Cautious Hero – 12 (Fin) – Who Cautions the Cautious?

Determined not to let him die alone, Rista opens a gate in the final area of the Demon Lord’s palace. It’s against Divine regulations, but she doesn’t have time to trudge through a dungeon. When she, Mash, and Eruru arrive, Seiya is already trapping the Demon Lord in the Gate of Valhalla.

The only problem is, time and time again the gate fails to close. The episode plays with our emotions as just when we think everything is over (Rista and Seiya even return to their antagonistic repartee), a more monstrous version of the Demon Lord spills out and fights on.

Rista manages to unlock all of her divine healing power—another instance of breaking the rules—but suceeds in fully healing Seiya, only for the Demon Lord to burst out of the gate once more. Seiya is prepared right to the end, summoning a second, bigger Gate of Valhalla to swallow both the Demon Lord and the smaller Gate.

The gambit succeeds, but this Gate can talk (and laugh), and insists upon collecting its payment immediately: Seiya’s life. Rista’s healing can only slow down his deterioration, until all she can do is let herself be drawn into Seiya’s resigned arms and say goodbye. Before he disincorporates, Seiya recognizes Rista for who she once was—Tiana—and his last expression is a smile of relief he was able to save her this time.

Rista leaves the knighted Mash and Eruru under Queen Roselie’s care and returns to the Divine Realm. She’s momentarily haunted by a ghost of Seiya—a low blow for the show, to be sure!—but more than anything you truly feel his absence and a sense of emptiness and emanating from Rista and her house.

The other gods and goddesses try to cheer her up in their own goofy ways, but they can’t change the fact that in saving the S-Class world Gaeabrande, she lost her hero, someone whom she loved implicitly. Aria also has the unhappy duty of bringing Rista before Ishtar, who announces her punishment for violating regulations.

At first, the punishment seems almost too cruel: she must liberate the SS-Class world Ixphoria, the world where her human self died, and where the Demon Lord took over and transformed into a Demonic Realm. Furthermore, her healing powers will be locked away, preventing her from offering any support for her hero. If she fails, she’ll be stripped of her godhood forever.

Just when we (and Aria for that matter) think Ishtar is needlessly piling on poor Rista, Ishtar reports that Seiya’s Double Gate of Valhalla ended up swallowing not only the Demon Lord, but the Chain Destruction effect that would have prevented him from returning to his own world upon dying. She then hands Rista a letter with the name and stats of her new hero.

She’ll be reunited with Ryuuguuin Seiya, albeit with a thousandth of the power he once had. She’ll have to somehow support him without the use of her divine powers, and he’ll more than likely have no memory of his previous lives with her. He’ll also be just a ridiculously cautious.

Cautious Hero took a very bold turn towards the serious and dramatic in its final two episodes, but it was an incredibly effective turn that felt both earned and necessary. All of the previous clashing of hero and goddess was suddenly placed in proper context, while the emotional stakes shot through the roof.

I was glad for a happy compromise of ending. Ristarte and Seiya will be reunited, but face a far greater challenge than Gaeabrande. If a second season is produced, I’d definitely want to see how they manage, and who will help them.

Cautious Hero – 11 – Seiya the Unready

This episode comes a long way from its comedic beginning, in which Rista leads Eruru and Mash on a shopping trip, she ends up sniping with a clothier about topless and bottomless swimsuits, then gets the idea to arrange an evening that will end with scoring with Seiya.

Things take a distinct turn when, upon returning to the palace at sundown, Seiya is nowhere to be found. No matter what reasons the three can come up with for his absence, and no longer how long they wait, Seiya…just doesn’t show up.

On the verge of panic, Rista visits Ishtar for guidance, where a tearful Ariadoa leads her, Eruru and Mash to a realm where time stands still. There, Ishtar informs them that Seiya has already headed to the Demon Lord to defeat him himself.

The reason Seiya has been so cold and distant to the three of them is that he actually cares for their well-being to the point he doesn’t want to put them in harm’s way. Since the Demon Lord now has a weapon that can destroy Rista’s soul, Seiya felt it best to keep her away from the battle.

Rista also wasn’t aware due to his Fake Out skill, but Seiya has been totally maxed out since the fight with the Dragons, and has been adding skills like Valkyrie’s Gate of Valhalla to make up for his stagnation (it wasn’t sex after all).

