Sometimes I feel like fantasy RPG anime was on the tape in Infinite Jest. With so many of these shows pumped out per year, it feels like an onslaught we're forced to watch until the point of collapse. It's so easy to become cynical and jaded by it all. So when the first bit of Even Given the Worthless "Appraiser" Class, I'm Actually the Strongest introduced me to a protagonist, fantasy world, power fantasy, and flat animation indistinguishable from the many others that came before it, I was too eager to approach Worthless “Appraiser” with a degree of skepticism. By the end, I found myself guilty of judging a book by its cover.

As the title of this series indicates, our lead Ein starts as a weak man whose sole power is to appraise the ranks of magical items and slain monsters. His lack of strength and ability makes him the bullied pack mule of his party, who quickly turn their back on him. Forced to crawl through a deadly dungeon on his own, the episode starts with a suicidal Ein leaping off a cliff to his death. That is, until he is saved by the elven spirit Yuri and her mana-filled World Tree tucked underneath the dungeon. Another dungeon skirmish leaves Ein with a bloody eye. Yuri and her mother, Ursula, imbue Ein with some training and a magical eye to help him defend himself against any foe that comes across his path. As spirits of the World Tree, Yuri and Ursula accompany Ein in the hopes of reuniting with their World Tree spirit siblings. You know the drill from here: Ein goes on a journey to crawl through other dungeons, meet more World Tree spirits, and ultimately become a stronger person.

The inclusion of a World Tree and dungeon crawling to find World Tree spirits give off enough Secret of Mana vibes to satisfy my inner retro gamer; one of the spirits even bursts into flames in a way that makes her look like Mana's Salamando. The characters aren't complex, but their onscreen presence makes for something entertaining from time to time. One episode early on has Ein going through a forested “illusion” dungeon controlled by another spirit in the form of a pink-haired snot who loves toying with others. Her brattiness makes for moments of comedic relief that got a giggle out of me from time to time.

There's nothing to write home about regarding the drama and fights, and when Ein meets up with his former party , I almost forgot that they were there in the first place. The show's episodic structure makes way for a few interesting moments, though. Particularly midway through the series, when a feudal lord is confronted with his inner demons in an arc that is surprisingly dramatic and well-told despite some glaring flaws. Some folks watching might say that such an arc would have made for a better ending to the cour, since we're given a wacky slice of life episode instead. If we're going by the typical rules laid out by the three-act structure, then sure. But I don't mind it when characters get together to perform light comedy as a means of capping things off. It makes for something anti-climactic in a good way.

For something that is just another drop in the power fantasy bucket, I still got a decent amount of enjoyment from Worthless “Appraiser”. At the very least, it makes for some decent “shut your brain off” material you can watch in between other seasonal anime. Bottom line, this appraiser ain't so useless after all.