As a webnovel fan, I have always loved fantasy novels. When TurtleMe’s The Beginning After The End dropped, I excitedly devoured it. The Beginning After The End is well and good with its slow-paced but dedicated storytelling, but there are many things that stick out as being absurd.
The protagonist, Arthur Leywin, is a prodigy who is extremely talented for his age and is quite strong as well. This means that to excite the fans and progress the narrative, he ventures into dangerous situations.
This isn’t something bad, we all like a bit of excitement. But my bone to pick with this is that the world doesn’t seem to mind a kid throwing himself in danger. Explore mysterious places? Sure! Become an adventurer at nine? Why not! At some point, The Beginning After The End stops explaining how Arthur’s age makes sense, and you just have to go with it.
Arthur Leywin is an enigma, and his age makes no sense
The Beginning After The End is a novel about Arthur in a sword and magic fantasy world. Arthur was originally King Grey, an experienced king who had reached the pinnacle of his world, and felt unsatisfied. King Grey found himself reincarnated as Arthur Leywin.
Due to his past life experiences, which are at the peak of his world, Arthur has dedication, wisdom, and talent that far surpass others. This is not just when we talk about the kids of his age, but even the adults. I can understand this; it is a meaningful advantage.
As a mere toddler, Arthur manages to go head-to-head with his father, Reynolds, who is an experienced swordsman. This… might still be alright, Arthur was a warrior older than Reynolds, after all.
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inanime
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inanime
The fact is that Arthur’s age gets more and more ridiculous as time passes. Especially in the anime, there is no clear explanation for why a nine-year-old can be an adventurer (and why he looks like a teen). No one seems to question him.
The world accepts the absurdity of Arthur’s existence
Arthur’s parents let him go out and adventure when he was clearly a kid (eight years old). No matter how mature he is or how talented, there is no reason for parents to risk sending him out into the unexplored wilderness.
I, for one, would never let a talented kid roam around on his own. The world is far too dangerous; he can get stronger at home, even if it means slowing down his advancement.
Yet, he is allowed to venture into the mysterious forests (for an ‘adventure’). No one seems to realize that the age for awakening one’s mana core is until a person’s late teens. Arthur could have lived his life twice, and he would still be considered a kid.
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inanime
It is not just his parents, Arthur’s peers, strangers, and other adults who seem to be surprised by Arthur’s talent (only when it is displayed), but are not at all concerned that a kid is by himself, in a dangerous location. It is a wonder a strong mage didn’t kidnap him to experiment on him (yes, he has a dragon).
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inanime
The world building in TBATE is interesting for sure, but losing track of important details and opening up flaws in the storytelling make it so the entire narrative collapses, at least that’s how it seems to a normal reader like me.
You can currently stream The Beginning After The End on Crunchyroll.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