There’s more: Aria is in tears because in a different world 100 years ago, Seiya was the Hero she summoned, and he was far less cautious, adopting the catchphrase “Gonna be okay. Something will work out.” The healer of their party was Tiana, a princess from that world…who happens to have the same eyes, face, and voice as Ristarte.

Things wouldn’t work out for Seiya back then, as his party members were eaten one by one by the Demon Lord, whom he’d insufficiently researched. Tiana meets a particularly grisly doom, as it’s revealed she was with child when the Demon Lord ate her.

Finally, Rista learns that she was Tiana, before she was reborn as a goddess. Neither she nor Seiya retained memories of knowing or fighting each other, but fate brought them back together, and Seiya, knowing he was summoned before and failed, became far more cautious, and hence unwilling to let anyone else die this time around.

It’s a lot for Rista to take in, and Toyosaki Aki does as good a job as she can reacting to it all, but this was an awful lot of exposition, rather inelegantly presented in one big plot-bomb. Regardless, the shift from goofy comedy to serious drama was surprisingly effective, and all the information we learned really does enrich what had initially seemed to be more of a skin deep relationship between Rista and Seiya.

Their history, even if there was no overt memory of it, explains not only why Rista and Seiya are a pair again, but why she’s so devoted, attracted, and at times obsessed with him. One could almost call them soul mates. The issue is, she now knows the truth of their past and he doesn’t, and his overarching mission to defeat the Demon Lord and save Gaeabrande overrides all other considerations.

Of course, Rista isn’t going to let Seiya have his way. She insists on joining up with him, and damn the consequences. Ishtar opens a portal for her, and Eruru and Mash announce they’re coming with her out of solidarity—Seiya saved them, after all. Hopefully, things are gonna be okay, and something will work out.

Cautious Hero – 10 – The “Perhaps” Monster

Rosie chalks her dad Warmaster Wohlks’ post-battle transformation to an infant as a curse of the Demon Lord, but he’ll recover in a couple hours. In the meantime, Rista, Eruru and Mash are eager to explore the town, drink, play casino games and shop, but Seiya forbids all forms of fun and entertainment. After all, the war isn’t over.

His overcautiousness comes in handy when Rista is tricked into being separated from the rest of the party by Wohlks, who it turns out is now a worshipper of the Demon Lord, having concluded defeating him isn’t possible. He also possesses a goddess and hero-killing “God Eater” sword that he immediately uses on Rista, only to be interrupted by Seiya, who decided to double-check on her out of an abundance of…you know.

A smouldering battle ensues within the cathedral, with Wohlks swallowing a Demon Spirit Orb to transform into a young Demonkin warrior, and for the first time Seiya actualy meets his match. When the God Eater shears off one of Seiya’s arms, things look bleak, but it was all part of Seiya’s plan. Due to his mastery of Valkyrie’s special skills, Wohlks also loses his arm as a result of taking Seiya’s, giving the Hero the opening he needs to dispatch him.

After falling, Wohlks transforms back to an old man, but with the mind of a child. Roselie turns away, not considering the traitor her father anymore. Seiya, demonstrating uncharacteristic emotional intelligence (though of course executing it in the worst way, by slapping the shit out of her face again), urges Roselie to say goodbye to her father before he passes away or she’ll regret it forever. She does, and gets one last wonderful head pat, and then ascends to the throne.

While Seiya recovers over three days, Rista encourages Eruru and Mash to have fun in town while they still can…only Seiya wakes up in the middle. Yet, surprisingly, instead of pooh-poohing Rista’s suggestion, he seconds it, saying two or three days of R & R won’t hurt. After that, it’s on to the toughest opponent yet, the Demon Lord himself. In what new ways will Seiya prepare himself for the final boss?

Cautious Hero – 09 – Riding the Valkyrie

Kilkapul sacrifices himself and his family in order to summon the “hyper-conceptual reaper” Thanatus, who merely splits into two copies when sliced in half and even manages to lightly bruise Seiya. Even when they retreat to the Divine Realm, the reaper follows them, and makes quick work of every god and goddess that tries to bring him down. Meanwhile, Seiya’s party just runs.

Seiya may not know how to beat Thanatus, but he has a pretty good idea who could beat him: Valkyrie. He knows she’s painting, and and sets things up so an attack by Thanatus destroys her almost-finished canvas, enraging her into fighting. She ultimately defeats Thanatus by using “Gate of Valhalla,” a godly technique she believes no human could achieve. But Seiya wants to train with her and prove her wrong.

