Content Warning: slavery
What’s it about? Zenos is an underground healer who will heal anybody, regardless of status, for a price. After his reputation begins to spread all over the empire, he gradually gains allies who help him continue his secret practice, which could get him in trouble for healing without an official license.
I’m not the only one who thought this was incredibly boring right? I’m under a huge amount of stress these days and my patience is almost non-existent so I’m not kidding when I say the first ten minutes of this premiere was a huge waste of time. If I’m to be generous (don’t say that I’m not), I think it’s great we get to see all the girls in Zenos’ harem right off the bat rather than wasting episodes collecting them all. However, that still doesn’t excuse the first ten minutes being the girls waiting for Zenos to come back from an errand and eating dinner. That time could’ve been used to reminisce how they all met Zenos, which could’ve given us some indication about the plot and what to expect for future episodes.
Zenos has a cool design, but he doesn’t strike me as anything different from other shows with a similar premise. The series also doesn’t waste any time showing that slavery is alive and well in this world by showing a comically evil aristocratic man beating up a bunny demi-human named Til for daring to seek medical attention. It’s frustrating how often slavery is used as a cheap device to just move the plot forward, rather than actually an actual critique about the long-term damages it does to enslaved people. To the show’s credit, it was nice to see Zenos tear up the slave’s contract and grant Til her freedom, but I shouldn’t have to celebrate for the bare minimum being done.
It doesn’t help that before Zenos grants Til her freedom, he has her undress so that he can “examine” her body, but he doesn’t make it clear that’s all he’s doing. It’s a disturbing scene to watch because there’s an uncomfortable misunderstanding that something sexual will happen and that Til doesn’t have the right to reject Zenos. I’m not sure if the series will further examine the morality of slavery, but at the very least I liked seeing Til contemplate what she will do with her newfound freedom and that her time is now her own. Aside from that, the premiere doesn’t give any indication about what the overall plot will be and why we should care about Zenos’s journey.
For a series that is based on a light novel it sure didn’t try to tease future events that might garner some interest for potential viewers. I wish I had something more to say beyond “at least it doesn’t condone slavery,” but the premiere didn’t leave me with much to work with. Honestly, I’ll pass on this one folks, and hopefully something more interesting comes along to start shaking things up around here.
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