Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Episode 5) – The Maverick’s Lair
They defeated the guardian, but it left Hajime and Yue a little worse for wear. Yue managed to get Hajime through the doors and into a calm and serene oasis at the bottom of the labyrinth. Could this be the Maverick’s lair?
What did you watch?
It’s back into the labyrinth I go with episode 5 of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest. Hoping for some character development and a little exposition. So far, we’ve seen a little of the world-building and a lot of Hajime eating monsters. I’d like to get some clarity on the goal of the series too. Is Hajime determined to get back at the people that sent him dropping to the lower levels or does he just want to go home? Who knows, but I can tell you there will be spoilers below.
What happened?
This time Hajime wakes in a light and airy room, lying on a large four-poster bed. He goes to roll over but notices something lying next to him. It’s Yue and they’re both naked. Remember, she is at least three-hundred years old. She reveals that he passed out after the last battle and she was able to bring him in here. The place appears to be safe and mostly consists of a mansion with lots of locked rooms. Feeling better, Hajime and Yu head into the mansion where they find a skeleton sitting in a chair and a magic circle on the ground.
When Hajime enters the circle something appears to analyse his past and then a recording of the Maverick reveals the truth of everything. It also gives Hajime a gift, the ability to change elements, so combined with his previous skills he can now turn anything into anything he wants. Handy! Meanwhile, the rest of the class have reached level sixty-five and once more face the Behemoth.
What did you think?
I recently watched Rising of the Shield Hero and am almost at the end of Re: Zero, so, unfortunately, it might not have been a good time to watch Arifureta. It certainly puts it at a disadvantage already. This episode wasn’t terrible, but I can’t really connect with any of the characters. We know so little about them, it’s hard to care. We did get some development for the story and it appears that Hajime is determined to go home and no one is going to stop him. He plans on defeating the other Labyrinths so that he can find a way home.
What was your favourite moment?
I liked that the Maverick, who had been patiently waiting for someone to complete his labyrinth for so long that he’d died, looked like a normal person. It certainly changes the whole perception of who the Mavericks are and whey they were doing. There were some nice revelations here, however just as we were getting to some fairly interesting stuff, we cut away to Hajime’s classmates. I hate it when we are denied information on purpose like that. Fair enough if someone interrupted them or the recording went funny, but the way it was done here is one of my pet peeves.
What was your least favourite moment?
Other than the deliberate and frustrating cutaway scene, the action during the cutaway was almost as disappointing. Everyone has levelled up in their skills, but sadly no one appears to have developed any sort of strategy of battle acumen. Don’t attack the horns! They’re almost guaranteed to be the hardest part of the monster. We also got to see the Behemoth again, the CGI monstrosity that started it all off.
Who was your favourite character?
I liked Yue in this episode, mostly because she knew what she wanted and went for it. I’m not sure why Hajime is suddenly afraid of her touching him after he kissed her in the middle of the battle with the hydra. He electrocuted her when she was lying next to him in the bed and almost jumped out of the hot pool when she got in. Why do they instantly need to become afraid of girls?
Who was your least favourite character?
I’ll give it to the sword hero who decided to attack the horn instead of the Behemoth’s neck. On top of that, I’m not sure why Shizuku then used her overpowered air slice to finish off his poor decision. If it’s strong enough to get through the horn, it would have taken the Behemoth’s head clean off.
Would you like some more?
So, far it’s not necessarily getting worse, which I’m happy about. There’s still a lot of things wrong with the series, CGI being a major culprit, but I am going to keep going. Hajime and Yue are about to head to the surface where they may become the targets of gods and monsters. If nothing else it should be fairly exciting. Hopefully, with a little less bad CGI, but that does seem unlikely.
Other posts in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The Monster of the Abyss
- Episode 2 – Pandora’s Box
- Episode 3 – The Golden Vampire Princess
- Episode 4 – Guardian of the Depths
- Episode 5 – The Maverick’s Lair
- Episode 6 – Worthless Rabbit
- Episode 7 – The Great Reisen Labyrinth
- Episode 8 – Reunion with the Past
- Episode 9 – Dragon Slayer
- Episode 10 – The Goddess’ Sword
- Episode 11 – The Monsters’ Day Off
- Episode 12 – A Looming Shadow
- Episode 13 – The Best at Being the Worst
- Season Two
- Episode 14 – Irregular
- Episode 15 – Burning Light
- Episode 16 – Black and White
- Episode 17 – Reunion
- Episode 18 – Memories from the Bottom of the Sea
- Episode 19 – Someone Important
- Episode 20 – A New Vow
- Episode 21 – A Disturbing Darkness
- Episode 22 – Invasion of the Capital
- Episode 23 – God’s Apostle
- Episode 24 – Betrayal
- Episode 25 – A New Journey
- Bonus Posts
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It’s not getting worse, and this episode kind of got a little bit better in at least we’re kind of getting ready to move on from this part of the story and hopefully they will handle the next part a bit better (I don’t have a huge amount of hope but some).
High praise indeed. It feels too rushed at the moment, but I am also hoping that going to the surface will give it some much needed development.
Hoping that this is the case also.
Things can’t possibly get worse, right?