Beryl Gardinant, a self-proclaimed "humble old man," is a sword instructor at his dojo in a rural, backwater village. In his younger years, he dreamed of glory as a master swordsman, but those days are long behind him. Out of the blue, he receives a visit from a famous former pupil who brings him world-shattering news—he's been appointed as a special instructor for the knights of the Liberion Order! With his life now turned upside down, Beryl travels to the capital and reunites with some of his former students: elite knights, an ace wizard, and even an adventurer who's attained the highest guild rank possible. But why do they all want his tutelage?! As far as he's concerned, they clearly don't need him anymore. Can Beryl live up to his new position? And will he ever get a moment's peace away from his adoring students?!
(Source: J-Novel Club)
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Comentários
prakhargr8
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman stands apart not by sheer spectacle, but by its quiet confidence and grounded approach to its storytelling. It is a tale uninterested in chasing the extremes of power fantasies or overblown ascents. Instead, it devotes itself to a more intimate portrait of a man who never sought greatness, only to live with quiet integrity. And in that restraint, it finds clarity. The narrative unfolds with deliberate pacing, choosing nuance over noise and rooting its strength not in impossible abilities but in the discipline and subtlety. What emerges is a character study steeped in humility. The protagonist’s journey is notone of chasing ambition but of becoming someone capable in the face of responsibility, a trajectory shaped more so by necessity. The anime eschews the gaudy conventions of its genre, opting instead for battles that feel weighty not because they’re grand, but because they’re personal. There are imperfections including the occasional stiff animation and a surrounding cast that veers toward formulaic harem tropes but the heart of the series remains remarkably earnest. It never loses sight of what matters: the discipline behind the blade and the burdens that come with wielding it. The show is neither flamboyant nor hollow, it's meditative, composed, and human.
In the end the show's emotional resonance doesn’t depend on overblown action, but on authenticity. Every duel feels like it belongs to a world not of fantasy but of lived experience and profound modesty. All in all the anime doesn’t try to redefine its genre; it simply honors it and in doing so delivers a story of substance rather than theatrics.
BeetleR19d
'Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru' was an interesting watch for me. After all, spring 2025 didn't have the strongest catalog of anime to offer, so I wasn't particularly eager about any of the new shows that came out. So when I started watching this anime, I was practically expecting nothing from it. The synopsis and the cast of characters suggested it was probably going to be another 'Generic OP and oblivious MC with his harem' type of show. And after watching it, I can confirm that my initial speculation wasn't far off at all. However, it wasn't entirely on point either, so it's fairto say this anime did exceed my expectations (because I barely had any to begin with).
Note: This is a review from an 'Anime Only' person's perspective. So, I'm not going to judge this show on how well it adapted the source material. Instead, I'll be saying how good it is if you only watch the anime and know nothing about the source material, like I did. I will try to keep this review short.
Plot and Characters (6/10):
I actually liked the base this story has. The protagonist being 40 year old country bumpkin instantly makes it a lot more separable from a ton of generic shows that have 14-16 year old kid as protagonist. But that also makes it kinda awkward when all of his potential love interests bar that loli principal is around 20. Romance aside, the plot was predictable for the most part. I won't spoil anything but the fact that every female character that gets introduced somehow ends up being his ex-disciple was something that I knew would happen (I mean, its quite literally written on the manga title) , but still when it started happening every 2 episodes, It didn't leave a good taste. They could easily solve this by introducing one or multiple students who meet with him in the anime and grows a bond . Probably you can fill Mewi in that criteria but still that wasn't enough, and I don't think she should be considered a love interest. The action and the mystery part of this show wasn't great, but I suspect this was mainly because it had a 12-episode run. I will conclude this part of the review by saying, everything about this anime's plot and characters feels vague. You will mostly follow 4-5 character for 12 episodes but still you will feel that, you barely know anything about the characters at all and that's a huge red flag if you are coming to watch this solely for the story.
Animation and Audio (7.5/10):
The animation was okay. I feel that's the most accurate way to describe it. I of course didn't expect ufotable-esque quality from this show, and probably no one else did either. But it wasn't terrible. The character designs were average in a good way; while it didn't have a very distinct art style, the characters still looked fine.
The voice acting was as usual, nothing to complain about. The protagonist sounded like an old man, and I think that was my only concern regarding the show's voice acting. It would have been awkward if he sounded like a teenager or even a man in his twenties. It needed to be an older-sounding voice to fit his character. The opening and ending songs were fine. I only listened to them once, just a few minutes ago to write this part of the review. So, that pretty much answers whether they were remarkable.
Conclusion (6.5/10):
As I mentioned at the beginning, I came to this show expecting nothing, so the fact that I watched the whole thing means it wasn't awful. But did I thoroughly enjoy my time watching it? The answer is a big fat NO. So you're probably thinking why I'm putting this in 'Mixed Feelings' instead of 'Not Recommended'. I think how much you can enjoy this type of mediocre anime depends on how many of them you've watched. Perhaps a version of myself from four years ago would have liked this show a lot more than the current me. So, in my opinion, 'Mixed Feelings' is justified. This is only worth watching if you have no other decent fantasy show options and are specifically looking for a 40-year-old country bumpkin as the protagonist. That caters to a very niche audience.
