When I think of a solid fantasy anime, this anime often comes to mind. While the plot has some issues, specially in the anime, where much that happens is not covered properly or outright not explained (I'm looking at you, Valacirca fight...) it is a very good take on fantasy and isekai genre, with some well put Tolkien references. Yes, it is Isekai, but no, it doesn't revolve around MC's constantly remember his life prior to his reincarnation. The story itself understands that the MC was something in his past life that he is not very proud, then he uses that feeling as fuel to becomea better person and that is pretty much it. Like many other Isekai titles where MC is outright OP due to retaining memories and mentality of someone older from previous life, it felt that in Saihate no Paladin, he used that maturity to overcome issues and to learn about the world he now lives in, nevertheless he is pretty damn strong, more than average for sure.

Overall, story progression felt good, all characters seemed to have purpose and were well written, the artstyle was very nice (though in manga is way better) and definetely recommend it, specially for Tolkien and Fantasy fans.