English Dub Review: Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles. “Land of Promises”

Overview

Rio has left the village of the People of the Spirits and headed for his parents’ homeland, Yaugumo. Unable to find any information on them, Rio searches and encounters the head of a small village in the Karasuki Kingdom, Yuba. When Rio tells Yuba the names of his parents, she’s shocked—she and Rio have a profound connection. At Yuba’s recommendation, Rio decides to live in the village and so a quiet, happy life alongside the villagers, including his cousin Ruri and a girl named Sayo, begins…


Our Take

At this point, I’m so glad Rio finally found some family and a place where he belongs and given what we knew about Rio when we first met him, I am surprised that after 7 episodes, he found the location his parents came from and found actual relatives that are alive and well. I wonder if now it’s just going to be a case of staying in the village till grandma decides it’s time to tell him what he needs to know.

So far, I liked what the author was going for with the subplot of Rio’s past life, and how someone would deal with information like that in a realistic way, which we see in this episode. I was hoping they would reach the point of the story where Rio would lose control of his anger (which it did) because I love it when characters like him unleash a cathartic burst of violence towards those who were planning to hurt someone they care about.

Overall, while the show so far falls victim to a lot of cliches, I did like it significantly more than the previous ones. It’s even rarer and refreshing to encounter another individual who’s also reincarnated. Usually, in these isekai stories, everyone just blindly goes along with whatever the protagonist wants because the story demands it. The story’s proceedings throughout were also really engaging and so were all the new characters, there was even some great story and character development after Rio left the kingdom, and feel like these new revelations could play a significant role in later storylines.