Disillusioned Adventurers First Impressions

“You can’t trust anyone!”

Watching this show introduced me to a confusing cognitive rollercoaster within the first minute, to the point that I almost feel the need to recommend everything prior to the opening for the sheer “What the Hell!?!” of it. It wasn’t even a matter of positive or negative emotions, per se, rather than a sense of confusion over what emotions the series was trying to evoke. I’ll elaborate further as I go along, but I’ll stick with saying I went into this show with few expectations, and I can’t say I left with more than I started with. In a sea of fantasy and isekai anime, Disillusioned Adventurers doesn’t trip over itself as badly as some other series, but it doesn’t bring much to the table to make itself stand out. Have you ever wished Konosuba played things a bit straighter, and sped through character introductions in the first episode? If so, I’ve got the show for you, along with several follow-up questions! The premiere has a pace that is at points reminiscent of a clips show, and it’s never certain whether it wants to present these developments with a comedic or dramatic tone, so it bounces wildly between the two. It’d be an exaggeration to call Disillusioned Adventurers bad in its entirety, but it’s certainly not good either.

Ningen Fushin no Bōkensha-tachi ga Sekai o Sukuu Yō Desu or Apparently, Disillusioned Adventurers Will Save the World follows the exploits of several leads who have, as the title suggests, lost their faith in people. The team consists of Nick, an adventurer who was kicked out of his party because he didn’t fit in and whose girlfriend left him for unclear reasons, Tiana, a noble wizard whose fiance left her because she focused on her studies and who was kicked out of her academy for unstated reasons, Zem, a cleric who was Shield Hero-ed (I said it wasn’t bad in its entirety; it still has its bad moments), and Curran, a dragon-girl whom the narrative suggests was physically assaulted. That’s a lot of groundwork to cover in a single episode, and it’s as slapdash as it sounds. I think several extreme elements are meant to be comedic, but it’s hard to read the room on this one. I could never discern if we were supposed to empathize with the characters or laugh at them. That’s what I was alluding to when I started this review, because the first minute of the episode covers Nick’s removal from the party, loss of his girlfriend, and his becoming an idol otaku. That sounds like it should be a joke, but if it is, it’s a bizarrely unfunny one. By the same token, any sense of empathy for these characters is torn apart by the aggressive pacing.

The production is better than one might expect, given that this is a co-production from two studios you’ve probably never heard of, Geek Toys and Seven. Given their history, it’s probably to the studio’s benefit that most people haven’t heard of them. Geek Toys was responsible for the truly awful Plunderer, as well as RErideD, a by most accounts mediocre sci-fi entry from a couple of years ago. Seven has been around longer and has more to their resume than Geek Toys, but much of it consists of 4-koma adaptations and hentai. Despite a thin and honestly worrying filmography, the episode looked fine, and probably better than the majority of the other fantasy light novel adaptations flooding the market. The character designs are reminiscent of Code Geass‘ character models, at least in side-profile shots, and generally look fine in closeups. Overall, the show’s design is nothing to write home about, but in its own way, that’s a success unto itself. We don’t get an ED this episode, but the OP is… passable if unmemorable. If I watched this show, I’d skip the opening every time, but it didn’t get on my nerves.

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• The show never directly says Curran was assaulted, so I’m guessing/hoping the actual reason for her bitterness is probably less lurid and exploitative. In contrast, the series doesn’t shy away from the fact that Zem was excommunicated because a little girl accused him of sleeping with her after he turned down her advances.
• Nick has a dream in which his girlfriend breaks up with him after revealing she’d been tricking him into buying her expensive items. Again, the show doesn’t make it clear if this is something that actually happened or his overactive imagination, so it’s either an example of poorly implemented drama or poorly implemented comedy, but who could say which?
• The show thankfully realizes that Zem’s mustache wasn’t doing him any favors, and limits it to the flashbacks.
• There’s something extremely peculiar about seeing hoodies and plastic umbrellas in a non-isekai fantasy setting.