追放する側の物語 (Tsuihou Suru Gawa no Monogatari, Lit. "the story of the side that banishes") is a Light Novel by Monchi 02 and illustrated by Kodake, later adapted into manga format by Sumi Kyuu.The story focuses on the party "Stardust" and how it deals with having banished one of their members, lost their fame and respect from their peers and adjusting to their new recruit.
The story has been poorly received by readers of both the light novel and manga across the globe, with many accusing the entirety of the main cast of being hypocrites who refuse to see the error in their ways and fix the situation, while the victim of their neglect is treated like the antagonist.
Tsuihou Suru Gawa no Monogatari provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Given the nature of their jobs, all female party members fall into this trope.
- Amazon Chaser: Est is in love with Athena, a swordswoman whose dream is to become the strongest adventurer.
- Asshole Victim: Est is shown being an asshole to Stardust after he becomes famous for his success as a solo adventurer and the party is dragging their faces on mud because they cannot make up for the lack of his skills in and out of battle.
- Best Her to Bed Her: Daru fights one on one against Frey to give her a reality check. After the fight is over, she offers him her virginity.
- Dark Fantasy: Somewhat. The story takes place in a fantasy world and tackles heavy issues, like Athene feeling forced to expel her childhood friend whom she made a promise with for his own safety, which almost leads to his death which she was trying to prevent. Fortunately, the story never goes far on the dark side, but Est does carry a lot of trauma because of Athena's decision: 1) being cast aside by his closest friend for his lack of ability, 2) two near death experiences indirectly caused by his party's inability to keep him safe and 3) witnessing what he believed to be the girl he loved on bed with the only other guy from the party immediately after they got rid of him.
- The story we focus on may not be that dark, but the story happening on the background, that being Est's mental state, sure sounds like one.
- Deconstructed Character Archetype: Stories tackling a character being banished from a party usually follow the formula of the banishing party being on the wrong and (sometimes) evil to an extent. The characters in this story are meant to be good people who had no choice but to do so for the banished person's sake.
- Similarly, Est was supposed to be the antagonist, or at least that is how the narrative treated him for a while.
- Demihuman: Frey is a dragon girl.
- Easily Forgiven: The series was axed due to poor reception, leading to a rushed ending where Est and Athena forgive each other without the narrative addressing the actual issues in their relationship.
- Formula with a Twist: The series takes the usual "banished from the party" narrative and shifts the point of view from the banished member to the party that did the banishing.
- From Bad to Worse: Est gets heavily injured in battle, and upon recovery he gets kicked out of the party by his childhood friend whom he made a promise with to become strong together. Trying to prove his worth he ventures into the dungeon by himself, where he nearly gets killed a second time, but upon returning with newfound powers and believing he would get accepted back, he finds the only other male party member in a compromising pose with the girl he loved, leading to believe the banishing was just a means to get rid of him so they could get down to business without him around.
- Daru makes no effort to correct this misunderstanding, instead chastises Est and later on flirts with Athena in front of him, thus cementing Est's belief.
- Hidden Depths: An attempt, at least. The story does try to give the character depth by diving into their past every now and then, but it does not succeed in actually making the characters any deeper than their introduction. On the contrary, some revelations paint the characters as
Unintentionally Unsympathetic. - Humiliation Conga: Est suffers this at the beginning of the story.
- Stardust suffers this for several chapters after banishing Est and become a joke among adventurers.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Stardust, especially Athena, is supposed to be this trope, being harsh towards Est because they care for him. Whether that came across as such to the readers is another story.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Athena kicks Est out of the party because she is worried he will get himself killed due to his inability to fend for himself in the lower parts of the dungeon. This leads Est to dive solo into the dungeon, almost getting himself killed in the process.
- Her decision made the party much weaker, since Est was the one buffing the group, giving them a fighting chance against stronger enemies. Without his spells, Athena cannot fend for herself against normal monsters.
- Double, or even TRIPLE points, because Est also did all the chores, managed their finances and item inventory. Now the party has to pull their own weight, and for a long time, they just can't!
- The Ace: Athena is heralded as this, though it is later revealed it's actually Daru.
- The Aloner: The decision to band Est from the party turns him into this for a while, at least until he forms another party.
- Wrong Assumption: Est assumes Athena wanted him gone so she and Daru could get together due to a scene he witnessed while both were drunk and Est high on adrenaline. However, Daru does nothing to clear the misunderstanding.
