KAKANLen09
September 23, 2024
Recommended
The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible – When you grow up too late in life, there’s no such saying as “you’re too old to learn anything”. For “It’s never too late, for with a purpose, a worthy goal, and a motivation to reach those upper layers on the pyramid, a person can travel further in a few years than he might otherwise travel in a lifetime.” - Earl Nightingale If there’s one thing that I have learned through watching anime with the passing seasons and years, it’s the culmination of this one fact, quoted from Will Ferrell: “Nomatter how much you screw up your own life by the wrong decisions that you make, it’s never too late to do the right thing and change your ways, and you can teach old dogs new tricks.” And rightfully so, being a 30-year-old (not so) young adult who still feels like there is still some untapped potential left, the philosophies through hundreds and thousands of AniManga series that have come and gone have certainly taught me into becoming a better person each day. And such is the perfect case study of a show of novelist Kiraku Kirishima’s Shinmai Ossan Boukensha, Saikyou Party ni Shinu hodo Kitaerarete Muteki ni Naru. a.k.a The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible, which other than the show dropping in one of the most defining years of my life hitting the Big 3, it’s also, in my very humble opinion, undoubtedly the best Ossan-esque series that we’ve had so far up until this point, even when you consider the stereotypical overpowered MC trope.
It’s a given that the best time to nurture skills is to start young, especially in a typical fantasy world where magic is king, and everything else is redundant in the pursuit to become an adventurer. However, sometimes people can blossom late in their lives, as if the fact to be taken by another show in the same season — Ore wa Subete wo "Parry" suru a.k.a I Parry Everything’s MC Noor, who flourished rather late, and was being deemed unworthy to be taught, even if he put all of his hard work into trying to make a living as a capable adventurer, no matter how long it takes for him to become one. In the scenario of this anime, Rick Gladiatol is just that character, who, like Noor, dreams of becoming an adventurer from his childhood days, but has to hold that dream off because of circumstances that don’t allow him to achieve what he wanted to be. And the bulky man, at 30 years of age, being a modest clerk at his town’s Adventurer’s Guild, takes his chances at trying to be a bona-fide adventurer by going through the usual style of preliminary tests to be certified as one. But of course, being old has most of the candidates all laughing at him for someone who starts so late that he shouldn’t be taken seriously as they should. But little do they know that despite the late blooming, Rick would become a tour de force to be reckoned with, trained by the world’s strongest party of S-ranked members for 2 years, such that his F-ranked status undermines a gruesomely hard-earned S-rank calibre to have everyone be taken so aback of an Ossan who could do the near impossible. This is Rick’s zero-to-hero story of how his affiliation with the S-rank party of Orichalcum Fist, sets off a chain of events that would see him go from a nobody to more than just being the adventurer of his dreams.
If you’re around the same age as I am, you can absolutely feel Rick’s devastation, partly from how his fantasy world’s magic is functioning a bit differently from what you expect of the stereotypical fantasy trope. Because, you see, the fantasy world where Rick and the others reside doesn’t allow their “Nature Composed Magic” talent to be manifested until the age of 20, which meant that Rick actually started his dream 12 years late (which brings us to the very start of the series). And the saying goes that once you hit that sweet spot of eligibility, the “early bird gets the worm,” as they say, to quickly develop skills that make you as powerful as you imagine to be. Not so for Rick, and as much as fate would have it, him being scouted by the S-ranked party of Orichalcum Fist’s Guillotine Swordmaiden of Reanette Elfeit to improve on his skills since his magical reserves weren’t as developed as they should be (and it must be done before the age of 30, which Rick has clearly surpassed), and that’s how he got literally trained to death by the most powerful party for the 2 years ever since to then participate in the adventurer prelims to be certified as one, though being invincible was never a case to begin with until the later moments in the series, which sees his fame rise.
