Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

Open up a light novel with a school setting with pretty girls and a protagonist standing in the middle. Then in the background, watch for signs of magical content like sparkles, circles, etc. I swear, almost every light novel adaptation these days has something similar in nature and it doesn’t take a creative mind to write a story about them. Given the way Rokudenashi is written, there’s no treasure you’ll find in this series. Instead, you’ll spend endless hours wondering why the characters’ school uniforms look so ridiculous.

Also known as Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor, the series takes off in an academy life setting. ... From the first few episodes, the series doesn’t hide the personality of the main protagonist, Glenn Radars. To put it straightforward, he is a bastard. His personality is very sarcastic, lazy, and seems to never be able to stand still. However, Glenn has shown that he is a capable instructor with a decent knowledge of magic. And in essence, he has a good heart to help his students. So I guess in a way, he is able to walk between the line of a lazy bastard and as a guy his students can rely on. Unfortunately, my early impression of Glenn is that he is very difficult to take seriously and is someone that can barely act his age.

Given the context of the series, the girls doesn’t present a good impression of themselves either. The first time when Glenn interacts with Sistine, a promising student at school, he is literally blasted away by his awkward introduction. Her best friend Rumia seems to be more understanding although she seems to fit into the category of the classic damsel in distress. She is pretty, kind, has blonde hair with a cute smile but unfortunately never able to save herself. You ever see a horror movie where an innocent blonde girl is running for her life and desperately needs to be saved? That’s how I picture Rumia throughout the show as many episodes seems to put her into such position. At some point, I wouldn’t be surprised if viewers label her as a hostage simulator.

On terms of character relationships, the series seems to jump from one to another although the core focus is still Glenn. I have to admit, his relationships with his students is pretty uninspiring. On paper, Glenn and Sistine has a rocky relationship ever since from their first encounter. Their relationship seems to warm up a bit although can hardly be memorable given their contrasting personalities. Let’s face it, Sistine is a serious working student hoping to make her dreams come true while Glenn is a lazy bastard who seems to be taking life like a game. There’s hardly any connection between the two except we learn that Sistine does remind him of another character in the past. Given the length of this adaptation, that territory is hardly explored which is pretty disheartening to be honest. In the meantime, there’s Rumia and Glenn. They get along better and if I had to guess, she might have developed a girly crush on Glenn just because of how much times he’s saved her. Beyond that, it’s nothing home to write about. Oh and of course, there are some other characters we’ll encounter like Re=L, Albert, and Celica. Between Glenn and them, it just feels like these characters are there and hardly stand out with their role. The only character on that list worth mentioning may be Re=L but she has the personality of a doll and a peculiar background story. And trust me, with a character like Re=L in this show, it feels like they are trying to bring in every type of generic character personality they can into one place.

By expectations, the series probably excels most when it takes a more serious approach at magic. Understandably, this show surprisingly does a neat job at explaining magic, or at least on a level that makes sense. Antagonists are able to utilize magic at a level that looks threatening while Glenn establishes himself as a capable instructor with his knowledge of magic. By storytelling standards, magic is also a core motivation for Sistine as she wishes to discover the secrets of the Flying Castle. So if any positive stands out about this show, I can safely say that magic adamantly stands out. It’s even part of a tournament although the storytelling itself in that field is pretty underwhelming.

If I was to talk about the art of the show, the first thing that pops to my head is the school uniforms. Somehow, the female characters finds no troubling wearing them despite their ridiculous design. Attached to a string and exposing the bellies, it makes me curious if this school even has a damn written dress code. Character designs look somewhat noticeable such as Sistine’s cat ears, Re=L’s blueish hair, or Celica’s black dress. Character expressions for the main cast are somewhat entertaining to watch at times when the timing is appropriate. However, the antagonists in this show are very disappointing to look at. I mean, an evil maid? A guy that dresses like he works as a stagecoach driver? Can this show get any more awkward? On the other hand, I guess the academy itself looks normal or fits within the category of acceptable. The action sequences on most parts flows well. But again, it’s mostly the magic doing the work.

I don’t have much to say for the soundtrack or music as it feels rather blend. The OP and ED theme songs are pretty generic while the battle soundtrack is hardly original. My impressions of the voice acting also remains so-so. Glenn sounds too sarcastic for a guy of his age while Re=L is devoid of emotions. Sistine and her friend Rumia doesn’t bring in any memorable lines and often makes comedic scenes look shameful.

In retrospect, I can’t say this is a good show. Or in fact, it’s not even half decent. It fits more into the category of academy story with characters molded by the most generic personalities possible. The storytelling itself borders into the realm of gobbledygook as hardly any episodes are memorable. With cheesy character dialogues, weakly developed relationships, and attempts at crafting humor, the show doesn’t do well at it selling whatever it intends to. Oh and school uniforms…

Just, why?

If there is one trend I dislike more than anything over the past few years, it is the plethora and popularity of light novel adaptations. Now, of course, to clarify, I don't believe that just because an anime is adapted from a light novel, it is inherently bad. There have been plenty of light novel adaptations in the past that have actually been pretty good, but what I am referring to, in this case, are the light novel adaptations that feature some boring male protagonist with spiky hair that acts as a self insert for all of the filthy otaku, who goes to some random ... high school that is usually one in which the students have superpowers (and for some reason it's always magic) as he becomes stronger and stronger while all of the female cast gets wet at his complete awesomeness! Most of these light novel adaptations follow the same basic elements, character archetypes and plot threads, and, if you've seen as many as I have, all begin to blend into one gigantic, horrible mess. I hate these types of light novel adaptations, because they're so lazy and so god damn unoriginal, yet, they still become widely popular; undeservingly so! While I have seen a couple of them done decently well, such as Chivalry of a Failed Knight, which plays around and subverts some of the troupes found in these typical shows, Akashic Records is not decent... it's not even mediocre! It's terrible! Every one of these elements I have listed in this opening paragraph is present in this travesty, and the writing, characters, narrative and the world presented to us are so boring, generic and cookie-cutter that I feel like throwing up just thinking about them! While this is not the worst light novel adaptation I have ever seen (that honour would go to Absolute Duo or The Asterisk War) it baffles me why this show is receiving such praise from some people and why it has sat at a score of around seven on this website. As soon as I saw the words "light novel" and "LIDENFILMS" in the seasonal charts before the show started up, I think I died a little inside and, to this day, this studio still hasn't produced a single anime I would actually consider to be noteworthy with this being their minimus opus, if you will. With all that said and done, let's jump into the narrative (if you could even call it that) of this absolute train wreck!

To say that the story of Akashic Records is generic would be the understatement of the year. If anything, this narrative is incredibly linear and predictable every step of the way with glaring pacing issues while shoving down your throat as many stereotypically dull speeches about life as it can possibly muster in each episode. It's set in a world in which magic is a viable tool and is used often for war against other nations, and, of course, as typical of light novel stories, the teenagers in this world are able to use said magic and attend special high schools. Enter the Light Novel guy for this series; a lazy man with an indifferent attitude who also happens to be a shut-in, takes up a job teaching magic at some random magic high school after being forced to by the woman he lives with. This, however, is greeted by disdain by the students in the class he has to teach, in particular, by two female students, called Tsundere-chan (Sistine Febel) and Basic Bitch (Rumia Tingel). While this first greeting is met with hostility, this new teacher eventually warms up to the rest of the class and they begin to develop more of a bond with him over the course of the series! And that's it for a plot! If it sounds like I'm being incredibly vague with this plot synopsis, that's because nothing really happens in this show from a narrative standpoint. It feels like a sequence of events that just happen because the writer needed to fill in some time and they connect so loosely with each other and have no overall bearing or impact on the plot that the narrative feels weak and lacking emotion. None of the characters has any motivation or any clearly defined goals in this series and thus it is hard to actually get invested or engaged into this world at all, or to care for any of the characters. The narrative has no sense of direction, and a weak narrative isn't exactly a game breaker for me as long as the characters are good (which they're not, but I'll get into that in a bit) but I'd like to have some kind of story actually happening! There is an evil magic organisation of some sort but they barely play any part in the narrative and feel so tacked on and vague that half of the time I forget that they're even present or playing any part in this story. They do introduce a new villain in the show but it's WAY too late into the narrative in order to flesh him out and instead, they rush this character's introduction, his involvement and his back-story within only an episode or so.

