Similar to the Trillion Game article, today I want to take a look at the content of the show more so than the quality of the subtitles. But before we go too off-brand, here’s a freebie.
She doesn’t look like Adlet to me.
Here’s the previous line. Do you see what the problem might have been? This level of quality is maintained for pretty much the whole show.
Anyway I was playing OSRS while rewatching Rokka no Yuusha (or should I say Rokka no Gusha heh…) for the first time since it aired over ten years ago, so I wasn’t really paying much attention to the subs or to anything really. In spite of this, I was still able to pick up on how poorly written this show was; and it was so bad that it spurred me to write the article you’re reading right now.
The Problem
Rokka no Yuusha presents itself as the thinking man’s mystery, a logical and deductive whodunnit. However none of the mystery presented in the series is actually resolved through sound reasoning. It repeatedly addresses conflict through inconsistent characterisation and authorial fiats, making it exceedingly frustrating to even follow, let alone take seriously.
It’s impossible as a viewer to not question the ways all of the characters behave in contradiction to their established personalities to progress the story, rather than by analysing the evidence on the table. The show never asks “where does the evidence lead?”; it only ever asks “who does the plot need to be the next suspect?”
And when I say all of the characters, I mean all of them. Allow me to elaborate.
Mora
Mora is presented as the level-headed leader figure of the group. When Fremy was initially under suspicion, Mora was reasonable about not condemning her until they had gathered concrete evidence and restrained Chamo from jumping the gun. However when suspicion turned to Adlet, all of this went out the window and she immediately threw due process out the window and sent a lynch mob after him. Not only was he not afforded the same rigour that was granted to Fremy (who was also seen under a much worse light by the group as a whole), she intentionally lied to the others to incite them to take action.
This is either really inconsistent characterisation, or an attempt by the author to paint her under suspicion for the benefit of the viewer. However even if we take the generous latter assumption, it still sucks as a narrative because she isn’t the impostor anyway, and her behaviour just ends up being all over the place. How can one reasonably accept that she switches from being calm and reasoned to a hard-headed hag who not only refuses to listen to reason but actively impedes attempts from Adlet to share information under the pretense of “he might try to deceive us”?
During the manhunt, she also made the rookie mistake of splitting the group into pairs with a known traitor in their midst. As Adlet mentions to himself (indicating that the author himself is aware of this), this is a terrible risk mitigation strategy as allows the traitor an opportunity to be alone with one of their targets. Given how her character’s intellect and cautious nature had previously been established, this is another difficult development to swallow.
There’s a weak counterargument to this in that the remaining group are fully trusting of each other at this stage and convinced that Adlet was the impostor, but there’s no hard proof of this. It’s all just circumstantial evidence and feelings. The characters regularly remind you that the stakes are high and all of humanity is at risk. It makes no sense that they would not act cautiously here.
Hans
Initially Hans is shown to be a big brained but perhaps morally questionable assassin. The entire scene where he shifts suspicion onto Adlet in the temple is purely through logic and deduction. He picks apart Adlet’s recount of events in detail and compares it against the conditions of the various MacGuffins to reason why Adlet is the likeliest to be the traitor. This is a clear portrayal of him as a rational investigator.
This is almost immediately forgotten by the author as well. After his fight with Adlet, he pretty much instantly shifts his viewpoint just because it feels right. Half of his argument to himself is that Adlet could’ve killed him if he wanted to, but he didn’t, and if he were the imposter, then he would have no reason not to. This doesn’t hold up under scrutiny for various obvious reasons, such as the imposter wanting to stay covert and breed distrust rather than outright killing members of the group.
The other half of his flimsy argument is his own psychoanalysis of “Adlet was shocked when he thought he was about to die, which means he’s not the impostor because an actual imposter wouldn’t be shocked if they were attacked”. I don’t know man, I think most people would be pretty shocked if someone tried to kill them? This is a pretty massive leap of faith that requires the viewer to place high trust in Hans’ psychological reasoning rather than logic.
Yet another example of a character who’s supposed to be cold and calculating but at the end of the day it’s all just vibes. If he was meant to be more of a gambler type making hard reads, he should have been presented as such from the beginning. As it stands, his psychological reads aren’t earned and you simply need to take it at faith that he probably got it right.
Nashetania
Nashetania is described as skilled in combat, but sheltered and inexperienced. The story repeatedly reinforces her naivete through examples of her failing to think critically, make sensible decisions, and contribute in any meaningful way to the benefit of the rest of the party. She tends to be largely ignored by the plot and rest of the cast because she simply doesn’t actually do anything.
She’s also Adlet’s number one fan, and advocates for him throughout the majority of the story. Not only is this contradictory to her motives as the actual traitor, but when faced with Mora’s lie, she immediately reverses her position and goes on a tirade to Goldof who is the last person she would need to convince about her motives (more about him later).
In addition, she explicitly reveals that her goal was to kill off as many of the other heroes as possible. Yet despite having arguably one of the most busted abilities in the show, and opportunities to dispose of the others without drawing suspicion, she chooses not to simply because things seemed to be going well enough already. She’s meant to be the scheming mastermind, yet at the same time she’s a fucking idiot who gets in the way of her own goals.
If you watch the show in hindsight, you’ll likely also observe that most of her actions are optimised to preserve the mystery rather than actually accomplish her explicitly stated objective. After the big reveal as a master manipulator playing 4D chess, her actions don’t make sense retrospectively because there’s no grand plan behind them. If the sheltered princess thing was just an act, then it’s unnecessarily elaborate and not self-serving. If it wasn’t, then how did she successfully infiltrate and deceive the supposed strongest heroes in the world with all three of her brain cells?
