Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

Rokudenashi is an unfortunate case of "what could have been".

I'll try to keep this relatively concise and straight-to-the-point: Rokudenashi had the potential to be a modern version of Great Teacher Onizuka. While it has an overused magic academy premise, unlike most battle harems, the protagonist here is actually the teacher of one of its classes, and he is also a huge troll. Just like Onizuka, Glenn Radars is largely incompetent at normal teacher duties, preferring to let his students have self-study sessions all the time instead of having to put any effort in. However, he also has a lot of talent in other areas, especially ... concerning unorthodox magic usage. What Glenn lacks inside the classroom he makes up outside of it, and his trollish interactions with his students is the main selling point of the anime.

As a result, the first episode or two of Rokudenashi are very funny and entertaining, and show a lot of promise for the show as a whole. But unfortunately, from there on out it slowly starts to decline. Starting in episode three, the anime starts introducing actual outside villains and a much more serious story starts taking over as the main focus of the show instead of the previously light-hearted comedy theme. And sadly this is a big loss, because the majority of the show ended up becoming a rather generic action/fantasy light novel adaptation mixed with some drama as a result, featuring a somewhat overpowered MC and his sidekick heroines fighting a bunch of cheap bad guys with some rather uninteresting ulterior motives. In other words, the kind of anime you've seen dozens of times over already. It's not terrible but it's just extremely average when it's doing this, and considering how promising the show seemed to be at first, it feels like such a huge waste of potential. Sure, the magic system in this universe is pretty interesting and well-designed, but that doesn't actually end up amounting for much when the overall plot itself is so uninspiring.

The one thing that is still pretty good about Rokudenashi in the end though is the character cast. As mentioned already, Glenn is a pretty huge troll on top of being a good magic duelist, and overall he is a pretty likable protagonist, especially by harem MC standards. And yes I do think Rokudenashi should be called a harem even if it isn't currently labeled as one on MAL; while there aren't any public romantic themes, the vast majority of the supporting cast is female and it's pretty clear that most of them are very attached to Glenn. This is especially clear in the case of Fibel Sistine, who I guess would have to be considered the main heroine if you have to pick one, and who is also a skilled and clever magician, albeit a bit naïve and dishonest at times, and she's also extremely pretty if you ask me. Her verbal arguments with Glenn are always a treat to watch.

Overall, Rokudenashi is still a pretty decent anime with generally likable characters and good chemistry in-between them, but it's also unfortunately dragged down quite a bit by its bland and generic storyline. It's hard to not be bothered by the feeling that it could have been so much better still had it just gone down a different direction plot-wise. But compared to most magic academy battle harems out there, this is still probably one of the better ones all things considered, even though I doubt I'd go out of my way to actively recommend it to people in the future. Though if you don't care too much about the story and you just want to see a fun and intelligent protagonist goofing around with a bunch of cute and likable girls then you'll be hard-pressed to find anything better.

Oh and by the way, Rokudenashi probably has the best female school uniforms I've ever seen in anime. Say what you want about the show itself, but hot damn those exposed bellies, miniskirts and garter belts are sexy as hell. A+ clothing design; top tier fanservice at its finest.

im just here to express my absolute disappointment in this show lol

i love love loved the first 6 ep of the show. i don't like fanservice but i somehow managed to ignore those uniforms and enjoy the show?? there was comedy, action, characters are likeable and the backstories are interesting enough. (there's even a line by glenn that really stuck to me)

and then the latest arc happened and im like.....why. i even enjoyed the chibi preview more than the actual episode itself. cliche af, ridiculous reactions, sistine is reduced to one of those "oh MC is dying and i need to do cpr buT oH ... mE??? Do cPR?? LiPs TouCH??" kinda girl and there are other flaws that make you go ?????, especially if the rationale part of your mind can't switch off

it just becomes really lame and boring imo, especially compared to the first few eps. should probably give it one more chance since there are only 3 more eps to the end but ugh idk

In a world where students wear stripper-like uniforms:

One man--- a “bastard” of a teacher--- is called upon by a powerful and beautiful mage to teach those young stripper students the fundamentals of magic theory. ---Although in reality the powerful mage was just trying to get his lazy, isolated, moochingass out of the house.

Thus, the story begins…

Story: 7/10
At first the main character, Glen Radars, appears to be a generic all-powerful MC at first, BUT WAIT! Is he really...? This anime has a knack for throwing in (kind of) unexpected plot twists for comedic purposes. Glen Radars has more depth to him than meets the eye. ... The story follows him and his interactions with his students as he builds his pseudoharem--- wait what? What I meant to say was, “the story (supposedly) follows him as he builds a relationship with his students and helps them reach their full potential through his unconventional teaching methods”. However, you never know when tragedy might strike in this magical world, because there is always a hidden air of danger lurking in the shadows. Who is Glen Radars? Who are the students, really? Does any of that really matter? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this series.

Reading the previous paragraph may make you believe that show is relatively serious, but, while it does have some pretty serious aspects, the bulk of the show is more focused on comedy and magic. Some of this anime’s main selling points are largely related to its unexpected comedy. Often times this comedy happens between Glen Radars and the white haired girl, Sistine Fibel. It was a bit refreshing to see a pseudoharem rather than a real harem, which has overplayed over the past few years. Each of the main character students have their own hopes, dreams, and issues. Their issues are revealed more as the series progresses, and I believe that they were revealed at the proper pace. If you are not a fan of harem anime, you most likely won’t like this anime.

