I Parry Everything! – Episode 1

What’s about it? Noor has always dreamt about becoming an adventurer, but his registration was denied because he lacked any decent skills for the job.  Noor then decided to spend a decade living in isolation to hone his abilities with the hopes that someday he can fulfill his childhood dream.

I’ve reviewed so many shows about overpowered male protagonists that I’d genuinely forgotten what it’s like to watch a cozy and simple adventure story.  There’s nothing groundbreaking about this series, but it’s absolutely comfortable in its own skin.  In terms of worldbuilding it has the basic setup of guilds for each category necessary for adventuring such as warrior, mage, etc.  What the series lacks in originality, it absolutely makes up for it through its main character.  Noor isn’t a complicated person, he’s an absolute sweetheart with a generous soul to boost.  It’s easy to root for such a hardworking guy, especially since he’s taken on so much responsibility at such a young age.   

Despite the depiction of Noor’s daily hardships it wasn’t fun seeing the dead mom trope be used as a catalyst to start his journey.  It’s just frustrating that the only characterization we see from Noor’s mom is her coughing her life away and being apologetic for being a burden.  Literally a second later, she just dies peacefully leaving no impact on us the viewer on who she was beyond being a mother.  My grumbles aside, life doesn’t get any easier for Noor since he isn’t accepted at the adventurer’s guild because he lacks the abilities needed for such a dangerous job.

It’s refreshing that Noor is surrounded by adults that aren’t willing to put him in harm’s way for the sake of increasing business in the adventuring world.  Everyone is very honest with him about his limited abilities and the unfortunate reality is that he doesn’t have what it takes to become an adventurer.  It’s a tough pill to swallow for a kid that expected to spend his youth traveling around.  To his credit he spends over a decade improving his limited abilities and tries to apply to adventurer’s guild one more time.  

At his core, Noor doesn’t really care about the ranking system—he only wants the title of “adventurer” so that he can help people. He doesn’t view being an F-rank as a bad thing because he’s willing to take on the thankless work the townspeople need.  If anything his good deeds will definitely bear fruit in later episodes and it’s strongly hinted in his fight with a minotaur that he’s being noticed by the higher ups.  I’m seriously glad Noor is likable enough that I’m willing to spend a few more episodes with this big fellow.  

Honestly, if we can get more stories like this rather than Failure Frame and The Kingdoms of Ruin it’ll make me a happy camper.  I could go on about my frustrations about the waste of potential The Kingdoms of Ruin was, but then this’ll become a rant post and I don’t want that.  In conclusion, just give this a shot folks! You might just be in for a pleasant surprise.