Katainaka no Ossan, Kensei ni Naru

Beryl Gardinant, a self-proclaimed "humble old man," is a sword instructor at his dojo in a rural, backwater village. In his younger years, he dreamed of glory as a master swordsman, but those days are long behind him. Out of the blue, he receives a visit from a famous former pupil who brings him world-shattering news—he's been appointed as a special instructor for the knights of the Liberion Order! With his life now turned upside down, Beryl travels to the capital and reunites with some of his former students: elite knights, an ace wizard, and even an adventurer who's attained the highest guild rank possible. But why do they all want his tutelage?! As far as he's concerned, they clearly don't need him anymore. Can Beryl live up to his new position? And will he ever get a moment's peace away from his adoring students?!

(Source: J-Novel Club)

Gardenant, Beryl Main

Hirata, Hiroaki Japanese

Citrus, Allucia ing

Touyama, Nao Japanese

Lysandra, Surena ing

Ueda, Hitomi Japanese

Freya, Mewi ing

Nakada, Arisa Japanese

Harbeller, Ficelle ing

Yano, Hinaki Japanese

Diamond, Lucy ing

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Marblehart, Rose ing

Kayano, Ai Japanese

Crueciel, Curuni ing

Hirose, Yuuki Japanese

Surena's Mother ing

Bandit ing

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Endou, Kazuki Producer

Ozawa, Fumihiro Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Reviews

Apr 26, 2025

armycat23

Recommended

Preliminary (4/12 eps)

This anime has been given bad reviews because the manga is considered better due to more scenes of character history and more details. I think that's a very unfair measure of judgement because 99% of anime that is based on a manga would be the same way, ESPECIALLY if it weren't a guarantee that the anime would last more then 1 season.

I think an anime should be based on it's OWN MERITS. Thankfully, another reviewer thought similarly....and he also came away with a positive review of this anime.

Now on to the point of my view of this anime. When I learned it was ... based on an older MC who once lived a secluded life, but is thrust into a more populated area in a medival/magic world..........another anime came to mind. That was "I Parry Everything".

I have to be honest, "I Parry Everything" was an awful, awful anime. There wasn't one good thing about. The MC was perhaps the dumbest MC I can recall in anime that I've seen over 25 years. Even Goku from Dragonball would be considered a genius in social settings compared to the MC of "I Parry Everything".

I don't mean to get side-tracked, but I say all of that to stress that this anime is THANKFULLY considerably better in every way than "I Parry Everything".

In THIS anime there is a "crispness" in the art that is better then the generic/cheap style that plagues a lot of other anime. The animation may not be the best of the best, BUT it also is above average. One thing that I despise in ANY anime combat scenes is a lack of animation or boring fights. Thankfully, I'm spared of that in this anime.

The MC, Beryl, is a modest, but very skilled swordsman. He underestimates his strength due to a lack of experience and NOT because he's an A-class simpleton in any believable way, like the MC from "I Parry Everything". I do find the character of Beryl endearing.

Then there are the side characters. I think Beryl's father and mother fit their role very well, even comically well when comedy was required. There are a few characters that Beryl would be reunited with due to them being former students.

My initial concern with those former students was if they had something going on about them that wasn't about idolizing Beryl. Thankfully these former students do have their own motivations and aren't just a "cheering squad".

Although, this anime is not going to be "top of the mountain" in the world or anime and gain a ton of attention, it is worthwhile to watch with hopes that it will get more then one season........and I will look to read the manga after I finish this season's episodes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 19, 2025

SirChen

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (3/12 eps)

If you have read the manga for this show, I recommend not watching it.

The show has removed/changed every notable scene that made the manga so great. Every fight, the climax has been changed to a much more basic and uninteresting form compared to the manga. Small scenes that help depict how amazing the main character is, have been removed. Pretty much all the moments I loved rereading in the manga don't exist in the anime and it's dissapointing.

If you have not read the manga, then the show is a fine low mid-tier non-isekai isekai.
Hopefully they are simply reordering the events that occur and later ... we see the cool scenes again, but the ones existing have already been changed so chances are unlikely.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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Apr 19, 2025

Earewyn

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/12 eps)

This adaptation is an absolute train wreck. It's as if the studio didn’t even bother reading the original manga before butchering it beyond recognition. Everything that made the story compelling — its well-paced development, nuanced characters, and the balance between humor and action was tossed out the window.

The anime is filled with absurd shortcuts, slashes through the plot, turns meaningful dialogue into bland clichés, and completely drains the story of its soul. The characters are unrecognizable, the emotional high points are rushed with zero impact, and the animation feels hastily thrown together with what seems like leftover budget scraps.

This is no longer Katainaka no Ossan, ... Kensei ni Naru. What we got is a watered-down, hollow shell of the original — a soulless adaptation seemingly made just to cash in on the manga’s popularity, with zero respect for the source material or its fans.

In short: if you’re a fan of the manga, skip this. It does it no justice at all.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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