Characters: 5/10
The characters are probably the weakest aspect of this show. Generic archetypal side characters, generic main characters, the only real exceptions are Glen Radars and perhaps ReEl, who also happened to be my fav char in this anime. Sistine is presented as a very intelligent, dedicated student who will not stand for any teacher that disrespects magic and her right to learn. However, Gled Radars, being the lazy bastard that earned this anime its title, will not be broken so easily and forced to teach stripper students. The clashes between their personalities creates an interesting dynamic as the series progresses. Rumia Tingel is basically of your generic warm character that isn’t clumsy. ReEl comes off as kind of odd/aloof and ends up being all types of annoying/interesting in my opinion, but I’ll leave that up to decide after you watch because I can’t include any more information without spoilers~

Art: 5/10
The art in this anime is very basic. In comparison to more recent anime, the characters do not have a wide variety of facial expressions, the backgrounds aren’t too detailed, and the special effects aren't exactly the greatest either. The art is pretty average for a professional studio. Still frames, few dramatic camera angles, relatively low frame-rate. The art is really nothing special. However, the character designs may be appealing to a lot of guys. Especially so if you like garter belts, crop tops, and mini skirts. Other than that there’s really not much special about the art.

Sound:6/10
The music sounds like music that you would hear in the background of old TV advertisements, you know the ones that go, “But wait… THERE’S MORE! If you call now, we’ll DOUBLE the offer.” Yeah. It’s a bit of a change from most other anime out there and it’s kinda interesting. The characters were voiced pretty well. Though there wasn’t really anything too special about the voice acting either. There wasn’t a voice acting scene that stood out so much that it left an impact on its viewers. For example, if you search “When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace - I don't understand” on youtube, the first result will be a great example of great voice acting. There was nothing like that here.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I thought it was pretty good. It was a slight change of pace from a shitty and generic harem anime. Good enough for me. I could see myself recommending this to some anime fans of comedy and harem anime though.


Overall:6/10
It had its moments, it had it’s flaws. The story, at times, can actually be pretty serious. At other times relatively humorous and has some innuendos. It does a good job at balancing the comedy and humor, but the characters are pretty generic overall. That quality takes away from the story’s potential quite a bit. The music was TV ad background music and the voice acting was pretty average.

Would I recommend this to you personally?

If you’re a fan of harem anime, comedy, magic, romance, cute girls, ecchi, then go for it. It’s pretty decent.

If you’re looking for something more serious, then you are definitely not in the right place buddy.

Why must they ruin everything with "cheap sexual hints" and "transfer students"?

I was literally so annoyed by this continuing stupid trend I had to come and say it in here. I hope for a day where they will make a comedy-adventure (perhaps magic or demon including) anime, which DOES NOT rely on idiotic fanservice moments, with their predictable transfers, unnecessary shots etc. This started like a promising anime, but eh. Somehow there are always people gifted enough to ruin me some enjoyment.


Also what's with this review system?... How come "Decent" accounts to the score 4 and "Mediocre" is for 5. Clearly they are misplaced. And ... there is a supposed length for a review, yet no counters are displayed? How ridiculous.

Man I sound so hateful. But in truth, I'm just tired of people giving up on innovation. Started a bit different than your average anime, but somehow morphed into yet another ecchi-relying template.

Because magic is such a foreign concept grounded in the limits of one's imagination, the possibilities for stories based around magic are virtually limitless. So what happens when you combine the concept of magic with an arcic harem setup? Well you get this show. Whoever thought this was a good show idea is a bastard for sure.

Story: Glenn Radars is a man without any motivation for anything. With his guardian, Celica, threatening him and forcing him to get off his ass to do something with his life, he ends up at the magic school that also serves as Celica's ... workplace, and ultimately becomes a magic teacher much to his chagrin.

Akashic Records is a very arc-heavy (or as I refer to as arcic) show. The series itself is split into 4 arcs spanning roughly 3 episodes each, with the general focus of each episode being Glenn saving and involving himself with one of the three main girls in the series: Rumia, Re=L, and Sistina in that order. General arc flow involves something evil plot relating to each of the three girls, things get dire, and Glenn saves the day. Rinse, repeat, do it again.

As a result, the story for Akashic Records becomes monotonous and quite predictable. It's not bad per-say, as the presentation for each arc gives the audience some more world building and a better look into the mysterious past life of our main protagonist, but because each arc is just another rehash of a story setup done countless times, it's very hard to be invested in it, especially since each arc is so short and there's very little buildup before we end and move onto the next girl.

Another problem I find is exposition. In order to educate the audience about aspects of the magic concepts that they didn't know before, the show inputs heaps of exposition in various parts of the series from character introductions to new magic studies and research. As a result, the flow of the series feels slightly choppy because we're given what's essentially a wall of text to tell us who this person is or what kind of magic that's being put at the forefront right now. Doing this makes it clear that it's important to this section of the story (and nowhere else), so it just makes it all the more easier to know what's coming the audience's way.

Overall, Akashic Records's story is average at best. With a predictable arc-heavy setup as the formula for its story telling, the story ends up becoming very easy to guess and as such, relieves a lot of the built up tension the show attempt to create. Not only that, but the 'Akashic Records' that's in the title is barely even mentioned. Pretty sure it's the end-all be-all of the series, but since we only got a small bit of the whole story, the fact that we're led on that it plays a part kinda sucks.

Overview:
+/- Worldbuilding through exposition
+/- Arc heavy storytelling
- Extremely predictable
- Very little tension despite alluding to it

Characters: You're either Glenn or the 3 main girls. If you're not, you're unimportant.

