The Faraway Paladin - It's still one of my favourite "not-so-Isekai" Isekai reincarnation fantasy shows to come out of recent years, just behind the juggernaut that is Rifujin no Maganote's Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. I'm still very firm on the belief that novelist Kanata Yanagino has done an absolute "masterpiece" for Season 1's content, which covers the first 2 volumes of the LN, that the anime sadly weighs it down to just being decent, if based on the overall production alone. That said, waiting 2 years to finally see Season 2 come out...and while it's still good, it's just not on the same wavelength that theauthor used to write compelling stories that really secured the sole thing that sold the prequel: its humble storytelling that comes from inspiration, not imitation.
It's clear as day that Season 2, which covers the remaining Volumes 3 and 4 of the LN (before the author actually went into hiatus because of his physical and mental health issues back in late 2020), that Kanata Yanagino was feeling the pressure to deliver a compelling story that made his worldbuilding and character writing so great, faltered so much. The basis is that both Volume 3: The Lord of the Rust Mountains and Volume 4: The Torch Port Ensemble were essentially two stories that could be better linked together, but it came to the stage where the author felt that he could write no more with his dwindling creativity, and it's sad to see such an accomplished author having reached the point of a writer's block. Here's hoping that Kanata Yanagino can eventually recover and continue writing his series, though it'd be better if the LN is on a permanent hiatus for millennia.
Getting into the meat of the series' continuation, William G. Maryblood, along with elf Meneldor, has descended into Torch Port, along with the new friends that he made along the way: Robina "Bee" Goodfellow, the halfling travelling troubadour who loves to spread tales of heroic deeds to the public through poetic storytelling and singing (which serves most of Volume 4's content); and mainly the dwarven army of the proclaimed Rust Mountains to reclaim back their rightful place from an evil dragon god who has blindsided them (which serves Volume 3's rather long-ish 2-volume parter content). The Faraway Paladin has so much to do in so little time that it feels as if he could not catch a break, seemingly with all that's happening around him, having to run all around to get his jobs done. But still, Will manages to take time and reflect on his solace (which I appreciate as one of his strong character points) to take retrospectives on the people that helped him mould the character that he is now. And that's the key to writing compelling characters that make you move your heart and appreciate good character writing.
For the anime, however, the entire staff team from the prequel season has been given an overhaul: freelance director Akira Iwanaga leads his team with the ever-so-illusive OLM and Sunrise Beyond studio collaboration, and the production definitely has upgraded a fair bit to look as good as the LN's manga adaptation counterpart. Even Will's VA got an upgrade, from the young-un (VAed by Maki Kawase) to the young adult now (VAed by Shoya Chiba), and he sounds a lot more mature now than he has since his growing-up days in Season 1, and for the better.
The one disappointment I have for the sequel, however, is the OST. H-el-ical// and Nagi Yanagi did an outstanding job with their OP and ED songs for Season 1, and while the latter came back to perform the sequel's OP song, it was decent and a lot more action-heavy with its riff-raff (which actually strikes the chord for Season 2), something that I'm not so used to Nagi Yanagi performing this way since like forever. And while KOTOKO's ED song was decent, just like the OP, I am pretty biased towards Season 1 due to its pure fantasy emotions that did the prequel so much justice.
How ironic, eh? The story and music were (for me) the highlights of Season 1, and those same aspects wore it down in the enjoyment of Season 2. A perfect balance board, I would say, but that's just about the fate of The Faraway Paladin, as far as I'm concerned. It's decent at best, but it still does its fantasy genre justice enough to warrant the sequel for at least a binge.
Recommended
A story that follows the hero and his party on a quest to vanquish evil, and purify the cursed lands. This season of The Faraway Paladin revolves around the tale of the rust mountain and its denizens. We follow William going on a quest to help them, where he travels with a band of friends, to cleanse the mountain from the evil that has overtaken it. The plot is very linear and follows the classic structure of an adventure group going out to save the lands. It is generally done in an interesting way, that explores the road they have to travel and the dangers along theway. The first couple of episodes are lead up, and is sadly kinda forgettable, but the rest of the story carries a nice feeling of a true adventure.
When it comes to the characters are they rather basic in some degrees, where some show significant character progression and others are rather stagnant. The main issue is that the characters lack some stronger personality traits, something that isn’t just courageous or just. The characters would have been more interesting, and worth investing more into if the characters were a bit more spiced up.
For the animation is it still keeping the same style as the previous season and seems to be a fine effort, with some good effects during fights.
Overall is this season an improvement from last season and is a nice watch, with a very nice adventure party plot. So i would recommend watching this season if you watched the first one, even though it lacks a bit in the character department.
Recommended
A marked improvement over season one. That's a rarity in anime. Typically they don't improve, but rather nose dive. Animation has more to offer in terms of flashy action scenes, with a couple that stand out. The art work in general is slightly worse, bad cg, but still good character detail and amazing backgrounds. I still feel the characters are lacking depth, but at least we get to wee a little bit more of Will's internal struggles without it feeling completely forced. The world building continues to be one of the best parts of this anime. The story line feels more solid and less ofthe generic isekai we got after arc 1 in season 1. Still a little generic, but better. Pacing is much better, and picks up quite a bit over the last season which was kind of painful after arc 1. The dubbed voice acting I'd say get's slightly worse. I think the casting for Will is not great, but otherwise I'd say it's still fine, but not great by any means. The op and ed remain ill fitting and generic. However, the ost has more variety in it, which is pleasant to see. Overall, it still has some of the same issues as season 1, but reclaims it's stride for the most part. The pacing of this anime is really what will make or break it going forward. 6.75/10 Dubbed
CrCrowelicious
January 29, 2025
Recommended
When I think of a solid fantasy anime, this anime often comes to mind. While the plot has some issues, specially in the anime, where much that happens is not covered properly or outright not explained (I'm looking at you, Valacirca fight...) it is a very good take on fantasy and isekai genre, with some well put Tolkien references. Yes, it is Isekai, but no, it doesn't revolve around MC's constantly remember his life prior to his reincarnation. The story itself understands that the MC was something in his past life that he is not very proud, then he uses that feeling as fuel to becomea better person and that is pretty much it. Like many other Isekai titles where MC is outright OP due to retaining memories and mentality of someone older from previous life, it felt that in Saihate no Paladin, he used that maturity to overcome issues and to learn about the world he now lives in, nevertheless he is pretty damn strong, more than average for sure.
Overall, story progression felt good, all characters seemed to have purpose and were well written, the artstyle was very nice (though in manga is way better) and definetely recommend it, specially for Tolkien and Fantasy fans.
