The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- (Season One) – Saikyou Tank no Meikyuu Kouryaku: Tairyoku 9999 no Rare Skill-mochi Tank, Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareru

Rud was the tank for the Hero’s Party until he was unceremoniously fired. Unsure what to do next, he headed home. On the way there, he saved a girl from a terrifying monster. Little did he know that she would solve all his problems… well, most of them…

The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- (Season One) – Saikyou Tank no Meikyuu Kouryaku: Tairyoku 9999 no Rare Skill-mochi Tank, Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareru

What did you watch?

This was my twelfth show from the Winter 2024 schedule, which means I only have three more before I can safely move on. I’m not even sure why I decided to watch fifteen in total, but so far, I have no complaints. In fact, the only shows that haven’t lived up to my expectations so far were Chained Solder and Tales of Wedding Rings. On the whole, I’ve had a great time and may well do it again for the Spring 2024 season once it’s finished. I’m definitely enjoying binge-watching shows. Anyhow, let’s get back to The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids… I don’t think we need to keep saying the subtitle, do we?

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What happened?

Rud is renowned for having one of the highest defences in history, and that got him onto the Hero’s Party. However, his defence has started to suddenly vanish in the middle of battle and he has no idea why. After their latest raid ended in failure, Rud was kicked from the party by the arrogant Hero. They blamed his two unknown skills for the reason. So, with nothing else to do, Rud decided to head home. He managed to get into a party protecting a merchant who was travelling near to his home town. On the way, they fought several monsters and were making good time. Then, they encountered a giant snake that was hunting a girl. Rud protected the girl and created an opening for the other adventurers to kill it. However, while rescuing the girl, he noticed that she was a homunculus.

Since she didn’t have a name, he decided to call her Luna. She had escaped from a nearby country and had nowhere to go. Rud offered to take her with him. During the rest of their travels, she revealed that she had an appraisal skill which is incredibly rare. It’s also exactly what Rud needed to find out what his two unknown skills are. Luna happily helped him. They learned that one of Rud’s new skills enabled him to take on the damage from the other members in the party and his last skill allowed him to turn all of that damage into an attack, and since his defence was so huge, he could take a lot of damage. They arrived at Rud’s hometown where his sister still lived. He was delighted to see her, but sorry that he had not come back with a cure for her rare illness. Maybe another opportunity was about to present itself!

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What did you think?

I actually enjoyed this one too. It wasn’t as good as several of the other shows that I’ve watched recently, but it was perfectly fine. There were several moments that I really enjoyed and some that left me a little concerned about, but nothing that pulled me out of the story. Not completely anyway. There were a lot of similarities with other shows, such as the unknown skills becoming a massive boost once Rud understood them like how Fate’s life changed in Berserk of Gluttony. It’s also hard to escape the obvious comparisons to The Rising of the Shield Hero. Since I also enjoyed those shows, and most of the ones that I felt offered some more similarities, I’m not that worried. If anything, I’ll take more shows with elements that I’m fond of rather than less. So, let’s look at why I liked it!

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What was your favourite moment?

It wasn’t a big moment as far as the show went in terms of the action or even the meaning of the moment, but it was the first time that Rud got to use his new skills. They weren’t entirely new of course, he just didn’t know what they were or how to use them. Given his incredible defensive stats, those skills made him incredibly overpowered. The first one allowed him to take all damage from those in his party which meant that they were free to attack without fear of injury given how massive Rud’s stats were. The best thing about that was it meant that he could power up his attack skill which is pretty much unheard of for a tank.

The first time he used that skill was during a sparring match with the head of the town guards, Fille. She was keen to see how strong he had become during his time with the Hero’s Party. Well, being a tank, he took hit after hit without so much as breaking a sweat. Then, once he had taken enough damage to break most people’s defensive shields, he turned all of that damage into an attack and sent Fille flying. Suddenly, everyone who had been keen to have a go at battering the tank had better things to do. The thing I liked most about this was that these two simple skills wouldn’t necessarily be that amazing if it weren’t for Rud’s base stats. I love the idea of taking skills that might be ordinary on their own, but become something else entirely when mixed together correctly. That reminded me of The World’s Finest Assassin Gets Reincarnated in Another World as an Aristocrat where he carefully selected his skills by picking the best combination rather than the best individual skills.

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What was your least favourite moment?