Glenn Radars is a cocky, selfish, self-congratulating bastard of a teacher. (I mean the show is called 'Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor' in translation after all.) As a character, Glenn plays the duality of roles of being the series's main asshole, as well as the show's secret badass. Haunted by a past that he doesn't like talking about (Cause everyone has one of those), Glenn's character changes as the series goes along from a jerkface to someone who genuinely thinks positively of being a magic instructor while at the same time, fixing all of the series's conflicts because "I'M THE MAIN PROTAGONIST" and because he wants to be a 'mage of justice'. (Archer would like to talk to you btw.) While the characterization is nice, it's how easy all of the problems are solved which is the problem. As mentioned before, Glenn solves literally all of the conflicts that this series has, and as a result, makes the show very predictable and kinda lackluster. There's not any serious loss that the series shows us on-screen, so any potential weight that the show might have dissipates because the main character is always there to say the day.

Then there're the three girls: Rumia, Re=L, and Sistina, better known as the kind, understanding girl, the kuudere loli, and your typical tsundere. As far as personalities go, this is about the extent that these girls have. While true we do get a better idea of them and their past as a result of the show devoting an entire arc of equal length and time to each of them beyond their devoted arc, they don't really do or get anything. If anything, they sink back into the background while the one currently in front gets the spotlight and their respective damsel in distress story. Oh yeah, they also really like making at least Rumia a damsel in distress. It's actually really annoying considering she's the only girl of the 3 that's even slightly annoying sometimes.

The rest of the cast involves members of the imperial mage corps (who barely get any screentime), some other teachers in the magic school, one-off villains who you won't really remember cause they get defeated so quickly that we're already on the next arc, and the rest of Glenn's class who're only there to...be a class of students. These characters are only there to make some kind of meaning or worth to the conflicts that the series presents or 'expand' the world in a way that it feels like there're more people that're important than there really are. Also, the evil organization known as the 'Researchers of Divine Wisdom' that the show says are scary, really aren't? I mean obviously they're just building their resources or knowledge up for the series finale, but the lack of tension really makes it hard to see them, frankly anyone, as a threat.

Overview:
+ Some characterization for the main cast
- Main girls really are just tropes beyond their arc
- Side characters are just screen fodder

Art: Produced by Lidenfilms, the art for Akashic Records is...standard. The art itself doesn't stand out that much, as everything looks like a brightly colored show that's slightly muted in its color palette. Action is semi-fluid only because of the varying shots they use to choreograph the fights, but most of it is just magic blasting out of their hands after they spend 5 second chanting. The magic circles however are nice and detailed, so that's a nice little detail they do consistently.

My biggest complaint with the art however is the design of the school uniforms, particularly the female uniforms. I know it's there for fanservice, but dear lord the girls look more like strippers than students of a magic academy. With skirts shorter than hotpants, straps just wrapping their abdomen and lower body, and different gloves on each hand, the design for the female uniform in particular is just a clunky, incohesive design that's only there to make up for the lack of bath scenes or other classic fanservice moments that the show lacks. I just...don't like it. (And it doesn't help when the male uniform is completely covered and everything.)

Overview:
+/- Art is standard fare
- Terrible, terrible uniform design.

Sound: The sound for Akashic Records is nothing special. The OP, "Blow Out" is an action song that starts out sounding interesting, but quickly turns into any other high energy song that many other shows have. It's honestly quite good, but it just doesn't have anything unique about it to make it neither special nor memorable in the sense that you'd want to listen to it over and over again.

Its ED, "Precious You" shares the same problem. Sung by the girls' seiyuus, the song is a cheerful and bright song that while sounds good, really has nothing great going for it. Its only real draw is the fact that it's the seiyuus singing it, but that's about it. Overall, the soundtrack just suffers by not being anything special or unique, resulting in a decent, but not fantastic OST.

Overview:
+/- Average soundtrack that's not really memorable

Personal Enjoyment: While currently at the time of this review, Akashic records is one of the more popular anime this season, this show just...doesn't really do a lot for me. I've seen this plot, this concept, and many aspects of it time and time again, and seeing it again with another coat of paint on is just really, really dull. I don't hate this show, as nothing about it is really aggravating, but nothing about it makes me want to give a damn. Oh, there's a conspiracy...oh no...a hidden fiancé we didn't know about appears...oh dear...what're we gonna do...

Did I like this series?

Not...particularly. I read some of the source material, so I ended up watching this. There're far worse things out there, but I didn't really find any specific enjoyment while watching this.

What didn't I like about this series?

If anything, it's the fact that Rumia was a damsel in distress character. She doesn't come off as one, but since the series knows that she's super important, they relegate her to that role. It's not fun seeing a character become a damsel, so if anything, that'd be something about this show I hate.

Would I recommend this series?

If you're looking to kill time or for a magic show without much investment, than Akashic Records suits the bill. The show itself knows what it is, and doesn't really aspire to be more than what it presents us in the first couple episodes. As a result, while the show may be kinda dull, it's consistent, and if you're looking for something with consistency and a really heavy status quo after every couple episodes, than this is probably something that you're looking for.

What starts off as a setup with substantial potential in the first three establishing episodes of this series, rapidly devolves over the course of the next nine. Don't get me wrong -- a lot of the elements put in place for this anime are highly cliche and uninspired (and not in a satirical way); however, don't get me wrong in the other direction -- this anime is also not awful. In fact, I'd say the first three episodes led me to believe that it'd be significantly above average.

