Lisel is dressed, coiffed, and accessorized like a noble, but no one can tell he is one unless he tells them. That’s what he thinks, anyhow, as he determines to keep his identity secret while ambling through a sparsely populated town market he later describes as “lively.” After selling some of his accoutrements for the local currency, Lisel explains to himself for the third time that he needs more information—and also a companion. That would be han—immediately, a voice calls out. It’s a dark, handsome, muscular man, warning him that there are bad guys down the road he was taking. Yes, this is exactly who Lisel needs! So he throws some gold coins at him, and from that moment on, the man belongs to him. Or at least, that’s apparently how he sees it, according to some dialogue later on, when a brutish fellow makes a claim on the handsome one. I digress. Back to Lisel and the handsome man, Gil. Lisel explains that he’s from somewhere else that isn’t here, but is a lot like here, so he’s not too fussed. But he needs information. Gil grumpily agrees to provide it and to take Lisel to the adventurers’ guild so he can register as an adventurer, because no one can know that he’s a noble, so adventuring it is. The receptionist, a well-built youth named Stud (I kid you not), immediately clocks Lisel as a noble. He’s still wearing the rich outfit and jewelled accessories, you see, though he has at least let down his hair. Lisel pats the young man on the head. There’s some pricking and sucking of fingers, for the purpose of identification, of course. Let the slow life in another other world begin!
Yawn! What a dull premiere. I think Lisel is meant to be enigmatic, but he just comes across as pedantic and oddly disconcerting, like he’s always on the verge of speaking in euphemisms, but never quite goes the whole way. In fact, the whole episode is like that: It’s not tagged BL, but the subtext is strong; yet the author of the original light novels insists that there’s no romance between the men, and it’s all just about male friendship. Personally, considering all the near-euphemisms, the coyness about non-interest in women (one of Lisel’s first questions to Gil), and the harem’s worth of handsome men all finding themselves intrigued by Lisel in this episode, I’d say that either the author, or the studio behind this adaptation, SynergySP, is having a laugh. Romance may not be the endgame here, but romanticized friendship—shonen ai—definitely is. And honestly, this little debate about how to tag the series is the most interesting thing about this premiere. The animation is bland, the voice acting rather one-note, and I didn’t notice the music, though I know I sat through the OP and ED. Lisel doesn’t even come from our world, but rather another, very similar world, so there’s no fun of the “fish out of water” variety to be had here. Instead, the setup relies completely on viewers finding the characters’ relationships interesting, and I’m sorry to say they really just aren’t; they put the BL in “bland”! It’s a lethargic pass for me on this one.
Uh, yeah Lisel, actually, you really have…
A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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