Score: B+

This is one I can imagine being a controversial series. I just took it in as I was watching, but sitting down to write something definitely left me thinking. But I’ll be honest in saying that I had a great time with this. It was straight forward which can be nice sometimes and certainly took its time to establish the setting and the cultures that it would be handling. No idea how good a show it will be. But I will say that there wasn’t anything here that I hated.

Tribe knows what it doesn’t want

The biggest takeaway for some I’m sure is the concept of manliness and the Onikin tribe. The tribe is straight forward. They fought against the local kingdom for a long time to maintain their place on those grasslands and ended up losing. But they maintain their place through the use of magic and being ready to move their settlement when necessary. Not an easy way to live and they’ve held onto their beliefs while doing so. It’s a society with a literal lie detector magic and the ability to sense if someone is hostile or going to be a friend. They can sense quite a bit about a person through their horns.

But the big thing is how they determined value and appeal. For a society living that way…yeah I’d say usefulness and being hardworking would be major positives. Not just about raw power, but reliability. The benefit naturally is that no one in that society wants to be or be perceived as a slacker. It’s in everyone’s benefit to work hard. Honestly doesn’t even just seem to be a thing for the guys. Alna runs off to quickly get help after hearing about Dias’ catch, cooks up breakfast before he got up, and was pretty persistent about going on that hunt with him and helping with her magic. His manliness won her over, but you can tell she wanted to win him over as well.

A charming girl

I haven’t seen much discussion on this show, but I can imagine some would flip their lids on it. Although I would find it ironic if people weren’t tolerant about how a fictional society chooses to conduct itself. But I can see some getting upset about Alna’s attitude shifting once Dias showed his capability.

But it made sense for her culture and I found Alna overall quite enjoyable. She started out uneasy and defensive which makes sense. Here’s a guy with armor that almost certainly is from the kingdom they are worried about. But he proves himself over and over to be trustworthy. I got a good laugh from her look of “are you an idiot” when he asked about how to get more subjects. Because yeah, how the heck should she know? She does go heavy on the dere after realizing that he’s really reliable, but of course she would.

Kind of like he’s almost a berserker

Overall I enjoyed how things played out. Dias was kind of just dropped into lordship without any idea what he was doing and no real subjects to speak of. Quite a spot for the King to put on a guy that grew up an orphan and worked up to being a war hero. Dias isn’t a bad guy though. He may be simple, but he dedicates himself entirely to his tasks and promises. He’s kept the wishes of his parents with him decades later. And honestly much like how Alna’s attitude shifted quickly, it’s not like Dias wasn’t feeling the allure when she started being incredibly sweet. That’s the kind of thing that works for him and his society. Different places, different preferences.

This look is gold!

I had a good time with this one whether it was the DiasxAlna interactions or just him beating up on a giant turtle! That earth dragon had no idea who it was messing with. Must’ve been a miserable fight too since it had to hide in its shell and hear this guy just trying to chop away at it! Not a show I’m going to pick up for the season. There’s way too much to watch. But this was a surprisingly enjoyable one. And kind of got a good laugh from ending the episode on Alna declaring that they were going to get married and then…there are kids in the ending! This show doesn’t mess around!