Winter 2023s Chilling Fantasy Gem This was an easy but incredibly satisfying binge. The start is a bit rocky but the more of it you watch the more it grows on you. This takes the seemingly classic expelled from army/party setup and executes it on the highest level Ive seen to date. A show which does justice to the premise and theme whilst telling its own profound story. Unfortunately weve only got 12 episodes of this stuff Utterly shameful Started it and couldnt stop until it ended I was completely immersed you can tell it was written with a lot of thought. Usually with this type of anime I need about 3 sittings to finish them. This isnt your average anime fantasy the likes of which are cringe cliched filled with worthless fanservice harems and other boxticking garbage. Rather it takes some of those familiar elements but uses them more sparingly to ensure the experience isnt overwhelmed by these tackon tropes. The MC is a breath of fresh air something different which also bolsters the experience. He isnt some gigasimp selfinsert pathetic relatable or on the other hand omnibenevolent puresoul dense etc. He fits in well with the story his character is very consistent with his upbringing. Later on in the story youre rewarded with a very interesting but foreshadowed plottwist which creates a healthy paradox. Everything is quite well balanced in the show most of the characters are used masterfully well for the plot. Some manage to receive a decent amount of development in these very short 12 episodes. Its really out of its element here in this Banished from/Slow Life subgenre in a sea of mediocrity this show manages to build incredibily realistic dialogue and relationships. It acutally features proper family structures hierachies and dispositions shown almost as well as the chinese do it. The gags are funny and they never ruin the experience the humor incredibly organic and borne from good writing. There is very prudent deliberation in the orchestration of ideas brought forward though at some parts perhaps this show is too idealistic but at the end of the day we watch these shows for enjoyment as well as fantasy and it certainly passes on that. Gives us some of those great oldfashioned tones without the common present day stitchedon degeneracy. 700https://i.ibb.co/LDpjpW6f/Screenshot20250807093245.png What could be better? A better opening to captivate the audience some started it but werent too impressed. The Art Animation and Sound are used efficiently but they arent too remarkable. More episodes couldnt hurt. It does have some room to get a bit darker than it is just to spice things up Its good enough that if you stop here without a second season it still feels like time very well spent. On the other hand it seems a second season is completely out of the question. Almost no studio wil do continuation projects for series like these. The studio that originally made this in late 2022 early 2023 has realeased a single show since then: Akumakun in late 2023. Skip to 2025 theyve now rebranded from Encourage Films Ltd to Kachigarasu Then they realeased an interesting new show this Spring season just gone The Gorilla gods GoTo Girl. Its a shame that some of the best work out there gets stuck in such an undeserving predicament. Apart from that this is easily the King of the entire Banished From subgenre of fantasy and its not even close. It really does shine onscreen but we will have to go to the source materials to finish this. Havent watched it yet? Need a quick taste of heaven? 700https://i.ibb.co/60g706mF/Screenshot20250807092919.png Make haste..