Enter Glenn Radars -- deceptively versatile, but incorrigibly opportunistic and frustratingly dispassionate. Did this anime attempt to ... make him an antihero but miss its mark? From the moments we meet him, showing absolutely no concern for his female students' right to privacy (and basking to their nakedness before him), to the final episodes, admitting harboring motivation that would see him wedlock out of shallow desire to never work another day in his life (through marrying up in caste), his lazy demeanor and sleazy treatment of other characters doesn't end up being integral to the primary plot (or his development as a character). (If we can even call this a plot -- it's mostly just a disjointed series of "things happening", which doesn't define an actual plot.) An anti-hero is supposed to be someone who acts out of self-interest because of their nature, environment, past experiences, and other context, and that says something about the world around them. For example, Holden Caulfield from A Catcher in the Rye is a true anti-hero; he's disaffected, cynical, and sarcastic because he experiences the alienation and isolation associated with growing into an adult world full of hypocrisy and fakeness. Han Solo from A New Hope is another great example - he does things that advantage him in a galaxy ruled by forced order mixed with unattended lawlessness. And while this Glenn Radars main character has clearly-needed back-story to exposit why he's first shown to detest magic (I suspected it involved tragedy that would be tied directly to the forthcoming narrative), when all of this is revealed it still doesn't explain why he is how he is. Why is he so lazy and so scummy? It only explains why he "doesn't like magic" during the first two episodes of the anime; otherwise, the reasons for his attributes are weakly expounded. He also had clear room to grow as a dynamic character that could face his past in an increasingly mature way while learning from his new experiences in a new position of guiding, teaching, and protecting his students. This also didn't happen. Holden Caulfield remains jaded, but at least he learns things and tells his story with surprising honesty. Glenn Radars doesn't learn anything. Han Solo realizes that there's value in risking his life for a greater cause of liberty and autonomy, through developing connections with Luke and Leia. Glenn Radars always knew that risking his life is worth it (as evidenced by his back-story), so why attempt to make him an anti-hero? If they wanted to do something that made sense with his back-story, the writers should have explored his dealing with loss in a much different way, instead of making him lazy and contemptible. But it's hard to make things funny that way with levity, so they built him into a chauvinistic asshat with little regard of other human beings as people with feelings, even behind the bravado of protecting Sistine's prospects of applied magic, or safeguarding Rumia's life. This lends the anime to funny moments, but also fails to delve into real, human experience of love, loss, sacrifice, withdrawal. Revenge and acceptance. Depression vs drive. It never feels like Glenn is internally vulnerable; he's too sure of himself and the backstory feels too devisive.

But the main character isn't the only flaw. I've already referenced it, but the more egregious problem (which probably ruins the characters in terms of development), is the narrative.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Sakamichi no Apollon. Usagi Drop. If you think of short-form 12-episode anime that are *exceptional*, their compact form justifies their scope and reflects their pacing. Everything starts from a strong foundation of structured, deliberate form, as well as unique storytelling of smartly-crafted character-driven narrative. Characters change. Relationships between them are ephemeral. And, most importantly, the narrative tells a story, through those characters, that means something. Kids on the Slope brings very contrasting characters together through mutual appreciation for the language of jazz. Usagi Droppu explores the challenges associated with raising children. And Madoka Magica is about existentialist themes of dedication and creating meaning. But I'm confused what Akashic Records is about. Is it about finding meaning after loss? Is it about pursuing passion? Is it a critique about just vs unjust use of power? This leads me to the core fundamental problem with this series - it's unfocused. It turns into a rushed jumbled mess. It assaults the viewer with so much sensory resulting in too many unresolved threads, fails to fully address plot holes or tie up plot points, or fully flush out the back-stories so that we can actually care about the characters more than, say, a "5, mediocre" status. We get a main character whose true characteristics (underneath all of the "lazy asshat" facade) are unclear, faced by antagonistic forces whose motivations are under-developed, rushed into the story's plotpoints with little establishment, with arcs that are unnecessary or random. Imagine attempting to cram 25 episodes of some great anime (say, Spice and Wolf or Code Geass) into 12 episodes, but then remove two key episodes and add two filler episodes. That's what this feels like.

It borrows a lot from current hype trends in anime, but it still had definite potential that feels wasted because of poor planning and a rushed structure . But don't tell me that I need to read the manga or wait for another season to come out, in order to have a firmer understanding of this anime's purpose. This should stand on its own merits alone. In the end, it's not meaningful to me, but it's still a fun time. Sistine is a cute, if overdone, tsundere archetype, and Re-L is adorably clueless. I like the way magic is represented in the anime, and the action scenes are competently choreographed and animated. The dialogue is good in general, if you can look past the contextual plot problems. The voice acting is pretty good, as well as other elements of the production value, and it's entertaining even while I'm frustratingly trying to connect with the characters or themes of the show. I won't bother getting into many details about the revealing character designs, the fan service, or the minor inconsistencies and weird plot arcs - this anime had more fundamental issues (than just execution) that I wanted to address, like how they dealt with the anti-hero and how they structured the narrative, and I think other reviewers have talked about these various other problems sufficiently.

Overall, I'd recommend this if:
* you want a new best-girl tsundere that's well animated and voice acted
* you don't mind a confused plot in an overdone magic high school setting
* you could use some light fun with moderately humorous scenes and dialogue
* I have to admit that it's a cute show, even if it's nonsensical - especially the preview cuts at the end of each episode, with this kind of self-referential humor, etc. that this anime doesn't take itself too seriously as an art form

This is short and sweet review. I actually had high hopes for this adaptation, but in the end it really was horrid.

If they had more episodes and kept the pace at the beginning few episodes this might have been an enjoyable 6-7 / 10 show.

If you watched this show for the genre of OP MC, save your time and go watch Mahouka. This show's MC is supposed to be strong and OP, but he ends up being helped by students that should show no prowess near his level and are able to be at or beyond his level within the series time frame.

The last 3 ... episodes brought this show to a burning pile of junk. The show tried to pack so much into so few episodes and there was no room for story or character progression.

TLDR
Watch Mahouka, or set your standards extremely low coming into this anime.