Thank you for reading :-)
Gwynbleidd_Alan
As someone who didn’t read the manga and went in completely blind, the premise caught my attention. An older swordsman, finally leaves his quiet village and his job as a sword instructor at his dojo to head to the capital and live up to his reputation as a sword prodigy. It sounded like something with a lot of potential. But... it just didn’t land. The story feels generic and honestly ended up being boring to me. I couldn’t connect with the characters in any way, and I didn’t care much about what was happening most of the time. I won't lie, I was also kind ofweirded out about how seemingly all of his former students were women, wearing revealing outfits, and for some reason they all seemed to be into him. The age gap made it awkward, and the way those interactions were written didn’t help either. It feels like a harem but doesn't commit to that route.
The anime kept falling into the same repetitive loop. Someone would doubt the main character or not take him serious, then he’d pull off something impressive or cool to prove them wrong, again and again. It got old fast, and nothing really developed beyond that. The plot never evolved, and it felt like the show was just stalling until the next predictable moment. Everything else was full of clichés too, like the classic evil church figure, and a world that felt flat and underdeveloped. There was no real lore or substance to keep me invested.
To be fair, the CGI was well done. It blended nicely with the regular art style and made the fight scenes look smooth and satisfying. But even those moments couldn’t save it, since the outcome of every battle was obvious before it even started. The so called twists ended up being nothing more but a predictable mess.
If there was one redeeming thing for me, it was the relationship between the MC and his more or less adopted daughter Mewi. That was actually wholesome and felt genuine. It was the only dynamic in the show that had heart and didn’t feel like characters just acting out tired archetypes.
Curiosity got the best of me. This show seemed interesting at first but it didn’t do anything meaningful with it. Average at best, frustrating at worst.
kiyeyap159
In a sea of less-than-mediocre series, this one rises above the rest. Not by a lot, but by enough to earn it a recommendation. I'd give this a high 7, and rounded up to 8. I don't know if it's a good adaptation, but I don't care about other media, (not) sorry. The animation was surprisingly good, and the (admittedly many) parts that were done CGI-only were ~85% of the way between "crap CGI from 20 years years ago" and "nearly perfectly executed CGI". The 3D animations were surprisingly well done too, not the perfect professional jobs you'd expect from a AAAA game cinematic or latestresearch simulation, but fluid and sensible enough. The show leaned quite a bit into this aspect, and instead of showing us random jumps of body parts and flashes we actually get to see real (and mostly realistic) movement from bodies, hands, and swords. It really takes the series from a 5-6 to a high 7.
Sound was pretty good too. You can hear the armor clinging, feet dragging on dirt, etc. Not sure if it's always up there, but in the few fight scenes I re-watched it was pretty impressive. Background music was fitting and didn't feel off at any point. The ending song grew on me.
Story does have issues and so far is mostly forgettable, as many others have pointed. Not that much interesting stuff going on, nothing too deep, and lots of time spent on the students who are exclusively women (well, except that one guy who appears for ~30-60 seconds in total), and are there probably to tick all possible preference boxes (design, height, body type, hair color/style, age, speech, personality, ...) for the audience. Thankfully, this doesn't degenerate into a harem or turn creepy (stay classy, mister Swordmaster). A big part of the story is about and around these students, but we don't get too much details about them, their training, or their current aspirations; only brief flashbacks and a few interactions for mostly short-length current events. The first few episodes and the last few episodes are the more interesting ones, and it is left at an incomplete state just as some politics seem to be starting. Almost none of scenes make a big impact, but some are somewhat memorable. Anyway, regarding the main premise...
The "OP MC who doesn't know his strength" trope is executed mostly well and mostly believably. He wins the fights against his younger, talented students, but usually the way he wins makes some sense. He's been their teacher, and it should be expected that he knows at least some of their weakness or bad habits. It also makes sense that's he's strong despite his "old age", since from early on we see him practice along with his students *and* practice solo every day, and later on we also see how he has some experience in actual fighting. He often says "I could only win like this once", and it seems believable (almost?) every time because he's also teaching his opponents/students and we often see them improve in the next episodes.
If you've read so far, you might be thinking: "But shouldn't all that stuff be taken for granted?". No. There are 10+ similar series (i.e. "OP MC") coming out every season, and not even 1 in 10 have this level of effort put into them. Some use the "budget" as an excuse to do subpar work, while others like this make the best use of what they were given. If you're even thinking about watching this, it likely means you've already watched all the A+ tier series out there, so yes, do watch this before watching anything else from the B-F tiers.
