My Status As An Assassin Obviously Exceeds The Hero’s –
Class loner Akira Oda has always been one to “naturally” blend in with the crowd.
Not one to grab attention, and has never been attended to by a constant group of friends.
If anything, he likes to read the occasional isekai – and perhaps dreaming to visit a world where he could at least be part of the spotlight.
Thankfully, that day he’s reading an isekai story turned out to be his best one yet. A summoning circle appears overhead and transfers them to the Retice Kingdom in the world of Morrigan.
The King greets them in a large hall and asks them to reveal their classes, as one of them is the Hero destined to defeat the Demon King.
Everyone is somewhat excited to show off their classes to everyone. Being heroes of a new world – and the prospect of finishing a mission to come back to their families – is an exciting break from school, after all.
Akira, ever the isekai savant, senses something is up and doesn’t immediately show off his stats.
Why? Well, in his own words – My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s.
SPOILERS AHEAD
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s… is about what, exactly?
As with many other works in the isekai genre, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s originally started as a light novel series written by Matsuri Akai and illustrated by Tozai. Initially self-published (and eventually officially published) in 2017, it got a manga adaptation in 2018, before finally being adapted by Sunrise this year.
As the name implies, protagonist Akira Oda and his classmates are “summoned” to another world in the hopes of helping the Retice Kingdom defeat the Demon King.
Student council president Tsukasa Sato is predictably assigned the Hero Class, with everyone else assigned to classes capable of assisting both the Hero and their peers in some form or fashion.
However, Akira Oda wonders why his Assassin stats – even in this initial reveal – already exceeded that of the Hero Tsukasa’s. Not wanting to arouse suspicion, he uses his <<Conceal Presence>> to hide himself – and now beginning to develop his own doubts as to the “true” nature of their summoning.
Finally, some love for the rogue
When Akira sees his base stats as more powerful than the supposed Hero’s, his familiarity with the isekai genre prompts him to be extra suspicious towards the circumstances of their summoning. This is a meta-commentary on the “expectation” that there’s always an “odd one out” destined to be the extra special Hero – this time around, it’s granted to Tsukasa, and not the loner Akira.
While not necessarily jealous of Tsukasa’s status, Akira’s desire to go back to his family empowers him to be somewhat more investigative than his peers – something befitting his Assassin status.
In a genre littered with dual-wielding warriors, powerful magi, and leaders, it’s not all the time that an isekai protagonist has a powerset often reserved for “That Cool Side Character.”
And it’s probably about time the rogue got much-deserved love in stories featuring RPG mechanics – because realistically speaking, it’s their DPS that should let heroic tanks finish the job anyway. It would be interesting to see how this expected dynamic would play out in the story, if any.
Not only that, Akira’s Assassin class – and his maxxed out <<Conceal Presence>> – makes him undoubtedly perfect to stealth his way into investigate the true nature of their visit into the world. One might even wonder if the summoning has been tampered with, ensuring Akira would somehow end up with these stats precisely because something was up.
A welcomingly uncomplicated transition to a new world
Compared to other isekai stories with a painfully long introductory arc, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s doesn’t shy away from throwing both characters and viewers to the deep end. Akira’s familiarity with the isekai genre meant everyone else had some degree of exposure to the concept, which explains why the cast kinda sorta knew what was going on at the onset.
Even the world of Morrigan seemed to work with these “videogame-esque” rules in mind, as the students were instructed to say “Status” to reveal their <<Status>> screens, and even Akira somewhat understood what <<Conceal Presence>> could do for a person with his Class.
The somewhat short “training” montage also hinted they will have to increase their stats, while certain types of Classes had access to certain “default” skills and abilities – pretty much like in an MMO.
While some would dismiss such a concept as rather “rushing” the immersion, the assumption that both characters and viewers were already familiar with MMOs, RPGs, and the isekai genre indeed help catapult the story to where it needed to be – despite how similar My Status as an Assassin was to its isekai cousins.
In fact, it’s this expected similarity to other isekai where My Status as an Assassin begins switching up the fabled “other world” formula. With Akira now taking the viewer’s attention as “more-powerful-than-the-Hero,” it’s curious seeing things from the perspective of someone in the sidelines versus the “expected” path of a Hero-to-be.
And with the mystery behind their summoning exacerbated further by an Assassin Class with a maxxed out <<Conceal Presence>>, My Status as an Assassin just begs for a more “serious” watch – much as it presents itself as a chill show.
Episodes 2-4 tease a unique take on the Not-Hero versus Hero dynamic
With Episode 1 having only been released on October 7 and the others slated across the next few weeks, it can get difficult talking about the other episodes Crunchyroll gave us access to without revealing any significant spoilers.
But plot aside – because let’s face it, there’s really no other way for this to go other than Akira having to save the world – the rest of the Episode screeners we got do start establishing a unique dynamic between Akira and his peers.
Ever the quiet loner, it’s unsurprising that Akira kept to himself and often did his own thing. And even in the anime’s very first scene, Akira is seen on a mission alone – befitting his Assassin background.
What’s interesting here is the inclusion of a “Hero” variable – represented by the ever-friendly Tsukasa.
Would the anime show a difference between a supposed “side character” journey (Akira) versus the destined protagonist’s (Tsukasa)?
While not immediately established as bitter rivals, the two students (would they be really “friends” if Akira always stayed in the background?) is teased to have different approaches to dealing with the mission at hand.
As Tsukasa is positioned as the Hero “destined” to kill the Demon King, would Akira eventually become the fabled DPS assist… or a shadowy rival who will eventually serve as the Demon King’s defender?
An easy-to-follow isekai perfect for genre lovers
Despite having a somewhat uncomplicated plot, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero’s is a remarkably decent ride episode after episode (at least, from what we’ve seen so far).
Akira Oda isn’t an insufferable MC, and he at least has the sense of justice one could expect from an OP Protagonist-to-be, even with the lack of immense character development. In an embattled genre where the worst comparison would be that One Dual-Wielding Guy In Black With A Harem, Akira shares the same attempt as his peers to go beyond two-dimensional to make their stay in the world of Morrigan more interesting than other samey isekai stories.
This is especially the case when future Episodes reveal there’s more than meets the eye in their mission to defeat the Demon King, and the cast will somewhat discover this in their own unique ways.
If anything, My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero‘s conceals (heh) a worthwhile build-up within the premise of a run-of-the-mill isekai story. And while Akira’s tale does have promise, here’s to hoping there wouldn’t be too much of a build-up that the much-awaited twists become stale on arrival.
My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds The Hero’s streams every Tuesday on Crunchyroll.