The writing kinda reminds me of SAO and not in a good way at all. The main character's writing was pretty horrible for whatever the hell they were going for. Everything else was mediocre at best. I also found that the serious lost its initial premise of the 'teacher who is lazy' rather quickly and deposited into the 'good teacher who uses different methods' archetype that was done much better in series like AssClass (kinda). Also, I felt there weren't any good characters to speak of and the world-building sucked. Also, they initially explained how magic modification was possible and then proceeded to not really ... mention it. It kinda does not make sense that something that OP is not utilized by more people. The first review on this new account and probably ranty as hell. And if people have guns than like 95% of this magic BS doesn't make sense

"Albert: My superiors are scumbags for ordering it, and for following it I am just as dishonorable, I don't deny it, but at this point I won't be merciful"

You can see from the above we are talking soap opera levels of dialog and character motivation here. It only gets worse as the series progresses.

"The years sneek up on you"
Sistine Fibel

Mind you that's a 15 year old girl who who is talking about how the years wiz by. To be fair, There's characters in this anime that make Doogie Howser look like an old man and a has been. The main character, is a 19 ... year old who for 4 years was the top assassin in the empires secret police, graduated from the magic school at 14,spent a year as a hikikimori and is now the best professor at the academy and is connected to just about everything of any import in the empire.

Strains credulity doesn't begin to convey how ridiculous the plot line.

The world building is nearly as bad. There's considerable effort establishing a medieval tech level with magic. You have swords and halberds for the military, horse drawn carriages, no rail, candles for lighting, no powered transport . Next thing you know there's colt 45s ??? Magical displays that looked like the came from Star Trek, genetically engineered life forms just to name a few.

Then there is why these people do things which is for no reason at all. They act like automatons trying to find the best opportunity to shout dialog. Monologing in the middle of battles also seems to be a big motivation. Also letting the defeated get away so they can keep on bothering you seems to be really big.

The highlight of this is the presentation. The girls are perpetual fan service, the music is good, mostly it's well drawn and animated even if the fight scenes are weak for 2017.

Overall ? It's one of those if you have nothing better to watch this will kill some time.

This anime start great. Mature characters, fair animation and GREAT jokes! Like in the first episode jokes were great, our main character was just saying "i am not the usual mc you used to see" which was enough for me to finish this series. Well it didn't go well. Why? Let me explain shortly..

First of all after several episodes of promising good jokes, different story and good filled characters show at some point decided to drop it all. not joking everything is gone. Characters becomes shallow, we get emotionless short loli involves the show and our careless main character becomes head patter - "I ... will always protect you!" quality main character and start pat girls in the head.

My main problem with shows like this is while they start with promising things they will not keep, they are good at the first episode you actually want to watch and see the next episodes.

Summary:
Show promises good story telling, good jokes. different mc. And these promises were broken after 3 episodes with shallow characters and cliches.

The reason I watched this anime was because I saw some clips that made me laugh. The clips were basically showing a guy (teacher) that didn't care or was really aggressive in his views. Example: Him saying the girls are falling in love with him kind of thing.

The back story of the anime is that there is magic. This magic is usually brought to form by a) people having the ability to use it b) the casting speed, which is them saying the incantation. But of course you can shorten it based on how your mind works or make the magic do something slightly different. ... So the story focuses on the main character named Glenn Radar. The guy is shown as someone how didn't want to do anything, lazy, not really caring about the school. In the class there are two main students, basically, that are the focus. One is Sistine, she is the hard headed always study type person, the other is Rumia, she the soft kind girl. Not sister but there something up with them. The other thing is there are some bad guys that are trying to make a noise attacking the school. So all that happening for Glenn.

Rating time:

Plot: I think the basic introduction of the plot is neat. I like magic and fantasy so I had the interest. I think the anime show probably doesn't give it a justice for the plot since I feel there should be more. For 12 episodes I would say there was like 4 different progress. But progress felt like it was done already so they just re used again. I would give it a 7 out of 10

Animation: The animation was great. I mean it was sometimes ecchi and when you have those ecchi scene you know they will try there best to make the animation look really good and the art style really good as well. I would give this a 7.5-8 out of 10.

Sound: I watched the anime in English dub. I would say that I enjoyed most of the voice actors. The voice actor for Sistine was getting annoying as the more I watched. The music wasn't bad or good. I would give it a 6.7-7 out of 10.

Character: The character introduction was done fine. They introduce them and I like the character define characteristic. The character past was done really fast and very little. That might be because of the amount of episodes and what they wanted to show to the viewer. Lastly the character development, I would say 2 out of the 3 main character made some progression. Though I would say it light. but again I would blame that on the number of episode constraint (maybe). I give it a 6 out of 10.

Overall with Bias: After all said it done, I enjoyed the first half and the second half of the anime I was just watching it to complete the anime. I would give it a 6 out of 10.

Recommend: Would I recommend... probably not.

Giving this anime a 5/10 is still me trying to be nice.

STORY: 4/10

I was not particularly excited about the story when I watched the first episode. But the second episode really got me hooked. It was going so well and had a big potential of making an amazing storyline, but it didn't. It sticked with this average cliche story that we have all watched, and is now so uninteresting, as well as the story came out as a cheesy fanservice instead of a decent, clearcut fantasy story. The story just revolved on Glenn saving everyone because everyone is so useless. It is cringy, though I ... still love Glenn.

ANIMATION: 7/10 SOUND: 6/10

Animation and OST is good. But not the best still. But it is decent enough.

CHARACTERS: 3/10

1 point for Glenn because he is actually bad ass and smart. 1 point for Albert because he is best bro and probably the only one who does not need to be saved in the anime, and instead, he held up his own ass. 1 point for Celica because she is bad ass and can hold up her own ass.

