I wasn’t the biggest fan of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom in Summer 2021 when season one aired but I did say at the end of my season review I’d probably watch the second season because it wasn’t a bad way to pass a season. And so Winter 2022 gives us How a Realist Rebuilt the Kingdom 2nd Season though Funimation continues counting as if it never ended and so here are my thoughts on episode 14.
First off, if you didn’t watch the first thirteen episodes then give up right now, go back and watch them (if you are interested) because this episode just kind of dumps us right back where episode 13 abruptly cut off. I mean, we do get a really quick narration summary of events but without having watched it you’d be totally lost. We get a very brief glimpse of the previous king and his wife musing about things and being cryptic for the fun of it and then the rest of the episode focuses on Souma and the negotiations over the city he took over at the end of the last season.
Has How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom improved?
With the same director and cast returning it really is as if this series never left us. How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom continues to have Souma explaining things, in this instance how to get a stagnating economy moving, while the political situation continues. In this instance, Prince Julius has brought the Empire in to negotiate the return of the city of Van after his father lost it to Souma.
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I do very much like that Souma very clearly outlines Julius and his father’s short-comings before pretty much dismissing him while not dismissing the empire. In showing us just why he is called the Realist Hero, Souma acknowledges that he doesn’t need to negotiate with Julius but the Empire and its power are a different story and he very much needs to negotiate with them. I guess the question is does he want to keep Van or is he happy to hand it back over provided his price is met? And what would his price be?
As usual though we have the peanut gallery gathered around to ask questions and get into a bit of a back and forth that really serves no purpose. After Souma has dismissed Julius he sends someone to start the banquet and show him some hospitality though lacking a key piece of information it turns out he’s given her permission to more or less get Julius flat drunk. What follows is an exchange between Liscia and Souma that might be amusing except that it is happening in front of the Empire’s representative and that just doesn’t seem appropriate or likely.
Equally, I had to wonder why How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom didn’t have Souma change out of his Japanese clothes for the negotiations given it is clearly a somewhat more formal affair. Not to mention while it made sense at first that he continued to wear that outfit he’s been in the Kingdom long enough now that surely a costume change is in order.
Visually this first episode is about the same as what you would have come to expect from season one but there’s very little movement going on this week. The majority of the episode is taken up through characters talking either about reconstructing the city or the negotiations and so animation is pretty minimal all around.
First impressions of the new season of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Business as usual. If you liked season one then this just smoothly continues on but it hasn’t given viewers who were on the fence any reason to really jump on board.
Images from: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom 2nd Season. Dir. T. Watanabe. J. C. Staff. 2022
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Karandi James