500https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything.png Theres no shortage of OP MC fantasy shows out there. Even ignoring the entire Isekai subgenre your still left with shows like MASHLE Tower of God Solo Leveling the list goes on. Point is theres a lot of them and standing out can be hard. Some do it with fantastic animation good comedy or compelling writing. Most though? Most fail spectacularly and are forgotten to history never spoken of again. Sadly that seems to be exactly where I Parry Everything originally created by Nabeshiki directed by Dai Fukuyama and animated at OLM appears to have landed. But you know what? I think it deserves better. I think this show despite its average visuals and standard narrative deserves your attention. So if you take one thing away from this review make sure its this: I had more fun with I Parry Everything than almost anything else this season. Heres why. Be warned this review contains minor unmarked spoilers for I Parry Everything. It also contains major spoilers in some sections however these will be heavily marked to avoid accidents. https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything6.2.jpg Production First up seeing as this is an anime lets talk animation. I Parry Everything isnt the best looking show this season or any season really. So much of it is the lead awkwardly swinging a massive sword screaming parry and whatever hes hitting flying off in another direction. Characters sit static on the screen conversations are mostly people just standing in a circle talking with hardly any interesting shot composition and there usually isnt a lot of effects work. There are some exceptions to this every now and then when something especially ridiculous happens I Parry Everything kicks things up a strong notch. And sure these happen more and more frequently the deeper in you get. But even then these are roughly 30second highlights in a 23 minute episodes. Despite this however I still found I Parry Everything fun to watch and for one simple reason: Sincerity. Whats that quote about if you do something with enough sincerity commit to something hard enough then others will see and recognize it? Thats sort of the vibe I get from I Parry Everything. Despite the generally middling animation it felt like those working on it were actually having some fun or at least didnt hate themselves while doing so. And that bled through the screen into my viewing experience. Yes the guy is running across the screen screaming PARRY and a bunch of CGI swords are flying into the air. But then the shields go to. And the artillery. And entire freaking trains. At no point does I Parry Everything try to make itself seem serious or dour. It commits to being stupid the entire way through and that stupidity wraps back around to being a good time. All in all while I Parry Everything wont wow anyone its certainly fun and dials things up when it really needs to. While it would be nice for every little conflict to have some bonkers animation like Elusive Samurai or for the conversations to be shot dynamically and with a clear purpose like Shoushimin the simple truth is that like most anime I Parry Everything doesnt need that to succeed. You dont need to be a generational work of animation to be fun to watch to be worth sitting down for 23 minutes and having a good time. So long as the production doesnt get in the way of that your probably fine. And I Parry Everything is well well above that floor. So yeah theres enough action for the people looking for that but dont expect anything insane. https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything11.3.jpg Narrative Speaking of fun lets talk about something surprising about I Parry Everything the narrative. I said it at the start this is an OP MC fantasy show. The classic Powers everyone think are weak are actually really strong. Hell its even in the name all the guy can really do is parry... well anything. By all metrics it shouldnt be good the premise reads like your average light novel slop. But where so many of those immediately jump to grand epics about slaying the Demon Lord or becoming recognized by those around you I Parry Everything is just about a dude who has no idea how strong he is getting roped into events grander than he knows. One minute hes lugging rocks the next hes fighting a minotaur to save a princess. Except he doesnt know its a minotaur nor that shes a princess and just wants to go home. In a lot of ways I Parry Everything is similar to One Punch Man. The lead has no real idea how strong they are and they dont go seeking out these conflicts. Instead they get dragged into them by their friends and comrades deal with the problem simply by existing and then go home like nothing ever happened. Naturally a lot of the fun in these kinds of shows is in the reactions of the rest of the cast. While our lead may not understand what they accomplish everyone else in this world does and are in awe of it. You cant see a man parry a train and not say Holy crap. But where One Punch Man is a tad more comedy focused caring more about the absurdity of it all I Parry Everything is more concerned with having an dramatic story for better and worse. In some ways this is nice I Parry Everythings escalation feels natural. Monster to bigger monster to experienced warrior etc etc. Every single conflict feels connected every monster of the week builds on this larger conflict giving a sense of progression that I very much appreciated watching week to week. However while this is nice and ties each episode into the next its not a very complex story. The conflict is very straight forward theres no intrigue no real twists and you know the outcome of every fight before they even begin due to the nature of our MC. Theres nothing wrong with that really straightforward stories can be a lot of fun when done right. But to accomplish that you need