Speaking of the pacing, holy crap is this broken! The show tries to squeeze so much into its short twelve episode frame that it feels like a chore to watch since they're constantly throwing more and more things at you at every passing episode. It's also another kick to the nuts to realise that everything that does happen in the show is so inconsequential and boring to boot as well, which is also present in the setting for the show. The world of Akashic Records is one of the laziest thought out worlds I have ever seen. It's a world in which magic, goddamn MAGIC, is a part of everyday life but we barely have seen any examples of how people coexist with magic in the narrative in their daily lives outside of high school nor is the magic they use themselves all too great either. The great thing about setting your world in which features magic is that it allows you to be as creative as you could possibly want in regards to how the world operates and how its people live, while excusing it with the pretence that magic is an in-depth and intricate system that makes sense to the characters that live in this world, but, instead, they do nothing with it. For the sake of argument, let's compare it to the series Little Witch Academia, which aired alongside this show. Aside from doing everything better than Akashic Records, the world of Little Witch Academia is built around this idea of magic and is used in creative ways which bring the world to life. The world is interesting and alluring. Not only that but each of the characters have clearly defined goals which help to push the story forward and keep the audience immersed in the story; two things that Akashic Records doesn't have.

A lot of the time the narrative is just simply tasteless, making light jokes and comedy from molestation and rape of all things, especially from the second episode. The tonal shifts from watching a girl almost get raped to then making a stupid joke is painful and is almost as bad as the tonal shifts from Drifters. Speaking of the comedy, it feels so damn forced and trite as well as predictable that every attempt at a joke falls flat on its face and isn't funny in the slightest! The show also throws an insane amount of blood at the audience in a petty, pathetic attempt at seeming hardcore and edgy since the writing isn't strong enough to hold up by itself. Not only that, but the insane amount of blood half the time just feels silly, such as in episode nine, where Basic is lying unconscious in the floor with an insane amount of blood plastered on the bed, floor and curtains (enough that would kill a person), but her only wound is a slight wound on her stomach! How? Why? Who knows!

There actually is a tournament arc in the show, but just like everything else, it is terrible. Again, since this is a world full of magic, the writer could have written some very interesting fight scenes or competitions around the use of magic but all of them are just so boring and the show glosses over this arc so quickly that it feels entirely pointless. Some may argue that the true meat of this arc was, in fact, Basic's relationship with the queen and everything surrounding that, but, again, it feels so boring to watch, this is never brought up later again in the series and this scene is one of the worst cases of melodrama and bad writing I have seen in a very long time. And much of the show is forced with melodrama too, which, doesn't feel emotional since I don't care for a single one of these characters and all of these situations I've seen to much better effect somewhere else before. There is even a beach scene, thrown in just for some silly fan service, scenes that could have been used for character development and growth instead, but, nope, CLEARLY, the most important thing to do is show the audience what each girl would look like if they were in bloody swimsuits! The narrative is just so boring, predictable and unfocused that it's hard not to fall asleep whilst watching it and every single element in the story has been done elsewhere before in a better capacity. Even for Light Novels this story is generic and they use every cheap writing technique in the book to try and make you feel sorry and sympathetic for these characters when they have not been built from the ground up from victimisation, to the loss of a loved one in the past; this crap has it all!

The characters are just as bad and are essentially just all archetypes of previous anime character personality traits. Not a single one is interesting and none develop at all during the entire duration of the show; they're all stagnant. Glenn, as the main character of a light novel series, is a little bit more interesting than what I am accustomed to, however, not only in physical appearance but also in personality. He is an adult character, makes fun of people, is lazy and is just all around a twat. He doesn't get flustered when he sees girls naked (instead he actively tries to) like most light novel main guys either. Does this make his character good? No... not really. The main problem with Glenn as a character is that he is inconsistent and his back-story is both generic as hell and is very heavily underdeveloped to boot. He is made to be, at first, to be an incompetent idiot with no speciality for magic, but after episode three, he pretty much can do anything the plot demands from him because B U L L S H I T. While, at times, I did enjoy his random hijinks and ass-hole nature, I found him to be extremely boring and lacking when compared to the series Great Teacher Onozuka. The other main characters include Tsundere-chan, who begins to develop a crush on Glenn as the series goes along and GOD I wanted to smack this character in the face. She is constantly complaining, whining and nagging at every little thing and her character design, and personality has been done so much at this point, that every time I see a Tsundere character I want to slam my face into a wall. Basic Bitch, otherwise known as Rumia, is the only character with some emotional weight to her as her back-story is decently explored but is nothing to write home about. I refer to her as Basic Bitch because that is exactly what she is: basic. She acts as the good morale, angel type character which sickens me to death with how boring she is. The only other character who is given somewhat of a back-story is a character called Re-L, who assumes the deadpan loli archetype that has been done so many times up to this point, that every time she was on screen my mind sort of hazed out and lost interest straight away. While, sure, we do learn things about her character, it's, again, nothing all too great, boring and after her mini-arc is completed she is pretty much pushed to the sidelines afterwards and plays hardly any factor in the rest of the show.

The rest of the cast is equally as generic, boring and underdeveloped, and it's giving me a migraine trying to refresh my memory of them. The only character who is SOMEWHAT likeable, and I stress that "somewhat" greatly is Celica, mainly because of her personality but this character is given so little screen time that I forgot about her entirely. When she is on screen, she is fairly interesting but is not enough to save the anime.

The overall aesthetic and quality of the artwork were just fine, but the animation was just pretty lazy since they reuse the same shot of Tsundere-chan punching Glenn into the sky about twenty times, three within one episode sometimes. It's not the worst I have seen, and I do like some of the palettes as well, but it's overall just a very bland looking show. However, the character designs are some of the worst I have ever seen! While the boy's school uniform is fine and conventional, I have no clue what the hell happened to the girl's outfits. It looks like something you'd find straight out of a porno for god's sake! The skirt is about five millimetres in length, covering barely any flesh and they have these short tops, which exposes their stomachs, complete with garter belts and straps around from their skirts to their stomachs. How, in the holy mother of hell, was this allowed in a high school is way beyond me, and, as a result, it pretty much ruins every dramatic moment in the show since the uniforms are so silly, they end up distracting me from the emotional scenes. As for the music, it's perhaps the most stock and dull soundtrack I've heard in a while. Not a single one is memorable or even decently composed, and the opening and ending tracks are just generic pop music that you'll forget as soon as you listen to something else. The opening, in keeping up with the traditions set by the Gun Gale Arc from SAO, also spoils who the main villain is going to be!

If you've seen any light novel adaptation about a group of kids with magic powers inside a high school then you've seen Akashic Records, because each one of these shows is fundamentally the exact same thing with only slight variations, and I'm done with this shit forever. Each one of these boring, insipid, shallow, vacuous light novel series can seriously just go fuck themselves for their insulting storytelling, awful characters and terrible pandering. These series are essentially the anime equivalence of the films made by Illumination Animation; they're both produced with no soul or intent at creating a piece of art or telling a story with a message that can resonate with an audience. I love both the medium of film, and the animation medium very much since they have provided some of the most heartfelt, and most impactful pieces of fiction I have seen. Film and animation can make you cry, make you laugh, they help shape you as a person, especially at a young age, and I honestly don't know where I'll be without them, for as corny as that sounds. But, these light novel adaptations offer nothing at all; no emotion, other than genuine anger and irritation, and hence, I am done forever with these boring shows. I'd rather digest cyanide than sit through another show like Hundred or Absolute Duo, and, especially Akashic Records ever again. Of course, if you like these shows, then that is completely fine. I'm glad you're able to enjoy something that I don't. After all the world would be a boring place if we all liked the exact same thing. But, to me, this show is awful in every sense of the word. It has nothing. I'd rather watch Hand Shakers on repeat than watch one of these shows ever again. Now, that's saying something...

"If the best thing I can say about your show is that the girls are hot, then your show is terrible!" -some lazy jackass

*Spoilers for Akashic Records*

Before I start the review proper, or rather, this dissertation about why this show is a generic and irritating fraud that actually manages to squander any potential it had for some lazy comedy and infuriating LN bullshit clichés, I have two things I feel I must notify you of. First, a decent chunk of this review will be spent analyzing the ideas this series had and how with some major and minor tweaks, the series could've been better, at ... least from a storytelling perspective. Secondly, I'm about to let out something I have to get out of my chest because while this insufferable mentality I’m about to describe isn't truly widespread, I've still seen it a handful of times, and quite frankly, it's sickening. People who have this upcoming mentality infuriate me with their ignorance and sheer vindictiveness.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If a title is almost nothing but recycled content from shows prior, then to me at least, it has no excuse and little reason to both exist and be defended as a work of fiction. It seems like creativity isn't as valued as it should be and this has been a problem in every industry at almost every point in history for one reason or another. With the anime in the 80's/90's, it was schlock bloodbath OVAs and nowadays in anime, it's Light Novel School Battle and/or Harem anime. Titles that largely or even entirely fit these descriptions can still break the mold and achieve something greater.

