Rental Magica

Rental Magica is a bit of an odd anime. It's mainly a series of one shot episodes relating the exploits of Iba Itsuki, the 2nd president of Astral, and his various employees as they combat evil spirits, demons, rogue mages, magical pollution, etc.

What makes the show a bit odd is the fact that it initially can't decide if it wants to be a combat anime, or a highschool romance, a purely supernatural thriller, or a comedy. It literally has a bit of all those genres. Because of this, many people may be put off watching the show after a few episodes. Bear with it ... though, as it does get progressively better.

The story in itself, as explained already, is mainly a series of one shot episodes. There is, however, an underlying story which is hinted at throughout most of the series, and becomes clearer towards the end (which is why I said bear with it).

The art and animation in the show is generally quite good. The characters and backgrounds are generally very well done, and the majority of spirits/demons/etc, are very well depicted. The combat scenes are very well animated and should satisfy most people.

The sound is also well done. The opening theme is a catchy J-rock song which has become a favourite of mine (both in japanese and english). The sound effects and atmospheric music are generally good throughout the series.

The characters are reasonably well realised. The characters of Itsuki, Honami and Adelicia are generally quite good, and an effort has been made to focus on specific characters in several episodes scattered throughout the series. This helps to round out the characters afair amount, but otherwise there is no real effort to develop the characters more - but then again, this type of anime doesn't really need character development.

I'm a bit of a fan of episodic animes (Mushi-shi, Aria, Mokke, Ghost Hunt, to name a few), so watching Rental Magica was an enjoyable experience for me as I didn't expect any distinct plot to appear. I also liked the fact that this show highlights one thing that is commonly left out of other "magic" based shows - the rules.

I'll explain. Astral is an organisation made up of practitioners of various forms of magic (Celtic Witchcraft, Shinto, Onmyoudou, etc - they even have a ghost working for them). Astral isn't the only magical organisation though, as there are numerous others (Goetia - the descendents of Solomon, is the most notable). All of these organisations are governed by a mysterious organisation simply called "The Association", who enforce the rules regarding the use of magic. Certain acts are considered taboo, and the show covers some of these very well.

The other side of the "rules" coin are the rules governing a particular form of magic. The show very clearly highlights the differences in the various forms of magic used, and also covers some of the dangers of misuse or breaking one of the taboos. This is what really sets the show apart, as it is one of the few shows that covers the technical side of magic, and it covers it quite well. The creators of the show went to a lot of effort researching the various forms of magic in an effort to make the various rituals as accurate as they could, and for me at least, the effort paid off.

The only thing I didn't like about the show was the character of Itsuki Iba, as I found him to be a bit too shy/reticent/cowardly/etc. This is supposedly balanced by his alter ego (when he removes his eyepatch), but initially the difference didn't sit well with me as I kept wanting to punch him in the face (I should point out that he does improve later in the series though).

This isn't a straightforward combat anime. Nor is it a truly supernatural thriller. It most definitely is not a horror, although some of the uses of magic in the show can be called horrific. It's a complicated mixture of several genres which may, or may not, sit well with most people, depending on your preference.

If you like coherent, sensible storylines with good plot and character development then you may not enjoy this (doesn't hurt to give it a try though). If you're after thrills, action, chases, etc, then you may not enjoy this either.

If you're after an enjoyable anime that isn't too serious, and is sometimes a bit tongue-in-cheek with it's humour, then you may actually like this show.

I can think of worse ways to spend half an hour.

Since I'm almost done with the series (just waiting on Eclipse for the last episode), I thought I'd write my take on the whole thing.

Story: What story? While we end up seeing background story for all of the characters, the feel of it all remains the same. The over-all driving plot point is a bit thin, and by the end, I found myself wishing there had been more.

Art: The animation is great. There are a few jerky moments - most noticeable when Itsuki starts using martial arts - but the majority is clean.

Sound: I love the opening theme to this. Otherwise, I hardly noticed ... the music at all. It fades into the background as the action progresses. Could be better, could be worse.

Character: One-dimensional cardboard cut-outs, propped up and made to look cute. No, really. The only thing distinguishing them all is the system of magic they use - which stays true to the actual tradition it was based on. Otherwise, you could super-impose some of them over each other and not notice a difference.

Enjoyment: Despite the lack of certain factors, I still found myself enjoying it. It's light-hearted, and where it's not, it tries to be endearing. The whole thing is meant to be taken with a spoonful of sugar, and is best served with a warm cup of tea.

Overall: It's saved from a mere "Good" by its replay value. It's so off-the-cuff and relaxing that you could throw this in, sit back, and relax the day away to it. In fact, I did. Twice.

