Legendary heroes are born to defeat demon lords, but they often do so with the help of a stalwart party of brave companions. However, that doesn’t mean that the hero or members of his party can’t be complete assholes like anyone else.
This is the viewpoint that a handful of new anime has begun to adapt. Like following villainesses in otome games instead of heroines, there are more than a few anime series that are following nice -and often surprisingly powerful – main characters who have been kicked out of the hero’s party or otherwise ran out of their previous organization.
Of course, after this life-changing event happens, usually they find something more fulfilling to do, realize their true potential, and collect new companions that actually cherish them.
If seeing what nice main characters get up to after they have been kicked out of the hero’s party is your latest passion, then check out these anime recommendations.
Main Characters Kicked From The Hero’s Party
Banished From The Hero’s Party, I Decided To Live A Quiet Life In The Countryside
As its title so helpfully lays out, Banished From The Hero’s Party is about a main character that was banished from the hero’s party who then decides to go follow his real passion by starting an apothecary in the country.
Once there, he does typically slow life fantasy things like start his business, help and befriend the people in town, and get invaded by an old adventuring companion that decides to move right into his home and start a romance with him.
However, the big pain point in this series is that the hero was actually his sister. While she didn’t kick him out, a fellow companion suggested that he was too weak and holding her back. However, it turns out that he was the glue holding this party together as they begin to struggle and his sister starts to mentally come apart without him there. As such, Banished From The Hero’s Party has a nice juxtaposition of pleasant country life adventures and less pleasant struggles of the hero’s party in its split focus.
The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids – A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party
The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids follows the tank of the hero’s party who is kicked out because his unknown abilities seem to be hampering the party. He has the highest “absorb shield” known to man, which is the ability to absorb damage without getting physically hurt, but his absorb shield also drains wildly quick. The hero suggests that this is making their labyrinth raids woefully short since they often need to return and let his shield recharge.
After he is replaced, he gets his abilities assessed and it turns out that he was absorbing the damage others took as well as sacrificing his own absorb shield to boost the attack power of the party. Needless to say, the hero’s party quickly disbands after he leaves and goes home due to even more dismal progress.
When home, the main character continues to raid the labyrinth in order to find a treasure that will hopefully heal his sick sister. Interestingly enough, he was such a great tank and a great guy that he attracts more than a few companions from the now-defunct hero’s party back into the party that he is now leading.
Beast Tamer
Like being kicked out of the hero’s party, anime has a growing focus on beast tamers as adventurers too, and every time, they are presented as somewhat weak. Beast Tamer follows yet another beast tamer whose skill is considered weak in that world as well as by the hero’s party.
As he mostly tames animals for utility purposes, he is treated more like a servant by the hero’s party until they decide to completely get rid of him. However, while taking the exam to enroll in the local adventuring guild, he meets a beastperson who saves him and lets him form a pact. This means he essentially tamed the strongest creature that can be tamed.
From there, Beast Tamer follows the main character as he tames more legendary beastpeople in a distinctly harem-like party experience. However, as he is doing that, the hero’s party begins to struggle, even going so far as to recruit another beast tamer, but learn that most beast tamers pale in comparison to the main character’s legendary skill as it. It turns out that most beast tamers can only tame one creature at a time while he was taming multiple the whole time before moving up to taming multiple beastwomen.
I’m Quitting Heroing
I’m Quitting Heroing has a bit of a different flavor than the other kicked from the hero’s party anime, but lives in the same space.
The series follows the actual hero and the savior of humanity. However, after saving humanity, he is pushed out of the human kingdoms for being just too powerful to be allowed to exist.
As one does when an entire species of people shows a distinct lack of gratitude for a lifetime of strife and sacrifice, he goes to join the Demon Queen’s Army that he just finished defeating in order to help them rebuild.
While the series starts off pretty comedic and light-hearted despite the initial premise, some true darkness comes around later in the form of some of the back stories. It provides less of the harem experience that you see in a lot of kingdom-building or realm administration anime, but adds in more profound emotion to the character motivations.
Chillin’ in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army
While not about a hero’s party, Chillin’ in My 30s is about, as the rest of the title helpfully says, a peon that gets fired from the Demon King’s army.
While Demon Kings are often presented as evil, Chillin’ in My 30s shows them more as the bureaucracy that most evil organizations likely are – right down to the nepotism that gets the main character fired. He was a well-liked peon by the previous demon general, and now that the demon general’s son has taken over his father’s role, he fired the man that his father liked more than him.
As it turns out, the main character was not just a useful cog in the Demon King’s army, but also not actually a demon at all. As he wanders, he discovers that he was actually a human this whole time, and human with incredible latent skill. He uses this to help revitalize the floundering frontier town that took him in when he had nowhere else to go.
Not unlike Banished from the Hero’s Party, Chillin’ in My 30s follows the main character as he lives a slow life in the country, helps and befriends the townspeople, and starts a romance with an overly-attached adventurer girl. However, he also helps to foster more peaceful relations between humanity and the Demon Kingdom since both realms are essentially fighting over the same resources.
Ningen Fushin – Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World
Finally, we have Ningen Fushin, a series that combines all the latest trends in fantasy adventuring anime into one adventurer group.
You have the tank who was used as a meat sack to distract enemies until they had no use for her and left her for dead. A powerful mage who was kicked out of her noble family after he fiancee left her and shamed the family. A once-upstanding priest who was accused of sexual assault as revenge, kicked out of the church, and became an alcoholic. And finally, a warrior who was kicked out by his teammates who were embezzling party funds who then spent all his own money on idol fandom.
By all their trust issues combined, they form an adventuring party! However, this is no tale of easy friendship. They all have issues, and none of them are easily worked through, but that does give this series some extra depth compared to the usual adventuring fantasy anime.
Do you have more anime recommendations following main characters that were kicked out of the hero’s party? Let fans know in the comments section below.