We do not have some "mythical, absurdly high, nigh-unachievable standard" that bitter "anti-elitists" keep accusing us of having! We just want anime to actually have a sense of life, a sense of passion, and a reason to exist outside of making corporate money from people who have loved tons of shows borderline identical to what they're currently watching and fapping to. Even among school battle (usually harem) anime, there are some that go above and beyond, like the aforementioned Chivalry of a Failed Knight. In fact, even among the standards if these "copy-paste" anime, some manage to really sink below to almost creative levels of suck, like The Irregular at Magic High School, as if to prove that there is a standard to hold titles like this by and that even this kind of anime has its own hierarchy like all the rest.

In summation, we do not all have some absurd standard for anime, we just want these kinds of titles to die out (or rather to not be as widespread, which in fairness, is already happening somewhat over the past year as isekai starts to take its place) so that anime that actually have passion and creativity can more easily flourish, and even by the standards of the now incessant LN school battle harem anime, some can go beyond the expectations or fail to even meet such bottom of the barrel standards. If you enjoy these titles, that's fine, just at least have some standards regarding these things since not all of them are of equal quality and the ones with the least amount of effort put into making them worthwhile works of fiction do not deserve to be defended, at least to me. Again, like them if you want, just don't accuse us of bad standards or incorrect views solely for dissenting from your "it's done before but that's fine because I like it" viewpoint. No one is saying everything must break the mold and become an extraordinary work of art otherwise it has no right to exist. It's certainly ok to have fun and enjoy a work that sought entertainment value first and foremost, as us supposed "bitter, contrarian reviewer elitists" do too. I simply refuse to sit down while shows like this and viewpoints such as the aforementioned run rampant.

With that tirade out of the way, let's start the review proper.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mixing Konosuba humor and Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei is like mixing a liter of ghost pepper juice and white paint. You know, shit like this is why I invested in a tomato farm. Wait, I'm sorry, was that joke not predictable enough for you? My bad, let me try again: Ahem, “This show is cancer.” Actually, my previous joke was funnier than both this one and every single joke here in this godforsaken show. Let me grab those tomatoes now.

Akashic Records. For some reason, people thought this was actually funny and “totally not exactly like all of the other trash we hate because it has more comedy in its trashiest scenarios than those others shows that do the exact same thing but with a permanently straight face.” This show isn't funny; it's predictable. It has no semblance of tact or actual self-awareness on how awful its writing and gaudy cheese-fest self-justification for subsequent action exposition dumps that last up to a minute are. You people call SAO terrible? At least it has more tact and worthwhile humor than this show ever did, as well as more originality, better music, a much more tolerable color pallet. Even with its bad pacing, at least it never showed off early events that feel like they should be coming in much later than they should, or give flashbacks to equally terrible and popular shows with specific plot points. This show thinks it can get away with being the trashiest LN garbage ever as long as it adds “hurr-de-durr” to everything and adding a funny face just to really make it even more obvious than it is. It thinks it's the Konosuba of school battle harem trash; it's not. It takes itself just as seriously for most part, so that doesn't work. Hell, it's even worse since those shows take horrible scenarios like attempted rape seriously when presenting them. This show doesn't. But enough rambling; what makes Akashic Records so awful to the point where I actually believe that The Asterisk War is a much better show than it? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Let’s address the elephant in the room before we really rip into the logic of this show: the female school uniforms. You know, I think it should be the woman’s choice as to whether or not she’ll be so scantily clad that not only are her midriffs and things exposed, but that she also has suspenders at the thighs and waist to make sure that two-piece outfit doesn't fall apart, not something that a school, let alone an “esteemed private academy” such as this one, should mandate. This kind of uniform that would make any real school principal revile in horror is, while sexy and appealing, downright disgusting in the fact that a school mandates women wear that as their official uniform. I get that this is a trash anime, but no successful school in their right mind would pull such a stunt without raising absolute hellfire from parents, true gentlemen, feminists, other schools and districts, and SJWs across the nation, especially when this show’s one obviously hot and fanservicey character is more decently clad than the high school students (aka, generic archetype bitches) that are forced to wear this. I mean, the men wear regal and classy suits befitting of gentlemen (even Glenn wears something of decent clothing, and he’s the lazy asshole pervert), so wouldn't it make sense to have the ladies wear something even more regal and classy, like Celica, the obviously hot fanservice character? You wouldn't believe how badly that made me lose hope in any logic found in the story. I mean, I am a teenage, straight male, and I like hot women like the rest of my kind, hell, I can ogle at Celica all day, but this is just ridiculous!Now, to everything else.

To be fair, the series doesn't really have major plot holes, even despite a few minor ones (nor all of which I'll cover), but it does have many leaps in logic for the characters, bad pacing, and it manages to portray certain scenes horrendously. But there are decent moments, like the rare joke that hits, occasional (if not successful due to poor pacing) attempts at emotional scenes, and the scene where Glenn goes Grammar Nazi on students to show just how convoluted magic can really be. I'll start by going rapid fire on a few dumb things from episodes 1 and 2. Still, prepare to be here a while, the story segment takes up a vast majority of the review since there is a lot I need to say here.

Why does Celica threaten Glenn to get him to work at this school despite knowing that he is beyond unqualified and that he hates magic? Is it because she just wants him to get a job and if he a deadbeat regardless of whether or not he is remotely qualified, because if so, that's stupid (since she needs to make sure he is at least remotely qualified for his job). The series checks out one important trite bullshit (aka bad cliché) from the list really early with a scene where the flatter student (Sistine) helped the big-tits student (Rumia), but here, it's portrayed in such a sexual manner to the point where in other series, they are still sexual harassment despite teasing, this is easily a more blatantly disgusting and uncomfortable act of sexual harassment that sent out of its way to be as horrid as possible (partially since it made me hate the Sistine, one of the main characters, by the first episode, the episode where we are supposed to be sold on these characters).

The entirety of episode 2 felt like it should've been stretched out over multiple episodes given how here is a small time skip in the middle of episode 2 after Glenn reaches the importance of grammar in changing magic, and how much is packed into this episode story-wise. In order of appearance: Glenn starts the episode same as before, he goes so far into dissing magic that Sistine slaps him and leaves in tears, each character has an emotional moment before Glenn realizes how little students truly know about magic besides one particular method for each spell, he schools them, then his students like him, he has then made progress and is now infinitely more passionate about work, we go back and reaffirm that there is a moment in which Rumia was saved by presumably Glenn (we even see the hair color, and in episode 1, she looks familiar to him, but this isn't spaced or enough to feel organic or that it would take a little while for us to really explore this point without coming up with the answer so early into the show), and then terrorists. All of this should've been episodes 3, 4, and even 5. I mean it. We could've just done the same shenanigans and have episode 2 end on the moment where Sistine slaps Glenn and walks off in tears, then episode 3 have an emotional episode that shows us another side of our (at the time) 3 important characters while showing us that terrorists are soon to some before at the end, he busts out some knowledge on the students, then episode 4 not only shows us how much all of this is working out while at the same time showing us that he is actually becoming happier overall while doing this, but then the episode brings us back to that moment where we see him and Rumia interact before we learn that she was saved by someone who looks suspiciously like Glenn, and then it ends on terrorists moving in. Episodes 5 and 6 would be a bunch of terrorists raising hell in the school and then Glenn, and all students and teachers fight back in a mini war arc, by editing the final few minutes of episode 2 where terrorists show up and turning that into episode 5, and editing some of the intrusive comedy of episode 3 and making it episode 6.. There, I just vastly improved the show just by taking episode 2 stretching it out, and adding and editing parts as I went along,like making episode 3 episode 6. If only the writer was this capable.

The moment that made this show awful beyond redemption was the attempted rape scene. Let me set the scene. Terrorists have just captured Rumia who turned out to be a former princess but her family was killed and she escaped (hence why she said she was saved by someone before terrorists would've killed her). Sistine is alone in a room, and a terrorist walks in. He then begins to toy with her, saying that people like her are surprisingly and deliciously fragile while pinning her down and slowly undressing her. Then, Glenn walks in and it turns from trite to actively offensively terrible. In the midst of a scene of attempted rape, Glenn walks in, pays no mind, and lackadaisical comedy ensues for like 40 seconds! WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!?! A character is in the verge of getting rape, and the supposed “hero” who busts in not only doesn't recognize the situation, but acts all lazy! Needless to say, this moment made this show practically impossible to redeem. When SAO can treat this kind of scene with infinitely more tact than this show can, in regards to content and tone, you know we have a problem here! Sure, eventually Glenn saves her, but then we get the rest of the scene.