Nebu1on
I found the first few episodes of this anime enjoyable. A unique story, some decent action, and it was overall just a cozy and fun show. Then about halfway through it completely drops off and absolutely nothing happens for multiple episodes. It got so boring I nearly dropped it. Out of nowhere it suddenly picks up again in the last couple episodes. I can't give it a good review because of how weak segments of the show are, but it does come together in the end. I'd recommend this show for people who want to watch a chill one or two episodes before bed and don't wantto think too much. If you're looking for anything more than that, don't waste your time on it
bossunhimeswitch
This is one of those offerings that comes out every cour that's good but not thrilling. What kept me coming back for more and looking forward to it each week were the characters, especially the main character Beyrl. He's very straight-forward, humble, and luckily not a perv. It made this harem gathering anime really interesting and gave it a fresh feeling. Unfortunately parts of it do move kind of slowly and things that should be punchy don't always punch (hence a 6/10 instead of an 8/10), but I grew to really like Beyrl and some of the other secondary recurring characters and wanted to knowhow their story would play out. The first season ends in a place that works as an ending with no further seasons but I would still like to see more of this story even if it is a bit simplistic like our hero.
If you're looking for an easy watch that does have some stakes to it, then this might be the anime for you. This might also be an anime worth watching if you're looking for a hero who seems to be aroace and content with a lack of a romantic life. If you like your harem hero a bit pervy or super into the girls in the potential harem, then you will be disappointed.
KANLen09
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman — A teacher is a teacher, alright, but when your students are into you...that's the real problem right there. "A good father figure protects his children. He creates the circumstances that ensure the safety and welfare of all his children. He fiercely defends his children, even if they're angry at him or saying bad things about him." This quote by Marcia Sirota is one of a handful of parental figure quotes that could be just about applied to anywhere, especially one that talks about how adults teach children to grow up and survive in the perils of life. Or,in the case of novelist Shigeru Sagazaki's lone work of Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru a.k.a From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman, a tried-and-true story that has been told a thousand times and still works of a relationship between teacher and student, though with a slight complex that'll leave you scratching your head on its purpose itself.
The self-proclaimed "humble old man", or rather, the Old Country Bumpkin of Beryl Gardinant, sees himself as an unremarkable middle-aged sword instructor who teaches the handful of people who enroll themselves at his dojo in a rural, backwater village because life in the countryside and away from the hustle and bustle of the four walls of the kingdom is much better, more private, and not easily swayed by the constants and threats of royal nobility. It's a very quiet life that the middle-aged Ossan would like to see himself as one who imparts his "backwater" skills to others so that they can become better warriors in their own regard, and to be honest, if this easy-going life makes him content, then there should not be a reason why he would move out of his comfort zone to spend his days being a teacher for the people. Except that his profession as the teacher and a Master Swordsman, turns heads against him when someone that he tutored before requests him to become an instructor for the royal kingdom's knights in the royal capital. Thus, Beryl's journey as not-so-much the Old Country Bumpkin anymore, where his reputation actually precedes him that's not heard outside of the backwater village, becomes his constant concern that his new life in the Kingdom of Liberion will be as jerky and unpredictable. Except (again) that when a fair few people recognize Beryl as their tutor, and flies sparks from admiration to flirtatious interests into him, this middle-aged Ossan's life is about to take a radical shift into the unknown predictable.
If you read the original LN and notice that the title of the series is shortened for obvious speakeasy reasons, you're only getting about half of the main meat of what the actual source material is all about. In actuality, the "Tada no Inaka no Kenjutsu Shihan Datta noni, Taisei Shita Deshitachi ga Ore o Houttekurenai Ken" a.k.a "My Hotshot Disciples Are All Grown Up Now, and They Won't Leave Me Alone," part is where the show takes a rather scrupulous turn into how characterization is done in the series itself. You see, the catalyst for Beryl having to shift his home from the comfort of his backwater village to the kingdom is the result of one of his students: Allucia Citrus, the leader of the knights of the Liberion Order. Beryl was the instant recommendation that Allucia could think of as one of his students who is well-qualified enough to teach the knights in the kingdom as a special trainer, and yet, the Ossan just shrugs it off as if it's not actually a big deal, which contrasts against Allucia's thinking that "my teacher is the best, and he MUST be recognized." This isn't bad thinking by any means, but it develops quite the one-sided crush between student and teacher that, although Beryl feels uncomfortable at times, Allucia is content to be close to him to satisfy her own love for him.
And as if that's not enough, Allucia isn't the only student of Beryl's fighting for his affection. There's also the black-ranked adventurer Surena Lysandra, and the red-haired girl too had her life changed for the better thanks to the middle-aged Ossan helping her grow from an orphan to a dignified adventurer. Alas, more than the fight for love itself, there are more people who soon find themselves under Beryl's tutelage or are his former students who, like both Allucia and Surena, see him with the "How have you been?" response, which, as you can imagine, spoils the mood between the two girls closest to their teacher. Still, Beryl at his most basic, is a hard-and-fast yearning teacher who delights when his students do their very best and nothing more than that, although he's semi-conscious about some of the students being close to him for "no apparent reason" whatsoever. It feels as if the recurring gag of "student meets teacher" only just earns ire and is made to be the central comedy of the series. Which again, this plot device isn't bad, but it definitely gives off weird vibes.