Despite being purely an action-adventure fantasy series, there’s some comedy to be had here. One look at Orichalcum Fist itself should give you the idea that as funny as its eccentric 4-member party can be, they’re utterly serious when it comes to work, and they don’t let you off the hook so easily until you achieve what they want you to be. This is Rick’s daily torture for the 2 years since he joined the S-rank party, and their philosophy being that “hard work will produce results, even if it pushes you to the brink of death” may be harsh reality, with people like the dark elf Reanette (who serves as Rick’s assistant and companion); the monstrous physique and intelligence matching Sage Beast of warrior-monk orc Broughtston Ashore; the greatest weapon craftsman of Thousand-year Workshopper half-elf-dwarf hybrid Mizett Eldwarf; and the Demon Child of Devastation of genius vampire mage Alicerette Draqul all taking said Ossan on building his characteristics, man’s gotta hustle with coming close to near-death experiences quite a lot to constantly weep at death’s throes.
At least he knows that they’re doing it for his good, and with strength comes power that’s more than enough to face his rivals, such as the Diarmuit family of nobility, who proclaims power with the expected typical egoist high, almighty, and pompous behaviour. The comedy with Rick facing the trio of siblings of A-rank eldest Raster (who also serves as the adventurer prelims examiner), B-rank middle child Angelica (who is a 2nd-rank knight), and C-rank youngest Freed (who is the fist to challenge the Ossan thinking that he’ll be an easy one to defeat), I’ve got to say that I’ve experienced all sorts of comedy, but never one this unhinged where, unlike Noor, Rick at least knew his strength to weigh against those of higher ranks and treat them as fellow rivals vying for the same certification. At least for Angelica, she is the sole comedy relief of the series that I just can’t stop ROFL-ing at her misdemeanour, even after she got humbled really quick to serve as Rick’s servant and learning of his treatment at Orichalcum Fist to the point of hilarious disbelief of how he managed to survive the 2 years’ worth of hellish training, even if he dies and gets reincarnated time and time again. But I’ll give this about Angelica’s character: she is one of the reasons why this show works —from being taken down from her mighty chair to being humbled by Rick to see that his hard work, despite her inadequacy to also be trained by him regardless, proves that all-knowing talent is nothing in the face of putting in effort, NOTHING. I am proud of Rick, but I’m even prouder of Angelica for how far she’s come for a turnaround transformation, from being a ruthless rival to a long-term loyal ally of his. Too bad that romantic ships be damned, because Rick is loyal to Reanette and Angelica has little to no chance of ever hoping to win his heart.
When you think of quality studios, Yumeta Company is not one of those studios with a big money bag-sized budget, and it really shows for an action-heavy show of this calibre, which proves that 3rd-rate studios truly suffer at key moments in the shows themselves. The majority are pretty bad, but under the right hands, can truly deliver a solid experience, and by the skin of the studio’s teeth, this show does it all and more to sway opinions that an average, generic, run-of-the-mill fantasy show can run on its own two legs when it needs to. Honestly, this is one of the shows that surprised me late into its run of the fact that storytelling trounces animation, and thinking back, I honestly don’t mind it at all if the production values just look so pedestrian, so that the story can flex a lot more.
The music…is definitely one of sheer bizarreness. For one, veteran Anisong singer Akira Kushida (yes, it’s the classic Tokusatsu and 90s Kinnikuman music artist) has a vocal range that is pretty much rarely heard of in anime these days, and through his old-school feel of the OP song, it definitely takes some getting used to before it becomes the earworm that you just can’t skip the opening for all its worth. I know I absolutely did, and slowly grew to love it as one of my low-key favourite OPs of the season. And as for Chiai Fujikawa’s ED…it’s alright and nothing special.
I can already see that this show will divide fans being of a certain age group, more than just the OP power fantasy trash of a trope that this anime is. But more than just what it obviously presents on the plate, it’s the hidden meanings and virtues of the anime that teach the one very important lesson that we ought to understand: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
I’m glad this show exists to teach us a fair few humble learning points, especially to the Millennials hitting the Big 3 and still feeling like they’re feeling lost and not being sure of what to do with their life. This is, as I've mentioned, unironically the best Ossan-centred anime to date, and life is never too late nor too soon to experience new things, and I’ll leave you with this quote:
“It’s never too late to turn things around. You are the only obstacle.” - Dave Ramsey
