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(All episodes watched): I was glad to see that this would be a sword and sorcery type anime, because even if they often disappoint us there is an unlimited store of possibilities that they could exploit. We get to know Rentt fairly well, which is imperative to creating an entertaining show. He's a modest but proud adventurer, who refuses to give up in spite of all the disappointments he has encountered. But something was definitely missing; I still had little idea of where this was going at the end of episode one. As in pretty much all isekai or isekai-like anime, Rentt has a strange problem but basically finds a way around it. Just like the characters who decided to max out their defensive capabilities or fight only slimes or whatever, he finds a way to keep accumulating experience and skills and grow stronger. In fact, he has stumbled upon a way of accelerating his development. He may be a skeleton, but that's not such a terrible sacrifice to make if it finally allows him to advance towards his lifelong goal. Indeed, by the end of episode one he has already upgraded (you sort of wonder why the skeleton stage was included at all). Rentt doesn't anguish about his fate for long, he just figures out how to keep playing the game, which suggests his personality might not develop much more than it already has. The hints are that he will return to several girls he knows and explain himself to them, and maybe even earn the trust and admiration of ordinary people. But the plot had barely begun to develop and it wouldn't be until episode two that we would get a decent idea of where this is all going. Episode two was encouraging. Rentt saves the life of a minor adventurer, Rina, and in return she agrees to help him put together a disguise that will enable him to return to the city. As long as you accept that magic is possible, what happened made perfect sense and might really have worked. Though Rentt doesn't agonize much about how and why he has wound up in his present situation (were all skeletons in a labyrinth once adventurers?) , we sort of get to know him and the plot seemed fairly complex to me. He makes it back to Lorraine, the buxom woman who taught him about Existential Evolution and it seems reasonable that she would believe the story that he will tell her in episode three. I was pleased and looked forward to that episode. It turns out that Lorraine, a scholar, is intrigued and wants to learn more. She pointedly asks Rentt if he can really be sure that he is still the same person he was before being killed, and Rentt must admit that he cannot say for sure. Very seldom do characters in isekai anime delve into psychology; usuually sword & sorcery is about all we get. Rentt meets another adventurer in the labyrinth, a man who is desperate for money, and comes up with some sort of idea to both help him and help himself--or is he just using this guy as bait to draw out valuable monsters he could kill? In most isekai anime (though technically this isn't isekai since there has been no mention of real-world Japan), there would be little doubt how the 2D characters were thinking. In episode four Rentt makes a remark that he sort of wishes this guy had been a bad person--has he done something to him? Rentt Existentially Evolves again, into a Ghast, a sort of vampire's lackey. He cannot resist the temptation to take a bite of Lorraine, but she doesn't seem to take it personally. Perhaps she has feelings for him--she makes a remark to herself that he 'can take a bite out of me anytime'. She shares her theories about how EE seems to be operating, which were interesting. Maybe he could even evolve back into an ordinary human someday. I was pleasantly surprised at how sophisticated and engaging this show continued to be--at least by the standards of Isekai anime. In episode five Rentt takes on a new identity, Rentt Vivier, to re-register as an Adventurer at the guild. He encounters a scantily clad but magically powerful elf-like woman in a labyrinth, and she seems to feel some sympathy for him--perhaps because she is apparently guarding the tomb of some person. I wondered what her story would be. In episode six Rentt is offered a chance to take the test to ascend to Bronze class adventurer. I noticed that this show was managing to remain complex and interesting enough to keep me wondering where the plot was going. At least one other isekai series this season quickly seemed so simplistic and predictable that I soon abandoned it. Perhaps Nozomanu- goes into enough detail and provides enough entertaining trivia about the business of being an adventurer that it remains fun. In episode six Sheila, a clerk at the Adventurer's Guild, has figured out that there's a definite link between Rentt Faina and Rent Vivier, and demands an explanation. In exchange for an extreme precaution that she will not spill the beans, Rentt comes clean with her. I thought the secret meeting they held was pretty neat and convincing. The tension was palpable as Rentt removed his mask to show Sheila his true face. I had hoped that the next episode would expand on this, but instead episode 8 was a filler episode about a good deed Rentt does for a stranger and it does not seem to have anything to do with the main plot. We do see how amazingly powerful Rentt has become, especially when he employs various forms of magic along with the special sword that he had a blacksmith make for him. Episode nine was likewise a disappointment as Rentt goes and does another good deed, this time for the children in an orphanage. The superdeformed rat that has been appearing in the OP sequence finally shows up; he is Edel, who bites Rentt and is somehow transformed into his familiar. At least he's not a slime. I thought depicting him in SD mode was a mistake; I could not take him seriously as a result. There was an intriguing point at the end of this episode where Rentt encounters an Elf (I think) who might know some secret about what Rentt must do to recover his humanity. We don't learn much more about this man, Isaac, in episode ten but it turns out that there was a point to Rentt going to find a rare flower with medicinal properties after all. They are valuable and grow in a dangerous place which about only an undead can go to and from with any degree of safety. Rentt is asked by two different groups to keep supplying them. The Latours, a mysterious but powerful family, takes an interest in him. I wondered if that tomb guardian woman from episode five might be Isaac's patron. I can remember characters from episodes weeks ago because this show remains interesting and engaging. Rentt goes to visit the Latours to see exactly what they want and is subjected to an unconventional test of his skills. After passing it, he is given an unconventional reward. Laura Latour, leader of the family, has some sort of secret and needs a lot of the rare flowers from the Tarasque swamp. Where this was all going remained unclear to me, but I was OK with that. Part of Rentt's reward is a potion which might allow him to 'evolve' yet again, but would involve a major risk. In the final episode he decides to take his chances. We also learn why he decided to become an adventurer to begin with; it was a rather formulaic explanation, but it provided some context. I thought this final episode worked pretty well; Rentt hasn't regained everything that he lost when he became an undead, but he also has gained some things he didn't have before. The episode had a pleasing emotional tone which most final episodes do not. The story could end here satisfactorily, or could continue (which I definitely wouldn't mind). I thought Nozomanu- as a whole was a good deal better than the average isekai/sword & sorcery anime; it was probably my second favorite show of the season. Last updated Tuesday, April 02 2024. Created Friday, January 12 2024. | ||||||||