Glenn busts out this arcana card which nullifies all magic (especially opponents’ and enemies” magic). This is a very generic magic for an MC to have, and it's giving me Mahouka flashbacks as if the school terrorism thing didn't do that already. Glenn just busts out an arcana card unceremoniously and explains what it does in his usual lackadaisical tone (tired of me using that word yet?). This is the first time we see this kind of magic card in the series, adding to the already surpassingly convoluted magic system of this world, so at least the show could do is unveil it with grandeur. Even Mahouka did that right! Whatever, a badly animated curb stomp commences in which Glenn wins, and episode 2 ends. As you can no doubt tell, the rape attempt scene should've never happened and in my version above, it never would.

Actually, there are a few things in episode 3 I would alter, since it's not a great episode either (I mean, what did you expect from this show). I think the worst thing this episode does is prove that this crock of shit had potential, potential that it, predictably, squandered. I mean, Glenn was a mate killer, so that could've been explored and built up a bit better since before then, the only buildup was him saying magic kills people. In this episode, I would edit out the numerous and always monotonous self-justification for what someone is about to do exposition dumps there always last for around 30 seconds, some of the intrusive comedy of the first 6 minutes, and do one last crucial thing in the last few minutes of the episode. Remember how Professor Huey apparently left (hence why they have a sub) prior to the events of episode 1? Well, here he is again, but has no exposed motivations for being here, and he just stands there, saying that it's a game to see if Glenn can free Rumia from a bunch of magic circles, so, none of that makes any real sense. He needs a reason for doing this, and why he is treating this like a game. Also, at the end, they completely gloss over what Rumia’s true name as princess was Eruminia, and I don't know why. This also confirms that yes, Glenn was the one that unknowingly saved her. It's a shame that one of the most potentially interesting hook questions about the series was dealt with only 3 episodes in out of 12.

I'm not going to go or if my way to really break down the rest of the episodes since that would take fucking forever and I'm already spending a lot of time doing rapid fire on a few problems per episode while fixing the series as a whole. But now, we reach the tournament arc, starting with episode 4, so time for me to keep doing what I've been doing. The queen is still the mother of Rumia but apparently everyone was killed but her. Why did she pronounce her daughter dead after the terrorists came? What actually happened? Did terrorists simply kidnap her from everyone? Has the school heard nothing about the Queen? What about the dad/king?

The other thing is that we are suddenly introduced to what all of the students can do during the beginning of this tournament arc via a pep talk from Glenn. Want to know how to have made this moment work. Have it so that when the terrorists showed up, they all do what we would hear them being capable of, that what this moment would be actually gratifying since by then we would've known a bit about all the students and then have epic realization that Glenn was exactly right since that what they did in that hypothetical. This has been another round of me improving the series. In fact, the actual tournament section in episode 4 could've been 2, maybe even 3 whole episodes in order to make an interesting tournament arc up until the next episode (specifically, 7-9 on my version), since there are so many games that are glossed over since most students are not important. Hell, even before that, we saw a typical asshole vs underdog rivalry set up with Harley and his class vs Glenn and his, and then it would be gratifying and exciting to see both groups compete and Glenn’s class do well on each of these events. This has been another round of me making a better series out of the pieces this one failed to put together. Also, the asspull of Rumia winning her round because the big buff guy suddenly blacked out for no reason was infuriating, and the fact that it came after a rushed and stupid bit of her teammates telling her to quit since they “care for her” despite her being in no peril and her wanting to do this, is especially galling. When both The Asterisk War and Fairy Tail can make a better tournament arc, then your arc is shit, and by extension, you're shit!

Episodes 5 and 6, barring a few really dumb moments (as per usual), are probably the best in the series, as little as that says about them. The comedy is still pretty miss for me but not only are there a few genuinely sweet moments like Glenn’s conversation with Rumia I episode 5 and her true reunion with her mother at the end of episode 6, but also, the way Glenn defeats the villain of this arc is actually pretty intelligent and entertaining, reminding me of some of the most popular protagonists in anime like Lelouch from Code Geass, Light from Death Note, and Sora from No Game No Life. Still, time to fix ‘em. I'll give this series a compliment when it deserves one; it's already like...96:0 in problems (and you get a cookie if you get where that reference came from). The way to make it better this time is simple, and it builds from the last fixing I did: actually juggle the rescue attempt and the tournament matches equally and flesh them both out, that way we have all of the emotional payoffs actually pay off (at least if you give each scene enough space), and so that we can actually enjoy the tournament side of the arc, and have that whole thing from episodes 5 and 6 take up 3 more episodes (10-12 in my version) while removing some of the fake out comedy, taking away the explosion speeches about “me saying why I'm doing what I'm doing”, removing the dere moments Sistine has with her teacher (I get that he is 19 but still it's sorta creepy for a student to have a hunted romantic interest in her teacher) and altering the ending where the students spend all his money to him actually treating them with some of his money, that way nothing about any of the arcs each character went through get cheapened upon rewatch and hindsight (namely Glenn’s). Also, have more animation in the arc since this series doesn't really have much actual character animation.

See? It's simple. If we create a brand new episode 1 from scratch to replace this episode 1 and take all of the ideas I brought up that modify these episodes, we could've had an actually good series on our hands since despite all of the LN trope bullshit, awful comedy moments that ruin certain scenes, and a few other things, all the pieces were there for the first 6 episodes to be a good 1 cour series. The other 6 on the other hand...yeah, I haven't been really living up to my promise of tone, and these episodes are gonna change that; they are that bad...

*sigh* Episode 7 is where things go back to being abysmal instead of just bad, partially due to almost half of it being a cliché beach episode and the irritating comedy, partially due to the character Re=L (make your Ergo Proxy joke elsewhere). She is such a bad character, and it is the impetus of the arc and why it's horrible. Her heel turn is insanely telegraphed and still incredibly forced, being out of jealously in episode 7 about the fact that the deuteragonist females are quote unquote “stealing Glenn away from her”, and because she is just a double agent who likes her dead brother who she saw again (which means he was revived, which is a major plot point in the arc, revival) in episode 8, while the rest of episode 8 before that is just the introduction of revival, one of the villains of the previous arc showing up and being a crazy bitch, and Re=L moving around and being an insufferable bitch. Fuck this arc in its entirety. Oh, and she nearly kills Glenn because of this and badly injures Rumia. When you consider that up to this point, she had been trying to kill Glenn (or at least she attacks him as greeting and always wants to settle a score with him) and the fact that she genuinely talked of the fact that she had a lot of fun with the people she immediately afterwards hated) and the fact that she had just been a generic deadpan loli character, this sudden turn is infuriatingly stupid and forced. The 9th episode is just as bad honestly, and they rushed the shit out of a villain death and the backstory Re=L has can't redeem her in the slightest. Also, the main blue-haired villain of the arc was wasted in the fact that there is a malicious character named Reiner, but this guy was just some random who wasn't connected with anything and is just a “bad person who does bad things because villain” character. I literally have no way to really remotely fix this arc; it was dead on arrival.

But now, we finally reach the final arc. It is one of the stupidest story arcs I have ever seen in my life, if not the absolute dumbest and most wince-worthy of them all. Here is the main plot of arc 4: Some creepy teacher guy continually confesses to Sistine and after Glenn overheard him dissing her dream, he puts on this front about wanting to marry her for money, and it all becomes a pissing match, except between teachers over a student. Fucking creepy! It's beyond stupid a premise given the age ranges (adult and teenager), and given how this is the impetus on having another evil protagonist bent on using Rumia for some scheme, you'd think this wouldn't exist and that they'd find a less disgusting way for this to happen. The sub plot is about Glenn suddenly realizing that Sistine looks like Sera, a now dead girl he once loved before he left the Imperial Corps, and that now angel dusts addicts (I wish they meant the real life Angel Dust drug) are dying, even a year after that substance was said to have been eradicated. All of these have no right of intertwining with the main (disgusting and wince-worthy) plot of the arc. Also, Re=L is off scot free after the betrayal (did she not ever get arrested for treason for that whole thing in the previous arc?), just to add on to what an irredeemable crock of shit this final arc is! Then, the finale. Oh boy. It's probably the most generic episode in the entire show. Turns of there was another traitor that posed as Leo's after he killed him part-way into episode 11, and the only thing resolved is the immediately inserted grudge match between the two. I don't even have the energy to go into any depth with this one, it's just generic and bleh, as if the show is not even trying to hide it's true colors anymore. Serves it right.

