In a world where everyone receives a class and skills at the age of 10, and where such revelations have a huge impact on one's life, Arel, the son of Sword Princess Farah and Archmage Leon, learns that he has no class at all and no special skills. Without these, all that's left for Arel is hard work. And so he takes to training, utilizing wits and cunning to emerge as an all-new type of hero.

I don't know if anything can sum up my reaction to Hero Without a Class quite like the moment in the premiere where Arel just stares directly into the camera, dead-eyed and utterly bereft of even one recognizable human emotion. Arel's face was my face, as uncaring and unchanging as a dry stone, for most of this premiere. I can't even say I was bored, really, because that implies that my mind was given enough stimulation to even wander away towards thoughts of all the good shows I could be watching instead.

Here's the deal: We have a formula that's been so spoiled of any potential that even parodies of the genre have become too lazy and repetitive to sit through. We have a protagonist whose entire character is defined by his featurelessness, who only acts based on a stubborn yet infuriatingly vague desire to do heroic things, like all the other people in his stupid RPG fantasy world, which was gifted literal job classes and passive buffs by their generic goddess. We have a setting that's, in no uncertain terms, one of the most shamelessly lame and unambitious I've ever seen. We have visuals so bare-bones and phoned-in that I'm not even gonna bother coming up with an illustrative metaphor or allusion to emphasize my point, because if I did, I'd officially be working harder to write one sentence than the actual show I'm reviewing worked at, well, anything.

The story doesn't have to be as bland as it is. It has a decently interesting premise as its starting point: In a heavily RPG-inspired world, Arel isn't blessed with a class, thus opening the door for the discovery that one isn't strictly necessary to pursue a career. That's actually fairly meaty as these things go, because it challenges the notion that everything in your life is predetermined, the fantasy equivalent of a highschooler wanting to, say, become a baker rather than take over the family clinic. And as he demonstrates in this episode, "skills" aren't just things the gods give you, they're abilities you can hone through practice.

Not that Arel shows any enthusiasm for this whatsoever, of course. He goes through life in a state of blandness, mildly recalling sparring with his sword princess mother and fending off the advances of his intensely obnoxious sister. He shows off his strength to other kids his age, who are flabbergasted by the idea that you can learn things. And that's really about it. I think my negative reaction to the aforementioned sister may be the strongest response I had to anything, which is a shame, because I'd like to see Arel normalize doing your own thing over what you're told you have to do.

Now, I'm sure this'll shock you, reader, but no, the show did not suddenly and inexplicably transform into a good one in its second episode. The entire premise is just as ridiculous as ever--seriously, how is this kid the first person in all of his universe's history to figure out the secret art of Just Kinda Doing Whatever? The show's presentation is just as insipidly bland and aggressively unambitious as it was one episode ago too.

If you are indeed curious about the continuing adventures of Arel, don't expect too much development. Thrill as Arel wanders around the city of Bresgia and stands in lines a lot! Rejoice as he's summarily rejected from every guild he stood in line for! Groan as that annoying girl Lillia follows him around! Be amazed when the red-headed kid from episode one turns out to be a girl, something that was not hard to figure out in the slightest and was then clearly shown in the ending theme! My goodness, will the madcap adventures never stop?

The better question is really whether they'll ever start, because this manages to keep being utterly dull even with two fights involved. Sure, the moment when Arel ends up squatting over an orc to drive a sword into his skull is neat in theory, but it just lacks the impact. And his rematch with Reiner, the redhead? It's a lot of slashing and talking, which doesn't make for thrilling fight choreography, especially not when it's barely animated.

And then there's the new character Lillia, an irritating gremlin of a girl who's mildly entertaining simply as the one spot where the anime feels like it's got some real energy. Arel says she reminds him of his sister Astea, and that's not a good thing for him or me. She's a character whose constant stream of chatter is meant to be endearing, or at least amusing and indicative of her strong will, but instead she just lands on annoying. It's great that she wants to save her father's guild, but following a guy around town talking at him may not be the best recruitment strategy.

I wish I could tell you that anything of deeper interest or complexity happens, but remember, this is Hero Without a Class, an anime that seems allergic to performing any creative task that might evoke a strong emotional reaction in its audience. I'm pretty sure the series itself would have a heart attack if any one of these conversations featured anything more involved than sitting down on a couch or standing around in the vacant space of some ambiguously beige background--to have a plot with any genuine stakes or discernible momentum is completely out of the question.

What really gets to me is how the show seems to want to have it both ways. It's happy to coast on the success of the 9,001 other lame anime it's aping, and it assumes that its audience will tolerate this strategy, but at the same time, it has to gall to act like the viewers should really pay attention and take in all of these idiotic rules and flavourless characters. This is a show that says "Yeah, you've obviously seen shows about dull ciphers with conveniently powerful natural abilities who show their favourite finger to the rules of a generic RPG world, but this time we tell the story in an even MORE lifeless and aimless manner, and it looks worse too! All we ask for in return is about 23 uninterrupted minutes of your finite and precious time alive on Earth!"

Hero Without a Class feels like it's barely trying. Even as completely disposable background noise, Hero Without a Class comes off as mediocre filler that you'd only ever turn to after exhausting every other alternative.