Kora
“‘Tis I, former Hero Leo Demonhart! I’m here to interview for a position in the Demon Queen’s army! I’m a skilled swordsman and have mastered all arcane forms of magic, including black magic! I’ve even defeated the Demon Queen Echidna herself in single combat! I am ready and raring to fight for your cause!”
I’m Quitting Heroing or Yuusha, Yamemasu is the first show I’ve watched this season that isn’t a sports series or isekai, so it has that going for it. I can’t really argue that there’s much else in the plus column either. It doesn’t have anything to make it stand out either as a comedy or a fantasy series. The characters are fine. As of this episode, none of them exist beyond the basic fantasy anime stereotypes, but with one exception, I found none of them to be problematic or annoying. If you’re looking for a fantasy show to occupy your time, there are worse options to be sure, but unless you have a significant craving for some That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime-style antics, you’d probably be better served by checking out The Executioner and Her Way of Life. I’m Quitting Heroing isn’t bad, and there were a few moments that got a chuckle out of me, but that’s not enough to warrant a recommendation.
The story follows the hero of a fantasy world named Leo Demonhart (I’ve also seen it spelled Demonheart) who has decided, as the title suggests, to quit being a hero and go work for the Demon Empress. As a premise, this is cute, but not strikingly original. Leo doesn’t go in depth as to his reasoning for this change of allegiance, instead explaining it away as being due to his kingdom being frightened of his power after the enemy was defeated. The episode has a fleeting montage showing commoners being afraid of him, but this isn’t a satisfying explanation and the discussion of those reasons is far too truncated. Most of the episode is devoted to Leo speaking with the various generals who serve the Empress, Echidna. They’re mostly fine, but as I said previously, they all have the qualities of fantasy stereotypes, so there is little to say about them at this point. The exception to this is Lily, the Beast General, who is a loli who has decided that she is going to marry Leo because he defeated her. The “You defeated me so now I’m going to marry you!” trope is irritating enough to begin with, but combining it with a small childish wolfgirl is just compounding the problems and aggravations. The generals ultimately agree to secretly provide Leo with a probationary internship with the demon army so that he can prove his commitment and potentially aid in fixing the many underlying problems it has.
I think this marks the first anime I’ve ever watched that was produced by EMT Squared. Given that it’s the 17th series they’ve produced, that’s mildly surprising to me. The only show they’ve created which I’m even mildly familiar with is 2019’s Assassin’s Pride, which I’m pretty sure was a so-bad-it’s-good hit from the fall season of that year. The animation work they put forth here is unremarkable, but not bad. I’d give it the edge over this season’s Trapped in a Dating Sim, but that’s not an exceptionally high bar. It doesn’t look unpleasant, at least. The comedy is… fine. As I mentioned before, the tone and plot trajectory is probably most comparable to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime given the foreshadowing that Leo will probably help rebuild the demon kingdom, but the show isn’t as funny. The best gags in the episode were Leo’s insistence on giving an office-style interview complete with printouts and charts even as the enraged empress burns them as quickly as he can pull them out, and later in the episode, the Sorceress General’s embarrassment at how easily she had been defeated when she fought Leo. They’re fine gags, but the timing and execution isn’t sharp enough for the series to be carried by its comedy.
Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:
- Since “Heroing” isn’t actually a word, my spell check keeps assuming I’m trying to type the phrase, “I’m Quitting Heroin,” which… let’s just say that I would expect that to be a VERY different anime.
- I noted that this was the first series I watched this season that wasn’t a sports anime or an isekai, but it doesn’t feel like we’ve left the isekai neighborhood. We have an overpowered protagonist in a fantasy setting with an added gimmick. Just throw in a line about having grown up in Japan, and add a dozen more syllables to the title and you could convert this to an isekai in an instant.
- The episode seems to waffle on whether Echidna’s title is Empress or Queen. It’s probably both so I just stuck with the alliterative option.
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