You're listening to The After Hours Arc, your
new anime podcast. My name is Antai, and I'll
be your host. Join me as I review, recap, and
relive anime, one arc at a time. And as always,
these are all manga -free point of views. And
before I get into the episode, I want to thank
any of you who followed me over during the whole
RSS feed. I do appreciate it. It really means
a lot. So thank you. Now today's episode is going
to be about Let This Grieving Soul Retire. Honestly,
this show ended up being so much fun to get into.
It's a fantasy adventure comedy where the main
character doesn't want to be a hunter at all.
He just wants to retire. Hence the title. So
he is Cry Andre. And he's technically the leader
of one of the most famous treasure hunting parties
in the world. In reality, he is one of the weakest
around. The contrast between how the world sees
him and the actual reality, that is what becomes
the core joke and essentially the heart of the
entire series. The show opens by introducing
us to the world of treasure hunters. Among these
parties, One has a serious reputation, and that
is the Grieving Souls. They formed the group
when they were all just kids, and while they're
basically fearless, this poor boy just wants
to go home. Every time he tried to quit, the
amount of utter faith this party has in him is
just insane. They end up just making him the
leader instead of letting him quit. The running
joke within this anime is that every cautious
decision that he makes is somehow seen as a master
strategy by everybody around him. This constant
misunderstanding is exactly what is building
his reputation within the Capitol. What I like
about Cry is he knows he sucks. It's just the
rest of the world that can't seem to take the
hint. Their party is part of a powerful clan
that are called First Steps. In the beginning
of the show, they are recruiting new members,
and there's this long line. Well, we see Cry,
all incognito. He is constantly trying to avoid
people, responsibilities. It is ridiculous. We
end up meeting some side characters, though,
that will pop up throughout the show, but they
weren't anything to write home about. I didn't
really care about them. We'll get to see them
and this character Tino work together, though.
Tino is the one side character who I think matters.
She is one of the Griever's apprentices, and
that whole dynamic is pretty amazing to watch.
I cannot help but feel bad for her. Oh my god.
But Tino having to work for this group is all
because Cry was the one who was asked to do this
request. He just put it on Tino. Cry is just
comfortable in the city with not a care in the
world. What he doesn't know yet is that Treasure
Vault is much more dangerous than he first expected.
The group is dealing with these phantom type
monsters that are extremely powerful. Despite
all of this danger though, Tino just assumes
that this whole ordeal is actually one of Cry's
thousand trials. So the most legendary hunters
get a second name and Cry's happens to be thousand
tricks. Everyone around him thinks he's this
master strategist. Again, it is the running joke.
I love it. Getting back to Tino, that group goes
deeper and they eventually encounter a boss level
phantom. After an immense fight that they barely
manage to win, mind you, four more of these things
appear. Cry ends up finding out about this while
he's talking to another party within their clan.
When he tells them where he sent Tino, their
faces said it all. Everybody knows the Grievers
are just absolutely insane. Like out of their
minds crazy. They assume this is all because
of Cry and his thousand trials. He does suck
it up though and he heads to the vault. However,
he is a relic whore. Mostly defensive rings,
but he has this one relic and it's a cloak. And
it can fly. But there's no stop. That is another
one of the running jokes within this show. All
of the relics he loves. has a ridiculously stupid
stat. So Cry ends up literally flying into the
vault, finds Tino and the others, and is trying
to escape. In typical Cry fashion though, he
doesn't end up going to the exit, he just gets
deeper into the vault. And then they find the
hunters though that need to be rescued, so that
worked out. But another boss shows up, and now
they're the ones who need to be rescued. Luckily
for them, They do. This is where we got to meet
Liz, aka Stifled Shadow. She is the griever's
thief and the one Tino apprentices under. She
is absolutely brutal. She's the type of aggressive
character that cannot understand why everybody
around her is so weak. And her entrance was amazing.
I had to rewind it and rewatch it. It was that
good. She just appears in a flash of pink electricity
behind the phantom. And she fucks up this wolf
phantom with just one kick. I was so excited
to finally see one of the Grievers. This is mainly
the whole reason I continued watching the show.
I wanted to see all of them. I've said this a
ton, but I love overpowered characters and they
check all of my boxes. I will say, even though
Cry sucks, he is so funny in the Japanese version
versus the English dub. It totally made him so
much more enjoyable to watch. That situation
ends though. Or so they think. Cry ended up loading
himself with a ton of relics and artifacts. And
one of the items he brought was C -Tree's slime.
And he lost it. It went missing. So C -Tree is
Liz's sister. And the party's alchemist. Seatree
actually has two names. The prodigy was her first
one. But she also got the name Deep Black. And
it was wild when I found out. But basically,
she broke prisoners out to experiment on them.
I absolutely love when alchemists are used in
animes. And I found her to be perfect. Her and
Liz are definitely my top grievers for sure.