At this point, I'd like to make a clarification that'll shock just about anyone: yes, if you're wondering, the manga adaptation of the original source material IS A LOT different than the one for the LN itself, and despite being written by the same author himself, it can feel as if those anime-only or even manga-only fans were quite deceived to see that the anime didn't adapt the manga, which, in its proper form, has a lot more content to boot and is more interesting than what we got out of the show itself. However, this is basically fearmongering that the anime is an "instant D.O.A." because of the improper 1-to-1 adaptation, though I'd argue that authors have been doing this for as long as time itself, and despite the marketing based on the LN (that I'll assume most watchers here will reference the manga more than most), they can end up being similar but different stories in their own right. So, if you need to reference the anime, reference it from the LN instead, not the manga.
I'm equally as impressed by how director Akio Kazumi and his staff team over at Passione (alongside Hayabusa Film) handled the overall production for the show. Yes, it doesn't look all that great, even with the implementation of 3DCG that's closer to 2.5D at best, but the collab between both studios starting since the days of Ookami to Koushinryou a.k.a Spice and Wolf's remake, has clearly made Hayabusa Film one of Passione's closest partners to work with, and the result is the outcome of how Katainaka Ossan came out to be. Actual animation, with 2.5D implementation, the merging of the 2 feels wonky at best, but it's better CGI as far as I'm concerned.
With veteran music composer Yasuharu Tanakaishi at the OST helm, I can't say that I'm all that intrigued by the choice of music here, though it's serviceable at best and becomes white noise in a slow and trepidatious manner. Likewise, for much of a Shonen feeling with Takanori Ishikawa's OP and Flow's ED, they're alright songs, though one that I won't deem myself to remember much.
When it all comes down to it, Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru a.k.a From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman, depending on who you ask, it can be either a solid or mediocre show, not because of the discontent of consensus, but because the fact that it's just "students being thirsty over their teacher" serving as the primary gag of the series. It's not bad, mind you, but although it has a plot, it feels as if that was meant to be secondary, as the teacher-flirting aspect is first and foremost.
A fair merit of a traditional fantasy, though its themes will have you buzzing. See you for Season 2 next year then…
HERMIT_PAIMON
I started watching this because mc looks like Paul from jobless reincarnation ( no shame in accepting ) No expectations from start , I literally thought this would be a another avg fantasy harem but it proved me wrong . Our mc is a gigachad , ultimate rizzler , op fighter Most imp thing in this show is choreography and use of cgi , I am pretty impressed ( literally crossed my expectations ) Animation , Moments , VA , Landscapes etc are fluid and smooth . Every less loopholes . Only complaint is that they skipped many parts from manga .If they adopted exactly my rating definatelywould be higher .
Overall show is enjoyable and watchable at same time . You can bing in 1 sitting .
PanzerIV-J
I found From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman to be generally quite good throughout its entire airing. That’s not to say there aren’t issues—there definitely are—but I don’t think they’re major enough to make the anime unenjoyable for most people. I'll start with the issues, then talk about the strong points. Issues- Slow pacing The pacing is pretty slow across the whole series. Honestly, a good half of the episodes feel like a drag because they try to stretch things out just to hit a good stopping point. I really don’t like when it feels like two episodes could’ve easily been combined into one—it ends up feeling likemy time’s being wasted. I think a lot of viewers will probably feel the same way with certain episodes. This is easily one of the worst aspects of the anime and probably the one that bothered me the most.
Characters & plot points
This ties into the pacing issue a bit. The characters are somewhat realistic in how they think and feel, but they kind of fall apart when it comes to growth and development. It sucks watching a character go through events and not really change or become more interesting. There are some moments where it feels like something is going to happen, but then it just... doesn’t. It's frustrating.
Main character Beryl & the female cast
I don’t dislike Beryl as a character, but I really don’t like how nearly every female character in this anime is a former student of his—and on top of that, most of them seem to have some sort of crush on him. I wouldn’t mind this so much, but the age gaps are kind of uncomfortable. Beryl is 44 (according to the wiki), and most of the women seem to be in their mid-to-late twenties or even younger. That’s a pretty big age difference, and it feels weird when several of them are young enough to be his daughters. Now, to be fair, Beryl doesn’t flirt back—he’s too dense to even notice they’re into him—so that helps a little. But still, it’s an odd dynamic.
Strongpoints-
The fight scenes
The fights are easily the highlight of the show. Every battle is well done—fun to watch, visually interesting, and a great showcase of each character’s abilities. If you’re in it for the action, this anime delivers every time.
The story
Despite the pacing issues and awkward harem stuff, the overall story is actually pretty solid. Most of the scenes build up to a good payoff, and the plot in general feels well-structured. When the characters do show even a little progression, it’s satisfying. There’s definitely a good story under the surface—it just takes some patience to get to it.
