Review of Redo of Healer

Shield Hero is having an inferiority complex rn. Ok hear me out, I really want to give this an ironic high rating, but it is literally beyond my capability to even do so. Like I want to be super quirky like other reviewers who rate ironically too :( you know like those 10/10 Ex-Arm reviews that pose a threat to comedy, or perchance the voguish undaunted NTR-immune de-Twitter’d armor-plated exemplars who fervently admire this sort of stuffs. Anyhow, it’s bad, because it kinda gets boring especially towards the end. But still not that bad. After 12 episodes, I barely even know what happens. Comment on my intelligencehowever you want, but whenever I watch this show, my attention span halves and my brain ceases to intellectually function (though confessedly I just don’t really care about whatever was going on). But that didn’t matter. In the end, what matters is that I was slightly amused by the show, sardonic or not, yet also got bored of it pretty quickly. And if there’s anything I ought to be mindful of, it is that unlike Shield Hero, our protagonist healer hero isn’t some midway morally ambiguous caitiff that we’re supposed to like. Ironically, that makes it all the better.

Let’s get one thing straight first. The discourse on morality, sexual violence and (hate to even type this) ‘thematic depth’ regarding this show is all worthless to me, because for a torture porn to receive such a treatment is unthinkable. It’s like saying “I watch Ruggero Deodato’s movies for the plot”. Now after finishing the show you might be wondering, why are the characters over-the-top unhinged subhuman garbage with no redeeming quality? The answer is rather simple: they aren't supposed to deserve the audience’s remorse. Essentially the classic “look at how satisfying the rape revenge brought upon these scums of the earth is”, which is integral to how torture porn works. None of this is meant to help you understand more about rape and revenge, and since this is no meaningful writing in my book, I wouldn’t take it seriously either. We, the audience, are conditioned to feel absolute contempt and hatred for the abusers, for it's only natural, and rational, to despise humans who have shown zero human traits and committed countless evil deeds. So conveniently, the show justifies these comically malicious characters’ suffering, superficially appealing to the instinctual human response. Of course whether you’re content with the revenge or not is within your power, yet it's practically undeniable that such is the intent. So, nuancing something this openly farcical and exploitative, be it under positive or negative light, is just mindboggling.

“But no one deserves to be tortured.”
Ok save that for a serious talk. Because even more conveniently, a once sane, upright jack of a protagonist has become a psychopath beyond recognition, understandably after years of torment. Convenient, isn’t it? For whatever a psychopath does isn’t within the realm of morality. It matters not if you disagree with the dude's perspective on punishments, because the man is already as far from sanity as humanly possible. Better yet, the show is completely aware of this, and acknowledges how evil the MC is. I wouldn’t consider laughing manically after bathing under the blood of the soldiers who just killed the people from your own village is very batman-like; at least from how I see it, the show doesn’t make it seem cool? Sure it works in favor of evil, but it isn’t deceptive nor does it shun its evilness. And even better, this man also happens to be a literal god with the kind of power that can technically do anything in the name alchemy (time travel(??), altering people’s appearance, forceful erection, hentai mind-breaking, etc.). Yes it makes no sense, though this is all but an excuse. It excuses his actions, his revenge, his methods, his fucking, his every misdeed simply because it needs to get to the point, the torture porn. There’s nothing deeper about it. In a way, this makes it hysterically enjoyable to watch at times. Watching a comically-treated gloating, egomaniacal psychopath not giving a damn about anything even if he might appear otherwise at first, and how his hedonic schemes are equally as horrible as his victims, is all so hilarious for whatever reasons. I also couldn't care less about whatever happens to the mc because he’s a purely wicked guy himself. So to sum up the experience, it's like witnessing an inhuman villain slaughtering other inhuman villains while the whole thing is so absurdly comical, and it’s quite honestly not that bad (at first).

Sadly, the formula gets worn out pretty quickly and soon enough, the show loses much of its entertainment (after 4 or maybe 5 episodes). Everything is repetitive, which is to be expected, ultimately becoming the greatest flaw. Sure there might be 1 or 2 funny things happen once in a while to tingle my mingle like the ferocious shadow schlong. But generally, there isn’t much to look forward to, because the formula is kept completely static. Our protagonist's path of vengeance won't see any alternatives for as long as this goes on, and the outcome is predictably a 2-sides-of-the-coin. Whatever triumph lies ahead or catastrophe befalls the protagonist simply doesn't compel me, because I have no care for him in the first place. I take none of this seriously so it shouldn't come as a surprise that for a repetitive formula, nothing can be of interest for a 12-episode length. I guess avoiding the pitfall of Shield Hero (not making a meant-to-be-adored MC and revenge a complete pain in the ass to sit through) can only benefit it so much. In exploitation, enjoyment is everything. While it's rather amusing to take in the self-aware irony and hilarity, it isn't nearly enough to compensate the dreary repetitiveness and a direction that doesn’t pique my interest. Btw I didn’t watch most of the Shield-Hero-esque trading/investigating/wandering shenanigans but I get the gist of it. Still let’s just say Redo of Healer does it better and thus is a wholly better show because we all know that’s true.

For the overall production quality, it’s aight like a mid-tier hentai I didn’t really care. The voice acting makes it pretty funny though, so I approve that. That said, it's whatever.

Now, onto the real questions. Does it make you a psychopath for enjoying how absurdly psychopathic the protagonist is? No. Does it make you a subhuman garbage who deserves no remorse for rooting for the dude? Probably not (except if you actually take it seriously in some twisted way, but morality is shit-fest of a discussion anyway). And does it make you a man of virtue for feeling sick watching a torture porn? Fuck no. Also you have the carte blanche to jerk off to this, yeah I know you’re welcome. Enough said, Shield Hero can go suck Healer Hero’s long shadow schlong. This is objectively the superior revenge tale.