And Luke, but we'll get into him in a little
bit. The next danger arc within this series is
all about that slime. And we also get into this
cult called the Akashic Tower. The show really
got me with the switch up during this arc. C
-Tree is an absolute mastermind and extremely
dangerous. She is also completely devoted to
cry. So far as to having their wedding fund already
saved up, that whole dynamic was adorable. I
did not mind all the women loving on Cry. Well,
C -Tree went to help the hunters deal with this
tower and slime issue. And Cry is hoping to arrive
when it's over. Very typical. But of course,
that is not going to happen. We find out C -Tree
was undercover with the Akashic Tower. So she
knows all of the weaknesses and any kinks in
defense. There was like a flying beast that can
use lightning and this metal golem. She had a
hand in all of that. The switch up with her in
this episode, it had surprised me so much. But
after that fiasco, we end up getting this character,
this dragon slayer, Arnold. Arnold Hall. And
I love this. He shows up so cocky. And our current
grievers are in the guild hall, drinking, hanging
out. It's Seatree, Cry, and Liz. And he was just
being a dick. So Liz goes over, ends up smashing
a jug of beer over his head, and then proceeds
to fuck his entire party up. She is so volatile.
I love it so much. But now, Cry is public enemy
number one for Arnold. And that was a real conflict
throughout the entire series. Moving away from
Arnold for a minute, the next big thing we deal
with within the series is this relic auction.
Cry loves relics. But Cry is also absolutely
broke. He even owes Seatree, I think, billions?
I don't remember the exact number. It was a lot
of zeros. but cry finds out that there's this
mask and he wants it so bad turns out the guy
auctioning it is of course arnold and they tried
to do a private negotiation that ended up failing
and cry ends up now going into a bidding war
with a famous noble girl before he even gets
to bid on the mask though the golem from the
tower was being auctioned along with that cute
little flying beast So Cry bids on that and they
get that instead. Since there was a bid war supposed
to happen between him and that noble girl Eclair,
since he didn't bid, she obviously won. Our genius
leader realizes he can tell this fellow clan
member, Ark Brave, how dangerous the mask is.
And then he wants to buy it at a friend's discount.
He is so ridiculous. But in the end, he does
get the mask, but he ends up giving it to Tino.
I think it only works based on skills, stats,
and potential. And Cry has none of that. So moving
on, he gets another request. This time, he is
supposed to attend some really important event
within the kingdom. That means the most sensible
option is to go on vacation. The best part of
this is when in the guild hall, Cry's telling
Liz and Seatree about going on vacation. Liz
ends up inviting the clan members who were in
the guild at the time. And they were all either
sick, or had weddings coming up, or all of these
ridiculous reasons. Again, the Grievers are such
an intense group. These people are all set. During
his vacation though, Arnold ends up following
him. Because he wants to make him pay for humiliating
him. Even though that was technically Liz. But
whatever. We finally get into their vacation.
And they end up going to a hot spring. And I
figured it was going to be a little spicier than
it was. It definitely remained family friendly.
But that was not what I was expecting with a
hot spring episode. We get more conflict during
this vacation. And surprisingly, it's not Arnold.
We end up getting introduced to this clan of
thieves called Barrel. Another funny part. They
have hostages, right? And Tino, who I forgot
to say went, she is like, oh, you don't even
know who you're dealing with about C -Tree and
Liz. But C -Tree and Liz drop their weapons and
surrender because that would be upsetting to
Cry. So those three are captured. Cry has been
missing. And we find out he's deep underground
with these cave people. That was a really fun
part for me too. There's this princess and all
she says is Ryu. And he uses this relic that
can project an image. So he masks himself as
one of these cave people. And now he's also saying
Ryu. Oh my god, it was so funny. I don't know
why I found it as funny as I did, but I loved
it. Especially when he comes to the surface and
he's continuing to say that. Our girls see him
and apparently C -Tree can speak cave people.
What we find out Cry is apparently saying is
leave no survivors. And she was so offended because
apparently he also said to start with the beautiful
woman first and then her attendants. And oh my
god, it was such a good scene. His projection
relic runs out of mana, though, and his real
face appears. And that princess now wants nothing
to do with him. And it's about to be a full on
battle. But before it gets real serious, a dragon
comes and saves the day. And they had seen this
small little baby dragon. Tino knocked it out
and they were going to eat it, but didn't, which
obviously the baby dragon appreciated. So he
ends up telling his mommy dragon what was up.
And the cave people, they fled so fast. They
were all set. So now we're just stuck with Barrel.
Finally, though, the rest of my grievers show
up. The whole reason I continued watching the
show was because I wanted to see them in action.
Luke is the swordsman or thousand swords. He's
in my top three. He is so great. He uses wooden
swords and can easily dismember somebody with
it. We also have Ansem, who is Liz and Seatree's
brother. He doesn't say much. All he says is,
right? Yep. Yes. And for some reason, I love
it. And when they were forming their group as
children, his armor was just a cardboard box.
