Saihate No Paladin (The Faraway Paladin)
Genre: isekai, fantasy
Studio: Children’s Playground Entertainment
Hello my friends. Welcome to an other entry blog.
Now, it is a time to come back to all ways of do blogging, at least from me. And while I was receiving my second dose, I was able to use that time to watch some good anime, and have a good time, especially from this spring/winter, depending the place of the world you are in now. And one of the anime that I was curious about was one that I chose regarding the Chosen Ones (Well, not really).
And now, it is finally time to watch, since I consider I watched enough for an entry.
Behold…
But before I continue, I must ask you the typical questions:
Are you guys ok? Feeling happy?
If the answer is yes, then I am happy, especially since I now have a peace of mind due to the shots.
Now… let’s go in the ultimate life-changing journey… of the comfy of the bed. This is The Faraway Paladin.
PREMISE
Saihate no Paladin is another isekai story, written by Kanata Yasugino and illustrated by Yususaga Rin, and tells the story of Will, a young man who died and reincarnated in another world, like I said, an isekai. In this new world, he is raised by three undead creatures, Blood, a skeletal warrior who teaches him to use weapons in combat; Mary, a mummified priestess who teaches him daily-to-daily tasks, and to pray; and Gus, an spectral sorcerer who teaches him magic and sorcery.
After some years, Will finally reaches adulthood, and then he must make an oath to a deity of his choice, in this case, Gracefeel, the Goddess of Light. Shortly after, Will start going on this journey of life, to learn the truth of this world and of his tutors, with the help of many sweet companions, Meneldor, an elf, expert on archery and Will’s best friend, Robina, a traveling trobadour, and Antonio, a hawker and skilled negotiator.
Oh… And Will adopts the names of his tutors and a tribute, calling himself William G. Maryblood.
One interesting fact is that Saihate no Paladin was heavily influenced by another isekai anime I reviewed months ago, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation. In fact, the author, Kanata Yasugino, mentioned his work and quote:
«Mushoku without ecchi».
Here is a little article explaining it.
To be honest, this article got my attention more than the premise itself, encouraging me to watch Saihate no Paladin in the end. But I will talk about it later.
Regarding Saihate, this adaptation is going to have only one cour – that is 12 episodes, and it is produced by a studio I swear I never heard of before – Children’s Playground Entertainment. Actually I found the name pretty funny, and it is not because it is producing an isekai story, or because I think they produce children stories. It is because I find the name a bit… unconventional. I do not know how to speak it, but half of me thinks the name is good, and the other half thinks is lame.
Sort of.
Anyway, Saihate no Paladin is available at Crunchyroll, and the opening theme – «A sacred heart» is performed by Hikaru Masau, a.k.a. Helical, and the ending is performed by Nagi Yanagi, and it has a fancy name – Shirushibi, or Mark of Fire.
Now, let’s go with…
STORY
One thing I definitely agree with the article, is that Saihate no Paladin has a lot of influence from Mushoku Tensei, and for me, that is a good thing because definitely Mushoku Tensei is one of the best anime of 2021, you watch the series, and you get the vibes immediately. Nonetheless, I caught four big differences with the work of Rifujin na Magonote and its adaptation. And I will put them here.
- While Mushoku Tensei takes its time to make the main character, Rudeus Greyrat, grow, at least physically, Will basically becomes a 15-year-old adult in three episodes.
- Mushoku Tensei focuses in the life of Rudeus Greyrat, in a matter of bildungsroman, Saihate no Paladin centers on a hero’s journey.
- The plot of Mushoku Tensei is about Rudeus’s desire to life properly again, while Saihate no Paladin focuses in the mystery of the world Will was reincarnated.
- We, as viewers, knew what kind of life Rodeus got before, but the previous life of Will remains a mystery.
Also, the fact that there are three undead creatures raising an human boy, and the truth behind that adds a lot of personality and uniqueness to the story, and despite these two episodes are not precisely of battles and war, they do not lack of action; better yet, none of them are slow. As a matter of fact, episode one has a lot of development regarding Will and his family, with all of them, and the events of those relationships are interesting enough to be convincing, and while we watch the episode, we come to know the personalities of Gus, Mary and Blood.
Gus being the grumpy, yet likeable old man; Mary being a mother figure, and Blood the builded warrior with a heart of gold. They might sound as stereotypes to many, but for me, they fit their roles pretty well.
So yeah. If you enjoy these types of story, you will like Saihate no Paladin, but for those fans of action and adventure, this might be frustrating, depending in your state.
Furthermore, another big difference between Mushoku Tensei and Saihate no Paladin is the animation, and the atmosphere. While Mushoku has rough lines and opaque colours for highlighting the realism, from my viewpoint…
Saihate no Paladin is more colourful and bright, like a hint for the vision of adventure.
But one thing is for sure. The first two episodes has a lot of mythology. because Will gets a lot of knowledge regarding the deities of this new world. Volt, the God of justice and Lightning, similar to Zeus; Mater, the Mother Goddess; and Blaze, the God of Fire and technology.
Also… very curious names.
And for those who may noticed… Saihate no Paladin does the opposite of Mushoku Tensei in terms of world-building, because while the latter develops a lot of races and ethnicities of the new world, Saihate no Paladin creates a beautiful mythology that feels similar to our world, yet believable and proper to the new world.
So yeah. Both series have their strengths that make them interesting and their own merit.
By the way, just look at the cover of the first light novel.
When I saw it, I thought we will face a pretty dark story with a lot of violence and war, like Goblin Slayer and The Rising of the Shield Hero, but then…
And I thought… Am I watching the right anime? Perhaps I miss something. This is not a bad thing, but I wanted to share it with you.
Oh well!!!
CHARACTERS
I already mentioned what I think the characters, at least the mentors, Gus being the irascible, yet likeable old man; Mary, the mysterious, but sweet mummified priestess who loves Will as her son, and Blood, the giant warrior with a heart of gold.
And now… let’s get this over with.
Yeah. The good ol’ Ainz Ooal Gown. I also noticed it.
Also, the presentation of Will is pretty solid, due to the glimpses of his previous life, in fact, there is a scene in which you see some keepsake, like the main character was cremated.
And overall, Will is a likeable protagonist. At first I thought he will have some deep voice, possibly played by Yuichiro Umehara (Goblin Slayer), or Yusuke Kobayashi (Re:Zero & Dr. Stone), but it sounds more like Ayumu Murase (Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun), and that adds a lot of humanity to him.
My only disappointment is that the companions of Will did not appear during the first episodes. This is more my failing, of course, so I will give my time to watch more episodes.
Perhaps, I will end up liking them as well.
CONCLUSION
Saihate no Paladin ended up having a lot of cool things, the animation, the characters, the plot, the world-building, and the premise. I say it again, those who enjoyed Mushoku Tensei will have fun with this series, especially for the upcoming episodes.
In fact, I will go now and watch the rest at Crunchyroll…
HECK WITH THAT! LET’S DIE AND GET REINCARNATED, SO A SEXY DARK-SKINNED DEMONESS WILL RISE ME.
I CAN IMAGINE HER!!!
HERE I COME…
…
WOW!! This new world is not what I imagined.
But… where is my sexy dark-skinned foster mother?
Oh!!!
Jainituos Presents 