On a whim I decided to watch a show that already had a full season ready to watch online and well this wound up being it. The story stars a man who is 38 years old who decides to begin an adventure in a game called One More Free Life Online. In the game while there are monsters and quests you can essentially make the game any kind of gaming experience you want. The man names his character Earth and takes all of the seemingly worst skills to avoid any kind of attention and popularity so that he can play alone and at his own pace; however, in doing so the opposite ends up happening.

The story here is rather interesting and a little bit like Bofuri to a degree. It’s simply a protagonist that decides to play a popular game in a unique playstyle and we get to watch as those adventures unfold. Earth takes very unordinary skills in the game like archery, wind magic, stealth, kicking, medicine and more because those were the skills least used in the game. However, Earth’s playstyle wound up making him the perfect player as his desire to take things at a slow methodical pace meant he took the time to refine each of these seemingly useless skills. In doing so he managed to overcome the weaknesses that made them unusable to other players and that is where the problems really start for Earth. 

Not only did he become popular for a unique skillset but situations happen in the game on a regular basis where his skills provided the perfect solution for and everyone realized this and tried to get as much help from Earth as possible to his dismay. This results in characters and NPCs constantly invading his personal space and being rather demanding of him and you can see how it tests his patience over and over again. It’s honestly interesting to see the story unfold from the perspective of an introvert as stories often relegate these characters to side roles and I’m glad to see this as it created a very unique protagonist in a genre that is riddled with different shows to watch.

One thing I also really enjoyed is just simply watching Earth refine his skills. For example he developed high skills in both cooking and blacksmithing so on several occasions we got to watch as he experimented with these skills to create new dishes and weaponry. I think part of what made me like this so much was my own interest in various cooking competition shows as well as the blacksmith competition show Forged in Fire. Seeing Earth constantly making new items in these fields really entertained me in a similar manner as these shows. I also really enjoyed the innovative solutions he finds for overcoming the weaknesses of his skills to really make for a well rounded player. 

This show isn’t without it’s faults though. While Earth is interesting to watch there’s nothing particularly special about any of the other characters in the season. I don’t dislike any of them and it’s clear they all have roles to play in the story; however, that’s about all they do. They perform their various functions but don’t leave any kind of lasting impact. Even after watching the season I really couldn’t tell you most of there names off the top of my head. That’s not to say they are bad characters they just aren’t particularly good characters either.

I’m also a bit on the fence about the ending. I don’t hate or love it as it is great to see Earth kind of stand up for himself to a degree after being pushed by the constant demands for his attention but it also feels like in doing so they made the season end on a more melancholy note rather than a cheerful one which is tonally very different than how the rest of the season plays out. I just feel like after having a for the most part cheerful season to make a sudden tonal shift to something a little more tonally mixed made for a rough ending. I think how it ends is a great part of Earth’s story I just thing putting it at the very end of the season doesn’t allow it to end on a satisfying note. 

So overall this show is interesting. It’s not one of my favorites by any means but I did really enjoy watching it as it found a way to really entertain various fandoms of mine like video games as well as cooking and blacksmithing shows. It tells the story of an introvert which I thought was a nice change of pace in this genre but at the same time the rest of the characters don’t leave any kind of lasting impression. It’s a rather cheerful show but the tonal shift right at the end was not a satisfactory way to end the season even if it was a vital part of Earth’s story. I think this show would have benefited from one or two more episodes to bring the tone back to a more positive note to make that ending work a little better. I do recommend watching it and I plan on seeing if it gets more seasons but it’s also kind of low on my priority list as well.