When Rista checks in on the two, they appear to be banging in Valkyrie’s bed, but Seiya insists it’s “just training,” I’m a little skeptical, as Rista is, but she’s gotten so obsessive about her love-hate relationship with the lout that she’s taken to making dolls out of her own hair—and developing ever more manic faces. She’s also developing a self-defeating neurosis about her body odor, leading to compulsive bathing till her skin is raw.

Ishtar informs them the fourth Heavenly King and his army are advancing on the Roseguard capital, so Seiya & Co. head back to Gaeabrande. But the boss is dealt with not by Seiya, but by the “Warmaster”, an elderly but extremely powerful knight who dispatches the HK with one shot and the army with another. The catch is, after his immense attacks he reverts to infancy, leading to the strangest Ristaface to date.

Cautious Hero – 08 – Does A Goddess Smell?

Rista quite suddenly learns through Aria that Seiya may be in grave danger, as the archery goddess Mitis was exiled to the forest because she’s a nymphomaniac who preys on human men. When she, Mash and Eruru arrive, however, Seiya already has the situation well in hand.

Not only does he decline her taboo offer to copulate like there’s no tomorrow, but he’s able to deliver a five-arrow attack that “satisfies” her anyway. And so Mitis joins SAOA’s Administrator as the second woman antagonist in recent memory to fight a battle while buck naked.

Now that Seiya is perfectly prepared to fight Beel Bub, Cautious Hero takes to the skies, where the bugman has already taken Roselie hostage after she recklessly demanded a fair fight from him. Seiya calls upon Rista to provide a diversion so he can snipe Bub, as well as catch Rose when Bub drops her.

The aerial setting is a nice change of pace for a show that’s already had boss fights on fields and in caves, and as Rista says (or rather is told to say by Seiya), it is a really nice day—especially above the clouds!

After Bub is defeated, Roselie naturally doesn’t show the slightest bit of gratitude, while Seiya is content to “let the dog bark,” as it were. This time, Rose is able to control her temper, and tells him about the sacred legendary armor located in the vilage of Izale.

Seiya assumes it’s sacred legendary cursed armor, but the party heads to Izale to find it anyway, hoping to rest after two consecutive tough battles. What they find instead is an Izale in flames and the armor destroyed by an Adamantoise summoned by the third of the Heavenly Kings, Kilkapul, who has been watching Seiya and is confident he can put him down for good.

Cautious Hero – 07 – World Building Be Damned

Rista, Eruru and Mash may be used to Seiya’s overcautiousness and boorish manner, but every time he meets someone new, the goddess has to apologize for him all over again. Enter Roselie, general and heiress to the throne. Having just lost over a hundred of her soldiers to the plague of giant flies led by Beeb Bub menacing her fortress, Roselie wants to make their war council as brief as possible before she and the Hero rush right back into battle.

Needless to say, Seiya ain’t having it. He wants to return to the realm of the gods to train for three days, which while only an hour in Gaeabrande time, still feels like cowardice to Roselie, who is always about rushing forward. The two diametrically opposed personalities quickly clash, and when Seiya inevitably says something worth slapping him for, Roselie’s slap is blocked and she’s slapped right back…several times!

The one-sided exchange leaves her a swollen, blubbering, growling mess, but Seiya won’t apologize for defending himself. And he’s right that Roselie is responsible for the lives of the soldiers she so recklessly sent out without any kind of preparation. It’s just hard to side with Seiya when he’s so brusque and rough with a young woman.

Seiya gets his wish, of course, and when he learns there’s no god of Patriot missles or guns, he seeks out the next best thing: Mitis, goddess of archery. She agrees to teach him the skill that will enable him to launch a number of arrows in quick succession (she says seven is her max, but I doubt he has a max), and for good measure, he learns Eruru’s Fire Arrow in a matter of moments, sending her into a spiral of self-pity and candy-eating.

While it’s hard to compare with Roselie, who got the shit slapped out of her for rightly losing her temper in the face of Seiya’s insufferable attitude, one can’t sleep on the psychological damage he did to Adenela, who wasn’t that right in the head to begin with. When Rista pops by she sees Adenela’s walls covered in “I’LL KILL HIM.”

