Six childhood friends make a pact to become hunters when they grow up—er, at least five of them do. Krai is a little…noncommittal about it all. Flash forward to a dreary city street as Krai, now a dreary young man, face obscured by his hood, voices a dreary monologue as he queues up outside the pub where the First Steps Clan is holding a hunter recruitment event. It’s his fifth time. His friends made good on their pact and are now the top team, the Grieving Souls, within the top clan, while he…well. Dreary speaks for itself, right? A bubbly young woman who’s just made level 3 tries to engage him in conversation as they wait outside the event, when a rowdy tough guy mocks her and picks a fight. Krai pulls down his hood even further, trying to disappear into his cloak as he shrinks into the shadows. Fortunately, someone else defuses the situation. This pattern repeats itself once they’re all inside, and this time, Krai decides to slouch for the door before the blows begin raining down. Only, as he retreats, he makes an off-hand comment which causes a hot-tempered but highly skilled girl hunter to do a double-take before leaping across the room to stop him dead in his tracks. Roll credits. Oh, wait, those weren’t the closing credits? We’re only 8 minutes in? Weird, but ok. So, it turns out Krai is not some loser hunter but is actually the leader of the Grieving Souls, and indeed, of the entire First Steps clan—even though his skill level is, well, we don’t even know how paltry it is but it must be bad because he keeps trying to quit and has never actually defeated anything in his entire career (he hasn’t lost though either; he just avoids all perilous interactions!). But no one will let him go and everyone thinks he is OP because he kinda ends up tricking everyone? Without meaning to? Placing them at terrifying risk over and over again without either he or them really realizing it? Oy yoi yoi! Someone let this poor kid retire before he accidentally dooms them all!
You know, this one actually ends on a stronger note than I expected it to during the first 20 minutes! The sudden appearance of credits a third of the way through was pretty odd, and the episode was mostly predictable stuff we’ve seen a gazillion times in this genre with the usual array of “types” comprising the cast, but the end—which I haven’t spoiled here—was actually pretty intriguing! The final seconds could very well see the series take a sharp turn next episode off the course otherwise set up here, or at the very least, take the spotlight off of just Krai and his overwrought hard-done-by schtick which is rather eye-rolling. Tino, the fiery hunter girl, is the most interesting character so far, for although she at first seems to fit the stereotype of the cutesy girl with a personality gap (fawning over those she admires and an absolute hellion toward anyone she deems disrespectful of them and/or her clan), she shows a little more street smarts near the end, meaning she could be one to watch if you’re looking for the faintest glimmer of originality in this series. (I’m not promising anything, though!) Anyhow, if you like the adventurer genre, and the sighing ML who just wants to escape a life where he really has it pretty darned good, then this one may be for you! I’m going to give it one more episode to see if the tease at the end amounts to anything. But I’ll be honest, I’m not holding my breath.
Let this Grieving Soul Retire is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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