I will give Seirei Gensouki this much – it didn’t choose to start the Yagumo arc the exact same way that it started the other two! In fact, the only person who gets the snot kicked out of him this time is someone who richly deserves it; there’s no “misunderstanding” what Gon was trying to do to Ruri, and even if she wasn’t Rio’s cousin, he did the absolute right thing by taking that piece of human garbage out. It may not always work in its favor in terms of cohesive storytelling, but this series does not pull its punches when it comes to despicable bad guys.
There are actually a couple of other places where I really like the approach Seirei Gensouki has taken to some of the hoarier tropes of anime. First and foremost, when Ruri forgets that Rio is living with their mutual granny Yuba now, she doesn’t try to blame or punch Rio for her own mistake of walking out partially…