And yet, when Adenela follows Rista back to Seiya and draws her Eternal Sword to run him through, it is Adenela who is charmed anew into forgiving him without conditions, even as he criticizes her hair and tells her her presence is upsetting so could she please buzz off? Having fallen right back in love with him, Adenela leaves, but judging from her apple-licking, there’s something off about Mitis, which no doubt Seiya will be able to deal with.

Cautious Hero – 06 – My Precious Porter

Following Leviae’s declaration that Eruru is to be sacrificed, things move very quickly and Eruru heartbreakingly comes to resign herself to dying for the caused, absent any words of protest from Seiya. But when the time comes to cast herself into the abyss, Seiya grudgingly says the words he deemed unnecessary earlier: he’s not about to let his precious baggage carrier die.

Leviae had the food and drink at the banquet drugged so Rista and Mash are paralyzed…but the ever-cautious Seiya vomited up everything her appeared to consume, and challenges Leviae to a fight. Leviae transforms into a Dragon God Mode, and a time limit is set to the battle in the form of of Eruru’s necklace, which will kill her in three minutes time.

The battle is another back-and-forth affair: Seiya weilds Dragon Killer (made from more Rista hairs, plus Eruru and Mash hair), Leviae activates Ultimate Wall, Seiya eats a bag of Speed Seeds and Double Wields Dragon Killers, Leviae takes minimal damage, Seiya backs Leviae onto a precipice.

Leviae drops Ultimate Wall and activates Dragon Breath, Seiya counters with Double Wind Blade, Levia pretends to give up, then reverts to offense, but Seiya pushes her over the ledge, and because he destroyed her wings just prior to Ultimate Wall, she plummets to her death.

Eruru is spared, and a new sword emerges from the abyss, which Seiya embues with a drop of Eruru’s blood to produce Igzasion. But Rista confronts Seiya later about it being a fake; he created a big song-and-dance to put the Dragonfolk at ease, and thus ease their withdrawal.

But the party’s troubles are far from over: Seiya lacks the ultimate weapon, the entrance to the Dragon’s Den is blocked by some kind of military force that doesn’t look the friendliest, while the Demon Lord and his underlings are confident the Hero will be no threat to them.

The comedy, so dominant in the training episodes, takes a firm back seat to drama and action, and despite not knowing Eruru for long, it was impossible not to empathize with her plight and hope Seiya did the right thing, which he did. It’s also encouraging that he can say something like “it’s gonna be okay” and “we’ll figure something out” with regards to the Demon Lord; his cautiousness is looking less psychotic and more prudent by the day.

Cautious Hero – 05 – Heaven Hath No Fury Like a Goddess Scorned

With Mash all healed up and Seiya agreeing to let him and Eruru carry his stuff, Rista deems it time to head to the Dragon’s Den to recover a powerful new weapon. Seiya insists on making a stop to the Divine Realm first so that his new assistants can train a bit. After the torture of Seiya, Cerecus is happy to have a normal student in Mash, though Eruru doesn’ t make any progress with the fire goddess Hestiaca.

As for Seiya himself, he almost starts a fight he might not be able to win with goddess of destruction Valkyrie; thankfully Aria is there to calm the “exhibitionist” down. Instead, she introduces Seiya to the war goddess Adenela, whose disheveled appearance gets more and more girly as she falls deeper into love with him, only to be callously rejected, sending her into a fit of rage. Thus, Seiya has now proven a “goddess-killer” in two very distinct ways.

Seiya says sayonara to the Divine Realm, and the party begins their first real quest together, to the Dragon’s Den. Rista learns the hard way that he won’t let her peek at his true levels (the fake-out “1’s” even turn and poke her in the eye!). Mash and Eruru may be useful insofar as they can sense when they’re getting closer due to their dragon blood, but Seiya doesn’t let them actually fight any monsters on the way.

Instead, he simply relies on his “Automatic Phoenix” to instantly destroy any monsters under Level 30 within a certain radius. Mash can’t get close to any monsters, and the Phoenix even rudely knocks down one of Eruru’s fire arrows! Just when the two dragonkin think they can be of help by opening the gate to the den, Seiya simply smashes through it with his sword.

Inside they find a magical circle, and after Seiya tests it on a lizard (bemusing the people on the other side), the party uses it to transport to the remote Dragon Village. There they meet the…ahem, Mother of Dragons Leviae, who shows Mash how to turn into a dragon to boost his levels.

