Endro~!

Endro~!

Endro~! anime series cover art
Endro~!

Overview

Endro~! (Endoro~! / えんどろ~!) was one of my favorite anime of the season, despite the fact that I didn’t rate it very highly, as you’ll see later on. While I think this anime could have been truly great, there were a few things I felt held it back overall.

So, to begin, Endro~! is a fantasy anime about a party of four female adventurers who refer to themselves as the hero’s party. Now, just from this brief description, I was really hoping this was going to be an adventure anime following the travels of these four girls. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

While it is a fantasy anime, and these girls are adventurers, this is not an adventure anime. Instead, it’s more of a slice of life series. Now, I’m all for slice of life, and I loved the characters in this series, but I would have liked to see them do things that actually mattered, if that makes sense.

Don’t get me wrong, they do go on adventures and defeat monsters, but it’s not an adventure anime. It’s not about the adventures they go on, or their final destination, it’s about the friends they make along the way.

But, despite the fact that I would have liked this series to have a bit more substance, I loved it nonetheless. I think the character designs and general aesthetic of the series were the best of the season. And, although I doubt it will happen, I’d love to see it return.

This series was also actually an anime original, which I thought was pretty shocking. It’s difficult to get an original anime greenlit, and I’d imagine it’s even more difficult if that series is a slice of life that doesn’t have a clear plot.

Hero’s Party

So, like any slice of life series, it’s the characters that are forced to do most of the heavy lifting. Luckily for Endro~!, these girls are strong.

First up we have Yulia “Yuusha” Chardiet, the self-proclaimed hero. In this world, every generation for the past 999 generations, a hero and demon lord are simultaneously reincarnated. And, as it turns out, Yuusha is the 999th hero. In fact, her nickname even means hero, something I discussed in my post on anime character names.

But how does one become recognized as a hero in the first place? Well, like any good hero, she’s chosen by the hero’s sword, which in this case is a pink, gem-like sword that doesn’t appear to be sharp in any way considering Yuusha just uses it to bash things like a club.

Unlike most heroes, however, Yuusha’s dream isn’t to save people, it’s instead just to defeat the demon lord. Yes, by defeating the demon lord she would be saving people, but to her that’s secondary. As long as she can defeat the demon lord, and have fun with her friends, she’ll be happy.

The second member of the hero’s party is Ellenoar “Seira” Seiran. While the other three party members are all human, Seira is an elf. This doesn’t really come into play all that much other than the fact that she has long ears and is exceptional with a bow (which she doesn’t even use).

Seira is one of my two least favorite characters from the series though. She’s the nerdy, messy, insecure about her body, and all around one of the less comical characters. However, one thing I do like about her is that despite being an elf, she uses a giant warhammer as a weapon.

Fai, Seira, Yuusha, and Mei from the anime series Endro~!
Fai, Seira, Yuusha, and Mei

Next we have Fai Fai, or just Fai for short. Fai is one of the more interesting characters to me just because I don’t really understand how her character trope became so popular. She’s your typical tomboyish, sporty girl who’s much more physically developed than her peers, and is also obsessed with food.

That may sound pretty specific, but you’d be surprised at just how many series have a character just like her.

Fai really reminds me of an older version of Sacchan from Mitsuboshi Colors, which is one of my favorite anime from 2018. She’s basically like if Sacchan left the city and lived in the wilderness for 10 years before returning to civilization.

Finally, we have my favorite member of the hero’s party, Mather “Mei” Enderstto. Like how Fai reminded me of Sacchan, Mei reminds me a lot of Kotoha from Mitsuboshi Colors as well. She’s a nerd, but she’s a cool nerd, if that can even be a thing.

Mei is the mage of the party, and uses Cartado. Cartado is the magic system in this world, and like Mei, is one of the best things about the series. It’s essentially a collectible card game, but each card represents a spell and has a rarity attributed to it.

Magic systems are often either too confusing, or so oversimplified that you can’t really make much sense of them. However, since Cartado is based on trading cards, it’s complex enough to have some depth, but also simple enough that anyone can understand it. I can’t wait for a physical version of Cartado to become available.

But, back to Mei, not only is she a user of Cartado, she’s a connoisseur. She knows everything there is to know about Cartado, and her dream is to collect every legendary rare Cartado in the world. Her obsession with Cartado goes a bit overboard, but that’s what makes her so entertaining.

Supporting Characters

Along with the four members of the hero’s party, there are five recurring side characters in the series. These are Mao, Princess Rona, Chibi, Female Knight, and Meigo.

Mao is a teacher at the adventurer school, and has the hero’s party as her students. However, she’s also the 999th reincarnation of the demon lord, unbeknownst to the hero’s party.

After being defeated by Yuusha, the hero’s party and the demon lord were all sent back in time to when the main portion of the series takes place. In this timeline, Mao decides not to be a demon lord anymore and instead focuses on teaching.

Female Knight (who is never actually given a name) is another teacher at the adventurer school, and the one responsible for hiring Mao. Her defining characteristic is that she’s a lolicon, which is why she’s obsessed with Mao, who has the appearance of a young girl.

Rona Pricipa O’Lapanesta is the princess of the kingdom, and the hero’s biggest fan. Rona believes it’s her duty to one day marry the legendary hero, and even learning that the hero is a girl this time around isn’t going to stop her.

I mentioned that Seira was one of my two least favorite characters, and Rona is the other. She’s just a bit annoying with how she’s always talking about the exploits of the previous heroes.

Next we have Chibi, a small dragon who serves as the pet to the hero’s party. I thought about adding her in my section on their party, but she’s more of an informal member than an actual member due to the fact that she’s a dragon. Her stomach is a bottomless pit of despair.

And, finally, we have Meigo, the maid golem who served Mao when she was the acting demon lord. She doesn’t really play much of a role in the series, but she has a nice character design and considers Mao to be her friend since they were alone together for so long.

Conclusion

Alright, so I gave Endro~! a 6/10, but I really think this is a series you should watch if you’re a fan of the whole cute girls doing cute things subgenre. It also has Inori Minase voicing Mei. You may know her from some of her other roles such as Rem from Re:ZERO and Hestia from DanMachi.

The ED is also sung by Inori Minase, and it’s my favorite ED of the season. I actually think it’ll be a tough one to beat for the remainder of the year. I know I haven’t linked to an OP/ED in a while, but here’s the Endro~! ED for anyone who’s interested.

So, did you watch Endro~! this season? And if so, what did you think of it? Let me know down in the comments. Also, while you’re down there, consider clicking the like button ❤ to let everyone know you appreciated this review.

You should also follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any of my future content.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. If you’re interested in learning more about becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Leave a Comment