The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero's Party-

KANLen09★ 2

The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids - The stereotypical below-average generic fantasy with an objective, but not with a purpose. For every good fantasy work, be it underrated or overrated, there're more than 10 times as much average works as uninspiring authors can chunk it out of the oversaturated genre. And one such work is novelist Ryuuta Kijima's Saikyou Tank no Meikyuu Kouryaku: Tairyoku 9999 no Rare Skill-mochi Tank, Yuusha Party wo Tsuihou sareru a.k.a The Strongest Tank's Labyrinth Raids: A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero's Party, part of the "Shin no Nakama a.k.a Banished from the Hero Party" sub-theme,but worse. The story about a hero party's strongest tank character, this is Rud's way of burning through a smorgasbord of dungeon labyrinth raids, all in the pursuit of finding the cure that would help to alleviate his sister Manicia's illness. But just like Shin no Nakama's Red, he was ousted for his "rather unimpressive" tank abilities, all in the while that Rud himself isn't even aware of what he himself and his big-sized shield is capable of. That would come as a coincidence when he finds a girl of unknown origin escaping from a group of people, which he carried her to safety, only realizing that she has a rare Appraisal skill, proving that Rud indeed has his tank powers unimaginable, but at an insane defense level of 9999 HP along with skills that he learns from this girl: power capable to find that cure for himself as the unknowingly strongest tank ever. And yeah...that entire premise sounds just as tropey as the last Isekai/fantasy show you've just watched, that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. To be fair, a lot of authors like Ryuuta Kijima who just want to profit from the "Japanese don't care if Isekai/fantasy is good or shit", they're free to do so on their own regard. But a workaround like this sure only laments the fact that these "up and coming" authors who think they have the capability to write a "decent" fantasy, it's not helping the people who has to take that job and say, turn it into an anime. Heck, giving this assignment to a new and unproven animation studio just shows the lack of attention that the Japanese will never learn from their mistakes. Back to Saikyou Tank then, the one constant problem that stems from these generic and tropey works is the plot. The summary: it’s all so generic — there’s your typical cliches and half-assed reasonings for the plot to progress, but it’s all not delved into, making the story shallow. Remember that I mentioned that the show "had an objective, but not a purpose"? The show is supposed to fixate on Rud getting his dear sister (which he has a siscon fetish to) with the rare medicine that treats her, barring her from death, but they treat it like "Ah, my sister has a disease that she will die if not being treated, but even if I have the treasure, we need to think of what to do next and keep the plot alive". Like hello, people's lives, loved ones especially, are not things you can toy and be not serious about. Plus, it's your own sister...who is nonchalant about her own peril and wants to keep being clinically troubled yet alive for the sake of her wellbeing. This is just terrible writing, not just on the objective part, but of the purpose as well. Even worse, as a show that focuses on the development and introspection of characters, they need to be fundamentally sound. Too bad like the horrible writing that this source material gets, all of them are pitifully generic and uninteresting — there are some “emotional” chapters within the story, but it was forced before any interest formed in the first place. Let's take the girl that Rud found in the first place: Luna, the white-haired escapee/refugee with a gem encrusted on her chest, she's a breed of illegal homunculi created for slave labour, not to mention of her "training" to be a combat slave. Rud taking her in is natural progression, but when he faces more of the Hero's Party (i.e. healer Nin and twin swordswomen Lily and Lilia) and others coming after him which seemingly are all girls in that regard, they all fall victim to the harem genre, being in love with Rud. Outside of that, they don’t have much of a personality besides for the classic waifu traits. Even with the other dungeon guardians which Rud subsequently earns their respect and works with them to improve Avancia, this is about the best that he can do: a spokesperson for the small town. Talk about generic in the most general sense. If the show does not get even more basic enough, look no further than its mediocre production, put forward by a very new Studio Polon, who is the embodiment of additions to "new" studios like Maho Film and Staple Entertainment of falling victim to being chosen to produce fantasy shows that are just plain bad. More people getting into the AniManga industry DOES NOT equal quality, and this show just made a fine example of how the studio's future works will be soldered by its third-rate and substandard quality. You think the show's generic-ness couldn't be that bad yet? Nope, there's worse, and the music here is just simply forgettable. Both of Ireisu's OP and ED songs are just white noise at best, which once again, extends the fact that this show is just nothing memorable at all. The very simple TL;DR I can give you: Shin no Nakama still stands alone as the best representation of the "Banished from the Hero's Party" thematic, while this show does nothing to serve its plot, or heck, even perform the MacGuffin effect correctly. Do not watch this show unless you don't mind watching something that's a perfect representation of a worthless time-waster.

stotro★ 7

Decent guy fighting the good fight to keep his family, his friends and his hometown safe. Generic? Sure. Bad? Not this time. Stories about the apparent underdog who discovers and evolves his skills just to figure out he was the hero all along are, for sure, a dime a dozen. Saikyou Tank fits the template perfectly. To satisfy his ego "the Hero" kicks the MC, Rud, from his party. But since Rud was only in the party to farm for a cure for his sister's illness, he recovers quickly and moves on. Which is followed by a satisfying success story built on self-betterment and compassion. To keepthings spoiler-free here's what you'll get from Saikyou Tank: a JRPG backdrop of swordplay, monsters, magic, dungeons, horse-drawn carriages and rural towns surrounded by palisade walls. Several detailed and all in all entertaining boss fights. Relatable and not too complex character evolution and relationship building. A few cute characters and monsters. Quite some little sister and low key loli complex by MC. Growing respect and admiration for the MC mixed with some subservience and some romance from the (almost) all girls party. While, in my opinion, avoiding full-on simping harem territory. Overall a relaxed, easy to follow and satisfying story. What you won't get: superhuman and decades long training routines to prepare for the next boss fight. Sugary romance or tearful tragedy. Constant yelling, screeching and temper tantrums. Force-inserted "comedy". In-your-face fanservice. Unless you count the, as usual, cutesy girls or Lilia and Lily's signature combat move. A 100% to the letter coverage of every rule in "the book" (of your choice). Genre defining story development, world building, art, animation or sound track. Now, why would I recommend watching the show? Because it's entertaining and satisfying to see MC struggle and succeed. Because the show doesn't try, and fail, to be something it is not.