You know, if the narrative wasn't so shit in the way that it was, Glenn might have been an actually good character. Think about it: a cynic gave up his pursuit of being a hero of justice after the lives he took and lost now teaches the very thing he hates against his will while growing attached to his students despite everything. Despite what a radical shift in personality he has from past to present, if the writing did how I laid out above, he could've been a pretty good character, assuming they toned down the perviness completely and just made him cynical and partially lazy instead of basically a cross of Archer from UBW and Kazuma from Konosuba. I also like how he is an LN protagonist who isn't very overpowered, but that's not enough to save him from this awful writing. Celica is a hot and haughty woman who is basically never capable of being there since she’s so overpowered that the narrative wouldn't throw a challenge unless they restrain her or just keep her or entirely beforehand. What I like about her is some of her almost motherly nature towards Glenn, like how she threatens Harvey for dissing him in her presence, even if the whole blackmail job thing was nonsense. Now, for the actual named side-characters with relevance outside of just one arc since I'm not even gonna cover the antagonists (partially since I kinda already did in as much detail as they deserve, barring one who I'll get to), nor will I cover small characters like the queen mother or the annoying parents of Sistine.

Sistine is a nightmare for her archetype. She aggressively checks out all of the boxes of a bad and cliché tsundere and does it in a way that makes her especially obnoxious. The fact that she has this dynamic with a teacher makes me even more grossed out (regardless of both the nonsensical age dynamic and partially because nothing about this is brought up). She's also absurdly useless, to the point that this is a legitimate plot point that carries throughout each arc until she finally does one thing right in the finale. Rumia is basically a typical dere-dere of the group who is basically the MacGuffin for all of the arcs in this show. I've already talked about why Re=L is such a shit character so I'll cover one more: Albert. He’s the stoic badass of the bunch whose hunch is always right, so there’s not much to say on him. Lastly, why don't we talk about Leos? He is such a shitty character. He apparently had been asking Sistine our since they were kids and not only has he not let go of that, he has gone pathetic over it despite coming off as a decent person (typical of this trope), but again, the whole teacher and student bit makes it worse, and the fact that ha managed to spend only a paltry evening to be able to decipher everything about Glenn, Re=L, and Rumia is absurd, though it turns out it was this Justine guy from episode 11 who is just another evil LN bad guy for LN bad guy sake villain, since literally every single antagonist in this show is the exact same. They turned a crap and generic character into something creepier and stupider and then replaced him with the exact same character as every other villain in this retarded ass show; how typical! So yeah, that's everyone relevant. What a shit cast, am I right? As if the wasted potential as generic characters weren't bad enough, they reuse the same bad guy personality and have some truly horrible characters thrown into the mix. Let’s move on before I die of embarrassment.

The audiovisuals aren't much better than the writing, unfortunately. Part of the problem this time isn't that the show is badly animated per se, but that its animation insanely limited. Its own damn OP has about as much animation as a typical episode of this show, and there are plenty of reused clips, like the clip of Albert pulling Re=L’s hair or Sistine blasting Glenn with wind, and the slew of reused clips are reused at an insane rate with no remote variation. Hell, even the fight scenes have little animation, especially the one in episode 2 when Glenn beats up the attempted rapist. I initially couldn't stand the color palette but I got used to it. I already mentioned how awful the uniforms are so no need to repeat that. There is minimal (albeit terribly some CGI though it's blink and you miss it), but did there also have to be minimal animation too? Oh well, at least I like the eyes (they remind me of the trademark Studio White Fox eyes) and some of the admittedly humorous facial expressions.

The OP, "Blow out" by Konomi Suzuki is a pretty generic (if somewhat catchy) OP that feels like it should be part of a generic fantasy adventure anime, not a generic school battle anime with fantasy elements thrown in there. The ED, "Precious You☆" by Sistine Fibel (Akane Fujita), Rumia Tingel (Yume Miyamoto), Re=L Rayford (Ari Ozawa) is absurdly MediocRE that I never bothered listening to the entire minute and thirty second ED. The OST is decent in its own right but honestly feels misplaced here in the same vein as the OP in terms of where it feels more suitable, even despite the darker tone the series boasts on about half of the episodes.

The dub is probably one of the worst dubs Funimation has produced in recent memory. Next to none of the voices even remotely fit the characters and sound like they'd fit completely different sounding roles, like Monica Rial as Rumia and Josh Grelle as Glenn, but the absolute worst offender here is Sistine, played by Rachael Messer, whose acting not only sounds miscast, but at times, bad in its own right. The tertiaries and antagonist roles aren't good either, and some of them were doomed to be inferior (like Re=L since it's much harder for a dub to pull off a loli voice), and the only voice I sort of see working is Morgan Garrett as Celica. Then again, dubs have been getting worse in recent years, so I guess this is to be expected.

Needless to say, I hate this show. I hate it so damn much. I only found one joke funny since it was the only one that wasn't predictable as shit, and that was in the very first episode. Any potential the story or characters had ended up being squandered rather quickly, which is frustrating since the first 6 episodes could've actually been pretty good had they removed the bullshit elements and made it a 12 episode series that fleshed these episodes out, though the last 6 are beyond terrible and impossible to redeem. Then again, the show lost any path to actual redemption during the rape attempt scene where they treat it with so little tact that there is comedy in the already drawn out scene. The lack of animation made the fights pretty dull as well, and a lot of the characters, namely Sistine and Re=L were infuriating to no end. There are times when a show offends me with how terrible it is, but when it happens more than once, let alone up to 5 times, that's when we know that the show is dogshit and that I'm in for a terrible experience.

When I wasn't aggravated to some degree, whether it be mild or insane, I was pretty bored since the action was mediocre and the comedy didn't stick with me at all, and a lot of the awful LN school battle harem tropes are here in full display, sometimes taken to the most disgusting degrees possible to the point where I almost wanted to vomit. Also, the final arc is one of the most wince-worthy pieces of animation I have ever had the displeasure of witnessing as if arc 3 didn't piss me off enough to the point where the show went back from being bad but salvageable to irredeemable and truly abysmal again. Shame really, since the second arc was actually somewhat enjoyable at times and has the most potential to be good. So yeah, I'm basically repeating myself at this point so let’s just move on to the final thoughts.

You know, it's almost cute to know that this show thinks it can get away with being typical trash that gives LNs a bad name just by adding more comedy, disgusting elements, and an occasionally bleak tone and more blood. It pretends to not be exactly like its brethren but does all of the same awful things you'd expect a show like this to do, only with a tinge of extra putridness. When there's a good idea, it's gleefully ruined, and the comedy is more predictable than a generic shounen anime. I've already spoken ad nauseam about basically everything wrong with the show and I'm basically repeating myself, but yeah, suffice it to say, this is one of the worst anime I've seen all year. Hopefully, this is a lesson to all of you that even among shows like this, there are still standards that some of them can meet and surpass their contemporaries, and that we don't just have absurd standards that only value high art. Also, hopefully you realize why this show is such a trap that you shouldn't fall for. This show scores disgustingly low compared to its peers. Well, with all that said, I bid you adieu.

This is my first review, I got an urge desire to write it as soon as I completed 6th episode. I will try to avoid or warn about spoilers that will be included in the review. It's supposed to be subjective. not objective, so it's highly possible, that you will not agree with things that I wrote.

Introduction:
I was really amazed after watching first episode, I thought that it would be one of the better shows at the moment, however episode by episode I was getting more and more disappointed.

Story:
First episode really hyped me about the serie, even though I do not like anime with fan ... service elements this seemed to be decent one.
I got everything I could imagine, story as well. It looked like atleast avarage script: main storyline, a piece of mystery and unknown history of the characters.
In the next episode I was feeling really sad about the development, the point of mystery has been revealed very fast - didn't have time to try and solve it by myself, storyline got worse - nothing more surprised me, new threads that has been introduced had less and less sense, it got dumber and some situations happened out of blue, without any backgrounds just appeared on the stage like a block of ice on a desert.

Art:
I can't say anything special about the art, it was nice, not bad. Just like one of those generic shows that are airied to just exist, without further purpose. I didn't pay big attention to details, but the art didn't delight me and didn't disappoint as well.

Sound:
There weren't any tracks that would caught my curiousity, opening music seems mediacore to me as well. For me it's one of those shows that the only purpose is to watch and forgot after a week.

Characters:
It's one of those things that made me really sad about the whole.
At the beggining we get a few characters that could be developed great...
But they aren't.
After the second or thrid episode we realize that the main character is one of those pseudo badass characters, who is legitimately OP, everything that he's doing ends good, there is no bad ending for his actions.
Another character is a grey haired (for the next few lines there might be a minor spoiler) tsundere girl, aka notice me pedophile senpai, the thing is that the senpai is not a pedophile.
So yeah, she is just another "person", that is supposed to be a part of the background and support to main character, wasted opportunity to make this show better.
Blonde girl is pretty similar to previous one, just a character that needs a protection and needs being supervised by the hero 24/7. Nothing much to tell about them.