Goldof
They did this guy dirty by giving him such a cool design and voice actor and making him a stupid rabbit simp. At minimum, this should make it easy to characterise him because he is completely one dimensional. He acts entirely under Nashetania’s orders and to her best interests, and does not question her. His only virtues are his combat prowess and his loyalty. The audience doesn’t need to reconcile conflicting priorities because he only has one priority. There’s no way to fuck this up, right?
And yet when he corners Adlet, who is on his last legs, and he’s in position to deliver the final blow, he doesn’t. Keep in mind that he was the first to attack Adlet in the temple, that at this stage the entire group is essentially convinced Adlet is the traitor, that Mora is egging him on, that Adlet had hurt the princess in front of him in their previous scuffle, and that he had explicit instruction from Nashetania to kill him, which is the one thing that his character is meant to do.
Instead he pushes back and suggests that it would be more beneficial to try and extract information from Adlet about his motives if he were the traitor, ironically making him one of the most sensible characters at this stage. Yet this fails as a narrative because the entire time he was shown to not be bound by making sense; his one job is to just do what the princess wants him to do, and the story fails to make him do so at the most critical moment.
There was so much missed opportunity in the story to make him a more complex character by simply letting him think for himself, but he’s used as a fixed variable for the entire story up until the point where the plot requires intervention, and then suddenly he gains the capacity for critical thinking.
Chamo
Funnily enough Chamo probably ends up as the most self-consistent character, but this is only because she doesn’t even participate in the mystery. She’s portrayed as a loose cannon who is just stupid and overconfident. She wants to kill Adlet because her poor understanding of the situation makes him the easiest target, but she has no qualms about being wrong and says she would simply kill Fremy next if she were.
There’s not much to dissect here because there’s not much going on at all. I suppose she serves as something of a joker figure whose purpose is primarily to throw a wrench in the works and annoy the viewer, but she’s pretty uninteresting. The only real complaint is that she’s supposed to be 14 yet acts like a 4 year old who plays in the dirt and fears scoldings from the hag. Pretty sure 14 year olds are meant to be doing stupid tik tok dances or something.
My main issue with this character isn’t in a vacuum but rather with how the other characters treat her. She’s clearly demonstrated that she can’t be trusted and is incapable of cooperation as she’s willing to attack her teammates, even if she isn’t the imposter. There’s no reason they should keep her around after all the harping on they do about it being paramount that the group work together and y’know, not attack each other.
The only argument against this is that Mora can supposedly keep her under control, but the viewer is given no reason to believe this is the case other than “just trust me bro”. This is a criminally underdeveloped plot point because they treat the impostor as the only risk, but Chamo’s recklessness is an independent threat that leads to very much the same consequences, and this isn’t even acknowledged.
Fremy
Saving the best for last. Fremy is the most egregious of the bunch. She spends the entire first arc reminding you that she trusts nobody and has no intention of cooperating with the other heroes, and that they’re all out to get her. Yet when suspicion falls onto Adlet, she says “yeah I’m part of the gang now” and joins forces with the rest of the group.
Afterwards, she just as quickly sides with Adlet after an emotional appeal. Keep in mind that the entire premise of her character is that she is meant to be cold, unfeeling, and pragmatic. I understand that this is meant to be an attempt at character development, but her actions here are in direct opposition to her motives of staying alive and defeating the Demon God at any cost.
It’s later revealed that she is fundamentally emotionally driven. This reconciles her readiness to change her stance, but at the cost of discarding pretty much all of her early characterisation. All of her previous actions no longer make sense when viewed under the lens of her true motives without drastic leaps in logic.
This isn’t a claim that characters can’t grow or change their mind, and must remain as a static collection of behaviours and ideals. In actuality, this is how Fremy’s change is presented. The problem is that it’s using “growth” as to mask a rushed and unconvincing argument, requiring the viewer to retroactively reinterpret a large portion of her characterisation after the fact.
Rolonia
If the lackluster conclusiveness of the final arc weren’t enough, the fat cow had to show up and make it even worse. And I’m not speaking just aesthetically. Rolonia isn’t really around long enough in the anime to meaningfully impact the story, but the group’s behaviour after her arrival is probably the most difficult story element to accept.
The exact same mystery that had them at each others’ throats for the last 12 episodes has essentially started again, and their reaction this time is completely different. They all essentially default to Adlet being the most trustworthy due to previous events clearing his name, so they should just go along with what he says. And in his typical happy go-lucky demeanour, he says they should just stop worrying about it and go after the Demon God.
How is this acceptable to any viewer with half a brain? There’s no logical reason to do this when there are clear suspects who still haven’t been absolved at this point in the story. Adlet’s innocence doesn’t logically clear the rest of their names. The stakes are still the same as when Nashetania was around. Goldof is loyal to her and could simply be pretending to be in shambles. Mora’s previous attempt at deception is not fully reconciled. Rolonia has nothing going for her except a vouch that she’s mates with some of them.
The entire point of the show was that a single mistake could doom humanity, and they needed to proceed with utmost caution. Did the entire group learn nothing from the entire cour? The natural response to being deceived should be increased suspicion, not decreased suspicion. The ending focuses entirely on thematic solidarity to give you a cheap feel-good moment, rather than addressing any of the very real lingering concerns.
The Bottom Line
I don’t think this is the kind of mystery you’re meant to follow along with a pen and paper and deduce for yourself. You can’t, because all of the major twists rely on the characters changing behaviour to sustain suspense and don’t actually provide you any information you can use to make reasoned conclusions, because the characters don’t do this either. None of the biggest turning points result from actual evidence.
The premise was good but unfortunately the execution failed to deliver. If you just turn off your brain and take it for what it is then it might be enjoyable to just come along for the ride. But if you so much as entertain a single critical thought then you’ll probably end up autistically screeching into the void on a silly anime website. Ask me how I know.