It was so adorable. His second name is the Immutable,
and he's the group's paladin. Finally, we have
Lucia, who is the avatar of creation. She is
apparently the stepsister to Cry. I say apparently
because she does call him brother, but they don't
have the same last name. I believe her last name
is like Rogers, where his is Andre. We weren't
given much information from when they were kids.
With the Grievers being all grouped up, they
obviously get through that conflict real quick.
Unfortunately for Cry though, there was some
aftermath from the Akashic Tower that he actually
caused. So before he went on vacation, the clan
Hidden Curse sought him out and had asked him
if they could take care of the remnants of Akashic
Tower. And of course, he has no issue with that,
say less. Well, this caused such an event. And
it ended up postponing that royal gathering he
was supposed to attend. And wouldn't you know,
they rescheduled it and he is back in time. Now
this arc was really important because it ended
up laying down some serious groundwork. This
event is at the King's Castle. And the event
ends up getting crashed by this crime syndicate
called the Ninetale Shadow Fox. Cry ends up getting
asked to become security for a trip. the king
and the princess are taking. And he's only allowed
to take five people. This is where I love Cry.
He is such an amazing friend. He may suck skill
and stat wise, but he cares so much about his
friends and he didn't want to exclude anybody.
So now he has to build a dream team from scratch.
And he picked this guy. I don't even know how
to say his name. I'm probably not even going
to attempt again. But he just picks him off a
list without even seeing who it is or knowing
what he's about. We get a powerful mage from
that hidden curse clan. His name is Telm. I can
pronounce that one. And we also get this noble
Chris who I fucking love. Towards the end of
the series, oh my god, it was so funny. She's
amazing. I'll definitely get into that in a minute.
But the Grievers end up backing him up, like
in secret. They treat this like a support mission,
which I just absolutely loved. Their friendships
are so real. They were so funny to watch throughout
this whole arc. But getting to the funniest part
of that arc, Cry is wearing this relic shirt.
It's a Hawaiian shirt. The kicker is that it
lets the wearer not give a single fuck about
anything. And that's perfect for him. Except
because of this, he falls victim to thinking
the two guys that he picked were talking about
a treasure vault Shadow Fox when they had brought
up the crime one to him. Since he himself has
gotten a tale as victory from one, he just figured
that's what they meant. Because of this, it made
him a little suspicious. And this scene in particular
had me dying. Chris is this noble woman with
pointy ears. She says honestly after every sentence,
which honestly sounds better in the Japanese.
And I feel like they did it a lot more frequently.
But she's in his room trying to find out exactly
what he's up to. Cut to Telm knocking but opening
the door and these two are on the bed facing
like the window. But the way she is curled up
to him, Telm just shifts his eyes and is blushing
and goes, oh, that's what's happening here. She
was so mad. She's all, I'm a noble. How dare
you assume that me and that puny human. oh my
god the best part is cry saying well i've heard
of half nobles oh my god this scene was so good
moving on though cry does realize only went home
and the checker kicker guy admit their affiliation
with the fox and say that cries as well and now
things aren't looking good for cry but he's all
like i'm a human it was so stupid But I found
it so funny. We actually end up getting into
some crazier scenarios than this. While they're
on this airship guarding the king on this trip,
the airship gets lodged into this treasure vault
in the sky. And wouldn't you know, this is where
the Shadow Fox Cry was thinking of resides. The
mana density within this vault is so strong.
that almost everyone passes out. Cry sucks so
hard though, that the mana density has absolutely
no effect on him. The monsters in this vault
are fairly friendly, but they call him Mr. Can't
See Danger for this reason. And Chris is still
with us, because she's obviously a beast with
her magic. You can tell though, she is hurting.
We find out that the last time they stumbled
into this vault, All Cry had to do was apologize
for accidentally being there. And he gets a tail
and leaves. That is basically all he had to do.
The series had ended with the king admiring Cry's
good luck and asking him to teach his daughter.
And that was pretty much the end. The two Shadow
Fox traitors are stuck in the vault. In the end,
everything works out. Overall, I loved this anime
so much. Every time a member from that party
was on my screen, I just got so excited. I would
enjoy seeing more Grievers in the future though.
Hopefully we will get some more. Again, where
I don't read manga or light novels, I don't know
if the story continues. The way they left it
off, it sounds like Cry has a new job ahead of
him. So we will see. The next series on my list
I would like to do is Freevin Season 1. And I
would also like to do Mashal, Magic and Muscle.
I'm still uploading every Friday a recap episode
going over the current season of Jujutsu Kaisen.
I had said in my last episode I'm going to be
starting the Witch Hat Atelier when that starts
airing, so I am very much looking forward to
that still. And again... If you have followed
me from my last RSS host, I apologize for the
confusion and the multiple distribution of my
podcast episodes. I really appreciate it. Until
next time, I'll see you then.