Enjoyment:
First episode really caught my attention and curiousity, however any further made me want to turn of the show and drop it as soon as possible.
Just another generic show that doesn't give me any joy at all, because of earlier overused jokes and clichés.

TL;DR | Summary
First episode seemed to be great, the rest were generic poop.
Story 2/10
Art 6/10
Sound 5/10
Characters: 3/10
Enjoyment: 3/10
Overall:
Personally, basing on my own feelings I would give this show 1/10, but on the other hand thanks to an avarage art and sound I'm giving it 3/10.

Despite decent rating for this anime on MAL, I tried to keep my expectation low. But even so, I am still disappointed. The story is average and unoriginal. Filled with dozens of cliche moments, this one is far from impressive.

After episode 10, I'm still wondering what the big idea actually is, where this series is going to, and if it even has an actual plot. The story lacks coherence with no central line whatsoever. They just keep adding new enemies one after another. I was just hoping they had brought up the actual premise much sooner, if there is even one. There's mention about Sistine ... searching for some kind of magical secret or whatever, the rest is still unknown. There are also Rumia and Re:L, two other main girls from this anime who have their own troublesome family and background. My question is: What is the bigger picture? This is the kind of series that can't do without.

All characters especially these three girls seem forgettable. They are too plain and passive, none of them really stands out. They tend to stay helpless until it's time for MC to save them.

Speaking of MC which is for me the worst part of this show, I find him detestable.
An apathetic, good-for-nothing MC suddenly starts changing his character drastically just after episode 2. He looked extremely weak and incompetent at first, but that's not what he really is. He actually is a skilled magician, who is also a compassionate person deep inside his heart. But I just don't buy it. It looks like a cheap way to make MC likable, and it doesn't work.

They tried too hard to make MC stand out and as the result MC becomes annoying as hell. Don't you hate it when a loser suddenly pops up conveniently at the right time and steals the show. He is a show-off, put it that way. A self-conceited hero wannabe who comes to save the day, spouting some shallow moral-enhancing speech forgetting that he is a crook himself. He must be the most hypocrite bastard I've ever seen. I just want to see him gets beaten to a pulp, but sadly that won't happen. He can defeat his enemies easily, not because he is too strong but because all of them are brain-dead weaklings who would fall for the most simple trick and get knocked out with a single punch.

I also hate it when they add those ridiculous "touching moments" in the end of every episode where MC gets recognition for his works, which make me wanna throw up so badly. I just had a good time badmouthing this abominable MC, but even he has some good points. His outfit looks simple yet cool. I like the character design. The same can be said about the girls. Their uniforms look cute on them.

----
The last two episodes are no different. They get to the final showdown where MC and his girl confront the main villain. It's cliche af and you know which side will win in the end.

Then finally it's finished, leaving too many questions unanswered. Hell, there's not even ONE answered question. Maybe they save it for season 2.. or 3, I don't know.

So, the art, animation, and sound are decent. The rest is really bad.
I hate this anime, but sometimes it's good to have something to hate. I can't wait for season 2.

Summary: Although the pacing and conflict is sufficient to capture attention, the main protagonist seems to have it too easy in this show, and the supporting cast are reduced to cheering bystanders.

The first episode has to be the weakest in the series, falling into many cliches and being downright cringe worthy at times. The series picks up slightly in the following episodes, with some effort to justify the MC's actions and some background on the supporting cast. However, these efforts seem half-hearted and do not provide a believable justification for the characters. There is little reason why the MC is should be as OP as ... he is, seemingly able to blitz through many of the challenges he encounters, all while having a pair of fangirls in tow. I feel that the characterization is the weakest link in this show.

On the other hand, I found the conflicts/threats to be quite decent. There is good pacing and sufficient action to keep the audience entertained. But good conflict without good characters isn't going to make an impactful series.

Spoiler free review

I welcome feedback on my reviews

We've all had at least one bastard in our life. May they be a classmate, work colleague or a friend of a friend, a certain someone will just appear out of nowhere and make you instantly despise them. It's an unspoken rule that we can't like everyone we meet, but the individuals that grind your gears to a state of disrepair are the unforgivable worst of the worst.

Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor is pretty much about the second half of the title. A new teacher joins Alzano Imperial Magic Academy, and he's a bastard. Big surprise. You'd ... expect a kind of School Comedy with maybe some Action thrown in since they are learning Magic, but Akashic Records decides to give us much more. Too much. The story jumps from arc to arc, which all follow the same boring predictable formula. Obvious villain appears, (like come on could you be any more conspicuous?) pull out some cliches, Glenn and co proclaim their friendship and love as teacher and students, defeat villain. Sure the try and explore some of the main characters and add some suspense inducing drama, but they just fail at keeping us invested or entertained most of the time.

Our main character, Glenn, is a bastard, or at least he tries to be. His act is so forced due to the fact that he's actually a decent person, he just chooses to hide behind his trope shield so the premise of the anime doesn't become irrelevant. The other two mains, Sistine Fibel and Rumia Tingel. aren't much better. One is a tsundere and the other has a heart of gold. That's it. All they're there for is to be damsels in distress so Glenn can save the day. Although we see a couple of times where they help their teacher defeat the bad guy, it just comes down as plot convenience instead of "strong female characters" that can hold their own. Looking past other characters, a sword-wielding kuudere who's also a damsel in distress and an old buddy of Glenn's who helps provide us with exposition and battle support, everyone else is pretty empty. You have an entire class of students, a few teachers, and some more friends of Glenn's, but barely any of them get a hint of exploration. At most, they're all just props for the generic comedy skits the show puts on. (Although I can't deny that I did chuckle at parts of the show)

Now you could say the action is nice. At first, it was pretty amusing watching Glenn use his limited skills to defeat others, but soon it just went downhill. You already know Glenn will defeat them after overcoming a small obstacle, (Power of Friendship everybody!) and the anime makes no effort to try and compensate for that. It just becomes another layer added onto the show as it tries to make up for its run of the mill story.

The title also mentions an "Akashic Records" in it's first half. What is this record you ask? I don't know. They mention it once or twice and just kinda forget about it, and that's how most of the plot points go. We don't find out much about The Researchers of Divine Wisdom, or the Alzano Empire Royal Family, or the Imperial Court Mage Corps. They're just thrown in during different arcs to keep shit interesting. This anime had a decent amount of material they could explore, but it decided to just screw it and hope what they do present is acceptable. (It's not)

Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor is not an enjoyable show. It had its fun moments but they were overshadowed by everything else Akashic did wrong. Maybe if you don't mind all the predictability and cliches, you could probably have fun with this mess, but if you perhaps want some that doesn't dig itself so deep into the norm that it becomes unbearable, avoid this show. Don't be a Fool.

P.S. Just wanna rant about the uniforms the girls wear. Why do they show their lower body for all the world to see? And those skirts. Might as well just force them to dress in nothing but their panties cause you're gonna use them for fanservice either way. What kinda bullshit school lets their students dress like this? What the fuck?

End Rant

TL;DR – Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor starts off decently enough that you might think to stick around to see if it gets better. It never gets better.

On the list of things the world is lacking, another fantasy high school light novel must rank pretty high. Fortunately, Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor (AroBMI) – so called because Brilliant Bastard wasn't cumbersome enough – is here to provide.

Sistine & Rumia are two friends on their way to the first day of class at the Alanzo Imperial Magic Academy when they have an only in anime collusion with some guy. Said guy turns out to ... be Glenn, a right bastard who mocks their apology & behaves in such a way that means Sistine must yell “baka!” & shoot magic at him. As if the day couldn't get any worse, Glenn turns out to be their new teacher & not only is he a bastard, but an idle one at that.

Cliche beginnings aside, the first episodes of AroMBI showed promise. Glenn, pronounced Gülenn in this universe, being a teacher rather than a student immediately stands out as somewhat of a novelty, though his appearance makes it hard to tell how much older than its students he's supposed to be. Though his cocky & abrasive, not to mention lazy, attitude rubs everyone up the wrong way at first, he soon reveals himself to be much more capable & reliable than he seemed.

The episodes that focus on him as a teacher are the strongest. Taking a Great Teacher Onizuka approach to schooling – even using a similar title at least once – his unorthodox teaching methods gradually win over his students, even if he is openly disdainful of magic as a tool fit only for harming others. Eschewing the conventional methods of rote learning & memorisation, Glenn instead emphasises practical application & experimentation as well as encouraging each student to excel at what they're best at, rather than relying on the top students to carry the rest of the class. The potential was there for the series to at least offer a somewhat novel spin on the genre, even if Glenn still had the usual cliché past & an evil organisation to fight.

