Anime Spotlight #32: The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
Today's Anime Spotlight entry, The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic, plays like a middle-of-the-road physical comedy version of The Saint's Magic Power.
a.k.a. The Animeister
Last time, I said I would be doing Anime Spotlight posts on anime that I slept on until I could get further along with One Piece, and I still intend to do that with the following series:
As well as doing compilation updates for
- Date A Live (once the new season ends)
- Natsume's Book Of Friends (once the new season ends)
- That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime (...once the new season ends)
And "Banger"-themed showcases for
So please build the hype for these upcoming projects by remembering to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, commenting some healing energy at the bottom of this post, helping out my ad revenue as you read so I don't contract a bad case of karoshi and get isekai'd into a world without fun, and following me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
Instead of the "I slept on this one" theme, I'm going to go into another common anime trope that's been popping up in these past few years: the accidental extra hero who nobody cares about becomes cool. We've seen the trashy version of this in anime like Arifureta: From Commonplace To World's Strongest, funny but forgettable takes like So I'm A Spider, So What?, and romantic takes like The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent.
Originally having the overlong and grammatically unusual title, How to Use Healing Magic Wrongly: Main Recovery Team Member Running Through the Battlefield, it is your typical case of ongoing novel, light-novel, and manga with a for-now-complete, one-season anime adaptation, written by Kurokata (print forms) and Shogo Yasukawa (anime). It is also your typical case of a fantasy world kingdom having demon troubles and summoning teenage heroes from Japan to deal with it. And because this is not just an isekai, but an isekai with an accidentally summoned extra hero and a "Saint's Magic Power for dudes," those heroes are high school overachievers Kazuki (the disapproving straight man) and Suzune (the "school idol" with a stealth otaku complex about the whole experience), and their average underachiever friend, Usato (who is pretty much the main character here). While Kazuki and Suzune get to train in combat with knights and royalty and swords and cool, offensive magic like light and electricity (the series calls it "Thunder Magic," as does ninety percent of all pop culture and classical mythology, because that sounds cooler and rolls off the tongue better and ancient societies were as stupid as they were brilliant, but it's lightning), Usato gets kidnapped by a crazy ex-soldier with green hair who puts him through hellish physical training because she finds out he has healing magic, which is in the title.
There's more to the sadistic Captain Rose and her rowdy Rescue Team of delinquent-looking goons than first meets the eye, including a tragic and complicated past with the demons (who all speak in generic Cockney accents in the English dub, which is perhaps the funniest thing in the anime), and her training methods turn out to be nothing new if you've seen an old martial arts movie before, but the supporting characters (especially Suzune and the big, cuddly bear cub, Bluerin), the heartwarming (and heart-rending) moments, and the final battle make the repetitive comedy of Usato's training worthwhile. The final battle comes well before the final episode, leaving ample time to connect with a new character and set up for further adventures, but then the anime just ends with no hint of a second season. I enjoyed The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic, but my ultimate opinion will hinge on whether it gets a second season or we are left with yet another "read the manga" non-ending.
But why read the manga when you can Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment some healing energy at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read so I don't contract a bad case of karoshi and get isekai'd into a world without fun, and follow me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content?
Animeister,
Out.
Comments
Post a Comment