When Eruru asks if she can do the same, Leviae casually tells her that won’t be necessary, because she has a different role: that of Igzasion, the mightiest of weapons. That, of course, means sacrificing her life, something clearly Eruru doesn’t want. As for Seiya, his stone face doesn’t give away much, but could it be he wouldn’t be particularly enthused about Eruru dying?

Cautious Hero – 04 – Hairy Solutions to Hairy Situations

We pick up right where we left off, with Seiya categorically rejecting Mash and Ururu. He could be a little nicer about it, but the truth is he is far beyond them in power and they would slow him down. But for some reason, when Rista gains wings and tries to catch up to him, he takes his foot off the gas and comes back for her.

Sure, he then accelerates so fast her boobs pop out, but it seems he had a change of heart about having her around just minutes after saying he “so didn’t need her” any more than the Dragonkin. Did he simply appreciate the effort she made to chase after him? Or just remember that she as a goddess can still do things he can’t, like open portals?

In any case, Seiya arrives at the site of the advancing undead army and uses not one but two Meteor Strikes to eliminate them all at once. When he appears fatigued, Rista lets him lean on her, but she’s annnoyed when he states he’s actually very far from having used up all his MP.

With Seimul safe, Seiya holes himself up in room at the inn, mastering synthesis, in particular making use of Rista’s stray goddess hairs to synthesize a powerful sword, but wanting her to provide one thousand more hairs to make more; Rista for her part is not prepared to go bald!

Then they get a delivery: a looking glass through which the Heavenly King Deathmagla presents a captured and tortured Mash. When Mash is defiant rather than begging for his life, Seiya decides to rescue him and defeat Deathmagla in one trip.

After using his goddess hair-infused sword to slice off Deathmagla’s hand through dimensional planes, he quickly withdraws to the Divine realm where the ten or so seconds before Mash is killed is stretched out to fifteen or so minutes, using that time to brusquely ask an amused Ishtar to open a portal to Mash’s location.

Once there, Deathmagla claims to have prepared for every contingency in creating an invincible boss in Dark Firus. But detail-oriented as he is, Deathmagla can’t hold a candle to Seiya’s preparation, as the hero uses previously-unseen high-level blunt abilities and an ice-element bracelet (again, synthesized with Rista’s hair, making her wonder if she has a hair loss problem).

Whether it’s turning back for Rista in the air or choosing to rescue Mash so he can carry his equipment, Seiya seems most motivated by those who demonstrate maximum effort, as he does. With only two Heavenly Kings and the Demon Lord remaining and Seiya’s continued exponential growth, Rista seems poised to save her first world…barring something unexpected.

Cautious Hero – 03 – The Goddessizer

While Ristarte is enjoying tea with fellow goddess Ariadoa, Seiya barges in to announce he’s not leveling up as fast by simply working out. Rista hopes this means he’s finally ready to start fighting monsters, but Seiya, ever cautious, still thinks it’s “too risky.” Aria suggests a compromise: if Seiya trains with a god, there’s no risk of dying, and he’ll level up faster.

Seiya’s all for it, and Aria introduces him to the stubborn Divine Blade, Cerceus, who certainly looks like he could take Seiya on. Rista leaves the two to train without checking in (knowing it angers Seiya), but each day she finds Cerecus in the cafeteria at lunch, looking more and more defeated and demoralized.

It gets so bad that she finds Cerceus hiding behind racks of nori, and learns that Seiya is already over three times stronger than him, but insists on training without breaks or sleep. When Seiya finds him and forces him to keep training , Rista can’t save him, as she’s summoned by the goddess Ishtar (who for the record is arguably less smokin’ hot than the Ishtars of DanMachi or Fate/Grand Order).

It’s both strange, sad, and funny to see Seiya, a human, reduce a god renowned for his prowess and doggedness in battle to a sickly, (relatively) emaciated god who’s lost the will to carry, look at, or even mention a sword. When Cerceus tells Rista her hero is sick, Rista’s grave, knowing look says it all. Still, Ishtar says Cerceus, who was once himself a human, is getting valuable training from Seiya.

Ishtar’s news for Rista was about an imminent attack from the Demon Lord’s armies the next town of Seimul in Gaeabrande. Rista and Seiya are to head to the town’s central church to meet his two allies, the mage Eruru and the swordsman Mash, both Dragonkin descendants. Since the enemy is undead, Seiya tries to buy one thousand vials of holy water to prepare, but grudingly settles for ten.

