunken womanizer after being freed from the vow of chastity. Last but not least, the dragonkin girl Curran's story being the most despicable of all: serving the human that she believed would become the fantasy world's hero, after being saved from a swindling incident with a merchant and having him expose the crime to be handed back the necklace of memorabilia, which contains a picture of her and said hero. But as per usual, the hero took adventage of the unsuspecting Curran and steals the necklace containing an entity that she was tasked to secure with her whole life. To put it simply, Nick, Tiana, Zem and Curran are wannabe disillusioned adventurers that have been commonly betrayed by their own kind, apart from initially the lack of funds to do what they really want by forming the party that would otherwise in a typical party, be simply impossible to deal with based on their circumstances. And more often than not, this makes for an interesting combination of not the perfect team, but the betrayal team that they call "Survivors" because they have survived off their own peril to live to tell their story, that one day, like any other typical Hero's Party in the most generic of generic storylines, save the world from ruin. And I have always been an advocate for interesting storylines such as these amidst the boring tropes that the Isekai/fantasy genre has come to give the audience as time quickly passes by, because one slight change to the formula, can make something totally fresh and innovative, only if the execution is done right, which this show unfortunately, has a hit-or-miss record due to this show being Shinta Fuji's only lone work. It's a risk trying to input something as tropey as an idol segment that would otherwise be out of place in a regular fantasy world, but props for trying to stand out amongst the crowded pack. Obviously, the production is not going to win any awards, for one of the worst produced shows of the season that as ass as the story is, the animation is laughable at best. Director-cum-series composer Itsuki Imazaki with character designer-cum-animation director Hiroo Nagao have a lot of shoes to fill on the production side of things, and this is not the first time that both of them worked together as a duo, as the 2nd outing after Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka? a.k.a HenSuki back in Summer 2019. The studio Seven director working alongside Geek Toys as a collab production is nothing to scoff at, if you have the taste for subpar produced shows like HenSuki and this show. It's obvious as hell that production is the lowest grip of the show, and I would agree with you of any sentimentality that this could be produced better...somehow. The music truly is one of surprise as it comes from composer Ryo Takahashi, but ultimately it wasn't enough to salvage the poor production values that this show suffers from. At least the OST is kinda decent in spots, but also an area, where depending on your AniSong taste, can be either decent or downright bad. Shunichi Toki's "Glorious World" for the OP is surprisingly good...after a couple of listens, and his voice as Zem can take a bit getting used to. Mao Abe's "Never Fear" for the ED may look out of place and janky and something that's only fitting for an ED, it's also a pleasant listen. But above all, the OST is something that is kinda forgettable in spots. Despite the poor production values and somewhat limited aspect from the story segments that are hit-or-miss affairs, Ningen Fushin is undoubtedly not a show for everyone. But to those who can appreciate differences in the approach as opposed to the generic Isekai/fantasy mish-mash of the current era (like I did), then there's something to be worth remembering about this show that as unceremonious as it stands out from the pack, at least it's an alternate take on the same tropes that turned out to be surprisingly decent. Fair warning, give this the 3-episode rule. It doesn't take a big brain to understand this show, but it depends on you.

It started strong with a cool premise and interesting cast with tragic backstories. Then after episode 4 they stop going to dungeons or adventuring and the rest is pure filler. So disappointing. Who green lit this trash? I'm not even exaggerating. Have an episode just messing around, one doing math, another gambling, another that is the backstory of some character not even in the party that is irrelevant, 3 episodes that are just a filler messing around in town looking into a rumored person, then closing out with messing around in town filler. Despite the premise that the group would eventually one day save the world, theywaste the entire show not even starting down even in the direction of that path, making no progress whatsoever. It's just pure wasted potential.

Look. Some anime are full course gourmet meals. Some anime are bad microwave burritos. And some anime are soup. Plain, regular, out of the can soup. Not mindblowing, but a staple comfort food. You won't remember the meal, but it filled you up, and you enjoyed eating it. This anime is canned soup. Now, there were a lot of things I really liked about this show, and a lot of things I didn't. Let me detail the major negatives first. 1) the animation is uh. Not great. It's not horrible, but it is distracting. There is maybe two or three really good shots in the whole show.Fight scenes are not good, there's a reliance on close ups, and all group shots look derpy. There are a few scenes that use 3D models to fill out crowds and oh boy is it noticeable. Genuinely, some of the animation is just wonky enough to detract from the story. 2) Zem is a majorly underserved character. His backstory hinges on some very touchy subjects that I'm not sure the show did well enough with to justify their inclusion, and his "arc" (if you can even call it that) is real nonexistent. He is by far the least developed character in the show despite some solid foundation and promise. In the end, they writing just doesn't seem interested in actually engaging with him, which makes the little bits you do get of him feel a bit tasteless and even uncomfortable. 3) There are a lot of dark-skinned side characters and maybe one of them is a half decent person. The others are violent, mean, or, animalistic, or rude. I feel like I continually see this in "adventurer guild" style anime, and I'm tired of it. Give us some decent dark-skinned characters who are treated just as well and just as diversely as the light-skinned characters. 4) I feel like the anime is definitely skipping over major elements from the source material, because during the first two episodes, I paused and went scrounging for a wiki to explain to me exactly what happened in some of these characters' backstories. Nick and Tiana were the worst served by this, as Tiana gets two and a half short scenes to explain the "scandal" she was a part of, and I STILL don't know exactly what happened there. Nick's story is extremely blink and you'll miss it practically right at the beginning of the story. I still don't entirely know what the whole thing in the synopsis about embezzling funds was about, it just seems like he just got kicked out for no reason. Okay, those are my main gripes. Here are the things I liked: 1) this is actually a really fun and unique fantasy rpg world. I like the anachronistic bits. This will be hit or miss for a lot of people, but I love that there are people in suits, random modern casinos, and idols interspersed with people in tunics and swords fighting monsters. It rules. 2) the characters are genuinely fun and engaging and have really good dynamics. Zem’s poor writing aside, the characters are all genuinely very fun, engaging, and have interesting dynamics. I really like how they are all portrayed as traumatized people who are actively working to improve themselves and learn to be vulnerable again after losing things that were important to them. I especially love that all of the relationships are totally platonic, and there’s very little to indicate that there’s going to be a romantic subplot, which I feel would have muddied things. There’s just a good laser focus on these young adults working through their baggage while learning to rely on each other. 3) this genuinely may be one of the best fantasy genre shows I’ve seen in regards to diverse and interesting female characters. None of them are treated as fanservice, and all of them are allowed to be as weird, silly, and interesting as the male characters. They’re all very unique and allowed to have their own arcs, and most importantly, they all get to develop rapport with the male characters as equals, which i feel like I don’t get to see enough in these fantasy rpg stories. 4) some have mentioned that the meandering style of the story without a huge amount of plot wasn’t something they enjoyed, but I actually did. I think if you like slice of life stuff as well as fantasy, you’ll get something out of this. This story is more about the characters and their interactions over a long-running plot, and I appreciated that. It very much felt like watching the animation of someone’s D&D campaign, and it had a sort of homey feel in that sense. In all, I while I don’t think this show will leave a super lasting impression, I’m generally pleased with what I got to see, and I’d definitely pick up a second season if it happens.