Jack of All Trades, Party of None – Episode 1

Content Warning: Fantasy gore

What’s it about? Betrayed by his party and left bereft, Orhun Dura is branded as a “jack of all trades, master of none” by his former party. Alack and very much so alone, he sets out as a solo adventurer only to find that life has a few more twists to throw his way…

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There is, undoubtedly, enough isekai and isekai-adjacent action-fantasy stories now (that is, a story that feels like an isekai but lacks the critical foundation element of an otherworlder from Japan) that I feel we can say that there’s a glut of these shows. I’m not going to cast aspersions because I do think there’s a lot of them that I like (Campfire Cooking is the latest to win my heart).

Still, I always go in with my expectations somewhat neutralized when it comes to shows like Jack of All Trades, Part of None (automatically this is just Jack of All Trades until necessary to namedrop the entire title because WHEW, my fingies hurt) because while I factually know that there’s an audience, there’s a certain…exhaustion that comes from so many of these shows with the same black-haired young man at the forefront. Maybe exhaustion isn’t correct: I think it’s the frustration at a sameness that has seemed to overwhelm the past few years.

But part of being a reviewer is giving shows a fair shake, and I want to do that with Jack of All Trades. After all, I myself am a jack of all trades offline, though remember, the full phrase is, “Jack of all trades master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one.” 

May this premiere follow in that phrase’s ideals.

Episode 1 starts off with an action sequence in a dungeon: a warren of rabbits with magic stones and horns give chase to our protagonist as a horde of wrinkled green goblins nip at his heels, ready to take down their human foe with bone and rough-hewn club. But Orhuna isn’t to be felled so easily: as an enchanter and support class, he’s capable of imbuing himself with magic that helps him defeat any dungeon dweller that stands in his way.

But that’s not where his story truly starts. Instead, it begins with his childhood friends forcing him out of their collective party because, unlike their more offensive skills, Orhun’s support magic is seen as less-than—even if he’s part of an S-Rank party that reached the 94th level in a world famous dungeon. Surely, they didn’t get there without Orhun helping; even still, they’re more than willing to turn their backs of their childhood friend in a way that shows that the fame of being the Hero’s party wins out against a childhood of dreaming of adventures.

Thankfully, Orhun’s journey is just getting started and when he finds a red-haired girl abandoned mid-dungeon delving, he sets his moral compass to continuing to do the right thing, even if it nets him no reward.

In many ways, the inciting incident feels like a gut punch, not because of the drama but because damn, friendship and relationships really be that way, don’t they? Not all the time of course but in this case, you can draw a very relatable understanding from being perceived as being worthy one day and not the other. It helps that Jack of All Trades avoids the more icky side of this type of story–i.e. an often sexist nature to the betrayal. No, here, it’s cut and dry and the resulting premiere is better for it.

It also convinces the viewer, pretty quickly, that Orhun is actually a protagonist you’d be okay with following. He has very strong morals from the start, resulting in him rescuing a magic user from a dungeon while, once more, avoiding any scumbag behavior. She’s in danger, sure, but there’s no hypersexualization of that: Orhun comes rushing in, but he does so because she’s been abandoned by her party, not for fame or glory or to add a girl to the harem. He does it because he understands being left behind; even when questioned about his intent, he backs it up by saying that he’s just doing what he does because of his moral compass.

I’ll admit that I’m on the fence about this show, not because it’s bad–it isn’t at all, actually–but because I’m not sure where it’ll go. So far, it’s coming up a full house: this feels like a slightly gritty swords-and-sorcery story, if only because of the more muted color palette. I’ll also admit that I tuned out once or twice and had to go back a few moments to catch up, which is never a good sign–though I think in this case, it’s just a sign that this might not be my jam and jelly.

Still, I think that this is a solid enough premiere that I feel safe giving it a “this is perfectly okay.” No predictions about the future—things could always go belly-up—but right now, I think that Jack of All Trades, Party of None is right up the alley of anyone who wants a pretty straightforward fantasy story.