Saihate no Paladin

Saihate no Paladin (最果てのパラディン, The Faraway Paladin / Paladin of the End, Ultimate Paladin) is a Japanese light novel series written by Kanata Yanagino and illustrated by Kususaga Rin. It began serialization online in May 2015 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō. It was later acquired by Overlap, who have published four volumes since March 2016 under their Overlap Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Mutsumi Okuhashi has been serialized online via Overlap's Comic Gardo website since September 2017 and has been collected in eight tankōbon volumes.

Both the light novel and manga are licensed in North America by J-Novel Club. An anime television series adaptation by Children's Playground Entertainment aired from October 2021 to January 2022. A second season has been announced.

Synopsis
In a city of the dead, long since ruined and far from human civilization, lives a single human child. His name is Will, and he's being raised by three undead: the hearty skeletal warrior, Blood; the graceful mummified priestess, Mary; and the crotchety spectral sorcerer, Gus. The three pour love into the boy and teach him all they know.

But one day, Will starts to wonder: "Who am I?" Will must unravel the mysteries of this faraway dead man's land, and unearth the secret pasts of the undead. He must learn the good gods' love and mercy, and the bad's bigotry and madness. And when he knows it all, the boy will take his first step on the path to becoming a paladin.

"I promised you. It's gonna take a while, but I'll tell you everything. This is the story of the deaths of many heroes. It's the story of how we died and why you grew up here."

Novel
The series is written by Kanata Yanagino and illustrated by Kususaga Rin. It began serialization online in May 2015 on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō.

It was later acquired by Overlap, who has published four volumes since March 2016 under their Overlap Bunko imprint. J-Novel Club licensed the series for English publication.

Manga
A manga adaptation with art by Mutsumi Okuhashi has been serialized online via Overlap's Comic Gardo website since September 25, 2017. It has been collected in eight tankōbon volumes. J-Novel Club is also publishing it in English.

Character
"After living in such a hopelessly vague manner… I had thought that waking up in the world was my punishment for not being filial and retribution for looking down on life. However, this is by no means a Punishment. This is Forgiveness. The thing that I had carelessly thrown away was granted back to me by someone."

- William G. Maryblood The main character, who spent an idle life as a withdrawal and died with regret, is reincarnated in another world while retaining his memories. A baby named William (commonly known as Will) is raised by three immortals, Blood, Marie, and Gus (Augustus), who were known as heroes during their lifetime, in abandoned city hundreds of years ago, now called City of the Dead. He recalls that he had a past life in Japan, he can only vaguely remember certain events and common knowledge. William uses his previous life as one of his main sources of motivation and determination to lead a proper life in his current one.

Abilities
Determined to live a life without regrets this time, Will learns martial arts and Swordsmanship from the Skeleton Blood (War Ogre), common sense and faith from the mummy priest Marie (Daughter of the Mother Goddess Mater), and studies and magic from the ghost wizard Gus (Wandering Sage).

In addition to being excellent users and excellent leaders of the three undead, Will's own excellent talent and constant efforts can be said to be the strongest human in the farthest Paladin world. However, perhaps because he lived in the ruins for a long time, it took him some time to become aware of his own strength. After regretting that, he became able to objectively analyze himself.

However, the person himself is not satisfied with that, and for various reasons he has not stopped studying his various abilities, and above all, he is aware that he will be killed if he is caught in a scheme, so he is the strongest is not invincible either. In fact, his enemies are also powerful in the work, so he has been on the verge of death many times.

One of the skills trained by Blood. A powerful weapon and final piece of armor that allows you to respond powerfully in any situation. I wrote this as a bit of a joke, but actually, the muscles in the Paladin at the far end are slightly different from the muscles on Earth. That said, it's basically no different than muscles on Earth, and if you don't train, you won't build muscle, and if you don't train it, it will weaken. And if you don't train the right way, you won't be able to acquire it.

The more you train, the more basic specs you need to survive, such as physical strength, endurance, endurance, and the ability to continue fighting. Unlike hand-held weapons, it never leaves the body, and unlike techniques, it is versatile in any situation. Also, depending on how it is trained, it can be equipped with the ability to reflexively attack no matter how disturbed the mind is. It can turn things around in almost any situation, and is a major pillar that underpins survivability. Violence with well-trained muscles solves most problems.

