Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Roll Over and Die
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Aerdra
Posts: 554 |
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A lot of the "banished from hero party" stories in recent years make it too easy for the protagonists too soon, either because they immediately unlock the cheat skills that trivialize the challenges they'd face, or because they retire to peaceful lives away from any challenges. In Roll Over and Die, even though Flum has realized her ability, it seems the story intends to keep up the pressure, at least for now, whether in battle or in society. Not only does this story feature a female protagonist, but the world feels so much darker than most others in this genre. Definitely looking forward to this.
I'm also kinda wondering whether the concept of slavery was necessary to this story. Despite being slaves, Flum and Milkit seem free to roam the city, join a guild, and rent a room without their master present. Does slavery work differently in this world compared to other similar stories? Maybe this'll be explained later? |
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Rogueywon
Posts: 306 |
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I've read the light novels and thought they made an interesting start. Unfortunately, they kinda descend into overly-long battle sequences with a heavy emphasis on brutality. It could have been a good story if it didn't end up falling so hard into a grimdark take on shonen-power-battle tropes.
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One-Eye
 Posts: 2319 |
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I think I preferred the original title "Do You Think Someone Like You Could Defeat the Demon Lord?" etc, etc. Roll over and Die as a title just doesn't work for me.
I did read a couple of years ago the first volume of the manga (2 maybe?) that was I think put out by Seven Seas. It started off rough from what I remember and I was kind of hoping that the anime would sand off some of the rough edges, but it seems to be following the manga closely (don't know how different it is in the novels). I'm not too crazy about the color palette of the show either. I agree with the review it night be entertaining schlock if it leaned into some of its elements a little more and if it had a slightly higher budget. I also like Flum as a protagonist, however I'm not sure if the story is deft enough to handle grimdark fantasy, slavery and yuri. The narrator is totally ruining it for me and I think is a totally unnecessary element.
A very good question. I don't recall this being addressed in the little I read of the manga. Usually being a slave means you are someone's property and wandering about without a master's approval or without an owner can subject you to a minimum questioning of your status, to abduction or violence. I mean if they had just lied at the guild and said that they were joining to make money for their owner at least that would have the air of plausibility and tell us a little about how slavery works in this world. |
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Cryssoberyl
 Posts: 271 |
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There's been a lot of discussion in yuri spaces about the nature of this show as a bog-standard male-character-centered isekai, except without the male character. My current opinion is that the show is interested in having Flum react in a different and better way than is usual for this playbook. It highlights how those tropes normally work by placing a woman in the situation and having her react differently. Her first thoughts after gaining surprise power are not "now I can take revenge and assert my will on this world" it's "now I can protect myself and the vulnerable person in my care".
Male-led isekai is a genre that focuses its energy on fulfilling the fantasy of a stereotypical masculine socialization. Personal power as an end unto itself, influence and control over women, revenge on enemies, attaining social status. This show is not doing any of that, so far at least. It lines up more with what we expect from female-led isekai, which tends to be more about correcting societal flaws and power applied judiciously in a just cause. As long as it continues walking on that path, I have hope for it. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19137 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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The source novels never much delve into slavery beyond the initial set-up, but the chapters covered by the first two anime episodes do explain more than what the anime adapts.
Essentially, slaves in this setting are generally either born into it (Milkit) or war prisoners. The way Flum is made a slave is not normal and definitely illegal, so the slave merchant here is a black marketeer on top of generally being scum. Branding someone on the face isn't normal, either; that's Jean being a complete ass. Being an ex-slave in this setting is a thing and slaves in the setting can apparently run errands independently; the author doesn't elaborate on this, but I always had the impression that it's intended to be a Roman Imperial-style system. As for slaves being able to become adventurers, the source novels don't explicitly state whether that's formally allowed or not, but do keep in mind that Flum headed for the Guild office in the scummiest part of town, where people are less likely to ask questions or care. Why Milkit acts the way she does should be elaborated on more in upcoming flashbacks, but based just on what we've seen in anime form so far, she looks like the classic "girl so beaten down that she has no self esteem" type. We've seen versions of this character in other settings that functionally aren't much different from slaves (Betrothed to My Sister's Ex and My Happy Marriage both immediately come to mind as recent examples), so while you could probably have made her character without her being a slave, since slavery exists in this setting, the writer took the shortcut. It also provides a convenient way to explain how she meets Flum. I can't dispute the point if you want to look at that as the easy way out. Oh, and for anyone who's tempted to read the source novels after seeing the anime, be aware that the anime version is the toned-down version on the graphic content, for better or worse. (As Sylvia puts it, it much more "leans into the schlock.") Definitely agree that Flum is the main reason to watch the series. But I've also always been a big fan of plucky female characters who have to (figuratively or literally) battle their way up to carve out a place for themselves, so I may be a little biased here, too. |
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jmckenna15
Posts: 182 |
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" It's a libertarian view of the world, and not coincidentally, the microgenre frequently invokes slavery. The hero may harbor moral qualms about the practice, but they nevertheless do not deny their right to dominion over others. "
So is it a distinctly libertarian viewpoint or isn't it? Self-actualization might be libertarian in nature, but claiming other people's labor and property by force is not. I'll give Sylvia some slack for potentially not intending to combine the two, but that is a contradiction that does not exist in any libertarian theory of society or self-actualization. Having said that, I do understand the appeal of making them about women more than about men. With men it has this appeal to a desire to self-insert (also means the male MC can be kind of bland or hit a bit too close to home for certain viewers). When it's a woman, I've found myself better able to distance from the characters rather than feel like it's trying to get me to see myself like them. Probably also explains why I prefer the male leads in a shojo romance more than a shonen romance -- aspirational male figure vs who we might have once been and all that. |
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Exodus007
 Posts: 136 |
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This would be a lot better without the romance angle. Just make them like sisters not lovers. It's more interesting and rarer to have solid friendships or familial relations than lovers all the time. Also that werewolf thing was something out of Re:Zero...yikes.