Although this was a great series, there is much to criticize about. For one, the chief character, Itsuki, does nominal developing, and is not once thought of as “Most Powerful” as you would anticipate from other series’. Instead, the series relies on the supporting characters for that feeling of triumph over the opponent. Also, the series talks much about the preceding generation of Astral mages, but not once decides to go into detail about it, which is not a good plot hole in my outlook. On top of that, it takes about half of the entire series to start getting the true experience of ... the story. Upon the many other things I can nitpick, my very last complaint would have to be the fact that… we didn’t learn there were any “normal” people on the entire planet until very late in the series.
This series is great, and should definitely be watched for the sake of the last episode – which is great for a finale.

.:Spoiler Warning:.
My favorite scene was the fake “Taking-off” of the eye-patch in the wedding episode. I was surprised there was nothing better than that.

Final Statement:
Definitely a series to watch if you have the patience to get over the "lack" in the beginning few episodes ~ much better than some of the other stuff out there.

If you did in fact find this review helpful, I do take value in my “Helpful” rating, so please take a moment of your time to tell me how you liked this review.

it's a cool magic anime.yeah and i loved it really.there is romance,magic,action,comedy

The plot centers around the magician dispatch service and Mage's Society: Astral. The main protagonist of the story is Astral's second President: Itsuki Iba, who, while being young and inexperienced ironically isn't even a Mage. Central to the story are Astral's many adventures with magical spirits and creatures, competing with rival company Goetia, rogue members, taboos and the Dark Magician's Society: Ophion, all while trying to complete enough jobs to pay the bills and fill The Association's quota and evade abolition. Each story arc is written as an incident in which the Astral ... members and their associates are involved.

story: cool 10
art: cool 10
sound: so so 9
character: great
enjoyment: 10
overall: 10

Now this anime is a very interesting one. I have a lot to say about this anime and I'm having a hard time deciding where to begin.
Well it seems only fitting to start at the one thing that makes this anime stand out for me above all animes in its category, the magic. Generally anime magic is much like, well anything else animes use, as powerful and versatile as the writers want it to be. However this anime has the best magic in any anime I've ever seen. The magic just seems so real, the way they use it the way they talk about it, ... even just how each magic seems to have its own set of rules and limitations. Now in you may be thinking that the magic in this can't compare to the magic in say Fairy Tail. However, while it certainly does have a significantly larger stock of both magic and magic users, I often found myself feeling like the creators of Fairy Tail to be using "magic" in place of the word "power." In Rental Magica, the magica is much more defined, from beginning to end, and there's never a moment where you think, "why didn't he do that earlier?" or "if she could do that all along why'd they have trouble with the cannon fodder from earlier?" But I digress.
Next is the main character. For me this is the sort of main character I love, he's intelligent (mostly) friendly, and wants to be helpful, as well as having the power to basically be the strongest member of the group (but as to not spoil anything I won't go into detail). The people around him all can more than fend for themselves but he often finds himself feeling like he's relying on them to save him.
This anime has a lot to offer and is something that i feel like everyone should give a chance. its a great anime that I can watch a dozen times, that's why its my fourth favorite anime.

I liked this anime, it had elements of magic in it (a lot of them actually) but you understood what everyone’s function was and what their tools were. Mainly a comedy, but with light romance, Rental Magica uses witches, priests, demons, sprits and ghosts in really dark situations.
Itsuki is the main character and as such he’s everything you love in your hero. He’s not as skilled as the other characters but he’s cute, kind hearted, accepts others who are different, hardworking, and has no idea that he’s in the middle of a harem. Lol. I didn’t like how the first 7 episodes seemed out of ... order I wondered if maybe where I was watching them if they were. Some of the episodes would have made much more sense if placed elsewhere in the series. After around episode 10 it seemed as if the story became more conjunct and seemed to flow a lot better. As far as the story goes I feel that it was much more unique than some of the other magic animes I have seen- it had a sufficient amount of action, comedy, and suspense.
I really liked how the characters were drawn and . I like how there is always a happy ending for each episode but I didn’t like how the actual ending of the series went. I would love to have a sequel and feel some resolution from the story overall.

This anime takes a lot of risks by relying so heavily on exposition. It has such a rich index of lore and backstory that it ends up having to explain so many aspects in such a short time that it doesn't really do a great job of explaining them all. For example, one of my biggest questions was "does the number of legions a Solomon demon rules an indicator of how strong it is?" Or even "what's the difference between Glam Sight and Glam Sight +" (you know what I mean in EP 23.) The design on the magics and especially the Solomon demons ... is PHENOMENAL, it felt all very real and easy to lower your veil of disbelief. The depth of the creative lore of this story really managed to impress me and I cannot emphasize just how much this pays off Narrative-wise.

Tldr: Great worldbuilding, phenomenal art design,

lacking in animation quality and the characters themselves can be frustrating due to their one-sided nature and their lack of complexity.