Review of Banished From The Hero's Party, I Decided To Live A Quiet Life In The Countryside Season 2

If you liked the exploration of blessings from Season 1, then I think you'll like this season too. Season 1 asked the question "Do you have to live as your blessing dictates?" and answered it through Ruti overcoming the life consuming blessing of the hero and gaining the freedom to live as she wants. But what if the person with the hero blessing actually wants to be the hero? Season 2 features Van, the "new" hero, and instead asks "Is simply doing as your blessing dictates enough to fulfill your role?" The clash in ideologies between Van, a devout follower of the Almighty who confers blessings,and Gideon, the previous hero's guide who has learned to live outside those blessings, makes for a compelling central conflict.

Within Van's party, Theodora (now going as Esta) tries to advise Van to be more flexible, as she's learned from Gideon, but Lavender (a mysterious fairy who loves Van) keeps telling him he's fine as he is. The last member of the party, Cardinal Ljubo, seems to want to use Van, but somewhat comedically throws his arms up in the air when it comes to actually controlling his actions.

Meanwhile, in Zoltan, Ruti is learning to live a normal life with help from Tisse. Much of the extended cast returns to Zoltan as well, and there are plenty of fun episodes with them all. While there isn't as much focus on Red and Rit's romance as there was in the first season, there's still development, and Rit's love for Red makes for an interesting parallel with Lavender's love for Van later on.

The conclusion of the season was very satisfying and wrapped up everything nicely. Overall I enjoyed this season slightly more than the first, since I was more invested in the plot around blessings than the comfy romance (though both aspects are good), but if you care more about Red and Rit's romance I think you'll like the ending as well.