Another skill trained by Blood. Skills in a wide range of combat, from bare-handed martial arts to weaponry using swords, spears, and shields. While it is extremely useful in combat, it is basically considered to be inferior to muscle, and in the world of The Faraway Paladin, there is almost an absolute relationship of strength ≧ technique. The reason is that the techniques are limited in the situations where they can be used. Simply put, you can't do anything brought into Inoki's state (Antonio Inok, professional wrestler). Based on extremely realistic reasoning, it is said to be inferior to well-trained muscles. However, a well-trained technique is different from the strength of muscles, and conversely, it is possible to decide the situation at once when the situation fits. Never forget to study hard.

TV Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on April 17, 2021. The series is animated by Children's Playground Entertainment and directed by Yuu Nobuta, with Tatsuya Takahashi overseeing the series' scripts, Koji Haneda designing the characters, and Ryūichi Takada and Keigo Hoashi from MONACA composing the music. It aired from October 9, 2021 to January 3, 2022 on Tokyo MX, AT-X, and BS NTV. The opening theme is "The Sacred Torch" performed by H-el-ical// while the ending theme is "Shirushibi" (Mark of Fire) performed by Nagi Yanagi. Crunchyroll has licensed the series outside of Asia and Oceania (excluding Australia and Zealand), while Medialink licensed the series in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the rest of Oceania, and co-licensed with Disney+ through Star content hub in Taiwan, Hong Kong and selected Southeast Asia countries. On December 25, 2021, a second season was announced to be in production.

Staff
On October 28, 2021, Crunchyroll announced the series will receive an English dub, which premiered on November 27, 2021. Saihate no Paladin was released on Blu-ray from January 26, 2022 to March 23, 2022.
 * Original work - Kanata Yanagino
 * Character draft - Rakususa
 * Director - Yu Shinoda
 * Series composition - Tatsuya Takahashi
 * Character design/general drawing director - Koji Haneda
 * Monster design and special effects director - Masaharu Tomoda
 * Concept Art - Taijiro Nagata
 * Prop Design - Shin Matsuo, Naoyoshi Yoshimura, Yuki Adachi
 * Art Director - Lee Shu-Ku
 * Art Setting - Kang Mihyang
 * Color design - Haruko Nobori
 * CG Animation Director - Shinsaku Nagura
 * 2D Design - Saori Kawase
 * Cinematographer-Takeshi Kuchiba
 * Editing - Akinori Mishima
 * Sound Production - Dax Production
 * Acoustic Director - Hiroto Morishita
 * Music - Ryuichi Takada, Keigo Hoashi
 * Music Producer - Jun Nishimura, Mitsutoshi Ogura
 * Music Production - GOODSMILE FILM
 * Produced - Mitsutoshi Ogura, GOODSMILE FILM
 * Producers - Shujin Huh, Kazunari Iwata, Ayako Mitsui, Akio Kawamoto, Jianli Yang
 * Animation Producer - Masayuki Naoe
 * Animation Production - Children's Playground Entertainment
 * Production - Paladin of the End Production Committee (Bilibili, OVERLAP, Docomo Anime Store)

External Link

 * The Faraway Paladin ─ Web novel at Shōsetsuka ni Narō (in Japanese)
 * The Faraway Paladin ─ Light novel official website (in Japanese)
 * The Faraway Paladin ─ Manga Official Website [Comic Gardo] (in Japanese)
 * TV Anime "The Faraway Paladin" Official Website (in Japanese)
 * TV Anime "The Faraway Paladin" Official (@faraway_paladin) - Twitter
 * The Faraway Paladin ─ Wikipedia (in Japanese)
 * The Faraway Paladin ─ Wikipedia (in English)

Trivia

 * In the setting of the book version, the name after reincarnation is named by Blood with the wish that he will grow up to be a man who does not bend himself (William = the meaning of the strong-willed warrior/Helmet of Will).
 * In terms of creativity, it is thought to be derived from the spirit of a man who continues to wander in this world, "Will-o-Wisp" (William with a torch).

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