AKA: 勇しぶ。(Yu-sibu), 勇者になれなかった俺はしぶしぶ就職を決意しました。(Yūsha

Genre: Comedy, fantasy, light drama.

Length: Television series, 13 episodes, 24 minutes each

Distributor: Currently streaming on crunchyroll

Content Rating: R (Nudity, fanservice, scenes of sexual harassment, mature situations, implied abuse.)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Maoyuu, High School DxD, Ah! My Goddess

Notes: Based on a light novel by Sakyou Jun, with art by Inuzumi Masaki.

Rating:

I Couldn't Become a Hero, So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

Synopsis

With the demon lord defeated, hero Raul Chaser finally found himself without a purpose in life, so to make ends meet, he took a job at a a magical device store in the royal capital. Feeling at a loss for what to do with himself, his train of thought is interrupted when what looks like a kid comes in and hands him a resume.

Problem #1: said kid is the daughter of the recently defeated demon King. Problem #2: She doesn't seem to be quite on top of normal human behavior. Looks like Raul's got his work cut out for him.

Review

Problem #3: The show is quite shamelessly a fanservice fest. Of course, this is only a problem for some people, but said people might not necessarily be happy about how said fanservice is presented. Besides, it's more in the way it's presented rather than the... uh, present in itself.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. See, the thing about I couldn't become a hero, so I reluctantly decided to get a job (which I will abbreviate as Yu-sibu from now on, lest this will turn out sounding like the walkathon bit in a certain Mystery Science Theater movie with an equally long and cumbersome name) is a situational comedy that seems to want to take a few cues from shows like Maoyuu; presenting a slightly satirized look on what it means to be a hero, and what it truly means to save the world. In Maoyuu, it means making sure everyone is provided for, and gets a chance to work for the betterment of both themselves and the people around them. In Yu-sibu, it means.... taking a job. As a salesman.

Visually, Yu-sibu just isn't that appealing. The show opens with an admittedly decently animated battle sequence that leads into Raul's rather unique situation, but there's just something cheap about the character designs. They're not necessarily ugly, but there's something.... blurry and faded-out about the characters themselves, as if they don't really gel very well with the generally unimpressive background work and how some of the characters look a bit undistinguishable.

As for the fanservice, it's... kind of ridiculous. Not in the sense of excess; there are a few rare cases of actual nudity, but most of the fanservice is served through the magic of pantyshots and bouncing boobies. And in this world, breasts bounce all the time, with girls moving to make sure everyone gets their money's worth. Which is.... humorously appropriate for a show centered around selling stuff, I guess? Unfortunately, Yu-sibu seems to have gone to the school of rubber boobs; they don't just bounce; they wave. Why anyone would find this cute or sexy, I have no idea. On the flip side, there is this priceless scene where Fino, in the hood she wears at first that makes her look like a little boy, collapses from a backlash caused by her magical powers effecting some of their wares. Raul, still thinking she's a boy, carries her into the rest room and starts removing said hoodie to check for wounds. As he pulls the zipper down, out spills what has got to be the biggest chest he had ever seen; boobies that couldn't possibly have been that well hidden, even within baggy clothes like the ones she was wearing.

As a comedy, Yu-sibu isn't much to get excited about either, but it does have its moments. Fino, the late demon King's daughter, actually supplies a lot of it through her odd, kinda-villainous behavior, mostly through her manners of speech. It helps to alleviate some of the dryness of the show's main plot; saving the world by becoming a store clerk, and it's undertone of what it means to be a hero. The scene where Raul asks Fino to practice her store clerk dialogue, which she proceeds to do in her own way is downright hilarious, and she continues to fall back into that pattern from time to time, even after she learns the ropes. More of a mixed bag is the fact that Fino is utterly clueless about common courtesy and regular common sense. This can and will lead to some funny scenes, particularly in the first couple of episodes, but the gag is carried far beyond its expiration date. Unfortunately, a lot of the comedy also comes from the fanservice, or, to be more specific, a certain aspect of it; there's this old guy who's a regular over at the store Raul works at, who drops by to buy something cheap and fondle one of the girls' butt. The first time we see this in action is when Fino is in training; upon noticing, she immediately wanted to teach the old man a lesson, but is told to calm down. This sets a precedent in the show I find questionable; that molesting girls is apparently quite acceptable. At worst, the girl whose ass you just felt up might be a little bit upset with you. This becomes a bit of a hypocritical plot element later on, when Leon's main competitor, the big chain enters the scene. Raul's former ally and main rival, Airi, basically gets a job as a bunny girl, and when she complains to her manager for being sexually harassed by a customer, she is told to shut up and get back to work. And, of course, if something goes wrong with any of the magical applications being sold, the problem materializes in gelatinous groping hands that only target girls somehow.

As a drama, Yu-sibu fares only a little bit better. While the whole store clerk thing gets tiresome really quickly, there is an odd trace of satirical understanding behind the supply-and-demand part of heroes, and what it means to be one. This is maybe one of the few places where I feel the show has its heart in the right place. Raul used to be a hero, and he wasn't the only one. So when the bottom of the hero market fell, a lot of people who didn't particularly want to be anything else were left with dealing with the problem in various ways. The show doesn't really go into detail about what happens to someone without a regular income, but given that one character whom I assume used to be a hero resorted to robbing, it's probably not easy. This is the part that feels the most like a more modernized Maoyuu, though one that has been dunked in a huge vat of modern popular culture.

I don't think I would be out of place by saying that Fino Bloodstone is the life of the show. You can easily tell that the creators of the anime -- and the light novel by extension -- had a lot of fun with her character. Her origin and her general behavior patterns are the best parts of the entire show; whenever she's unsure of herself, she reverts to what she knows, and it's an amusing, blood-soaked, cackling kind of funny. The show also gets the most serious around her; the aforementioned hero-turned-robber isn't nearly the worst thing someone will do for the sake of their future, and, needless to say, Fino's past will eventually come back and bite her in the ass. (Not literally, of course, but I wouldn't have put it past this show.)

It's a shame, then, that the show is so obsessed with turning into a store clerk manual-turned-lame fanservice comedy act. The whole show just goes into the sort of details I imagine not a whole lot of people would want or care to know about. And aside from Fino and, to some extent, Raul, all the characters are a bunch of standardized dullards whose sole contribution to the show is to serve you more bouncing boobies and pantyshots. It's frustrating, because there are some glimmers of actual enjoyment in this show -- these small moments when Fino does something weird, or those tiny everyday things like Fino talking into a fan, or when Raul dries out Fino's hair -- but on average, it's actually kind of bad.

Glimmers of hope here and there, but otherwise aggravating and boring. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: There is a ton of mostly harmless, but unrealistic-looking fanservice. Unfortunately, there's also the occasional case of sexual harassment... from a show that preaches "sexual harassment is bad. You should only do it if the girl is OK with it", which is an... iffy stance to take. Fantasy violence is a bit prevalent in the first minute or so, and does enter into play at the end as well.

It's only briefly touched upon, but Fino's father was portrayed as not the best of fathers, showcased in a scene that strongly implied domestic violence against her mother and most likely also her.