Yuusha Party ni Kawaii Ko ga Ita no de, Kokuhaku Shitemita Ep.05 - Hero? That guy?

Episode 5 of Yuusha Party ni Kawaii Ko ga Ita no de, Kokuhaku Shitemita (勇者パーティーにかわいい子がいたので、告白してみた) was honestly a huge disappointment and overall the worst episode of the entire series so far. I remember mentioning that I wanted an antagonist to shake up the story a bit, but that guy? Seriously?

The story continues from where we left off last week, with Cecilia traveling to a remote location for official duties to investigate the situation with the bandit attack we briefly saw previously. Once there, they find that the bandits were defeated by the mysterious swordsman, and everything seems stable in the city.

Teal was really adorable, a beam of light! Plus she's now basically a semi-regular part of the cast!

Cecilia drinking a mysterious potion made by someone who she barely knows...

They help a young girl named Teal who has a disease, and she tells them of a "guardian deity statue" that has protected her multiple times in the past. Youki and the others are suspicious, so they go to investigate the rumors and find a friendly gargoyle that just want to live in peace.

The issue is that the mysterious swordsman appears again, and he wants to kill the gargoyle despite it not posing any threat. He is the Hero Miller from the Gallis Empire, and he has a sword that supposedly absorbs any magic, making him impervious to Youki's attacks. He is arrogant, violent, and simply out of control, ready to do anything to satisfy his lust for blood. He is a third-rate villain, basically.

Youki manages to destroy the sword by overloading it with magic and defeats him, but Miller attempts to kill the gargoyle anyway and hits Teal instead. Enraged, Youki transforms into a Demon and could kill him at any time, but he decides not to after remembering Cecilia. He lets Miller return to his country even as the man vows to get vengeance.

Even ignoring the ever-declining animation quality, which is practically at a PowerPoint level, the actual developments of this episode were cliché and extremely badly written. The Hero turned out to be a generic mob villain with a flat, two-dimensional personality, and Youki himself even followed the "I am not going to kill you" trope to the letter.

I understand that she was being unreasonable, but putting her to sleep forcibly is a little...

...see? You made her angry with that move. I told you so...

Add in Cecilia (supposedly a member of the Hero Party) acting as a damsel in distress who is unable to move a finger during the whole altercation, and you start wondering, "What were they trying to do here?" There is no payback; it is just a cheap way to show how strong Youki is in front of Cecilia.

At this point, I am too deep into the series to simply drop it, but I am actually hoping we go back to the normal comedy and ditch the action angle altogether in the coming episodes. If it just doesn't work, they simply shouldn't try to do it.