Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life | Wholesome and better than expected

I’ve returned, as I continue to stray from the path of writing my thoughts on the anime currently airing. Today I come to you with a new blog about “Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life“. Another anime I’ve been wanting to watch for a long time but never got around to it until now.

For more than 30 years, Dariel has been a loyal soldier in the Demon King’s army, having been raised by Granverza, one of the Four Heavenly Generals. However, as Dariel lacks any magical potential, he is nothing but a disgrace in the eyes of Granverza’s son, Bashubaza, who fires Dariel right after assuming his father’s position as a general.

Stripped of a home and a job, Dariel wanders the forests, where he stumbles upon a human girl named Marika running from a monster. After Dariel intervenes to help Marika, she invites him to stay at her village in return. There, he discovers that the reason he has zero suitability for magic as a demon is that he is, in fact, a human.

However, Dariel is no ordinary human. Possessing potential that far outweighs even heroes, Dariel may soon find himself involved in the humans and demons’ seemingly never-ending conflict, facing against the race he once considered allies.
Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life
MyAnimeList

“Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life” is a better version of “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita“, which if you haven’t read my review on it is definitely NOT work watching. Anything could be better than “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita” and it so happens that this anime is 100x better. Allow me to explain.

The story follows Dariel who was banished from the Demon King’s army. All his life, he thought that he was a demon. But quickly soon after being kicked out, he finds out that he is indeed a human. From this point on, much of the story itself is pretty generic. Dariel moves on to live a happier life, married mayor of a town and beloved by many.

That being said, however, what really pulled me towards “Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life” was Dariel and Dariel alone. He has had the unique opportunity of being on both sides of an ongoing war, having fought in the Demon King’s army his whole life, while also getting to experience life away from the battlefield as his true identity; a human. It is because of this, that his yearning to see an end to the conflict through means of diplomacy and through means of non-violence is admirable.

Episode to episode, we see Dariel preaching what he teaches. This dude is passionate, compromising an excellent communicator and someone who does not want anymore blood shed. He cares about both sides and that’s something he makes vividly clear throughout the anime. Whenever someone challenged his resolve, he continued to stay true to his own virtues and I have mad respect for that.

As far as the story is concerned, is the path Dariel takes generic as previously mentioned? Yes. However the underlying message that’s being told especially towards the end is what drew me in.

There are many messages that can be interpreted from watching this anime, the main one being that it’s important to find what’s worth fighting for. Find what you think is meaningful and fulfilling and stick to it regardless of whatever stands in your way. Every time Dariel is met with something or someone who questioned his resolve, he stood by it even if that meant putting his life on the line for that cause.

The biggest issue I had with the anime was that I thought there were too many storylines the anime was trying to manage. Furthermore, each storyline involved a different set of characters with Dariel being the only constant in each one; after all the story is about him and his life. I would have preferred it if they had focused on one. Like for example, the storyline regarding Dariel and his adoptive demon father and by extension his stepbrother. This was one of the few storylines co-existing in this fantasy world.

We only really saw this delicate relationship become front and center towards the latter episodes of the anime. But I would’ve enjoyed it more if more of the anime focused on that instead of juggling all of the other storylines that filled each episode.

On the plus side, I can safely say that there was always something going on each episode. Which is good.

Overall, for what its worth, “Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life” was a fairly enjoyable anime. I thought it was different when compared to everything I’m watching right now and it was a welcomed shake-up for sure. I recommend this anime if you have nothing else to watch, it’ll definitely fill that gap.