The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases (Season One) – Dekisokonai to Yobareta Motoeiyuu wa Jikka kara Tsuihou sareta node Sukikatte ni Ikiru Koto ni Shita
Allen was the hero in his previous life. In this one, he’s deemed a failure, stripped of his title, and banished from this home. That suits him fine. It’s the first time that he’s been able to do whatever he wants!
The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases (Season One) – Dekisokonai to Yobareta Motoeiyuu wa Jikka kara Tsuihou sareta node Sukikatte ni Ikiru Koto ni Shita
What did you watch?
I’ve seen a few anime and read several manga where someone has been kicked out of the hero’s party, often unfairly, who then goes on to make the most of their new-found freedom. Sometimes, they prove to be the hero the world has been waiting for. Sometimes, they set up a shop or a farm or just enjoy life. It’s a fairly well-worn trope, but it can still be a lot of fun when done well. So, that is the question for The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases – did you do this trope justice? Let’s find out!
What happened?
Allen was born without a skill making him less than ordinary. The first son of a powerful lord, he was even betrothed to the princess at one point. However, since he had no skill he was soon shunned by his family and eventually banished from their home. There was much more to Allen though as he was the hero of another world in his previous life. Upon his death, he hoped to live a quiet and ordinary life. Well, it looks like he has finally got his wish. Free of the obligations of his family, Allen set off on an adventure to wherever doing whatever he wanted for the first time in either of his lives.
Unfortunately, the universe had other ideas. He soon came across a carriage being attacked by strange monsters. Allen couldn’t just leave them to it so he used the skills he had from his past life to save them. To his surprise, the princess, his former fiance was in the carriage. He agreed to accompany her on the rest of her journey to find a legendary blacksmith. As they travelled, they soon discovered that there was a terrible plot to overthrow the entire order of this world. When Allen realised that his own father was the one behind everything, he took it upon himself to become the hero of this world too… well, for now anyhow. He still wanted to take it easy.
What did you think?
So, the quick answer to the question of whether The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases did this trope justice is a resounding no! For one, this title doesn’t make much sense and when you translate the Japanese title it starts to get a little clearer. Not that a clearer title could have saved this series. Allen is a horrible protagonist. His disappointment in his previous life seems to stem from the fact that a traumatised kid who Allen killed a monster in front of them called him a monster. If anything, Allen was a massive whiny baby who just seemed to wander around yelling the same phrase for a bunch of different moves that instantly one-shot whatever he was up against. There were no redeeming qualities in this show either. There were no interesting side characters, no cool villains, and absolutely no sense to the story. It was just a mess!
What was your favourite moment?
I was struggling to come up with anything and then I remembered the ED. The ending song is a banger and the animation that accompanies it is without a doubt the nicest, smoothest animation in the entire show. Now, this should give a pretty clear indication of what I thought overall. As if the last paragraph didn’t drive that home. Ironically, I often skip OPs and EDs, but with this show, I watched the ED every time as it was the only thing keeping me going.
What was your least favourite moment?
This could get messy! So that this post doesn’t get too long, I’m just going to single out the second half of the season where Allen and his friends went to the neighbouring country. There they discovered that their blacksmith, Noel Leonhardt was the missing elven princess. Without her, the birthrates of the elves had dropped and they were struggling to keep going as a race. Still, she decided not to become their ruler and continued aimlessly wandering around with Allen. Then, we learned that the local noble girl, Anriette Linkvist was the angel who oversaw Allen’s previous life and was responsible for his reincarnation into this world with no skill (except for all the hero skills he had previously). Then the most contrived series of events left Allen as the prime suspect in the murder of the country’s king (who died over a year ago…) but Anriette was able to take the blame so that Allen could continue to live his aimless life. However, her cousin tracked down Allen and convinced him to save her. The end reveal was infuriatingly obvious and made all the characters look like half-witted dummies. It was a perfectly awful ending to a terrible series.
Who was your favourite character?
The only character to come out of this with any credibility was Lysette. She was the captain of some elite group of soldiers that were usually controlled by the king. However, since Anriette’s cousin, Curtis made a contract with a demon to take that power and inadvertently kill the king, he had complete control over what Lysette did. I can only assume that had she been in full control of her actions, she would not have appeared in this series.
Who was your least favourite character?
It could quite easily be anyone else, but it has to be Allen. He was boring. He always seemed to fully grasp what was happening but refused to say anything since he wanted to live as he pleased and didn’t want to get dragged into anything despite instantly solving all of these problems once he was involved. His skills were boring and his swordplay was dull, in fact, everything about him just made me like him even less.
Would you like some more?
Absolutely not. I only kept watching for three reasons. 1. I have a pathological need to finish everything I start. 2. I was curious to see if it could get any worse. And 3. To watch the ED twelve times. I’m still not entirely sure how this series got the green light for an anime. It really was terrible.
What have you learned?
Despite all this, there is some potential here. Of course, it would mean writing a completely different story, but I think this could work. So, the hero was reincarnated into another world where he would get to live a quiet and peaceful life. Since he wouldn’t need his hero skills, he isn’t reincarnated with them. He’s just an ordinary person. Now, give him a reason to want to be the hero again. Make something happen that he simply cannot ignore and despite having no powers, he fights against all odds to achieve this new goal and save the world. The fact that Allen still had all of his old powers ruined him and this story. He was never in a position to do what he wanted because he would never truly abandon anyone. Well, not unless he was a massive jerk! And, nobody wants to watch a show about a jerk ignoring the pleas of the weak and vulnerable.
Series Information
Anime
| Season | Season One |
| Released | Spring 2024 |
| Animation Studios | Studio Deen, Marvy Jack |
| Episodes | 12 |
Nice post 🌹🌹
Thanks
Yeesh, it sounds like I was right – even more right than I expected – to drop this one after only one episode.
That was undoubtedly the correct decision. I still can’t fathom how this show got the green light for production.
I admit I’m a Trainwreck addict occasionally, but a series has to be so hilariously bad that it’s meant not to be taken seriously. This isn’t one of them as what you explained here sound like it was taking itself seriously when it shouldn’t have.
My next “so bad it’s good” watchlist would either be Engage Kiss (though I’m so glad the franchise has been forgotten) or Alya Speaks Her Feelings in Russian (Roshidere) which I can understand why it got a season renewal because it’s so popular back in Japan when it’s actually a hilariously bad romcom.
Yeah, this wasn’t even close to being in the so bad it’s good category. It was just straight up bad. It got a lot of things wrong and taking itself too seriously was definitely one of them.