something else to really draw the viewer in and engage them in the work. I Parry Everything does this with its main character Noor. https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything11.4.jpg Cast To say Noor carries the show would be an understatement. He is the show. His good natured attitude and sincerity towards those around him the way he approaches every situation directly his earnest ignorance of everything happening around him is the glue that holds I Parry Everything together. Watching an MC with an OP ability solo a dangerous Goblin Lord is one thing. Having him think thats the weakest form of Goblin something that every beginning adventurer is supposed to be able to defeat and never being corrected on it and refusing any sort of praise is another. Hes just so... likeable and makes every scene hes in good natured and fun. Theres no needless drama no love triangle crap no angst. Just a good man helping people out who isnt afraid to do anything from cleaning latrines to fighting dragons. That said there is one thing I need to be clear on and lightly spoils the ending so Ill keep it locked up. For those that dont care read on. Otherwise just know that some may see Noors ending as a bit of an anticlimax though personally I think it fit the show perfectly. As for the rest of the cast they really dont do much. Theres Lynee the princess who is sort of our audience surrogate explaining the life of an adventurer to Noor and putting his feats into context for us. Then theres the various Sovereigns masters of the various classes of this fantasy setting who largely serve to be wowed by Noors accomplishments and occasionally give us backstory since they each tried to train him a little early on. Theres also Rolo the demon child we meet about halfway through for Noor to show how caring he can be. And... Thats about it. Ostensibly theres a villain but hes nothing more than your bog standard evil emperor existing solely to start conflict and get defeated. There are no real arcs none of them are much more than card board cutouts filling out the cast to make the world feel populated. In that sense I Parry Everythings cast is kind of weak. It lives and dies on a single character. But that single character Noor is a lot of fun and his enthusiasm and earnestness breathes life into the otherwise static characters around him. Ill be frank in a months time Im not going to remember anyone other than Noor. But him Im going to remember fondly until at least the end of the year probably longer if Im being honest. Its not often an OP MC sticks with me so strongly. Thats something worthy of praise. https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything7.1.jpg OST Next we come to the OST. Composed by Tatsuhiko Saikihttps://anilist.co/staff/148507/TatsuhikoSaiki this is sadly not yet publicly available at least not as I could find it. That means Im not going to be able to link any specific songs to support what Im talking about. Add to that how Im not the best person to ask about music and youll have to take what I say with a grain of salt. That said I liked I Parry Everythings sound. Its very generic adventure but theres a liveliness to it that puts a spring in your step. Fast paced flutes and strings that reminded me of the old Fairy Tail bagpipe theme songhttps://www..com/watch?v=kIwmrk7LoDk. Not quite as unique but the energy is still there which is good considering just how often its used and how repetitive I Parry Everythings OST is. And thats really my biggest criticism of this OST the repetitiveness. There were no tracks that sounded bad per se nothing that took me out of the moment or ruined a scene. But by the time the anime finished I could swear Id heard every song 3 maybe 4 times. Again not a big deal so long as the tracks work and are enjoyable. The Fairy Tail song I linked above plays in almost every episode of its show but its still a banger to listen to. It just means that you probably wont be buying this OST or streaming it anywhere and that those looking for variety or something unique like a Mabanuahttps://anilist.co/staff/123867/Mabanua OST wont find it here. I imagine audiophiles will find this show lacking. But if Im being honest? Audiophiles probably wouldnt like the show to begin with considering theyll be hearing PARRY every episode. https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything1.1.jpg Sincerity Goes a Long Way With that we come to the final personal section of this review. This is where I try to give you look into my experience with a show all the pretense of a review left behind. That means noholdsbarred spoiler territory so only continue if youve seen the show or dont care about being spoiled for a show like this. If you choose not to read in just know its a lot more praise for Noor and the less tangible aspects of the show. So without further ado in we go https://starcrossedanime.com/wpcontent/uploads/2024/09/IParryEverything12.11.jpg Conclusion So yeah all in all I Parry Everything surprised me. I went into this expecting another bottomofthebarrel OP MC fantasy show with about as much personality as a bland fish. But what I got was one of the most earnest sincere fantasy shows of the year about a simple guy who doesnt know his own strength helping those around him. Hes a classic gentle giant only fighting when necessary and supporting anyone he can. No complicated plots no worldsaving quests or globe trotting adventures. Just a straightforward good natured simple fantasy show with some fun action and wholesome interactions. In a world filled with edgy light novel protagonists ecchi lolibait and the same Awkward girl joins a band show we see every season I Parry Everything is a breath of fresh air if a simple one and one I enjoyed a lot. Thanks for reading If you want to leave a comment positive or negative you can leave it herehttps://anilist.co/activity/792618268.