Seiya suddenly pours some of the water on the priest who introduces his allies, and that priest is revealed to be undead himself. Still, Seiya chops him into pieces without anyone even seeing him move his sword. Before he proceeds to “mop up” with a massively destructive fire spell, Rista just barely manages to get the two allies and a nun to safety.

When Seiya and Rista take a look at Eruru and Mash’s stats, Rista is encouraged, despite the fact they’re only level 7 and 8, respectively. Seiya is less enthusiastic, declaring the two are so not needed. You’d think he’d at least want them as porters for carrying more holy water…or human shields!

Cautious Hero – 02 – Is This Really Going to Work Out?

First off, while the promo art shows six other characters, I’m glad the focus stayed with Ristarte (AKA Rista, or Listarte/Lista) and Seiya. Nothing worse than introducing a bunch of new characters before we’ve had a proper amount of time with the core duo. In this case, it behooved the show to maintain that focus for their first “town mission” scenario, start to finish.

Seiya flees Chaos Machina to his hut in the Divine Realm to continue working out, even as Chaos beheads one townfellow and threatens to behead Mina’s dad. Things get a bit awkward, pacing-wise, as Rista tries in vain to urge Seiya to get moving.

I really shared in Rista’s frustration during the scene leading up to Seiya’s logical-sounding rebuttal.  Not only does it seem absurd for a hero to just keep doing push-ups while people are dying. When she prepares to storm out, calling him a terrible hero and a coward, he makes his position clear: if he goes in half-cocked and gets killed, everyone in the village—and possibly the world—die anyway. So he must be perfectly prepared.

Seiya seems to be proven right when in the battle Chaos Machina constantly unveils previously-hidden, increasingly more powerful forms to counter his leveling up. But once Chaos transforms into a kind of Bahamut ready to smash him into dust, Seiya blocks her strike with one hand. Turns out the stats on Rista’s scan were grossly underrated due to a “Fake-out” ability. Seiya had more than enough power to defeat any form of Chaos from the beginning!

Because he’s so overly cautious, at least one innocent man died needlessly. Things get worse when, after eliminating Chaos Machina, he repeatedly burns the charred remains—little more than scraps of charcoal—with his hidden abilities, setting all of the town’s shops (and some of its people) aflame. You’d think he could move the collected remains somewhere where there wouldn’t be such horrific collateral damage, but Seiya’s caution only applies to his own survival. More so than Goblin Slayer, Seiya’s an unrepentant bastard.

That’s just one way he’s not quite the hero Rista hoped for; he’s got all the stats but none of the…heroism. Before leaving town, Mina’s dad offers some money as thanks, but Seiya demands all his money…and after burning half the town, too! She also has next to no power when it comes to where they should go and what they should do next; she thinks they should move to the next town, but he demands they return to the Divine Realm so he can work out more…and so they do.

Cautious Hero’s second episode lacks the novelty of the first, but is still both fun and watchable. I appreciated its willingness to let its simple character dynamic play out. Now I imagine it will rinse and repeat with a new and more powerful foe, introduce more characters, or both. I’d say it’s the right time for a new face or two. Otherwise, Seiya being ruthlessly condescending to Rista while spamming enormous fire spells on nothing but dust will get stale.

Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious – 01 (First Impressions) – Not Entirely Disagreeable

The title kinda says it all! This isn’t a show that beats around the bush. The low-mid-level goddess Listarte needs a human hero to save the S-Difficulty human world of Gaeabrande (or Gairbrunde) from the Demon Lord. Knowing how popular the isekai genre is in Japan, she only looks at candidates from that country, and is unimpressed with most of them…until she comes upon one Ryuuguuin Seiya, who is neither a Suzuki or a Yamada.

To oversimplify, let’s call this KonoSuba in reverse: rather than the guy from another world being the narrator and providing the primary POV, here it’s the goddess, who is just looking to get ahead in godlife. She knows she’s struck gold in Seiya, but while he’s super-hot, she almost immediately realizes there’s a catch to those good looks and gaudy stats: Seiya is redonkulously cautious.

For one, he trusts no one, including the goddess who summoned him. He doesn’t trust the onigiri she worked hard to make for him unless she tries it first, and even then, he suspects they might have a slow-acting poison. He spends over a week in the dwelling Lista prepared for him, leveling up simply by working out.

