Much of The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows is cliché to say the least. We have a standard Western fantasy world, an overpowered hero who doesn't realize he isn't normal, and a harem of demi-human girls all vying for his romantic attention. Zenos even buys a slave girl in the second episode (who, to his credit, he promptly frees without a second thought), and the entire second half of the series is you're standard “going undercover as a student” magical school arc.

However, The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows is one of those shows that is more than the sum of its parts. While it uses clichés left and right, it almost always goes beyond them to add an extra layer or two.

Take the female characters, for example. While we have an elf, a wraith, an orc, a lizardman, and a catgirl, none of them are one-note caricatures. There is no by-the-book tsundere, dandere, kudere, or yandere. Carmilla, the aforementioned wraith, is a sarcastic trickster but also a provider of sage wisdom. She gives a running fourth-wall-breaking meta-commentary as the show trucks along, as well. Meanwhile, Loewe and Lynga (the orc and catgirl) are both far from the sharpest tools in the shed, but in different ways. Loewe is driven by gluttony and has zero inhibitions, but also values loyalty and physical fitness. Lynga, for her part, is fully driven by instinct—and believes herself to be far more intelligent than she is.

All this is to say that they all feel like multi-faceted characters rather than walking tropes, pandering to their target audiences. They also add a lot of natural-feeling comedy to the show just through their interactions.

But it's not just the characters that are more than they first appear to be—the same can be said for the plot as well. This is particularly true in the second half of the anime, which revolves around a magic school for healers. Right away, it's obvious who the villain is. However, what's not clear is his motive—why he would be behind the disappearance of one of his most promising apprentices. It's a good mystery—and one that gets even better as new revelations cause new villains to be created and also hint at a puppet master lurking behind the scenes. It makes for some genuinely entertaining stuff.

The anime itself looks surprisingly good for one based on a light novel-based fantasy story. Often, these shows get below-average treatment—just enough visual quality to make the story understandable. However, this anime never looks bad, and some scenes truly stand out—like the beauty of the Mega-Heal spell or the creativity of using a fish-eye lens in one of the flashbacks to show the unnatural isolation Zenos faced after being separated from his healing teacher. The music is likewise above the norm with its orchestrated score that hits all the correct notes to bolster the magical fantasy story on the screen.

In the end, The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows is a fun fantasy show. It's got surprisingly unique characters, silly harem romance, and a plot with more than a few layers—especially in the second half. While it may be filled with common tropes, it's clear that the people making it were working hard to elevate it in every tiny way possible—and, to their credit, they succeeded. If you're looking for a lighthearted, non-isekai fantasy anime to fill your time, you could do far worse than The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows.