Summary

  • Fans waiting for more Kaiju No. 8 content can watch The Ossan Newbie Adventurer.
  • Rick's unique character in the new series lacks the tragic depth of Kafka in Kaiju No. 8.
  • The new series focuses on comical misunderstandings and overpowered protagonist tropes.

Warning: Spoilers for The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible episode #1!Fans of fans were initially drawn to him because there are rarely any protagonists who are over 30 years old and past their prime.

The eponymous Ossan newbie adventure perplexingly named Rick is just that type of character. He started becoming an adventurer at the ripe age of 30 in his world where the time to start is in a person's 20s -– or even earlier. As a result, he is mocked relentlessly by his younger peers and even instructors when he takes an adventurer test after training in secret for two years.

Rick's younger peers stare at him as Rick looks down in The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible

This might sound like Kafka's unique and compelling situation, but the major difference is that, if Rick were Kafka, his story begins after he inadvertently ingests the power-granting parasitic kaiju and expedites the process where his peers realize that he's the titular eighth kaiju.

Rick Gives Kafka's Situation in Kaiju No. 8 A Hilarious Spin

The Ossan Newbie Adventurer is based on the light novel series by Kiraku Kishima and Tea; produced by Yumeta Company

Rick covers everyone in the green slime from slime bag in The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible

This is problematic on many levels for both fans of Kaiju No. 8 and those who are just intrigued by Kafka's unique dynamic. Although relegated to one episode, the debut of Kaiju No. 8 was so effective because Kafka's origin story was tragic. He had tried and failed to follow his dreams, and, due to his "old" age, it was highly unlikely that he would get another shot. How flawlessly the anime captured his deep depression exacerbated his situation even more because it implied the great lengths it would take Kafka to pull himself out of his existential state, and since the continual age of time massively decreased his changes significantly, the implication that he would likely not change any time soon made his outlook even bleaker.

It's akin to Kaiju No. 8 beginning with Kafka in kaiju form, showing viewers for the first time memories where he's still a cleaner living in his unkept room.

This entire dynamic is lost by the start of The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible. Of course, the anime does show Rick's version to some extent, but only as very brief flashbacks, which greatly reduces their impact, since Rick has already achieved what he's striving for in these scenes. It's akin to Kaiju No. 8 beginning with Kafka in kaiju form, showing viewers for the first time memories where he's still a cleaner living in his unkept room. While emotional, the immediacy of the situation is lost.

Moreover, the fact that Rick quickly proves his own strength to his peers in the first episode also eliminates the amount of time it took for Kafka's teammates to realize that he was the eighth kaiju. Kaiju No. 8 flawlessly captured the effective trope popularized by One-Punch Man where the protagonist doesn't show their true strength and is mocked for it. In Kafka's case, the only thing that made him strong was his kaiju powers, and since the kaiju were the enemies of the very organization he was trying to , he had to keep that power a secret for as long as possible, thus prolonging what fans wanted, which was for Kafka to prove himself to everyone.

The Ossan Newbie Adventurer Also Finds Inspiration From Isekai Anime

Like many others before it, the new series builds on established tropes from its predessecors

Rick is about to place his hand on the power reading orb in The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible

Instead of this, The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible puts an absurd amount of focus on a very different albeit well-known trope that revolves around comical misconception, where the protagonist doesn't fully comprehend their own strength and mistakenly believes everyone is much stronger than them. Unfortunately, the type of misunderstanding that fans truly care about, where the protagonist is thought to be weak when this is not the case at all, is thoroughly cleared up almost instantaneously.

Despite not being an isekai, The Ossan Newbie Adventurer also heavily borrows from some of the genre's foundational plot points. More specifically, it employs the one where the overpowered protagonist's overwhelming strength breaks their world's way of measuring a person's power to the point that a much lower reading is displayed because the measuring device just couldn't such a high level. Luckily, episode 1 has ostensibly exhausted almost all the types of scenarios that these specific stories employ, giving fans some hope that this trope is an isolated incident that will beget a different formula later on.

While possible, it's unfortunately unlikely that The Ossan Newbie Adventurer, Trained to Death by the Most Powerful Party, Became Invincible will explore every facet of what made Kafka so compelling in Kaiju No. 8, but Crunchyroll has plenty of time to prove these skeptics wrong, just like the characters who initially doubted Kafka and Rick.