Unfortunately, what potential it had is soon squandered by its inability to adapt genre conventions to the new status of its protagonist. It soon becomes apparent that, although a teacher, Glenn is still very much a light novel protagonist. Events all revolve around him, he is the solution to every problem & people just can't help but like him, think about him, or at least blame him for all their problems. Worse is that, while Sistine is your typical tsundere heroine, she is also your typical light novel love interest. There is some effort to explain Glenn's apparent closeness to her as being because she reminds him of someone he used to know. But by the time she's daydreaming about him defeating her plot convenient fiancé & proposing to her, it feels very awkward.

As does Glenn's constant need to rescue his harem...sorry, students with non-brown hair. Normally you expect a teacher character to encourage their students personal growth & ability to stand up for themselves & that does happen with the class as a whole. But when the evil mages show up to cause trouble for the main female characters, it's all on Glenn to save them, once just in time to stop Sistine from being raped.

Rumia is supposed to be some sort of unique magic user, her power to amplify others magic apparently a cause both for her being hidden away by her royal mother & also why the evil mages keep attacking. But it's never established why her power, in a world full of magic, causes that, or why amplifying power is a bad thing while nobody bats an eye at Glenn's power to nullify magic or Sistine's power to drain it. It's just a thing the plot needed to have, really. When another character from his past, Rel (spelled Re=L) joins his class as a transfer student who openly professes her devotion to him, it only furthers the sense that ARoBMI is unable to think outside the box.

Speaking of that near-rape scene, its narrow avoidance leads into another issue with the series: it's terrible sense of comedic timing. Sistine's assault is built up for well over a minute, with her calls for help becoming increasingly desperate as more clothes are torn through. But almost as soon as Glenn strolls through the door the tone does a 180 & witty banter ensues. Even in regular exchanges, jokes often fail to hit the mark, either due to excessive repetition or punchlines taking too long to deliver. It's alright when it's not trying to be funny, but it's almost always trying to be funny & is only made worse by the OST, which uses a cuckoo clock sound effect in the “funny scene” music.

There is also a frustrating lack of continuity & consistency between the three main arcs of the series (one for each girl). The first two build up an evil maid character to be the series' main antagonist, being involved in both Rumia's & Re=L's stories. But the final arc almost completely ignores her so Glenn can do battle with another guy from his past that we haven't been introduced to. It seems pretty basic to think that they would have to fight against the maid henchman before revealing a new, higher ranking enemy, or at least have him say “you sit this one out, I got this.” But that wouldn't fit Sistine's marriage fantasy that's the core of the final arc, with all the unhealthy student – teacher relationship implications that has. By the final episode it's almost like they're flinging whatever they've got at the wall in the hope that twenty minutes of material sticks.

There are issues in the small details as well. For the first half of the series, the setting seems a fairly typical fantasy one, with magic & swords & carriages. But then in Re=L's arc there's suddenly a high-tech laboratory & Glenn's former special mage forces partner Albert hands him his old revolver. It's the only firearm in the series, which begs the question: why are there firearms in a world with knights & magic? The answer is because the director thought having Albert hand Glenn his old gun to symbolise their reuniting for one more case would make a cool scene, implications be damned. It's not the only time where something that worked in a different film is used to poor effect.

As to what the Akashic Record is, well you'll just have to read the novels to find out.

The production of AKoBMI follows the tiresomely familiar pattern of starting with its best foot forward & only getting worse as the series goes on. Putting the usual light novel inevitabilities aside – like silly uniforms & character designs taken from the beginners guide to archetypes – everything seems to look & move fine, with some eye-catching animation sequences in the first few episodes. But things become gradually more static & stuttery as the series progresses, with a notable decrease in the amount of detail put into character art.

There are also a couple of annoyingly obvious continuity errors. A minor but unmissable one is when Glenn has very clearly been stabbed through the lung, complete with bloody wound to mark the spot. But his bandages mostly cover his abdomen instead of his chest, presumably because it looked cooler. A more glaring & irritating one comes later, when Glenn punches an opponent into a wall. When the dust clears, he's in a Jesus Christ pose that the camera is really keen you get a good look at, only for him to be sprawled on the floor in the next cut, no falling animation or even a sound effect. It's eye rolling at best & likely to cause viewers to yell at expletives at the screen for how pretentious it is.

AKoBMI is hardly the first light novel to start with an interesting premise, only to become increasingly unfocused & reliant on overdone tropes & clichés as it progresses. But there have been so many of them, which becomes increasingly unforgivable as each year also produces more shows that buck the trend. The first 5-6 episodes that focus on Glenn becoming a teacher & Rumia are okay enough that they might be worth watching on their own if you're a big enough fan of the genre. But if you really want to watch a light novel adaptation about a magic bastard instructor, just watch Alderamin on the Sky.

Do you want to know what is worse than listening to a main character giving speech #194903450919235890943938200 billion quadrillion about the power of friendship and how he is going to protect everyone? When you find out the writers were being completely serious and there is no punchline whatsoever.

Akashic Records could have at the very least been a decent ecchi romantic comedy, if it wasn't for the fact that it doesn't seem to understand how bad its own plot devices are. Compare to a better anime like Konosuba. Does Konosuba have a good story to it? Oh god no, it absolutely does not. But here ... is the kicker: Konosuba is fully aware that it is bad and brilliantly takes advantage of its inherent badness to self parody at every chance it gets. That's how a show like this ironically avoids being bad - by not taking itself seriously and having full self awareness that the best way to be a fantasy-comedy is to go full slayers. Akashic Records unfortunately does not share this self awareness, nor does it understand what makes this kind of show good.

Instead of trying to find ways to make all this nonsense entertaining, the writers try to pan off the standard tacky "mamoru" and "I am strong because I have friends!" elements as if they actually count as good storytelling. The result is that instead of being funny and enjoyable, Akashic Records ends up being cringy and generic. It makes you feel like the show was written for very young children, but at the same time this is an R-rated anime where the female students are all wearing ridiculously revealing school uniforms and violence is everywhere. So who was this show made for exactly? Who knows. Whatever the case, Akashic Records is bad. It's not ironically bad, it's just bad.

Alright. Time to review this. Some notes:
-1 for lame something, I forgot what it was already. Maybe it was the fanservice, but I think it was more than that. Oh, I remember. The stupid school uniform for the girls. What sort of school makes them wear... something... like that...? That's just. No. No thanks. Even if it were a super good school I don't think I'd go there for that reason.
-1 for super annoying characters. It was in Episode 9 or something, when I just went "NO".

Anyhow, to the review!
For starters, I wasn't expecting much. Really. Went in thinking "meh another one of those super ... cliché anime" and aha, that's what I got.

Well, it had a decent concept (that wasn't too original either) - but hey when can I learn what these "Akashic Records" even are? Well, I know what they are in general, but not in relation to the anime.

Story: 5/10
Was there anything I wasn't expecting? Not really. There was the evil organization. The overarching plot of them vs the good guys. The whole... life thing. The short tournament arc. The usual. I don't really think it was unique, either, so 5/10.

Art: 6/10
Discounting the first note I had in the review, of course. I found nothing particularly unique or cool about the art. Just average. But I gave it a 6 for some reason.

Sound: 5/10
I couldn't hear any unique music, really. Some anime I really love the OST, but this one didn't have any that stuck. I tend to rate sound a 10/10, but I guess this anime wasn't good enough. The opening song was nice, it took me a while to place Suzuki Konomi's voice. And the ending, I immediately knew was sung by three of the female characters. Because it sounded like one of those.
The voice acting... hm... None of my (current) favorite voice actors are there, so no bias points, but I think they did a good job.

Character: 3/10
I like... almost none of the characters, and dislike quite a few. There were some characters with nice witty or funny lines, but those were of the minority. I don't know what else I can say about these characters, besides there cliché and sometimes annoying personalities. And I'm considering giving this a -3 for the main character being a pervert. Not a big fan, and I'm not sure why they keep adding those.

Enjoyment: 8/10
See, it was good enough for me to watch while I played some other game. And it only took me less than a week (while studying for various exams). That probably means I enjoyed it. But I wouldn't really want to watch it again, because uh... there's nothing I'd watch it again for.

Overall: 5.4/10.

But if we factor in the two -1's at the beginning... It's a grand 3.4/10.

I'm sorry Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records.... but it's basically on the same rating as stuff like "Makura no Danshi" and uh, I nearly fell asleep watching that.

In conclusion, not the best or most unique anime out there, super cliché, frustrating sometimes when the characters cry about their uselessness without doing anything, etc.

But it's enjoyable and can be worth wasting 4.5 hours on.

Great Series if you enjoy terrible art, retarded characters, the most clichéd clichés, and an overall generic anime. Otherwise I cant really recommend.