All in all, I’d say this is a pretty good anime. It has its problems, but nothing so bad that it ruins the experience. If you’re okay with some slow pacing and a few questionable character dynamics, you’ll probably enjoy it.
7.5/10
Tharr
Well, although this anime has some ok things, mostly it remembers me of "I Parry Everything". And thats a bad thing. So. Graphics. It looks decent enough when it counts, if then. Same for the battle animation (and here I'm not talking about fight choreography). Plus landscapes. I guess I can praise those sword moves. Real techniques for an european sword. I mean in the OP and in the first episodes, 'cause later it sucks. His way of fighting is very good and very well defined, with fluid and minimal moves that take advantage of the opponent's mistakes. So instead of using minimal, fluid moves, healways fights like a redneck until the last 5 seconds when he remembers to use said techniques. And that was the good part about this show. Otherwise, everything is less than meh. Lousy scrip, with lots of exposition dump and cringe lines. Lousy designs, the way they move (watch it frame by frame while they run or something), color palette. Extremely bad cinematography. As in: 3 people exit a building, the shot changes to a blurry window in the background and the back of a head entering the view, then the shot changes again and all 4 people start talking... That level of bad.
Audio. The soundtrack is ok, the diegetic sounds are mixed to a comfortable level. The OP is really good as a song and graphics. The ED is also good and it goes nicely with the show's theme. The VAs..... I guess the cast was ok for what it was intended. What do I mean by that?
I'm glad you asked. Well, I don't know how old the MC is. I don't remember if it was said and I won't rewatch it just to check it out. But: he sounds, talks and thinks like a 70 years old. I'm assuming he's 40 yo. OK, lets say 50. People in their 50s still have a decent voice, you know. Anyway, the way he talks and thinks made me dislike this show even more. "Who, me? No, I'm not powerful. I'm just some old man from a back country village. Hmmm, she probably thinks this and that, and its not really true..." Over and over. Like I said, "I parry everything" vibes. But I'm sorry, thats not how I should've started.
So. Story wise, its kinda meh. A lot of things don't make sense or feel a bit forced, but lets say "ok" and move on. The world-building is minimal. And thats fine, I was not invested in this show anyway. The first 4 episodes are something like an intro, getting the feel of things. So, don't use the "first 3 episodes" metric to judge this show. Btw, after watching ep 5 (or was it 4?), I took a break for a few weeks. When the next episode starts, someone mentions "Twilight" (thats the name, right? I won't double check). Me: who's that? The show: *starts playing flashbacks*. I don't even know whats worse: that I've forgotten something about this bland story or that the show knew that someone would and they planned for a flashback :)))))))) Oki, oki, moving on. Plot wise, its a mixed bag. Some (very few) decent stuff, then stuff happens just to move the plot from point A to point B, plus some "incredible" plot-twist. Incredibly bad, that is. You can guess it pretty easily. And the way the show ended was so anticlimactic that it felt like an useless episode. So, kinda full of plot contrivances and plot devices, just to keep the plot moving the way the author needs it to. The pacing is ok most of the times, I guess. A bit slower at first, but it picks up as the plot progresses. Last episode not included, that was a walking (or should I say a "running"? ha ha.... *sigh* sorry) disaster. Character development: yeah, right.. :))))
PS: After finishing the review, I remembered something so I'll just insert it here. The chicks are meh (design, wardrobe). More beautifully designed are some supporting cast (Lucy, or a teacher that appears for 5 minutes only etc). The swords are meh. But wait! Starting with ep 10(? 9?) some new characters from a different kingdom appear. New designs. Some cute girl that even uses a shield. Even the guy has a better design than all the ones until now (ok, old man's old man was pretty ok). Unfortunately, no special techniques involving the shield.. Oh, well.. What is the point of all this? They had the opportunity to make it better (at least for the last 3 episodes) and still missed it. Instead we got a full (almost) season of meh designs for characters and weapons.... Oh, well...
So, this is a bad show. But you might enjoy it if you're into medieval sword-fighting. Or maybe you're a 50 yo and you like it when young women love older guys. No, I'm not judging.
I'm giving it a 4. Because the OP&ED, some fighting techniques, some graphics... But even then, its too boring or too cringe. "Oh, master, you really are powerful..." *sigh* again.
Unless you like something specific, this show is not for you and you'll forget it pretty soon. No return value, obviously.
Have a lovely evening.
thewiru
You can polish a stone until it shines as much as gold. Alas, it won't turn into gold, because it is a stone. Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru possesses many good technical aspects: The production team reached for HEMA specialists so it could get historically accurate swordsmanship forms, exercises and choreography, it has one of the best TV Anime 3DCG I've even seen, as it was made by the same studios that worked in the latest Gundam projects, it brings high tier seiyuu, it is the currently best rated non-sequel Passione TV Anime in four years... yet it is still a stone. Those character designs aren't terrible,but you have already seem them somewhere, be it a manga, anime or video-game. People joke about "Paul Greyrat protagonist", but we also have Cagliostro from Granblue Fantasy, Saionji Usagi from Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai, and the list goes on.
