After a good third outing, Realist Hero is back on our horizon with How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4. In what has been a decidedly average to decent show, could the Isekai series raise the standards further than it already has?
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4- Overview
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom is being adapted to anime by the studio J.C.Staff, which is also known for bringing popular anime like Food Wars and One Punch Man Season 2 to our screens. The anime is being directed by Takashi Watanabe, who has previously been involved with the productions of Death Note and Slayers. The series is adapted from a popular light novel written by Dozuemaru.
If you would like to catch up to our reviews of Realist Hero, check out our review of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 3 here!
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4- The Review
If a problem is solved before it even existed, would that be even called a problem? How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4 seems to think so, but I’m afraid I have to disagree. The anime takes a weird approach in explaining to us the intricacies of its universe. When you’re watching an Isekai such as Realist Hero, your enjoyment of the show lives and dies with how much you like the alternate world the protagonist has been dropped into.
Realist Hero differs from its compatriots in that department because the world is interesting despite the events in the anime, not because of them. At the face of it, the world of How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom is like every other fictional RPG- Elves, Monsters, Demons, and Humans all occupy it and live relatively peacefully. It then tries to apply what we, as normal humans, know about how things work to that universe through the sincere protagonist Kazuya Souma. Sounds good so far, so what’s the problem?
The problem is that everything is too easy for Souma. Kingdom in financial ruin? Solved in a minute of screentime. Starving denizens? Solved in 3 minutes. Want new advisors? Just advertise it, and I’m sure someone would turn up. Oh, what’s that? They all have the exact powers you need to win your wars for you and rebuild the kingdom? Well, who could have expected that? It could have just been a coincidence.
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4 wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants danger and tension without the stakes, and it wants a great fictional world without putting in the work. That’s not going to work. We like our fictional universes well done here, J.C.Staff, and we won’t take anything half baked. You could watch it just for the cute shenanigans and the admittedly well-done animation, but ultimately, that’s all just fluff. There doesn’t seem to be much substance behind it, and that’s the part that sucks the most.
However, not everyone thinks like this, and that’s okay. If you enjoy Kazuya being Salt Bae, cute anime girls, and an interesting yet poorly explored concept, you probably loved How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4. Even I didn’t find much wrong with it, apart from the poorly executed concept. The food tasting scene was sweet, and Tomoe’s story made me smile a whole bunch. I’ll keep watching this because there is still some promise left, and I like to be hopeful about things.
Well, we’ll know what happens when it does. Remember that I’ll be here with a huge “I told you so” if it all goes wrong somewhere.
Also Read: My Hero Academia Season 5 Episode 17 Review: The Hellish Todoroki Family
P.S. I am still grateful to this show for allowing me to listen to my favourite voice actress’s voice this season, and Inori Minase as Liscia is absolutely killing it.
Verdict
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom Episode 4 was fine, although I am now starting to realise what exactly has been bothering me all this time. Great concept, flawed execution is the best way I can put it for now, but we’ll see what the future holds.