Social Politics In Tate no Yuusha

This is not how isekai anime are supposed to go! The hero is supposed to be overpowered, praised at every opportunity, and surrounded by potential marriage partners.

While this idea sure is appealing were it to happen in real life, anime, as well as stories in general have more of a responsibility to tell unique and engaging plots. Tate no Yuusha breaks from the mold of recent isekai anime to bring us the story of a hero being cast out of society for no reason.

On the surface, it might just seem like a clone of the Re:Zero Phenomenon where the show garnered so much attention due to it torturing the protagonist so badly, but there are several reasons this is not the case. First of all, the anime was adapted from a light novel which came out a few years before Re:Zero became so popular. But more importantly, the motivation is different. Re:Zero used a harsh fantasy world to critique Subaru as a character and demonstrate how his character traits make him obnoxious and counter-productive most of the time. Tate no Yuusha takes a different route where none of the problems (at least initially) are the result of his being incompetent. Rather, his problems are caused by living in a corrupt society which has a prejudice against him.

If anything, the equivalent to Subaru in this world is the other three heroes. They all take a positive outlook and a gung-ho approach to enjoying their new life, much like Subaru tried to at first. It is not much surprise then that their downfall is caused in part by their own self-importance. The main character, Naofumi, on the other hand has more systematic issues to deal with. Presumably due to not having as much offensive presence as the weapon-wielding heroes, he is regarded as lesser than the other three. This has no relation to his value in actual combat, nor any achievements of his own when compared with the other heroes. Such pointless discrimination is reminiscent of discrimination present in the real world. It is no coincidence that his team is looked down on for being composed of demi-humans.

Recently in the series (as of episode 12), Naofumi has gained enough power to start fighting back against the system thanks mostly to the shield powers derived from his feeling of hate. This is where I believe the show will explore a second set of ideas. After having been screwed by the system for so long, Naofumi feels cold and angry, leading him to take his rage out on uninvolved people, such as Melty. Getting back at the king for wronging him truly made a good scene and it felt just right for revenge, but allowing that to go unchallenged would undo all the good the show has done so far. Progress is never made by antagonizing everyone, so Naofumi has to change his attitude or risk losing all the goodwill build up from helping the citizens of the country. If anti-prejudice is supposed to be a theme, it would be best for the show to similarly criticize Naofumi's prejudice against the royal family, and women more broadly as well.

So far, the anime has shown few signs of straying from these core themes. There were a few boring episodes which focused on side quests, but the story is so far only half done. It will probably have plenty of time to more fully explore these ideas in the upcoming episodes. I honestly doubt the story will be finished by the end of the spring season, but at the very least, it can wrap up its initial anti-discrimination message. Where the story goes next, only time can tell.