The backgrounds aren't terrible, but they're the same towns and fields you've seen in any medieval fantasy anime.
The artstyle isn't terrible, but it likely won't be anyone's favorite either.
I like ecchi in my fantasy anime, but the fact that this one chose to be so realistic everywhere else ended up putting Allucia's armor in a sort of "uncanny valley".
This anime has a premise — a very talented swordsman whose all students became very successful, yet can't accept his talents due to an inferiority complex — that would work flawlessly were this a comedy anime (In the molds of, say, One Punch Man or Mob Psycho 100) or more to the drama side, focusing on his overcoming such complex. It is neither here, the premise mostly being only used to justify our protagonist being as strong as needed by the plot. Granted, perhaps due to only being a fantasy anime and not a narou isekai, the power-levels are pretty low, so that only amounts to the realistic "He's just very good with the sword".
I won't speak on it's differences from the LN and manga, as I haven't read either, but it seems to be that the manga recognized some of the weaknesses of the original and decided to do heavy changes in order to make it "more interesting", changes that didn't come to the anime.
Structurally, the anime... isn't very good? It's not uncommon for something to be set-up in an episode to look like it will span an entire arc... only to be completely solved in the very next episode. Sum this with the fact that the anime has a lot of "fluff" (Episodes were our protagonist just hangs out with another character, though not much development happens), and in the end the anime ends with the viewer having no idea on what it is about or what would come next (There is a sequel announced for 2026, so in case this is a split-cour, it makes this not as bad, but still...).
At the time of writing this, it BARELY saves itself from a "Not Recommended".
Not as bad as a stone, probably one of the better stones, but nowhere near as good as gold.
Rokuuu
This show is not too bad, not insanely good, about average. My favorite thing is how the swordsmanship is rather accurate, even the fancy moves don't go against the laws of physics. Beryl as a swordsman, and a swordsman only, he's pretty good. But as a character, Beryl is rather generic, unremarkable average good "midle aged" guy who's dense as a doorknob, too humble even for humble people, He could've been much more charming if you ask me. I didn't like how solutions to problems come by quite easily with little to no effort from the characters involved, i felt somepontential if they chose to be slightly obfuscatory about things, than reveal them in due time at a "climax"
Animation was pretty decent, art was decent, voice acting was pretty good, i'm happy about those.
Now we hit the sore spot, the supporting characters especially the girls were underwhelming, some of them were there but all they do is praise Beryl & get ignored outside of combat scenes.
Conclusion: The show is alright, i had fun here & there, was especially impressed by swordsmanship sequences, they were mostly correct and i loved it, story was a little empty & characters lacked depth & development but in the end, i enjoyed most of it despite its shortcomings.
I say watch it over 12 days, might just enjoy it!
Andrewapps
Story: 4 Characters: 4 Animation: 7.5 Sound: 6.5 Enjoyment: 5 Overall: 5.4/10 Notes: I am getting sick and tired of this fad lately, of a show each year which centers around a middle-aged guy that thinks he's weak when he's actually overpowered, with women flocking to him like he's a chick magnet, and *nothing* happens. I'm talking plot-wise, romance-wise, character development-wise... *nothing*. It is a slog, from start to finish... why do these shows keep getting greenlit? Like me, are there tons of people who try out these mediocre shows, praying for just *one* of them to do *something* with the potential that is there... just to be disappointed time andtime again.
S-rank daughter, I Parry Everything, Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Chilling in my 30's, Lv 2 Cheat, and those are just the ones that come immediately to mind. None of them are good, or even *close* to good, and this show is no exception. And as it is like the 10th time I'm watching a show with the exact same core idea, and progressing at the same, obnoxiously slow pace... I have even less patience for this one.
The craziest part? This guy might just be the weakest of all of the main protagonists. Like, at the end of the day, he's just a guy with a sword. That's it. Set 50 archers against him, or several high-class mages, or just anything else that can overwhelm him, and he's toast. He might very well be the best swordsman to ever live [pressing x to doubt], but he's still just a guy. And yet he STILL has to be involved in every. Single. Damn. Thing. Going. On. I just can't... I don't think I can watch another show like this, because it's actually starting to bother me.
Which, to be honest... isn't fair to this show. It's not *bad*. Just... mediocre. Painfully, annoyingly mediocre. Good animation, but hardly ever gets to shine. Solid character designs, but wasted on such bland characters. Tons of potential for intriguing drama, or a sizzling romance, hell even a harem... but nothing. Just random action, where the MC beats up the fodder of the week. With the animation quality also sneakily dipping as the episodes tick by, that and lots of people complaining saying this adaptation completely butchered the source material... I'm left wondering whether I should even continue this boring fantasy show.
Believe me, if you're an anime veteran, you've seen this show before. And if you're relatively new to the anime scene? ... Still don't watch it. Seriously. Save your time and energy on something else.
