English Dub Season Review: The Great Cleric Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After his untimely death, this salaryman gets another shot at life! When Luciel (Justin Briner) is reborn into a magical new land, he becomes a healer in hopes of leading a peaceful life. However, he quickly learns that being a healer is much more challenging than he expected. With strict and strenuous training in store, this new life is turning out to be anything but peaceful.

Our Take:

The Great Cleric is an anime adaptation of a light novel series written by Broccoli Lion. It was originally published by the novel posting website Shōsetsuka ni Narō in October 2015 before its acquisition by Micro Magazine. It is directed by Masato Tamagawa and written by Keiichirō Ōchi, with the character designs being handled by Guonian Wang. The opening theme song is “Bagu-chan” by Nasuo☆, while the ending song is “A New Day” by Yuki Nakashima.

We’ve seen plenty of characters saving the isekai world as adventurers, paladins, and even knights. However, in this latest series from the genre, we have a healer getting a chance to shine as the fantasy realm’s hero. Healers are known for taking a back seat in the adventurers’ parties. They’re great for casting magic but are more effective when their spells heal the injured members. This hero is about to change how we see healers, serving as the concept of another fantasy isekai series involving a reincarnated salaryman.

It wasn’t that long ago when I watched another isekai show involving a salaryman reincarnating into a fantasy RPG realm. That series was My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1, a fantasy slice-of-life show that’s as bare-bones and derivative as one would expect. Even though it’s not without a few charming moments, it’s also a skill I wouldn’t want to pick up again. So, it seemed shocking that I had to watch two shows featuring a salaryman simultaneously. Of course, that includes The Great Cleric, a series that, at first glance, could be better or worse than My Unique Skill. Thankfully, it became the former regarding the concept, but not by much. It delivers what I was expecting after watching many isekai shows before it. Sadly, there’s not much else in its cut-and-dry narrative to make it stand out from the rest.

The Great Cleric and My Unique Skill share elements that are similar enough to call them rip-offs of one another. The most noticeable ones, of course, are a salaryman reincarnating into another world, the main character helping others and striving to live a peaceful life, and the RPG functions, including stats and skills. However, unlike My Unique Skill, The Great Cleric focuses more on a traditional action fantasy storyline than a slice-of-life narrative, in which the main character, Luciel, journeys to live a tranquil second life, help others in need, and grow stronger. Unsurprisingly, it plays off like any other fantasy isekai series but from the perspective of a healer instead of a warrior or sorcerer. As a result, it offered some predictable, rushed, and underwhelming moments in the characters and conflicts that lacked any fulfillment in their arcs. This led to episodes like “On a Journey” feeling mundane in their emotional impact.

However, it offers some tolerable elements that barely heal most of its wounds. One of them is Luciel. Luciel’s personality is similar to the other main isekai protagonists: a kind-hearted, determined, and periodically cowardly person hoping to live a better life in another world and help others in need. He’s also stuck at level one, serving as another familiar element from other isekai shows involving level-one protagonists. However, Luciel stands out from the level-one characters that immediately have OP skills because The Great Cleric showcases his training to become stronger despite his low level. It’s enough to make Luciel’s journey more meaningful, but that doesn’t mean I would also call the character memorable.

Luciel occasionally follows the same path as Deku from My Hero Academia because of their similar traits. Considering that they’re both voiced by Justin Briner, this makes more sense than it has every right to. By the first few episodes, I can quickly tell Luciel sounds exactly like Deku through the actor’s tone and vocal range during specific scenes. It’s almost like I was watching an alternate reality where Deku is a high-class healer instead of a superhero. Despite Briner’s respectable performance, Luciel is nowhere near as lovable and compelling as All Might’s heroic apprentice when it comes to his arc. While he can sometimes be funny regarding his timid behavior and goofy expressions, Luciel struggles to maintain interest and charm in his character’s healing journey.

The other thing that interests me and would likely play a role in a potential second season is its reflection on the world’s healers. Starting with “Substance X and a Small Change”, the series injects some intrigue into its conflict by showcasing the adventurers discriminating against the healers. This is due to Bottaculli’s (Alex Hom) greedy attempts to charge higher prices to perform his healing duties, causing people to distrust the healers. “Substance X and a Small Change” is the best episode of the middling series because it shows Luciel and Bottaculli being the two different sides of a healer through their beliefs. Bottaculli uses his magic for selfish and greedy purposes, while Luciel uses healing spells to help people for free. This was barely explored after Luciel left to train in the Holy City of Shurule. However, it’ll likely serve as a solution to improve the series in its second season.

The animation is produced by Yokohama Animation Laboratory and Cloud Hearts. The animation companies were known for producing The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World and the upcoming adaptation of Whisper Me a Love Song. I remembered enjoying The Iceblade Sorcerer for its vibrant animation, so I was curious to see how its style represents The Great Cleric onscreen. While far from great, the animation is passable for expressing its settings and the characters’s spells, mainly Luciel’s healing abilities. Of course, in case you’re wondering, the series has a few CGI effects for the zombies in Shurule’s Labyrinth. It bears repeating that if you’re not a fan of cheap CGI effects in anime, you won’t like them in this series.

Overall, The Great Cleric falls short of greatness regarding its concept and direction. However, it also has enough magic to heal most of its noticeable wounds. It’s another isekai series that’s far from spectacular but has a couple of watchable moments to prevent it from ending its second life early. In the case of The Great Cleric, that includes the tolerable voice cast, mainly Justin Briner, the show’s depiction of healers, and its passable animation. Understandably, it won’t be for everybody regarding its flaws and derivative narrative, but I can also see it being a fine cure for several Isekai fans’ cases of the blues.