With a focus on was, Dariel was a magic-less soldier in the Demon King’s army. Dariel, for all his intelligence and initiative, loses his job when his supervisor is replaced. Having nowhere to go and nothing to do, he retires early to a human hamlet where he is ready to use his skills to help others and start over.
I reached thirty in 2022—a year I was warned to fear but, in reality, found liberating. As an AFAB person, turning thirty has been an amazing journey thus far. Every day, I feel more and more free from the constraints of society. I feel unrestricted in my ability to create, live, and act. It’s been incredible, I tell you; I’m already anticipating number thirty-one.
That’s probably why, after being fired from the Demon King’s Army, I anticipated feeling a little affinity with Chillin’ in My 30s because, you know, mood. If I lost my job at thirty, I would be quite devastated. So started my adventure with Dariel as we navigated through another fantasy premiere.
Dariel Loses His Job (Interesting fact: read that as Darel, which is actually a much funnier title) begins with…Dariel being expelled from the Demon King’s Army by the four generals. The imagined pink slip is handed to our protagonist, who is instructed to leave immediately.
And what’s a guy to do when he’s unemployed and in his thirties? Why not acquire a boobalicious girl to ease the pain of being unemployed a little bit? Yes, but only after he survives the opening and vanquishes a monster.
First and foremost, duty.
In the process, Dariel learns how to use his aura skills, kind of kicks it in a town, and gets glomped by Marika—who the camera loves to stare at—either from the nipple up or the decolletage down. Really, you can choose. However, that is essentially the entirety of the plot—and a fairly shallow one at that.
It’s alright to be chill in my 30s. If you get the one with the Dutch crumble, it’ll even be mildly entertaining. Otherwise, it’s just okay, like frozen apple pie in the world of anime. Since Dariel seemed to be happy in his life after the Demon Army, I really can’t think of anything negative to say about it. So, like, pop off, my liege! It’s not anything I detest.
I can’t even be mean to Marika, the first girl Dariel meets, since, well, that’s kind of obvious. Animators be damned, a special village girl got them dobonhonkeros, and nothing will change that. Nevertheless, it’s not fantastic that Dariel receives a female for his troubles in the form of a bouncy, voluptuous, and attractive village lady (and they make sure you remember it). It’s the kind of repulsive misogyny that makes me want to cry and take a nap. Even worse, it seems like this anime is crossing off just one more item on its list. I’m just mildly upset, not because I’m disappointed, because of course I am.