The final two episodes of Banished From The Hero’s Party finally have everyone pretty much face off against everyone else as half the characters try to somehow force Ruti to properly take up the mantle of hero, even if that means taking away her free will or killing her brother, and the other half try to give Ruti the right to choose her future. Weirdly, only one human character actually dies despite the number who get their clothes slashed off (and why does every girl get slashed between the breasts).
But you can’t really argue with episode 12 too much given it satisfactorily has every character’s goals explored and resolves the issue before episode 13 gives us the epilogue and continues the natural progression of one of the sweetest couples I’ve seen in anime for a long time.
Banished From The Hero’s Party gives us a final fight before settling into the slow and quiet country life as promised in the title.
I think the one character I still don’t get in Banished From The Hero’s Party is Ares. I mean, his obsession with accompanying the hero is all too clear but just having the Sage blessing doesn’t seem to account for his over the top possessiveness. And even if all his plans had succeeded after aligning with a demon, would Ruti have really still travelled with him? Particularly if he’d actually succeeded at killing Gideon?
As the episode progresses, Ares becomes increasingly unhinged and finally ends up where so many failed villains end up by the end of a fight they’ve clearly lost: standing alone and wondering why the person they are trying to kill just won’t die.
Don’t take it personally Ares, you just aren’t the protagonist of this story.
Though it does make you wonder why they bothered letting him live during his last attempt to kill Gideon.
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As for the demon they don’t actually ever really explain his motivation. How does it benefit him to have the hero back in action? I mean it is a cool fight scene and all but I felt like we are still missing part of the story here.
Meanwhile, Mr Crawley Wawley ended up being pivotal during one part of the battle and so proved he’s more than just a cute spider in Banished From The Hero’s Party.
But, the battle does end and Banished From The Hero’s Party gives us a final episode where wounds are healed, choices are made and characters learn that despite their blessings they can make some choices. It’s a little bit cloying and yet kind of perfect for how this anime has progressed.
And we do at least return to Red and Rit’s life with the two making it clear that they aren’t together because of their blessings and they aren’t planning on going anywhere. Seriously, those two are so cute and perfect together.
Perhaps the one genuine complaint I walk away from these final episodes with is that silly hat Ruti was wearing as she went about town. It just looked ridiculous.
That and the other characters who had all kind of showed up for the final showdown also just kind of went their own ways and disappeared again as quickly as they arrived. Sure Red, Rit and Ruti were the central characters but when they brought all the others in to the story they could have at least finished with a BBQ or something.
Anyway, that’s it for Banished From The Hero’s Party but be sure to check out the full series review.
Images from: ‘Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided To Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside‘. Dir. M Hoshino. Studio Flad and Wolfsbane. 2021
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Karandi James