Review of Redo of Healer

A long time ago, in an anime community far far away... There was once an ancient fandom of the 80's and 90's, who watched gore filled animation such as Akira, and anime containing sexual exploitation such as Perfect blue, and we enjoyed it for what it was. Because beyond the offensive content, beyond the often intriguing psychological horror, is a showcase of the somewhat morbid underbelly of how twisted the human mind can truly be. Hardly anyone ever complained. But time passed, the cult-of-woke gained traction, and now apparently anything remotely offensive gets the socjus crowds panties all in a bunch. Offensive content? In my Chinesecartoons!? Gasp! Shock! Dismay! Surprised Pikachu face!

Then along comes Redo of Healer, and laughs in everyone's faces.

It has been said in the past, that any artistic work of fiction that offends enough normies while still having a cult following behind it is almost always worth watching. This anime is not an exception to the rule, and is thus very much a case where reading the reviews will more accurately give you an idea if this show is for you or not than simply looking at the average score. Kaifuku Jutsushi is crude, unapologetically not politically correct, and completely insane. And you know what else it is? One of the most unique fantasy-setting ( It's technically not Isekai ) shows of this genre in a very long time. The characters, plot, and general mood of this anime are completely different than what most fans these days are used to. But does this mean it's "edgy"? Sort of, but the reality is redo of healer is in many ways just returning to roots. Watch some fantasy anime of the 80s and 90s, such as Legend of Lemnear or Vampire Hunter D, and you will find this isn't as terribly off the mark of what anime can be after all. Kaifuku Jutsushi is really only guilty of simply not giving a flying crap about modern progressive standards of morality. It's less about breaking the rules, and more about forgetting that these rules were made at some point in time in the first place. Rules schmules.

But enough about the controversy, the more important question is just how good this show is and what the heck is it about? Well, the most important thing to understand before getting into this anime is that it's what many like to call "Hentai Lite". There isn't exactly a clear definition of where "Ecchi" ends and "Hentai" begins, but many agree it starts somewhere at hardcore sex. Redo of Healer has plenty of hardcore sex, but it's directed and storyboarded in a way that you never see anything close to their genitals - only asses and titties - so it technically still qualifies as "Ecchi" BUT OH BOY does it push that boundary HARD. And the content also includes some pretty nasty sex, including rape and murder-sex and brainwashing to bring uncommon questions to the table such as "Is it still rape if the girl has been mindwiped and brainwashed to think she wants it ?" Yeah, probably. As mentioned earlier, this show really does not care about how many normies get offended by it.

If you still aren't turned away by everything I have stated, the next set is how Redo of Healer stands plot wise. This is where Redo of Healer has to lose a couple points. The plot, while good enough to grab your attention and unique enough to not be predictable, is still fairly simple. Without spoiling anything significant, our Hero is a Healer-class who is horribly abused and tortured by his party members. He manages to rewind time to before when he met them in order to both redo his life and enact revenge upon those who have wronged him. Along the way, he finds various friends who have also been abused and eventually comes to the conclusion that the problem is ultimately a kingdom ruled by corruption. Thus the quest to bring down said "evil empire" has begun...but not before another good sex session. It's a fantasy setting where the Hero is out for revenge, and the results of his revenge often lead to more revenge as blood begets blood. It's well written enough to keep interest, but not the best of the year or winning any awards by any means. Besides the extreme violence and unusual cast of characters, Redo of Healer still commits a few sins of cliche storytelling. Not enough to drop the score too far down the toilet, but just enough that it deserves mention. Plus the question of a possible second season to finish things is anyone's guess.

In conclusion, what really makes Redo of Healer stand out is the dark nature combined with the characters unique attitudes that takes what would otherwise be a fairly straightforward fantasy-Medieval story about taking down an evil Kingdom and turns it into something fresh. Very few anime manage to create a main character that is so unquestioningly devoid of any moral dignity, easily comparable to Rance, and yet still somehow remains somewhat likable. It's a show that pushes the concept of subjective morality to the extreme, while being entertaining in a "stroking your morbid curiosity" sort of way. For that, I give Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi a thumbs up, but with the caveat that this show is definitely not for the faint of heart.