[BWTraveller]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

If that was the objective I feel that the point would have come across better if they weren't also completely incompetent.

We've already witnessed a situation where basically they couldn't even deal a single damage to the main enemy, and thus we witnessed Naofumi singlehandedly defeating her while everyone else just stood there and watched barely giving their contribution by killing random monsters.

The hero that "only focuses on power" certainly has his own faults, but being completing helpless shouldn't be one.

In the end it really does feel like the other heroes only exist to make Naofumi look better in comparison, and it's been jarring for a long while now.

I can only hope that this is meant to be a build up for the moment when they finally become an effective squad, but so far it really does feel like the story is focused only Naofumi and his personal party and how they are the only ones who can truly make a difference in this multidimensional battle.

True, this isn't a brilliant execution. I've always held that this was a GOOD series. No masterpiece, far from perfection in its execution of things, but pretty darn good, a satisfying read/watch that at least tries to do things well, and often far from many of the things I've heard people claim of it in the past. That doesn't mean it's great. I would, for instance, have greatly preferred if Rishia chose not to become a slave. As I'd said before, she seems to me to be a good character to demonstrate that it's not a matter of "good women are subservient" as a subservient nature is a big flaw with her, to the point of being a major part of what makes her annoying even to the main character. While it would fit for her to be willing to sacrifice everything, up to and including her freedom, to become strong enough, still her going that far does seem to invite further criticism.

Same goes with the other heroes. I got the feeling they were supposed to satirize common heroic traits like loyalty, strength and justice, but they go a bit too far and end up being no more than caricatures a lot of the time. If they'd been toned down just a bit, allowed to show that their heroism could be positive at times, it might have done better. Show that being loyal to one's companions and believing in them is a good thing that can do a lot to support the party, but also something that can be taken too far and cause problems, rather than only showing how easily a "loyal" man is taken advantage of. Maybe have him save Rino (a character from the LN) from the brothel because she had been part of their party but refuse to believe that his party members were really the ones that sold her. Or show Itsuki actually saving lives and earning some of the praise he craves rather than only showing how many of his heroics fail to actually improve things due to his focusing more on being the great hero that saves the day than on actually figuring out how to actually help solve a sticky situation.

Either way, my point was that it felt to me more like these guys were made to make fun of heroic tropes than to make Naofumi look like a saint in comparison. It's just that too much focus was put on showing how bad these traits are when taken too far and too little was given to show that it can be good when done right and in moderation.

Anyway, setting that aside, along with Keel's bandages I also noticed one possible mistake. Is it just me, or did the little kids that ran by Naofumi suddenly change height relative to one another after bumping into him?