NutBarber
** spoiler free, bief summary ** Story: The story is entertaining, but undeniably simple. It does a solid job of extracting what's fun and engaging from the narrative, but you can't ignore the fact that there's just not enough depth to pull from. There is content, yes. But it's focused almost entirely on the protagonist. The world around him feels more like a backdrop than a living, breathing place, which makes it harder to get invested in the bigger picture or understand the grander scheme of things. Characters: The characters serve their purpose. They support the story and play off the main character in ways that make sense, butoutside of being his current or former students, they don’t really have much going on. They don’t interrupt the flow, but they also don’t add much to it either. Many of them feel like they're running on pre-written scripts, almost like NPCs or AI-generated personalities. Functional, but not particularly memorable.
Music:
One of the highlights for me. The action music with its Slavic inspired vibes stood out in a good way. It gave a sense of weight and style to fight scenes. Overall, the soundtrack never harmed the experience; in fact, it often elevated it.
Animation:
The movement during fight scenes deserves praise. It felt grounded and believable, like actual sword technique rather than over the top fantasy nonsense. However, the use of shortcuts and AI was noticeable at times, and it’s clear that this wasn’t a high budget production. That said, while it didn’t blow me away, it did its job.
Overall:
A fine and fun way to pass the time. I wouldn’t call it an experience, but it’s far from a waste of time. If you’re in between shows and want something easygoing with likable main character, this will do just fine.
zkeleton
The strong protag who's clueless about how strong they really are was a bad trope to being with and, like a turd rolling downhill into a pile of crap, it was always inevitable that it would only get more tiresome. Even though the MC in this show isn't nearly as bad as the others in this sub-genre, he's not interesting or charismatic enough to escape the stench left behind by the others who came before him. The uninspired story arcs could do nothing except bring the show down as well. The women in the show having enough personality to be a cut above the stereotypical fawning sycophants,and the emphasis on somewhat grounded swordplay, are what push this from being below mid to just barely above average.
patkarunungan
I enjoyed watching 'From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman.' It's a bit different from the average slop. § Overview Beryl Gardinant is an instructor for a sword school in a rural area. He did not achieve his dream of being a master swordsman — or so he thought. One day, thanks to his former student, he received a summon to become a special sword instructor for the knights of the Liberion Order. Thus begins Beryl-sensei's adventures. § Notes1. This is not isekai, and I'm glad it did not start with some guy dying and getting reincarnated into a new life.
2. The protagonist Beryl Gardinant is middle-aged, and most probably in his 40s. By honing his craft for so many years and teaching it to different students, no wonder he is a great swordsman. It might feel contrived that he (and no one else) is overpowered, but at least no one can deny that there is an explanation for it.
He is sometimes challenged by magic users and if there are an overwhelming number of enemies, so it's not boring. He does not obliterate his enemies quickly.
3. You will notice that many of his former students are attractive women, and they tend to have romantic feelings for their former teacher.
One may be tempted to call this a self-insert for middle-aged guys, and it can function as that. But to criticise it as merely self-insert is reductive. Even if you don't insert yourself in Beryl-sensei, he is an interesting character whose time has come. He may be old, but he hasn't reached his potential. If there's anything that anyone can feel inspired by this story, it's the fact that no matter how old you are, as long as you haven't reached your potential, it's still worth pursuing goals that will help unlock your potential.
I cited this quote in my review for Medalist:
"It is never too late to be what you might have been."
--- a quote often attributed to George Eliot
If Inori in the Medalist can achieve much despite being late, Beryl-sensei can also do the same in this anime.
Back to Beryl's harem, he does not lust after his students even if technically speaking, there's nothing wrong with doing so. By the time they meet again, they are now adults. His father actually asks Beryl-sensei to find himself a wife. Beryl is just unwilling to look for one at the moment.
4. The art direction doesn't seem to stand out. It seems only serviceable. But if you look at the background art, especially in the ED, it's above average.
5. The tone is a bit more serious than the average anime, but it hasn't reached its potential because of the limitation of the 12-episode format. The plot involving the internal politicks of Sphenedyardvania was barely developed even if, more often than not, it has been central in the anime. I believe if this story were to be taken in its logickal conclusion, it would be better than what has been seen in the anime.
§ Conclusion
This is an enjoyable anime, especially for older guys. Implicit in the message is that it is not too late to have your adventures and your harem. But even without that, the story has potential.
NOTA BENE: A grade of 6 out of 10 means that I find this anime slightly above average and I enjoyed watching it.
UNLIKE IDIOTS IN THIS SITE WHO THINK A 6 OUT OF 10 IS MID/AVERAGE/FAILURE, a score of 6 out of 10 is decent.