In the fifth episode, Rud led his team against the boss of the Labyrinth that appeared near his hometown. Since the Labyrinth appeared he had been tasked by the town leader to either create a Guild to bring order to the adventurers who were showing up to take on the Labyrinth or destroy it. Basically, he had to choose whether to help his home take advantage of the situation which meant a lot more work for him or break it and return the town to a quiet and sleepy place. He decided to destroy it but upon defeating the boss, he was given another choice. He could run the Labyrinth.

Anyhow, the real thing that annoyed me was that he received the magic stone that granted wishes from the boss. It was the thing he had been searching for to cure his sister of the mysterious illness that caused them to be abandoned by their parents. However, rather than actually curing her, it just made her a bit better, so off he went in search of another. That’s kind of a crap wishing stone unless she only wished to be a bit better… It felt like they resolved his main driving force too soon and then realised that they needed to keep it going a little longer even though they had now got a guild and a labyrinth to run!

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Who was your favourite character?

I actually enjoyed most of the characters in this series. Rud wasn’t a bad guy despite his sister fixation. Nin and Luna were good too. When we first got back to Rud’s hometown we met Fille and Milena who I thought were going to have much larger roles, but they sadly faded away. However, there were two characters that I got a real kick out of. The first was Marius. He was the Demon Lord who ran the first Labyrinth Rud defeated. He gave Rud the first stone and the Labyrinth. Then, he joined his party and was hilarious. There was one moment when they were trying out the new bathhouse and Rud was trying to stop the guys from peeping on the girls when he spotted Marious climbing the wall to look just because he was enjoying the chaos of the situation. He was a fun character.

However, I said two characters and I think this one was actually my favourite. She was Amon, the boss from the second Labyrinth they beat which gained them an alliance with two strong guilds. She was another Demon Lord and possibly a vampire, but that’s not important. She was strong, but once defeated, she also joined Rud and settled into his hometown. She was often seen floating around in various positions and her sheer nonchalance was incredible. I’d watch another season of this just for those two.

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Who was your least favourite character?

The obvious one to mention is Kiglas, the Hero who kicked Rud from this party. It turned out that the reason Rud’s defence was suddenly vanishing was because Kiglas was using all of it to power an attack. And since it was a powerful attack and he had Rud as a battery, he hadn’t bothered to practice anything else. So, without Rud, he was ineffective to put it kindly. However, unlike other shows such as Beast Tamer where the Hero turned into the villain, Kiglas seemed to learn from his mistakes and even showed up in the final battle to help out Rud’s friends. That seemed to be a constant theme in this series where Rud would befriend the villains and give them a new purpose. Luckily, the last villain in the season was not redeemable and was sent packing thanks to Rud’s final two skills. So, no real complaints here!

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Would you like some more?

This was an easy show to watch because of how familiar everything was. Of course, it’s great to get shows that push the boat out and try new things, but it’s also nice having something comfortable. I’ve watched a lot of fantasy anime and I don’t see that changing anytime soon, so if they made more of this series, I would absolutely watch it. However, unlike shows like The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic or The Witch and the Beast, I’m not about to run out and track down the manga.

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What have you learned?

The real strength of this series was how it mixed skills to create a scenario where Rud became overpowered. Before he knew about the new skills, he was strong and a very reliable tank, but that was it. When he discovered what else he could do, he became a tank that could take a beating over and over again and then hand it back with interest. That made him far more interesting than just being a defensive unit. I think it could be a lot of fun to get a huge list of skills and see what crazy combinations I can come up with and see how that might make an interesting story. I bet there will be many, many possibilities.

Series Information

English Title	The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party-
Japanese Title	Saikyou Tank no Meikyuu Kouryaku: Tairyoku 9999 no Rare Skill-mochi Tank, Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareru
Medium	Anime
Released	Winter 2024
Episodes	12
Animation Studios	Studio Polon
Genres	Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Magic
Demographic	Shounen

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• Chained Soldier (Season One) – Mato Seihei no Slave
• Solo Leveling (Season One) – Ore dake Level Up na Ken
• The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (Season One) – Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha
• Tales of Wedding Rings (Season One) – Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari
• Gushing over Magical Girls (Season One) – Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete
• My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! (Season One) – Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranai n desu ga
• The Witch and the Beast (Season One) – Majo to Yajuu
• The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (Season One) – Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata
• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (Season One) – Dosanko Gal wa Namara Menkoi
• ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Season One) – Himesama “Goumon” no Jikan desu
• The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- (Season One) – Saikyou Tank no Meikyuu Kouryaku: Tairyoku 9999 no Rare Skill-mochi Tank, Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareru
• 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Season One) – Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru
• Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord (Season One) – Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen

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