Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest (Episode 8) – Reunion with the Past
Hajime takes on a rescue mission for a local Guild Master in exchange for several favours, while on the way there, he bumps into his old Sensei and some of the students!
What did you watch?
The last episode of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest was certainly not my favourite one and in a series that I’m not really enjoying. Why am I still watching? Well, there’s still a lot to learn from a story that doesn’t work, sometimes as much as one that does work. So, this is episode 8 of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest and I’m still hoping for some improvement. Get ready for the spoilers. Here they come!
What happened?
Having defeated the Reisen Labyrinth, word spread of their deeds and as such the local adventurer’s guild sought them out. He had a request for them. A Count’s son had gone missing will on a quest and he wanted them to find him. Hajime instantly refused, but once the guild master began to offer up increasingly valuable rewards Hajime made his move. He wanted adventurer’s plates made up for them and for the guild master to back them up whenever they needed him.
On the way to rescue the Count’s son, Hajime, Yue, and Shea stopped at a small town that was known for having rice and Hajime was itching for some food that reminded him of home. Unfortunately, his old sensei and some of his classmates were also there and instantly recognised him despite the eye-patch, white hair, false arm, and the fact that he looks like a different person now… After an interesting meal, Hajime left them, but later that night he snuck into sensei’s room and explained what he had learnt of the state of the world.
What did you think?
Would you believe it, I actually liked this episode! I still don’t care for Hajime and Yue is still not much better, but having Hajime interact with his old life and drop some knowledge on sensei was long overdue. Sure, it was mainly exposition, but that’s fine, we’re already rushing. At least now, we know what Hajime knows and we’ve got a little bit of conflict. The knight that was abusing Shea is no doubt going to cause some issues for Hajime in the future too.
What was your favourite moment?
It was the exposition filled chat that Hajime had with sensei. Finding out what is actually going on was long overdue and even though it was mostly Hajime just telling sensei, I was just glad for the information. Now, none of this changes the fact that we have no reason to care about anyone because character development had been sparse and this is the first real bit of world-building we’ve seen (been told). I like the idea of the Mavericks and the gods that play at war for fun. It gives the overall story a more interesting feel, especially if the gods continue to summon other-worlders to play in their wars.
What was your least favourite moment?
I hate that it’s taken this long to really involve the other students and then it wasn’t that much. It definitely gives the series a little more depth and adds more interest. It’s also a shame that we know nothing of the students except that one of them believes that Hajime saved her on the bridge. Finding out that the sensei didn’t know that the spell that knocked Hajime into the abyss was intentional was good, but it should have happened a long time ago. Conflict is good. It’s far more interesting than a guy running around shooting everything.
Who was your favourite character?
It was actually the sensei, Aiko Hatayama. I figured I should at least use her name once. She was my favourite character but not for anything she actually did, just that she was the catalyst that forced Hajime to talk and reveal more about the actual story. Without her, he would have just eaten his curry, gone to bed, and then carried on his merry edgy way to rescue the Count’s son.
Who was your least favourite character?
That was the knight that accompanied Aiko and her students. The way he barged in and told Hajime how to talk to his elders was actually something I was on board with because Hajime is a bit of a rude ass. What I wasn’t happy with, however, was how he switched his tirade to a racist attack on Shea. How Hajime just gave him a warning shot, I’ll never know. That guy deserved to at the very least get knocked out. This idiot is clearly going to go back and tell everyone that Hajime is there and that he is consorting with the enemy. It probably what will put the gods onto Hajime’s case, although it’s funny that they haven’t noticed him yet.
Would you like some more?
Like is probably not the correct word, but I will be back for more and I will be hoping that it continues to get better. There is every chance that it will slump back down leaving this as an episode-two-like peak in an underdeveloped series. I’ve not read any of the books, but from what I’ve heard, I can believe that so much of the story has been trimmed away because there’s no way it could have started like this and been so well received. Now, I’m not saying you can’t enjoy it, by all means, have at it, but as far as I’m concerned it really hasn’t been that entertaining.
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
You might also like…
