Banished from the Hero's Party - Season 1

Banished from the Hero's Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside is a fantasy adventure that tries to sort of be a slice-of-life anime series and has a pretty believable love story. Still, somehow the atmosphere, the narrative style, and everything else, despite a lot of pretty good ideas, does not particularly work. I liked the subject matter and the whole reasoning around predestination and its meaning as opposed to free will. It is just that while this anime series knew the message it wanted to convey, it did not portray it in a compelling or interesting enough way. Somehow, I do not think it managed to combine that peaceful village life with the supposedly convoluted backstory (especially with its developments) or successfully convey the idea that you just cannot escape something inevitable. Plus, all the flashbacks felt kind of weird, and the narrative overall was kind of very shallow. That is kind of a bummer because of all the untapped potential that was there. I just think that in many ways, more could have been wrung out of it; it could have been fleshed out better. There are some interesting hints that there could be some more elaboration in a follow-up. After all, there are the odd remains of and some open-ended plotlines to expand on; however, thanks to the lukewarm approach to the narrative (and the conclusion itself, which just made my head spin), I am not sure I would watch it. Although I guess that actually I probably would, because I still subconsciously see the potential there. 5.5/10. (09/24/2023)