u/SingaWong

I'm aware that Anime's that adapts LN exists to "promote" the source material but there are ways that you could both "promote" and tell a decent story to get new fans invested and satisfy book fans.

To give some context on how I got this thought, I saw and read a series called Sentenced to be a Hero and really enjoyed it. But then a thought occurred to me and I realized on how both the MC's of STBEH and SH are pretty similar to one another and how they both are anti-heroes (while having a darker toned story). I thought and inspected closely on how the Anime of STBAH adapted the books and while it was pretty darn close, the Anime in general gave you enough details on introducing or investing you to the world and especially the characters (with the bonus of additional scenes that made sense). The cherry on top was the pacing that was pretty well paced and almost never felt rushed. The characters, while having a lot to focus on, have such distinct or different and exaggerated personalities that it makes you interested on their characters and their interactions. While it sounds like I'm glazing, which I kind of am, I just wanted to give some context on why I think the STBEH Anime succeeds in drawing in new fans while satisfying the book readers and why I think the Anime of SH could've been that way too.

Because when I think about the SH anime as its own thing on "introducing" you to its world and characters (and giving you an "idea" on what the source material is like), it's obviously very underdeveloped and rushed. What has been frustrating me as a book reader for the past 4 years since Season 2, and it might be an unfair accusation, but I think Seasons 3 and 4 made the Anime and the overall story/continuity more confusing and it doesn't do a good job on introducing new fans to the story. Now before you yell at me let me explain: Did Seasons 3 and 4 try to fix anything from Seasons 1 and 2? I would say not really because even if they included stuff like the Sacrifice Aura and Keel's gender, there's no details or explanation on how or why they happened or why it's like that. Here's what I mean:

-Sacrifice Aura? Never mentioned and shown in Season 2 and they didn't explain any details on what it does and no visual cues on how or where it happened. It was only thrown in to be "accurate" to the books and the characters were "weakened" in the Anime out of nowhere.

-Keel's gender? Only thrown in as a "gag" joke or a "gotcha" to the Anime-only's while being "accurate" to what the books do. No explanation on why Keel thought she was a boy.

The next and important thing are the characters. If you ignore on how they were adapted and look at them for what they are, they're kind of bland. Here's a few examples on what I mean:

-Naofumi sometimes has anger and "questionable" moments but is mostly a smiley, kind of moralistically, chill dude that owns children for his private army (no one questions him on this for some reason) and is determined to keep his allies safe (a heroic mindset).

-Raphtalia is a loyal and dependent ally for Naofumi and has a royal background but mostly does what he asks and says. Like your typical Isekai first girl trope.

-Mirellia is a generic royal Queen with not much going else. Season 3 and 4 kind of teased her history with the King, but it doesn't go into much details.

-Sadeena is a "drunk" but friendly person that seems to have a darker history in Q'ten Lo but Season 4 barely develops this.

My takeaway with this rant? Season 3 and 4 follows the books closely with a few changes while not trying to fix any continuity issues and plot holes only to appease to the LN fans. The Anime having barely any details makes the story confusing and the characters less interesting to follow or get invested in.

Now that being said, it's not entirely too late for Kinema to sort of redeem themselves with Season 5. Based on the teaser it looks like something big and maybe dark will happen and if they could pause the story and focus on characters, maybe it'll be something worth while.