Review of Redo of Healer
It's been a few years, but now that the dust has seemingly settled, let's get down to business. Without getting into spoilers, I unironically flip between giving this show an 8 or a 9. 8.5 would be perfect. I wholeheartedly believe that at least 50-60% of the negative reviews are from people who saw the brutal 1st episode and got triggered. This show is dark, it's edgy for the sake of edge, but unlike something trash like Akame Ga Kill, Redo of Healer is self-aware enough to revel in it's absurd trashiness without falling off the edge and into the abyss. If you're an adultand aren't worried about fanservice going into off-brand territory, the first episode is admittedly the most outrageous the show actually gets.
On that note, that first episode can be a tough sit; our main character Keyaru goes through arguably way worse things than what he does to Flare, but it doesn't change the fact that, for the uninitiated, it can be hard to watch, hence the backlash.
If you get passed that, what you get is a dark fantasy world with a main character that you are ABSOLUTELY NOT SUPPOSED TO ROOT FOR!!! You can have a main character that is a horrible person. They can be surrounded by marginally worse people and you may want to see him defeat the greater evil, but Keyaru is mentally scarred to the point where he is a danger to those around him, especially those who stand in his way. In a sane world of normal people, this guy would be an arc-ending villain in the middle of a long running shonen series, but this world is more aligned with the previously mentioned Akame Ga Kill than any regular shonen. That being said, even though he is unlikable, he's still a crafty, cunning, smarmy prick and you can't help but wonder what he'll do next on his revenge quest.
The rest of the cast is standard fantasy fair, though I like Setsuna's character design a lot. Flare's not bad either, but pink haired tsundere royalty is a design trope that's been done to death.
The animation is nothing to write home about, but that goes in both directions (like the villains in this series.)
TL;DR This show gets more hate than it deserves, this would've been right at home with the darker OVA's of the 90's. It's main character would be a villain in any standard show and is interesting enough on his own. The off-brand moments do not bug me as much as others, but if you get triggered easily, that is definitely something to keep an eye out for. If you can handle Goblin Slayers' first few episodes than this show isn't going to be any harder to stomach.