As for the others, the whole anime focused around on saving the three girls included in the harem. That's it. If you want fanservice, go. If you dream of girls who are in distress, & you just want to imagine yourself saving them while pretending you are Glenn, go. But if you want quality, don't bother watching this.

I just hoped the fanservice did not take over the entire freaking story.

I was struggling to give this series either a 5 or a 7. On one hand the inner ecchi lover in me wanted to love this show, but my practical side said it was average. What we are faced with is a standard harem/ecchi that tries to deliver a relevant plot but fails. In the story we have the OP myseryious backstory protagonist, Glenn, thrust among young highschool girls. Enter the tsundere Sistine and her friend Rumia, who are both cookie cutter characters with little to no backstory in skimpy outfits. Through this dumpster fire they call a story the three of them are caught ... up in some horribly written chase the evil dark cult. I dont know if it was written from the point of view that you had read the LN because it felt like there were gaps in information we needed to know. The villains are laughable attempts at being some secret society researching to improve mankind by any means.
The series looked okay, being recent but they used a lot of static images for knockouts, but the magic casting was cool. It looked and sounded unremarkable from most other shows.
As I said earlier the three leads were weak. Not in strength but in character. All of them were static characters that never experienced any growth emotionally and just stayed the same. I refuse to let people tell me that when a tsundere realizes her emotions it counts as growth, I refuse them. Glenn is supposedly a strong magician from the army but you never see what made him so special that everything he does leads people to be awed. Sistine has literally no backstory she may as well be a side character with extra lines. Rumia had a chance at being acceptable, but was hindered by what is medically called a "Blonde Bimbo". She spent most of her important scenes being either captured or confused about what was going on. Literally the only positives about the characters was the outfits. Ecchi no more needed.
But I must say no matter how trash the story, bland the characters, or lackluster the style ecchis can get it done. If you are a harem fan (like me) or just interested in mindless content that you dont want to be invested in this may be for you.

This was a decently enjoyable series, but--as with many anime that one would simply describe as "decent" or "good"--the problems with this series definitely drag it down, and thus even with my overall being at a 6, you'll most likely notice that most of my time spent in this review will be spent discussing the bad.

Story: 5, Basically NEET is forced to be a magic professor, the annoying part about this is the way they've designed the whole introduction because he's really not a NEET. (Don't worry, i'll proceed without giving massive spoilers away, but I will tell vaguely of a few events.) The first ... episode basically makes the MC look like a massive loser who is way overconfident and arrogant, and tries to make as many comedic moments as possible, with "tries" being the operative word in that statement. It isn't awful--obviously, I still kept watching afterwards, but it's certainly not the best way to try to sell your MC; not really a character I feel that I can relate to. Then the episodes that follow show him being a badass and a better person in order to try to make you think he's really improved, when in actuality they just really oversold his shitty personality traits in the opening episode. The story is all over the place, but still laughably predictable--theres like 4 or 5 people that are introduced that all end up being villains, and it was obvious in every instance that they were a villain, basically from the moment of their introduction. What's worse is this show does that lovely thing of giving you no fucking clue how much time has passed in between episodes. Yes, some episodes start at the end of the previous episode, but seeing changes in characters' personalities from one episode to the next without seeing that natural growth of character relations is quite jarring, but I'm starting to bleed into the "character" section of this review, so to conclude this section--the one positive I saw in the story was the running theme of "the fool" and how it relates to the MCs life.

Art and Sound: 7, Usually I review these two separately, but I have nothing negative to say in these categories. I wouldn't say either were "phenomenal", but both served their purposes adequately and supported the show well.

Character: 5, There were a few likable characters, but honestly, most characters in this show are completely flat. You could say some characters have changes, but most of them just build-up until they explode, or just explode randomly with no warning, and then simmer back down after. The unknown length of time-skips between random episodes certainly makes character relations perplexing, as its weird to see two characters acting incredibly friendly, when they weren't friends, got in a fight, resolved, and were now like close friends? Just unnatural and jarring to the experience. The villains are just a list overly cliche troupes; like they were going down a damn checklist. Not everything was awful, but I binged the whole anime this morning, and I can literally only remember like 5 character's names, so I feel like a 5 in this category is generous.

Enjoyment: 6, It's the kinda thing that isn't awful to have run in the background while you do other stuff, but there really isn't enough depth in this show to really keep your attention, or at least mine.

Overall: 6, Honestly, unless you wanna do what I said, and have it run in the background while you do other stuff, I wouldn't waste your time on this one. Its not awful, but there is certainly a wide range of anime that far surpasses this one. I genuinely didn't think it was an awful watch, but I have noticed the more and more I sit here and pick at Akashic Records of the Bastard Magic Instructor that it falls apart whenever I think critically about it, or even without trying. I was literally saying the "reveals" as they happened because the only information they go over is stuff they plan to be turning over within 3 episodes. You also gotta love the asspulls of, "I'm a super smart character so I'm gonna shout out whatever other people are doing," because the show is dumb and forgot to introduce and teach the things to the audience before the middle of a conflict. Enough is enough though, my point is, if you want a series you can think critically about, and enjoy the thoughts you're having, then for your own sake, skip this one.

tl;dr Don't watch it. This title is at best average. Story leads nowhere, akin to Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers. Countless sidetracks and minimal progress on serious plot a. Guessing, studio wanted to make this work into milking franchise, but failed. Recommendation that does it better: Irregular at magic high school.

Long review:

Power scaling is all over the place, at times we are to believe that Glenn, 'The Joker', is super strong, veteran of front-line magic warfare and at others, he gets beaten to a pulp by some kid or saved by his students. Same as the tone of series as a whole. At times ... lives are at stake and background inhabitants people are slaughtered left and right, at others fan-service beach scenes.

