The Legendary Hero is Dead!

Episode 5

Alright show, you got me. It took way too long to get there, but The Legendary Hero is Dead! crafted a decently funny joke. It's not an amazing gag, but I chuckled a little when Marguerite was sitting inside that trunk, waiting to surprise everyone, only to be embarrassed when Touka insisted the princess would never do something that stupid and creepy. It was the first glimmer of a potential ensemble comedy, a bit built off of the characters' established personalities and relationships in a way that makes total sense. It's also the rare joke from this series that didn't involve anyone being sexually humiliated or beaten up for being a pervert. It was the first time I'd felt that the series had to potential to be more than a dated, one-note sex comedy.

If that sounds like damning with faint praise, it's only because it is. Outside of that one short joke, this episode's comedy was back to Legendary Hero's established brand of loud, one-note humor. It's disappointing because Marguerite's personality has the potential to actually be pretty fun. While her attraction to our hero is contrived as hell, having a woman who enjoys Touka's company and isn't constantly angry at his sexual attention is far less aggravating than Yuna's tired shtick. Many comedic possibilities here would allow the show plenty of fanservice and offer a flavor that doesn't involve the object of attention being embarrassed and violated.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be where we're going with this. After rushing through the conclusion of this arc as fast as it can, the episode instead transitions into an attempt to make Touka and Yuna's relationship happen. That's a tall order because these two have positively awful chemistry. For the entire runtime of this series, watching them interact has been like biting into a long-expired potato chip and tasting the rancid oil and stale starch before spitting it onto the ground. With Marguerite, there's the excuse that she doesn't know any other people, so she's fallen for the first guy to be even slightly nice to her. Yuna doesn't have much justification and has shown nothing but animosity towards Touka because their only interactions are him trying to violate and objectify her at every opportunity.

Suffice it to say, I don't buy the limp attempt to pivot into Yuna falling for him. Touka has spent the last five episodes sneaking into her room to molest her, lying to get her into revealing outfits, and cheering on her humiliation during the countless times she's been forcibly stripped in battle. Nothing about this pairing is remotely endearing unless you're a 13-year-old boy who hasn't learned to see girls as people yet. So trying to paint over that and insist Touka's not “that bad” or leaning on the fact they were friends as kids cannot help but feel disingenuous. Sorry show, but you're the one who wrote the characters this way – you don't get to pretend their dynamic isn't foul because you've decided to take things semi-seriously now.

The one solace is that the show moves so quickly that I can trust this subplot will be wrapped up pretty soon. I'm not familiar enough with the manga to know how fast the anime is eating up source material, but it certainly feels like a series rushing to cram everything into a single season. Usually, I'd complain about that since such breakneck speed stunts both dramatic and comedic buildup – for instance, Touka turning the sword into a giant thigh is just ridiculous enough that it could work with the right timing and delivery but falls flat in this episode. However, it also means we're never stuck in one place too long, and with a comedy that's otherwise content to sleep where it lands, that's a blessing.

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The Legendary Hero is Dead! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.