What They Say:
One does not forget the past, even if it hasn’t happened yet. Many people remain unpunished. Getting to them may require help, though.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With a whole lot of controversy, Redo of Healer caught my attention and I’ve opted to add it to my to-do list, at least for a few episodes, as I’m curious to see if it can be even worse than the first two episodes. Episodes that I thoroughly enjoyed for giving our anti-hero a chance to really be a true villain instead of half-assing it. Nothing that Keyaru did can bring him back from that – even if he goes back in time again and wipes it from existence – as he will be always the darkest of disturbing villains. The more he broke down Flare in the second episode and twisted her into something unrecognizable, the more clearly he cemented his place in things. But I’m still interested in seeing his story unfold because it can go a lot darker and attempts at mitigating things could be fascinating to watch unfold.
Going under the names Keyarga and Freiya, the pair are getting ready to head out of the capitol and lie low for a while having accomplished a large chunk of what he wanted to. Keyaru is also intent on getting out before Flare’s younger sister, Princess Norn, comes back as he had less than welcome encounters with her in his previous run through this life. We see through some flashback material to the other timeline where Keyaru just craved the drugs in order to deal with the pain as Flare heaped nothing but scorn on top of him. Blade and Bullet don’t treat him quite as badly but the reality is that she gets away with all the torture she wants with him and they don’t say much since she is the princess. Of course, a little time shows you just how terrible they are themselves and it just further reinforces the trauma that Keyaru faced. The humiliation she puts him through is pretty intense and with him essentially broken by it we know how this broken man will seek his revenge on her for doing something she so loved doing.
The first half works this flashback well in reminding the viewer of just how horribly Keyaru was treated. And that if he had come back in time and had just killed them, even if a bit gruesomely, he’d be hailed as a hero and there’d be a lot of enjoyment over it. But Keyaru is exacting vengeance in the way that it was perpetrated upon him and acts of sexual violence are rightly viewed more darkly, both in the real world and in storytelling. While revenge is key, surviving is also key and we see him navigate a problem in the city that needs to be dealt with as the water supply is poisoned by nearby monster carcasses being left to spread disease. He ends up using the abilities of his right eye and his healing magic to create antibodies that can be a potion to sell. There’s a bit to navigate there but it’s amusing to see him enter into business with a merchant for this while just dealing with the bodies would eliminate a lot of additional cases. But there’s money to be made and it’s a delight watching him as he takes advantage of things here.
In Summary:
After two episodes that covered a lot of ground and spent a lot of time deep on revenge material, this episode slows things down a bit. Less is placed upon Freiya at this point as she’s basically a humble servant right now and he’s enjoying having her in this position. But we get the flashbacks to the other timeline in order to see what humiliations he suffered during his time before as a way of reinforcing to him that he’s right in what he does. Shifting from that to some standard RPG-ness in figuring out a way to make some money and then delve into the realm of slavery with him acquiring one for his upcoming adventures is an unsurprising mix. But it’s also material that’s just going to further cement this show as one of the most controversial and corrupt ones of the season, if not recent memory.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.