Arad Senki: Slap Up Party

This anime is a hidden jem: it's not perfect nor the best anime ever made, but it is worth your time.

First things first: this anime's plot is generic and a bit bad; and it's a shame that the first half of the fist episode is dedicated to set up the plot and introducing characters that are not important until later in the series.

But the shows knows this, so instead of boring you with the same generic plot of "let's travel and save the world", the show focuses on traveling though the fantasy world and the character interactions; and only specific episodes are plot ... "heavy", and even in those episodes there are more than enough gags to keep you entertained. Althou, my problem with this approach is that you'll forget why they were travelling in the first place (but you'll have so much fun that you won't care)

Almost every episode is set on a different city/town and focuses on the adventure that the party has on each location. The location themselves are normal (houses with normal people), but the interesing part of them are the adventures the party in the city: maybe they'll have to defeat a monster using the power of a pumpking-god, or maybe they'll do random jobs (like fishing flying piranhas) so to gather money to buy supplies and don't starve to death, or maybe they'll have to help a gunsmith to save his sister because he is alergic to the guns he creates, or maybe one of the party members just scews something up and the all the party has to fix the problem they caused.

But the most important thing about this anime are it's characters and their interactions: all of them are idiots (with good or bad intensions) and they're pissing each other off for the hell of it but, at the end of the day, they can't stay mad because they are all friends that care for each other.

By the way, this show is a comedy. Without spoiling anything, the "fights" are not real fights... but, at the same time, they are there so that the conflict is resolved. Also, since the last a cople of seconds, they won't bother you.

A side note; this show handles fanservise in the good way: most women are really hot, but their boobs are not the reason for why they exist.

Its visuals and its sound are good: both of them are deliver a good experience but they are not remarkable enough to point them out.

But maybe you'll read this review and ask yourself "if this anime has so many problems, why does this guy gives it a good review?". Basically, because it is that funny! It is hard to review this anime without spoiling anything because the things that heppens in it are hillarious and ridicule!

If you've read this review and you have doubts about watching the show, go to Youtube and watch it's second opening. It doesn't contain any spoiler, it is a short adventure that shows how goofy and hillarious this anime and it's characters are.

I hope you have found this review helpfull. Any type of feedback is welcome (send them by PM).

Being a player of DFO from the old Nexon days, I was excited when finding this overlooked anime during middle school (2009). I have watched a few episodes back then and often skipped one or two episodes because I was impatient to see the whole thing but I went back and watched everything in 2015. The story was pretty generic with the whole traditional character class roles in an RPG like a warrior , fighter, mage, gunner, and priest (a healer that can kick ass). As for the characters, I enjoyed watching them going on about their quest while creating a laid-back atmosphere (except ... until the mid to late episodes where everything got serious). Since I was in love with playing DFO (even now I still do), my love for the anime is pretty high up on the charts despite what most people say about it but if I didn't know what the game is about, I would have given this anime a lower score. Now, should you watch it? I would say yes if you don't mind the whole cheesy-ness that comes with the show or the whole ridiculous antics that the characters produce. If you're a long-time DFO fan and just stumbled into this anime, then DEFINITELY watch it.

Half of this show feels like (and probably is) filler. A few filler characters are important to the plot in the end, but many aren't. While some of the it is fun and interesting (episode 11), the rest is tedious (anything with the guys who wear pots on their heads).

Filler aside, the show isn't really anything special. Aside from some of the colorful characters, it's just another fantasy-adventure anime where our band of heroes must go somewhere to find something. The show is often goofy, so if you're looking for a serious fantasy series, I'd look elsewhere.

Other thoughts:
-The animation often looks stiff and only a ... handful of character designs actually stick out.
-Jeda the priest needed more screentime.
-I did get some laughs out of the frequent slapstick.
-There was a chibi folk tale episode that was really cute and I actually really liked it.
-Baron's got nice eyes under his headband (I like his design in general).
-Overall, the show's fun if you're looking for something simple and colorful.
-Seriously, don't think too deeply about this show.