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Aerdra
Posts: 554 |
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Thank you for explaining this. While watching the first couple episodes, I was wondering if the author only used slavery for setup and immediately forgot about it, or tacked it on as an afterthought. It's good to hear there was at least some thought put into this.
There've been stories like this with male protagonists, where the goal is not revenge, but rather moving on with life after adventure. It's just that in a lot of those stories, "moving on" is about living a slow, peaceful life in retirement. In this story, however, "moving on" for Flum is a daily battle for survival, both in the literal sense and in finding a place in society. By the way, I have seen no indication that this series will be isekai. It seems to be fantasy only. |
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kgw
 Posts: 1536 Location: Spain, EU |
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If it were the usual "banished" adaptation, I would roll my eyes, thinking "Of course Potato-kun has a superpower nobody understands which makes him overpowered and he gets a cute slave loli for free!".
So, after the first episode, I see no reason to change my mind just because we got a Potato-chan instead. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19137 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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"Banished from the hero's party" gimmicks are almost never isekai, even though they often have similar mechanics. This one definitely isn't. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1303 |
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As someone who is a fan of the light novels, I think they're doing a decent job so far. The second episode changed things up a bit in a way that suggests that they might be planning to condense the story and get to the main overarching plot quicker than the books did. spoiler[I doubt that the romance will be any less of a slow burn than it is in the novels, though. LOL! Expect a lot of, "They certainly are close..." comments and flustered denials by the pair.]
One of the better commentaries I read about the series pointed out that, in the light novels at least, it is one of the few in this genre to actually portray slavery as a bad, not devolve into harem nonsense, and has something to say about the way women are treated in the world. |
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Troyen
Posts: 76 |
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The production seems like a bit of a let down. That fight with the werewolf-chimera could have been intense but it's hard to feel a sense of urgency when the monster stands still to patiently wait for the narration. I was hoping they'd also abbreviate the stats talk since as far as I've read in the manga, the absolute numbers don't really matter, only the relative comparison, and even then they can't score things like near-instant regeneration. I could be misremembering but I think the numbers talk gets ditched or used sparingly as time goes on.
The oddest choice is the narrator though. I'm not sure there's a single line narrated in episode 2 that actually added anything to the story. It was just describing what was already being explicitly shown on screen. And unlike some shows that use a narrator, the narrator's voice doesn't really fit the world or story she's describing. She sounds more like a disembodied robot, so you don't even get the illusion that she's retelling a story she knew or saw. |
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leetailor
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I'm not exactly the biggest fan but I have read the light novels that are out in English and I liked them more than not, so I'm looking forward to these reviews. The coverage being written by a genre hater who is nonetheless curious about this series is a great pitch, and this first review already makes for an interesting read.
Do you sit down at a steakhouse and then complain to the waiter that the steak he served up for you isn't vegan? Or, more importantly, when the main character of an anime is a man, do you also complain that he should have been just friends with his female love interest? No, of course not. You just don't like that these girls are gay. And frankly, it's the pinnacle of greed and entitlement to watch one of the two shows in the season that is clearly advertised as yuri (out of dozens that are not) only to then whine about it for being the genre. When my gay ass is the mood for an anime with multiple seasons and a good production value, I usually have no choice but to watch one that doesn't cater to my preferences. Whatever, that's life. But somehow you fellas get a smorgasbord of absolutely gorgeous anime, season after season, designed for your delicate heterosexual brains, and you're still not satisfied. I expect that attitude, but I will never understand it. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19137 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Concerning a couple of things brought up in the ep 3 review:
I can definitely see this comparison being drawn, but this is a coincidental application to current circumstance rather than than intent. (The novel this part of the series was based on was released pre-COVID.) Both when I first read the novel and now, I interpret that more as a power play on the Church's part: deterring herbal medicine is more about creating a monopoly than rejecting the natural or promoting the mystical. Looking at it as intended to be a poke at Big Pharma might be more accurate.
How accurate or not this statement is should be addressed before the end of this season. But it will be made clear (or at least clearer) eventually.
Depending on how the adaptation handles things, you should see more of this eventually. The early parts of the story are rather plot-heavy, though. (And yes, that is an inversion of the norm for these kind of stories, though I'm not clear if that was intentionally done to align with Flum's Reversal.) |
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Aerdra
Posts: 554 |
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In addition to looking a bit flat, this episode also felt rushed.
I like this theory (I haven't read the source either). The pieces fit together neatly. It's basically a given in stories like this that the church is evil, and probably the government too. |
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