Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World is a fantasy anime series that deals with a bit of a slice of life. It consists of 1 season with 12 episodes, which was aired during the Winter of 2023. It was made by Studio Geek Toys, who usually focus on fantasy anime like this. Their other famous works are Date a Live and Plunderer.
This anime focuses mainly on four characters, each of a different class in the party Mage, Healer, Vanguard, and Light guard. These four come about to find each other and form a party to find money to earn for their daily living and their hobbies. This fantasy anime is a great watch for people who like watching character form bonds and become stronger together. This anime brings a kind of peaceful feeling when you start watching it.
The Characters
Curran: She is a Dragon breed meaning a hybrid between a human and a dragon. She is the only non-human member and Vanguard for the ‘Survivors’ Party. She joined the Survivors as she was used by her previous party members as a meat sack for absorbing damage from the Potsnake, who is super strong. They not betrayed her trust but also stole her dragon jewel given to her by her clan. She is a kind soul who was betrayed and found it hard to trust people again.
Nick: He is just a normal human with barely any magical abilities but a hard worker who has trained since childhood. He was taken in after his parent’s death by Argas (a friend of his father) and trained to be an adventurer. He is the Light guard and the party leader of Survivors.
After being thrown out of Argas’s party, he was overwhelmed as to what he would do now but was helped by Agate (a rising idol) to come back on track by finding hobbies and pursuing to become an adventurer again. But he was now very alert and overly cautious of whomever he befriends.
Tiana: She is the elemental mage of the ‘Survivors’ party. She masters wind and water magic. She joins the party after being kicked out by her noble family, who blame her because her fiance left her for someone else. She took the blame and decided to agree to live on her own as told by her family thereafter. She finds it hard to trust anyone anymore as she was betrayed even by her own family and the love of her life.
Zem: He is the healer of the ‘Survivors’ Party. He formerly used to be a priest at the church in a small town. There a girl of 14 years who used to collect herbs for medicine made by Zem fell in love with him. Upon revealing that Zem can not accept her being a man of the cloth, the girl fakes being raped by Zem and paying for it, resulting in imprisonment for years and then exile.
He then came to Labyrinth City to find peace and feel emotions again, only to fall into going to prostitute clubs and spending money there. Sadly, he runs out of money and trust and is forced to join the Survivors.
The Plot
The story starts as something which no one would expect, the topic of ‘trust.’ It portrays Nick being in a state of despair and walking aimlessly in the rain. He was kicked out of the party of Argas, whom he had admired since childhood and wanted to grow to be just like him. This is where he is helped by the Idol Agate, who forces him to come to her concert to cheer up and find a reason to live.
Then we see him coming to a bar and restaurant where he sits alone at a table of four, and the receptionist tells her Nick will have to share the table with three others. This is where we meet the rest of the characters, Curran, Zem, and Tiana. They all join him, but none of them utters even a word to each other until the beer comes in, and they all chug it together. Then they all kept their glasses down together, shouting that they could not trust anybody anymore.
They then share their backstories of how each one of them got betrayed by someone they trusted or looked up to. They share their stories while chugging more beers. In the end, everyone is super drunk and ends up in Tiana’s room. They wake up with a hangover and just walk out as if they are still strangers to each other. But Nick stops them and says that since everyone is in need of money and is a solo adventurer, why not form a party together?
They immediately fill out the form and decide on the name of ‘Survivors’ since they are all survivors in some form. They then go on their first adventure in a small dungeon against slimes. But something goes wrong, and Tiana misfires a spell in the direction of Curran, and she becomes angry due to this incident.
Nick acts as the leader of the party and manages to make everyone tell their strengths and weaknesses so they can trust each other better. They then go on their next adventure to annihilate a goblin horde, but little did they know that it consisted of an Ogre (evolved goblin) too. But they overcome their fears and annihilate the whole horde together.
Then we see the guild receptionist giving out a special assignment to get the ‘Sword of Bonds’ from the labyrinth of bonds. It was a risky task taken, and the party almost got killed, but they got the sword. They got to know it is an ancient sword that holds great powers by saying the word “Union.”
They keep the sword by fooling the guild receptionist as it holds so many abilities. The sword can take a humanoid form and goes by the name of Kizuna, which translates to ‘enduring bonds.’ They then have a small bout with the Iron Tigers, another party which is followed by a mathematical match with a simultaneous physical fight by another party member.
Then there is the next best arc of the Stepping man, which focuses on catching a kidnapper of children, which is an urban legend but still occurs in real life. So, while the Survivors uncover the real identity of the Stepping man, they also cover the black market and the underworld where the villains lie. Two characters, Olivia and White Mask, are introduced during this arc, who are very strong and harbor ancient weapons. The fight between the two is just fabulous.
The Review
The anime focuses on the fantasy aspect very properly and interestingly. We can see this as they try to bring in modern concepts like swords which are called ancient weapons but are modern for the generation shown in the anime. The anime also covers all kinds of emotions, from revenge, party, sadness, distrust, death, and new bonds forming.
The animation is a bit mediocre but suits the style as it is not too colorful or less saturated. Just the right amount of colors to the character and the backgrounds make the show decent enough to watch. The fight scenes are also not poorly animated, but we would expect more magic spells in a fantasy anime but are not able to see that many.
The physical fights are on point and well-animated such that we can see the hands and their actual movements between the characters. The characters do not portray much difference in strength, which feels much better because if there were too much difference in skills or strength from the beginning, we barely get to see any development of the character.
Since it was just the first season, the storyline was also a bit behind and did not develop much. Hopefully, the second season gets approved soon, and we will get to see more of these characters in their upgraded versions. The only thing that bothers me is how they ended the series with the introduction of various ancient weapons and deciding who will kill the Demon King and who is supposed to wield the powers of these all-powerful weapons.
The series can capture the viewers’ attention through the first episode as it shows bonding between strangers which can be related to real life, and also how trust is created and maintained by people who care about you. The series might be a fantasy anime, but it focuses on teaching you life lessons which makes it an interesting watch but still gotta look forward to the next season, which will build the storyline and make it much more interesting than it is now.
Our Rating: ⭐ 4.1/ 5
Also read: Where Is Shame Filmed? All About its Locations & Reviews
