Overview: Kelvin (Van Barr Jr.) sets up a plan to take down a murdering band of adventurers and then takes on the notorious dark knight, Gerard Fragarach (Bruce Carey).
Our Take: The guild receptionist, Ange, gets some more screen time as she and others take notice of Kelvin making fast progress. Although she’s a simple character thus far, it pays off in establishing her as sweet and someone who cares about Kelvin’s wellbeing, making her instantly likable. Speaking of, rising up through the ranks brings attention, and a lot of times the unwanted kind, which is exactly what Celsius gets this time around. A band of scheming murdering adventurers makes for satisfying batting practice. While it is definitely paint-by-numbers in his rapid progression, it is an entertaining display of how overpowered Kelvin is in all the different ways he dominates. It’s engaging to see a genuinely smart MC understand the scummy nature of someone and set a trap ahead of time for them or even how his adorable slime, Clotho, has leveled up to a king slime on steroids.
The real battle lies in the combatant Kelvin was trying to get to in the dark knight, Gerard Fragarach. The ancient knight is a charming subversion of the dark energy he puts out with his kind and friendly demeanor. With Kelvin waiting to prove himself to him and add him to his party, they fight. Whenever a mostly 2D show switches to CG, nervousness sets in wondering how effective it will be at the tech changeup. Thankfully, those worries were mostly quelled with how decent it looked in motion, especially with epic spells like a rock wall or Clotho’s slime tentacles and magic blast. What does falter is the way Gerard’s backstory is told in how little went into fleshing out the emotional backbone of his family or his fallen kingdom with it feeling like a lazy cliff notes version. Gerard joining the party is a nice addition, especially as he is so damn likable and hopefully that allows us to better get to know him than what his debut introduced him with.