The romance plot of herbivore MC harem didn't add anything to the story. Didn't bother checking, but looking back, I think every other episode if not in all of them, one of harem girls was crying and expressing how hard it is to be a nobility and live on silver platter.

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, IF YOU ARE GOING TO READ THIS YOU PREFERABLY, HAVE FINISHED THE ANIME.

Story:
The story seems like typical school/magic anime with an oberpowered teacher with a "complicated past". The anime itself says that the protagonist (Glenn Radars) is supposedly a normal person that manages to pull off the unexpected but in the end, it seems like all of the conflicts are resolved in the same way as these other magic/school anime where he just saves the day every time without fail. As I see it, the anime saying he's an ordinary man is just something they say to seem slightly different ... without really changing how the conflicts are resolved from the norm. It doesn't really stray much from around the lines of "unmotivated teacher changes and wins over students and protects his students". And, although this may sound lazy I feel like the pacing for the first half is slightly rushed, like he goes from unmotivated bastard to amazing teacher within the first 2 episodes iirc. The story doesn't really seem like it knows where it's going it just dramatically throws you background information on the characters while not really building up to anything or doing anything with it.For example, Re=L has her own little bit where they reveal that she's part of an experiment to revive or rather copy the dead and tells you about her brother that was killed.But afterwards she just goes back to acting like a normal girl while the plot just uses the fact that she's actually a strong when its convenient.


Art & Sound
I personally am not too good at being critical of more subtle details of animation or noticing background music so this section will be more on a surface level.The art itself is pretty standard and there aren't really any moments I can recall where the animation seemed clunky or it sounded off.But at the same time, nothing really stands out in either aspects.But for the few soundtracks that I've noticed, they don't really seem like they stand out such as the music that they play for most fight scenes or dramatic scenes really just seem like an afterthought.

Characters:
The character's designs themselves don't really stand out in my opinion but it's better than the designs being too over the top.One main issue I have is that the anime doesn't really seem to know which character it wants to be the female protagonist.For the first few episodes it seems like Rumia is the protag with her being targeted by terrorists and her powers and being a princess and what not and then in the later half it seems like she becomes a side character while Sistine becomes the main female protagonist.This itself isn't such a bad thing, however, it just seems like it was executed poorly. This is because the story still relies on Rumia to create conflicts mainly in the form of threats or taking her hostage but she herself doesn't really do anything but the story revolves around one of the other characters, mainly Sistine and Re=L to reveal information about them or the current villain.Rumia seems like she should be important and to a certain extent she is but still ends up being a side character that really from what I remember just says "I'm glad you're okay, Sensei" when she gets saved.But I digress, I'm sorry if that bit seemed like a rant or went on too long.The characters themselves aren't too overused but they're far from original.I can personally say that I think the voices for each character matches their personalities decently well and are believeable.

Enjoyment:
This is an anime I was able to enjoy in the moment however, in hindsight, I probably shouldn't have as much as I did. If you're not actively trying to find faults and just watching it casually, you should be able to at least find some mild amusement.However, if you were to watch this anime critically, I don't think this would be too good of a choice if you're looking for something different or deeper.

My expectations for this show was pretty low, considering it has your typical fantasy, action and harem genre in it. While the anime proved my wrong, the story plot was pretty mediocre and each action scene was pretty bland. The soundtracks used are unoriginal.

A lot, a lot of plot holes. While plot twist exists, but the show lack in-depth reasoning to why some sequence of events took place. Antagonists have a very shallow sense of purpose to believe in what they believed in. Especially in the last episode.

"Akashic Records" were mentioned in the anime several times but I still have no exact idea what ... it.

Don't get me started on the weird teacher-student implement relationship as normal in this anime.

Your standard school light novel fare.
Anybody who watches a lot of anime is already familiar with everything that is offered here.

It is always important to put a series like this into proper context by remembering the purpose of light novel adaptations, that being to promote and get viewers to read the light novel.

In order for a light novel adaptation to be successful it must give the viewer the right amount of content to be able to stand on its own, while also leaving enough to be desired so that the viewer is more inclined to read the source material.

Keeping all of this in mind, ... while there may be enough here to satisfy an initial viewing of the show, there is definitely nothing impressive enough to warrant going any further that.

Pros:
Some funny moments
Some cute characters

Cons:
Everything stated above
Honesty pretty boring

Warning possible Spoilers

As I delved more into the spring 2017 anime's I decided to check out one of the more popular anime's of the season and after finishing it my feelings about it are pretty mixed.

The story begins at the Alzano Imperial Magic Academy where Sistine and her friend Rumia end up having a new substitute teacher called Glenn, however he is a lazy douchebag who doesn't really give much care for magic, despite this these people end up getting involved in matters that are beyond their normal school days.
Now as stories go this was pretty average mainly the usual kind of stuff I've seen ... before, true it's magic which I haven't really seen a lot of as a main concentration for an anime though it just didn't get to me mostly. It was fun seeing Glenn's character develop though the show as he starts out looking like a lazy douchebag character yet overtime he does start to warm up to the students of his class and the main female characters while also acting like a badass when bad things start happening.
The magical aspect of the show was alright, but I have definitely seen this type of magic with colourful, well detailed circles plenty of times at this point, at least the spells were pretty good.
The show does start out slow as we get introduced to the characters, then the situation does start to get a bit more dire and we get introduced to some of the characters backgrounds which are kinda dark, then some characters that are introduced do pick the show up a little bit like Re=L who certainly hepled the show out a little, but after her little tantrum the show gets a little bland again as they put in a forced marriage situation which just reminded me of High School DxD and even the final battle was pretty meh too so in some cases the story did disappoint me.