Lista takes Seiya to a beginner’s town for outfitting, but he spends most if not all of the money she gives him on three sets of armor for double redundancy, as well as far more potions and antidotes than are needed…again, because he’s so cautious.

Once they’re finally out in the field, with nothing but harmless Level 1 slimes, he executes both of his special attacks over a half-dozen times even though the first attack was more than enough to obliterate the slime. All the ruckus he causes ends up attracting one of the Four Heavenly Kings who serve the Demon Lord himself; rather than face her, Seiya cuts and runs, leaving Lista to chase after him.

Seiya isn’t much more than the manifestation of the show’s title, but thankfully, he doesn’t really have to be much more than that. Listarte provides more than enough character for the both of them, thanks in no small part to veteran seiyu Toyosaki Aki putting on a veritable voice-acting clinic. She has as many voices as he has contingencies.

Add in the dynamic of an overpowered hero so dang cautious he’s his own greatest liability, and you have an isekai comedy that actually has something new to say. I’m in!

DanMachi II – 12 (Fin) – A Goddess’ Love

While last week’s cliffhanger, in which Bell, Hestia, and Ais literally fell off a cliff, hinted at more action and peril in the finale, we end up with no such thing. My expectations were duly subverted; thank you, DanMachi! The episode skips to the part where Ais has already effortlessly saved everyone, and Hestia is in bed recovering from a fever.

They end up in a gorgeous mountain village, whose mayor Karm and daughter Rina are more than happy to host a goddess. When Rina proves more than capable of taking care of her, Hestia puts Bell to work helping the villagers prepare for their harvest festival. Ais joins him, donning some very fetching village garb.

So…what’s the twist? Isn’t everyone in this village a bit too kind? When does the other shoe drop? Well, it doesn’t. Bell and Ais never encounter any more enemies, be they Ares’ children or anyone else. The village doesn’t even have a dark secret; the scales of the legendary Black Dragon are on proud display for all to see, their mere presence keeping monsters away and enabling the village to prosper. Ais gives them the stink-eye, but that’s all.

The lack of any classic conflict allows the episode to be a meditation on the goddess-child relationship, represented in the present by Hestia and Bell, and in the past by Karm and his goddess Brigid. Once a brash young adventurer himself, he and Brigid loved one another, so much so that she saved his life at the cost of returning to heaven.

Filled with grief and regret, he swore never to take a wife and instead adopted Rina, who keeps him going. But as his life continues to wind down, he impresses upon Bell the importance of honoring and protecting his goddess at all costs.

Bell takes that to heart when a recovered Hestia joins him and Ais at the festival. Rather than bookending DanMachi with Bell-Ais dances, Bell remembers Karm’s words and how he spurned Hestia last week by saying the wrong thing, and formally asks her for a dance.

The fun is interrupted by Rina, who brings Hestia back to speak to Karm, who is very near death. While everyone around her is weeping, Hestia maintains an ethereal calm about the whole thing, keeping things light and upbeat as she speaks to Karm.

Turns out she and Brigid were best friends (though, like Loki she used to call her a shrimp), and she lets her hair down so Karm can see her as Brigid with his failing eyes, calling him to join her in heaven. Bell can’t help but weep as Hestia shuts the departed Karm’s eyes—he can’t help but see his own future in the scene.

Bell wanders off on his own, but is soon found by Hestia, who suspects he’s worried about their very lifespans and resultant perspectives on time. But she tells him not to overthink things. If he wants to be with her—and he very much does—then there’s nothing to worry about. She’ll be with him, all throughout his life, even when he grows old.

Even when his soul rises to heaven, is wiped clean, and returns to earth as someone else. She’ll simply find that person and ask them to be in her Familia. There’s no need to fear their love for each other, because even if his body isn’t eternal, she, and that love, most certainly are.

With that, Bell, Hestia, and Ais return to Orario. They vow to return to the village—I can’t blame them, place was super-cozy—and Ais has Bell promise to bring her along, inviting Hestia’s ire. Haruhime invites it too when she welcomes bell home with a big hug.

As action-packed, world-changing finales go, this…wasn’t that. In a way, it was something better—or at least far truer to what a goddess like Hestia is all about: the warmth and comfort of the hearth, and the kindness and love of a happy home.