One of my favorite things about the Fall 2021 season was the first season of Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, despite the unsettling, typical-for-light-novels word salad of its entire 15-word title. It was not an isekai, for starters, and combined heartfelt drama, an intriguing world-building, and a captivating backstory with low-stakes slice-of-life pranks. Its hurried last episodes made me feel that the show’s quality had somewhat declined, but I was glad to hear that a second season was planned.
I’ve never read the original light novels, but from more knowledgeable sources, it seems like this animation translation skimped on the story, eliminating entire volumes’ worth of material in favor of a far more streamlined rendition. Without seeing the episodes, I never would have guessed this. This work features a compelling narrative and thematic thread, an intriguing delving further into the essence of “Blessings,” and a well-developed, complex primary antagonist who both supports and contradicts the beliefs of the protagonists. I have no doubts that the second season surpasses the first.
Former Guide Red continues to be Banished’s dependable and sympathetic beating heart, but Ruti, his sister, and therefore her shy, kind buddy Tisse, receive a lot of screen time. Not nearly enough, maybe, to excuse the excessively, some might say disturbing, concentration on her feet and breasts during the excessively voyeuristic opening segment. It’s possible that uninformed viewers would believe this was a show exclusive to yuri foot fetishists. Its actual substance, which is quite wholesome despite Red and Rit’s frequent and canonical banging off-screen, (sadly?) dashes such expectations. I’m delighted for them! Their symbiotic romantic and sexual relationship is among the healthiest adult exchanges I’ve seen in a long time in anime. Early in season one, we got over the will-they-won’t-they situation, and now they’re so pleasantly, softly, in love.
Red’s search for the ideal stone for the engagement ring he is dying to give Rit has been a recurring background plot throughout this season, and its satisfyingly lovely conclusion is its reward. The primary background story of Ruti is on her attempts to blend in with a peaceful rural life without revealing her true identity as the previous Hero who betrayed her position to the public. Ruti’s social awkwardness and incredible strength are beyond her control, leaving impoverished and frustrated Tisse to constantly mediate situations for her companion. I adore the fact that their “big plans” don’t go beyond cultivating herbs for Red’s Apothecary business. Although Ruti’s love for Red helped her overcome the limitations of her constrictive Hero’s Blessing in the past, she still harbors a troubling romantic obsession on her brother, which I hope she eventually grows out of. If she would only glance a little closer to home, she would see that Tisse feels a little more than simply a passing romantic interest in her.
The arrival of the replacement Hero Van is the central theme of the season’s narrative. An arrogant religious fanatic, he has accepted the same Hero’s Blessing that Ruti refused, slavishly satisfies its cravings, and uses the fact that everything he does is predetermined by the god Demis, who grants the Blessing, to rationalize the atrocities he does. He serves as a sobering warning against pathological, self-serving, unthinking certainty combined with empathy-deficient religious extremism. He is an unnatural monster who thinks God should have complete control over his activities and that he can do anything he wants. That implies that those who, like Ruti, have rejected their Blessing are his opposites, and that, at least in his opinion, everyone who disagrees with his inflexible, damaging opinions is deserving of nothing more than death.
Because there are people in the world with such rigid and extreme belief systems who won’t give in or acknowledge their mistakes, Van makes an intriguing antagonist. His perpetual cheerleader and small fairy-like Lavender, who doesn’t seem to care about his blatant sociopathy and instead revels in her one-sided, obsessive devotion for him, is what makes him possible. Part of Van’s sorrow is that he appears incapable of loving; having been raised in a religiously restrictive household and abandoned to the church as a youngster, he later received a blessing that heightened his obsessions and repressed his human feelings.
A less good novel might have killed off a villain like Van and allowed the characters to carry on with their happy lives, but Banished is smarter and more subtle than that. Red takes advantage of the fact that Van is inclined to listen to him because of his beliefs by using the blessing of his guide. This results in some compelling character growth as Van at last starts to doubt and question himself. The idea that your life and deeds are dictated by God-ordained blessings is unsettling, and Banished keeps thoughtfully and perceptively elaborating on the effects of blessings. I promise that we’ll either witness Red and his pals banding together to murder God, or at the at least, have an impactful conversation with him that inspires him to modify his behavior and take action to transform the world. Any choice would be acceptable.
I won’t be devastated if this is the end because Season 2 ends the plot in a satisfying way. The show has been quite fulfilling; the animation isn’t particularly spectacular, but I adore the character designs and soundtrack. Although there isn’t nearly as much of the plodding slice-of-life content as there was in the first season, it is more powerfully replaced by drama. If you stopped watching this episode, it’s definitely worth coming back to spend more time with Red and his old party pals. It’s great that they’ve all pretty much stopped adventuring to live close to their exiled colleague.