The characters were mostly bland apart from a few that kept the show going for me.
Glenn the MC is definitely a good character and his douchey attitude towards the girls was a nice change instead of a harem or romantic aspect even though it tries to do that, nonetheless he acts like an unreliable person however he is certainly a badass when it comes to fighting his enemies and even starts to warm up to the students once he gets to know them although his constant jokes always put him on their bad sides.
Sistine, Rumia and Re=L are the main female characters and each of them do vary, Sistine is the main one and is your typical Tsundere girl yet for once she didn't annoy instead she was just a bit boring and whined quite a bit sometimes saying she isn't strong enough to help anyone although you gotta give her determination some respect.
Rumia is the kind and innocent girl of the trio or as I like to call her Princess Peach because she gets kidnapped about 3 times in this show and it was kinda annoying how easy it was for her to get kidnapped although she was an important figure in all of this so it is understandable, she can be pretty strong though which for a character like her is surprising which is shown during the tournament episodes.
Re=L is introduced later on in the show and used to work with Glenn in the past, but she was by far the best of the three main girls and is a Kuudere and a pretty damn cute one because even though she hardly express's any feelings you can just look at her face and see the adorableness however the last thing you want to do is piss her off because not only is she good with a sword she also has a dark past where her brother was murdered which does make her go to the bad side at some point luckily this only lasts for about an episode making her character still very enjoyable.
Celica is an immortal mage that is a professor at the academy and a friend of Glenn, she is very powerful and can be quite easy going although if Glenn gets on her nerve's she does shift into a Tsundere tone, she isn't really in the show much during the second half, but I still found her more interesting than most of the characters.
Albert who like Re=L is an old friend of Glenn and a very powerful mage who mainly uses magical sniping, but even in close quarters you shouldn't underestimate him, much like Re=L he doesn't show much emotion although he does care for Glenn's well being and does help him out a few times during the show.
The villains weren't that great and mostly just seemed like a nuisance although Eleanor was definitely one sexually crazy woman that you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley or on the streets at night.

The artstyle was ok, I liked the way the city looked which reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings which seems pretty odd and the magic that was displayed wasn't too bad either it was definitely strong enough to cause some mayhem, the uniforms that the students wore was pretty mixed reception they looked nice, but the girls uniforms just looked like they were made to make them look sexy which just didn't feel right this time considering I getting no sexual attraction from them.

The action was actually pretty meh and even when it picked up it didn't impress me hell the final battle didn't make me feel amazed either and the show was surprisingly bloody which I was expecting to have in droves and I was also surprised to see guns which don't usually pop up in these settings plus seeing Glenn beat up enemies with his fist's was actually refreshing to see when people mainly rely on magic they forget that fist's are also an option.

There was certainly comedy in this show and it was ok especially the relationship between Glenn and Sistine made for some decent entertainment like when Glenn would get on Sistine's nerves and she just shot him up in the air with her wind magic and the way Glenn acted around the students was also really funny and made me think that the way he acted made sure there wouldn't be any forced romance, but I was mostly wrong even though Glenn doesn't have romantic feelings for the girls Sistine looks like she kinda does by the end and honestly it just doesn't feel right.

Overall this was a pretty average anime with some surprise's and funny moments here and there, but it surprise's me the most how this is one of the more popular anime's of the spring season.

Akashic Records is a decent action-harem anime, with more emphasis on action sequences and character development than on romance fan service. It's a show that, while lacking in plot development and confusing at times, is entertaining enough on its own to keep you watching until the end. Additionally, if you enjoy watching shows with an OP protagonist, you'll feel relatively at home here. Overall, I would give it a 7.5/10 rounded to 8, and a 5/10 rewatchability score.

Plot: 6/10
Akashic Records' plot development leaves a lot to be desired. My biggest issue with it was the seemingly random lead-ins between arcs. In a strange way, the ... show is lacking in filler episodes that would help with the flow of the overall storyline. If Akashic Records was a 26-episode series, it probably would do a lot better. Instead, its plot development feels very crammed, and even cliche at times. A good comparison would be to imagine the entirety of Zero no Tsukaima compacted into one 13-episode season. And unlike ZnT, story arcs in Akashic Records just seem to happen without any clear indication as to why, and is often lacking a good backstory. Also, for an average anime enjoyer, the resolution of each arc isn't necessarily predictable, but don't feel very satisfying.

Character: 8.5/10
Akashic Records make up for its plot shortcomings by its much better character work. While it's essentially a harem anime, it goes very light on the romance fan-service, and actually takes time to flesh out each girl's attraction to the protagonist. Much of the romance plot is pushed along by the main story, rather than being shoved in your face, which makes it a lot more enjoyable and meaningful. Although, the MC can be a bit of an ass sometimes, so be prepared for a little bit of frustration.

In terms of character interactions, there are sufficient meaningful ones to make me laugh and giggle, as well as slightly get emotional.

In regards to it being a good "OP MC anime", the MC Glenn, is a classic overdog-posing-as-underdog trope. He's clearly powerful in his own right, although his actual power seems to be governed more by plot armor. However, if you're expecting a total beatdown, be prepared to be disappointed as he gets his ass kicked. A lot. And most of the times he does win, it's usually due to some sort of luck rather than overwhelming strength or intellect. At least the MC does get recognized and appreciated by his peers, so that's a plus.

Art/Animation: 8.5/10
Decent graphics that have no glaring issues. It won't detract or add to your viewing experience.

Rewatchability: 5/10
This is one of those anime where you will either like it enough to pick it up again once in a while, or watch once and forget. Since the odds of that is about 50/50, I'll give it a 5/10.