The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, also known as "Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha", is an adventure fantasy anime based on the light novel written by Yū Okano and illustrated by Jaian. It got me hooked so bad that I followed up to the latest manga release. Adventure fantasy anime as a genre has been pushed to the side lines in favor of isekai anime that features some of the adventure fantasy elements.
Rentt Faina is a 25 year old bronze ranked adventurer for 10 years that had difficulty advancing through the ranks despite toiling daily to refine his skills. His dream is to become a Mithrill adventurer, the highest class in the adventurers guild that was worth the nation's recognition. On regular day of grinding his levels in the Labyrinth of the Moon's Reflection dungeon, he discovers an unexplored hidden passage which was a coveted opportunity for adventurers because unexplored territories when mapped can fetch a hefty price.
Against guild protocols of calling for other advanced adventurers to venture uncharted territory, Rentt does the most reasonable thing any protagonist must do to start the hero's journey, take a peek at the inner parts of the dungeon and got rekt by a legendary dragon that swallows him whole then shits his skeleton body out. He wakes up an undead with consciousness fully intact and now has to find a way to turn human again.
MAJOR SPOILER
It's a combination of an uncommon plot, great animation visuals and a banger for a music that got me looking forward to an episode per week. Unlike most protagonists, Rentt is a level headed lead that carries his story through active agency. His experience and confidence as an adventurer came from years of building on the fundamentals of what an adventurer should possess. He has built a positive reputation for himself at the guild. But even with all these positive qualities, he still couldn't advance beyond the bronze level.
His flaw lies on his physical limitations as human without physical prowess or specialized skill sets. He was a jack of all trades and master of none. But he has one trait that sets him apart from most adventurers, and that's having the ability to use Spirits, Mana, and Inner Magic.
The revealed magic system in this world consists of three categories as mentioned above. Mana usage is your standard magic as any mmorpg player here is familiar. Some people in this world have affinity for mana so they end up being mages. Spirit magic is related to divinity and connected to life, it's only awarded to users favored by the gods, possibly the rarest to attain. Inner magic is just one fancy way of describing physical strength and technique where users manipulated their muscles to produce explosive strength. It's similar to how Demon's Slayer's Breathing Techniques when trying to overcome physical limitations.
Having all three abilities at Rentt's disposal, you think he'd grow a clue that he can tap into it's latent potential more but the story takes place when he takes advantage of his undead curse and overcomes the physical limitations of using these traits that usually strains the normal human body.
Rentt as a character is neutral to lawful good person, and his flaws are mostly from his inexperience facing stronger foes. As a character, he's a solid big brother to all. The other supporting characters also hold their own in the story with distinct motivations despite a limited screen time. In terms of pacing and character development, the show paced it well enough as a teaser for the greater journey that lies for season 2 (if there will ever be one).
RANT ABOUT ADVENTURE VS ISEKAI GENRE
What's the difference? It has something to do with the baseline point of view with the protagonist interacting with the world's story. If the premise is being transported to another world, their dialogues and interactions have to be based off the differences between worlds and the conflict involves adjusting to the new life. On the other hand, an adventure fantasy genre anime doesn't have to worry about their protagonist asking the dumb questions and just take things as the way fantasy settings work because they already lived in the space save for some self discovery journey.
Isekai genre attempts to capture more target audience by incorporating more subplots into the genre that also fit into other genre, there's no hard rule that says being transported to another world has to involve magic as a sci-fi approach could also work. The difference lies in the execution because a small detail as a protagonist being displaced from their world to another can stir a lot of direction for the overall storyline. Can you imagine Frieren: Beyond Journey's End having an isekai'd character?
SPOILER FOR THE ANIME
The entire season is setup as an introduction to the hero's journey where Rentt discovers his own latent abilities even before he turned undead. It's the beginning path to an overpowered protagonist and the story already screams this is the way Rentt would go since his dream was to become a Mithrill adventurer which is the apex. The season is spent trying to figure out Rentt's condition and how he can evolve into a higher order of being as close to a human form like he used to while going on adventures on rediscovering himself.
MANGA SPOILERS
Rentt is a descendant of a fallen legendary royal lineage that had a civilization that lived within the dungeon. Now his journey is the pursuit of thwarting a greater evil, while discovering his overpowered latent potential and while lowkey being a Disney prince. The story's direction has branched out to multiple possibilities if you continue right after the last episode so I can understand why some fans got disappointed at how things are turning out but that's the price of an ever developing story line.
Thanks for your time.
