Our “hero” Kazuya Souma quickly notices that his new summoned world isn’t in the best situation. In particular, the nation he was summoned to is on an economic downfall and he was summoned primarily to be used as a means of fulfilling a deal without money. How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom shows a truly realistic idea right from the very first episode, money is life.

Thanks to the king’s original failings—though he isn’t a bad person by any means—the nation’s economy hasn’t been doing well. Kazuya uses his own intellect to bolster revenue by selling unneeded items from the kingdom’s treasure vaults and begins to find means of making money from crops and common goods. Without money, even the strongest societies will eventually collapse and that is a truly real element seen in Realist Hero.

In our world everyone has a special talent but it’s up to them to either use that said talent for something amazing or squander it somehow. Summoned hero Kazuya realizes this and asks for those across the nation to appear before him to discuss what abilities they have that could change the kingdom. Kazuya’s king-like action allows for a bevy of strangers to meet with him but these unique individuals do have special talents and the nation does benefit from each!

Case in point Poncho, the man who loves food enough to travel the world in search of new dishes. Poncho’s ability might seem silly—as he just travels to find good tasting food—but it’s actually a very beneficial ability to have. Cuisines, when shared, allow us to glimpse at lands far beyond our own to see what they use for dishes and how they can possibly be used in our own meals as well. Imagine if a country didn’t have any means of sharing food/resources with one another? Not only would people eventually be bored of their own food—or could run out of it—but we’d never see the untapped potential useful ingredients we have in our very own fields!

Realist Hero is no doubt in a fantasy world as we hear about mermaids, half-elves, dragonnewts, and beastmen but we also notice that these various races don’t always go straight for war to settle differences. Yes, war seems to exist in the world of Realist Hero but a real theme that Kazuya seems to adhere to is that military might doesn’t save everyone.

In the earlier episodes, Kazuya makes a proclamation that while he could spend money on military might—increase their defenses and training to dissuade attacks from outside sources—he wants to also make sure the kingdom can survive by other means. This ideology is quite real as the human race doesn’t always settle every minor issue with weapons, we do also try to solve issues with words and peace!

As smart as Kazuya Is he quickly learns that running a small kingdom is quite the task. Not only does our Kazuya need to file a ton of paperwork but he’s also forced to learn quite a bit of the new world he belongs to. It might be a very obvious concept, but running a nation is no doubt a tiring process and we have to give Kazuya some love for trying to do it!