Chuy_diazz
A story about a swordsman who truly shows respect for the art of the sword. The story isn't much; it's quite simple and could be more of a slice-of-life than an action story. The protagonist is the master of a swordsmanship dojo and is eventually brought to the city to instruct the army and will meet former students from his dojo. Obviously, it's still a fantasy story, and most of the old man's students are girls, and some have romantic feelings for him. This might sound like the most cliché in the world, but the anime knows how to carefully manage all its elements so thatit doesn't feel cliché. The master meets various female students in the city, and they are excited to see him, but it's just that, excitement due to the respect they have for him. They continue to live their own lives and keep their jobs; it's not that they give up everything for their master when he moves to the city. This fits very well with the reality of adult life: meeting loved ones not when you want to, but when you can. It also adds depth to the girls because it's more than just the feelings they may have toward their teacher.
The old man, on the other hand, clings too tightly to his role as a teacher. It's not that he's naive and doesn't know how his students feel about him. He's just aware that those feelings shouldn't be motivated or reciprocated, so he prefers to play dumb about them. Which feels very good because we're dealing with a protagonist who at least tries to empathize with other people's feelings and not just do what his libido tells him to do. As for the use of the sword, when they tell you he's a master, they don't just tell you that, they also show it to you. The fights in the anime are very well-crafted so as not to minimize the art of the sword. It's a fantasy world, and magic exists. Only they don't minimize the sword versus magic; instead, they tell you that everything depends on each user's mastery of their art. Even during the fights or at the end, the old man gives a lesson about what his students could have done differently. Because just because they're considered among the best in their field doesn't mean they don't have room for improvement.
The animation remained at a decent level for most of the season. The fights have good direction and choreography, and the camerawork is good, allowing you to appreciate everything that happens during the confrontation. They even did a full CGI fight in one episode, and it turned out quite well. The problem was that it seems like they spent most of the budget on that midseason fight, and for the second half, they had to make do with what little they had left. In the last three episodes, very strange CGI is used, even changing the character designs. It's very obvious because it feels awkward and doesn't let you enjoy the fights as much as you did in the first half of the anime.
Katainaka no Ossa is an anime I didn't expect anything from, and yet it still managed to deliver a story with interesting concepts. I definitely want to see how the story develops in the upcoming second season.
mrfried
This series did so much right, and then fell short by being a poor attempt at a harem If you want a light fantasy then this does deliver, but if you want something more complex and with real depth of characters rather than half-hearted attempts to give characters depth, then you are best looking elsewhere. I enjoyed this series, it felt grounded with a heavy realism put into the sword fighting and techniques, that allowed the series to move away from generic OP MC, while still allowing the MC to remain strong thanks to his own physical effort and training. It also managed to deliver comfy vibes, whereit is not just pure action, but has many scenes of characters just talking over dinner, which helps slow down the pace of things and develop the character relations more.
However for all that, this series has one major weakness, and that is the formulaic drip feed of former female students, the way it introduces new girls slowly one at a time throughout the entire series gets increasingly repetitive, now I do confess that I like harems, but normally you get most of the characters introduced early so the 'best girl' wars can erupt amongst the fanbase. And then to top it off, we're going down the dense harem protag route, which is one of the most annoying and frustrating protag types there is.
The story here is nothing special, every now and then we see a variation of this basic plotline get given a new set of clothes and rolled out in one form or another, it is rather tired and cliched by now, and so the unfortunate end result is that some of the big twists are entirely predictable.
The characters are not that well fleshed out, they are given backgrounds in what becomes a formulaic manner of flashbacks to their time in the dojo and a narration of how they felt about things in the past. Only Mewii is given any real development and growth.
A smaller cast would have allowed more time and more focus on the main character to allow them to get developed, or if this is going the harem route, actually spending more time with the potential female love interests would have also done the same thing, but we don't spend enough time with them and they aren't given any real development when we are spending time with them, they just end up being basic personality types with very little else going on. Instead what happens is that these girls just come and go, which is why they don't get enough development, and why we don't get enough time with them for it to be a true harem series. If it wanted to be a harem, it needed to fully commit to it, these half measures don't please anyone, and in the end it just feels like a distraction to everything else.
In a way its a shame, this series did enough to set itself apart from all of the others out there, and it had the potential to be a really good stand out series, but it was just those elements that let it down.
Taffstinator
I rarely write reviews but this show organically made me want to do that. I want to start off by saying I've not read the manga, so I can't attest to how accurate the adaptation is, but this show definitely deserves a higher rating. While the story is your typical "Mr. Nobody is the strongest" type of cliché, what really stood out to me are 3 things: 1 - The protagonist is extremely humble, likable and not some spoiled little brat with a God complex. 2 - The CGI is actually GOOD. It is used in some of the fight scenes and it genuinely impressed me. It'snot cheap, ugly or intrusive. (I'm not saying it's the best CGI ever, but it's definitely higher quality than most. "Overlord" or "Berserk" can't hold a candle to it.)
3 - The supporting characters are interesting and I like seeing them on screen.
While the story is simple - the world, characters and art style really sold it to me. I wouldn't watch the show expecting something incredibly original or "never before seen", instead it's more laid back and casual but when there is fighting, it kicks it up a notch. I'd say go for it, give the anime a try. I binged it in 2 days - it was a good cup'a'tea.
