The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic Anime - First Impressions Review

Written by Rei Caldombra 1/24/2024 Video version: https://youtu.be/df0Gxxq5Svs

Here is a first impressions post about The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic. This based on the first 3 episodes and there will be spoilers. Skip to the last paragraph for the short conclusion on my thoughts if you want to avoid spoilers.

I am really vibing with this show!

The characters are great so far. The first episode did a great job introducing us to our main trio, giving them solid characterization without immediately throwing them into the new world. I like the variety of reactions from everyone, primarily the extreme on both ends from Suzune and Kazuki. I appreciate how seriously offended Kazuki was about being summoned. It’s nice to see it get brought up that he has been ripped away from his life up to that point. And contrary to that I enjoy Suzune's gung-ho reaction that fits for a nerd who has dreamed of being in a fantastical world that is more exciting than our own. I also really like Rose. She works as the overly harsh teacher trope but with added depth. She really does come across as a battle-scarred veteran who has been a healer and training healers for a long time and has developed a mindset and training regimen to reflect that. We know she has had many students so she would think of ways to make it better without compromising her methods. This adds to her character too, making it clear she is not extremely rough on them just for the heck of it. This anime's approach to the skillset and talents a healer should have is novel and makes complete sense when you have it spelled out for you. Healers in media are generally frail, slow and weak. They heal and usually offer nothing else outside of maybe some other support magic too. But that alone would not be effective for their role, as they'd very easily get taken out or fail to save people in a realistic battle scenario. This is the more detailed reflection on healers that is missing from most media and is fantasticating to watch. What would be effective for a healer is speed and mental fortitude. This is what Rose highly values and wants to instill in Ken. The healer that Rose builds him to be is far more compelling than the stereotypical healer. I also like the journaling concept that she includes in her regimen. This further shows how she is a competent and experienced teacher, as this is something that I feel someone like her would only think of after having many students. She understands that her training is intense and can inspire anger in her pupils. So, she came up with a practice that helps them vent that anger. We see this play out successfully, with Ken enjoying venting in his journal. This is really great writing that makes Rose and her training more than just the stereotypical harsh training trope. Overall the characters are great, Rose especially. Everything with her truly is fantastic.

I like how it's taking the concept of healing magic and the position as a healer in a more detailed direction. I really like how they brought up how important agility would be for his role as a healer. This feels like it's written by someone who loves playing healers in video games and wants to see them in deeper focus in media. Healing magic seemingly allows for you to train endlessly and repair your worn-down muscles. It allows for completely optimized muscle training. This is a very interesting approach to take. Healing is usually just centered around healing obvious big wounds, so it is nice to see it being used in applications other than that. These details make me interested in seeing how healing magic is applied in many scenarios. It seems like this would allow for abusing people too, I would love to see that get brought up. It seems like using healing magic in untraditional or wrong ways is a focal point so it would make sense to happen. 

Healing magic has the capacity to be as busted as crazy elemental magic if not more. If you take healing magic to the high levels we commonly see for elemental type magic then someone can basically touch immortality. If you can heal most wounds fast than anything that doesn’t instantly kill you can be recovered from. I'm curious to see how he becomes extremely powerful and if his healing magic is really going to become that busted. I’m really looking forward to where this can go. As of the first 3 eps he is already pretty strong but not completely overpowered yet just based on a durability standpoint. Keeping the venom just from killing him did take a ton of his mana. So, I am expecting that mana will likely be the main limitation that keeps him from being super overpowered. I’m totally down for this story making him ridiculously strong as long as the way they go about it is interesting. I do want some form of limitations, so he is not a solo god though. I am very invested in the story so far, so I actually want to see the unique ways it can be applied to make a character extremely capable, rather than dreading it. Normally an overpowered main character can very easily make for a boring show, but here I am actually looking forward to it. Based on visuals like the opening, it seems like he will get strong offensive capacity from healing magic. I’m very intrigued by this and hope this is done in an interesting way assuming I am predicting correctly.

It's also pretty funny, especially in episodes 2 and 3. The overall tone is also good, with it mostly being lighter and comedic but having serious moments that remind you of the truth of what he will need to be prepared for as a healer in battle. This is shown through Rose as well, where we go from jokes about how harsh her training is to the grim truth about why she does this. So far, this anime is excelling at adding dramatic weight in the right areas (just like with training).

This is a very strong start! I love the characters and I think the detailed focus on healers and healing magic is extremely intriguing. This focus gives it a unique niche in the very bloated fantasy anime genre. I'm enjoying everything about this show and am super excited to keep watching! 

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Next Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic Post: https://www.blogunderalog.com/blog-collection/wrong-way-to-use-healing-magic-anime-episodes-4-9-review-rose-is-a-1010?rq=healing%20magic