The demon king can only be defeated by legendary-tier adventurers, but until now no one has been strong enough. Many parties have the ambition to reach this level, including the popular A-rank party, Thunder Pike. They may be all-stars, but that doesn’t mean they work well together, and after making it clear they don’t think much of one member in particular, Yuke, and mocking what they consider to be his pitiful contribution, Yuke decides to leave Thunder Pike. The next day, he coincidentally meets a former student of his, six months after he taught her the basics of adventuring. When Marina hears he’s free to join a new party, she takes the opportunity to invite him to her own D-rank party. This is a big step down from what he’s used to, but he sees potential in the young adventurers and gladly takes on a low-level quest to see if they can work together. How long will it take before Thunder Pike realizes what they lost, and is this new up-and-coming party going to rise to legendary status?

On the surface, this series seems like a typical fantasy show the likes of which we see every single season. I can imagine that many fantasy fans won’t see anything special here. The animation is average, and the main character’s abilities are nothing we haven’t seen before. Despite all of that, I have to admit that I was in a state of (positive) confusion during the first half of this episode. I’m not saying this series does anything amazing here, but there are many small positive elements that add up. The way the main character is introduced didn’t match my expectations based on the title and synopsis. The amount of inner monologue is close to zero, and the dialogue, especially from the main character, is surprisingly solid. He’s aware of how valuable he is, but he’s neither arrogant nor overambitious. He stands up for himself but with minimal theatrics or bitterness. When he meets up with his new party members who are much weaker than him, he’s not condescending, but helpful and humble. It might just be me, but he feels so much more likable and relatable compared to most protagonists in the genre. The other characters are a bit more standard so far, but I’m interested to see how they’ll become more powerful and rise up the ranks. My pessimistic side thinks the series could possibly go in a mediocre direction, especially if they choose to go for major time skips or a focus on harem elements, but before I see evidence of that, I’ll stick around to see where it goes.

I Left my A-Rank Party to Help My Former Students Reach the Dungeon Depths! is streaming on Crunchyroll.