Semi-Serious review below

Characters

You have your average main character (protag-kun). Protag-kun is a depressed ex-assasin that has the mystical ability to disable all magic, with no exceptions at all whatsoever (himsef included.) too bad he almost never uses it. There are many times in the 12 episodes where that ability would of come in very handy, but is rarley ever used. Additionally, the protag-kun has the common sense of an embryo, despite being a famous, well known assassin, whose hands are too bloody to ... teach children, he has absolutely no battle sense. He easily shows his back to his enemies, must be legally deaf, because two elephants having sex could sneak up on him, etc. In the introductory cut scene. at the very beginning of the first episode he is shown killing large groups of mages, but in all of his fights he struggles to kill just one. By the end of the 12 episodes, he is shown up by one of the 16(ish) year old girls in a fight against "Evil bad Guy Villain Dude".

Two other characters are average tsundere (Girl A), complimentary kudere (Girl C), and the typical large breasted girl (Girl B). You get fun memorable characters with this show, like the guy with pink hair from episode 5(?), and Generic side-character H. Essentially what I am trying to convey is that this anime has the most cookie-cutter, generic, and clichéd characters for an anime.

The villain character, "Evil bad Guy Villain Dude" is my second least favorite character in this anime. He is only truly introduced in the last half of the last episode. He's the type of, "I'm doing bad things because I am bad" villain that seriously ruins entire anime. Nothing about, "Evil bad Guy Villain Dude" makes him feel like an actual character, rather he feels more like something that was slapped into the plot because a villain was necessary and the author had nothing better. His powers are lack luster, and apparently his magic is not effected by the protagonists ability to stop all magic.

Now all the characters, though bland would at least give this series a mediocre 4/10. However I personally would give the characters a 2/10 because of, and Solely because of Girl C. If Girl C was a lamp-post than she would have been a better addition to this anime than what she is. She is a flaming hot ball of bipolar, who has no sense of what is socially acceptable, and so much of the story is ruined because of how bad her character relations are. (see bottom of the page for that)

Story

Stereotypical school-shounen-light novel anime that doesn't do a whole lot of things to stand out. Every arc of this story also is very predictable. Girl B is always the damsel in distress, Girl A is your typical tsundere, "I'm not helping you because I like you B-B-Baka." that is best friends with Girl B. She will stop at no lengths to help Girl A because of the power of friendship. As a bonus there's a bunch of side characters that are completely irrelevant to the plot, but the show acts like you know them anyways. Bonus!!!

One additional thing I should note, which falls under Story/Characters is the Characters tone. This is probably the worst thing in the entire anime. Here are a few examples, lets see if you can catch on about why it's so bad,

EXAMPLE 1: Terrorists walk into room and shoot magic capable of killing the students right next to Girl A's head. Background characters leaning forward, mouths slightly open, intensely yawning(?)

EXAMPLE 2: Bloody splattered all over the walls, furniture smashed, balcony door open revealing broken railing. Background characters walk in, and say, "Hey girl A did you see Girl B?" Other background character quizzically asks, "Did something Happen?" EXAMPLE 3*

Art

Skipable ED, and a terribly choreographed ultra-generic OP.

BMG is acceptable, probably the best "art" Akashic records has to offer.

very lazy animation, too many still shots / panorama's. Character design is, again very cookie cutter, and anyone with some knowledge of anime could accurately guess all the main character's roles just by looking at their designs.

Overall Akashic Record's art is pretty deplorable, even somehow being worse than shows like Asterisk wars.

Verdict

I certainly cannot recommend Akashic Records to anyone who likes quality anime. There are many anime that do the same thing as Akashic Records, but do it much better, like Magi and Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei. Akashic Records currently has a 7.5(ish)/10 on mal, however I would give it a 3-4/10. If an anime were to do absolutley 0 right, and be completley boring it would get a 3/10. Akashic Records, though it does not do much did 1 thing that was mildly entertaining, and that was explaining it's own worlds principals of magic. However, it does absolutely nothing with these principals later in the 12 episodes, returning to the point that everything protag-kun taught his students was only shown a few episodes after, then it completely diapered. The students in Akashic Records are never shown to have improved through the anime, which was the appeal of watching the teacher (protag-kun) in the first place. Instead the characters say they cant do something, through the power of protag-kun, they do it, then they go back into the sidelines, completely useless as if nothing ever happened.

So, yeah here's a score

"\sum _{n=4}^{\sqrt{16}}n / 10"

(sorry for this review being inconstant, wrote this pretty late im not exactly in the right frame of mind to worry aboud sentence structure and narative flow. expect some edits.)

___________________________________________________________________________
extras (*contain spoilers)
___________________________________________________________________________

The ending is complete garbage. Like, SAO tentacle rape levels of garbage. It tries to be really clever with a denouement, and link back to the intro cutscene but it fails. The final battle is an anticlimax to an anime that is nothing but a large anticlimax.

EXAMPLE 3
Girl C just impaled Protag-kun with a sword. Girl A knows it's Girl C, and to rub salt into her wound Girl B is attacked by Girl C and handed over to the enemies that want to kill her. Girl A, and "Alfred" then attempt to save protag-kun from threshold of death. They do so. Later that episode Protag-kun approaches Girl C and is completely cool being impaled and almost killed. He convinces her to switch back to his side, and acts like he was never impaled by a huge sword. they defeat the villain of that episode (Fake onii-san) and return. ~Says nothing to protag-kun who almost died~. Girl A to Girl B "I am glad you're back." Girl A to Girl C - frowns slightly, then IMMEDIATELY CRYING TO THE POINT THAT HER FUCKING TEAR-DUCTS DRY THEN WITHER, AND HUGS GIRL C TIGHTLY "I AM SO GLAD U R BACK" ?wat?

When I saw blood in the first episode I was like " We might lose some characters", bullshit. There were a bunch of opportunities, but everybody was rescued in the last second.
Graphics are okay, there are some scenes good for backgrounds.
- What about the soundtrack?
- I haven't realized if there was any.
The story is nothing, or better say the time they took to move the story is not enough, so nothing happens.
The MC is a basic "I look like an idiot, but I am smart and ... strong" characther. I bet if he wasn't a teacher he would wear jerseys. He builds up a harem like relation with a group of girls. He has some indispensable flash-backs about his lost (dog like) crush thanks to one of his harem's (cat like) girl.
- Any good points?
- Well, there were some lovely characters, and some of them improved a bit khmm Re=L. And also a couple of fights were entertaining.

So it is not worht watching unless you love meaningless magical girls fight with no reason and being embarrassed by senpai.

J-score: ★★★☆☆

Ok, so the 12 episode anime ends, and now, what do I make out of this seemly harem like situation where it involves older guy, with very young girls, hummmmmm, well this is how I’d see it:

Mediocre 5, story:

What we have here is a cliché harem, set in some fantasy land where magic is king and the ones using it have to be good, but in this case, no, it was more like a guy force into teaching by his lovely former colleague, who is trying to find ways to get fired but ends up in a relationship with a white cat, so basically it’s ... as cliché as any anime/manga/ novel that has a harem genre in it, despite of other genre’s involve, and no matter how things go between the guy and the harem members.

Pathetic 1, Art:

Ok, what can anybody of you out there say about the girl’s school uniform? Answer, it makes them look like a bunch of ho’s, I mean, WTF is the illustrator, Kimura Satoshi, thinking about the girl’s school uniform design? They ought to be working in a gentlemen’s club as hostesses, instead of studying to be magicians or sorcerers, another pathetic thing about studio LINDENFILMS they didn’t go all the way with the fanservice, which would have been a saving grace for this anime. The boy’s uniform design doesn’t fare either, I mean, what’s with that cowl that they have to wear? The illustrator should have just made them boys wear a shirt and tie for crying out loud.

Fair 6, Sound:

I really have nothing to say about the seiyuus who did the voices of the characters, and frankly I just don’t have an opinion about both the opening and closing themes.

Poor 3, Character:

Ok, so the setting is in some English fantasy kingdom, and the main characters here have rather very pathetic names like Glenn Radars, Rumia Tingle, Fibel Sistine and Rayford Reil. The setting was old but the name were new, also the characters were too poor in how they were presented. We have a lousy teacher Glenn Radar, who can kick ass but lacks motivation, Sistsine who is this uptight proud girl who in the end is actually weak, Rumia, who we don't know how important is she that all of the sudden she becomes secondary on the mid of the season, also there is Reil, whom she has a sort of frenemy with Gleen where at one point she's trying to kill him and in the other she gets cutesy with him. Also, we never get to know as to what had happened to that evil maid Charlet Eleanor.


Fair 6, Enjoyment:

Well, it was sort of funny that Glenn gets to have his ass kicked by Sisti at first, then seeing Glenn develop his relationships with his students, but in the end things were pretty predicable as Glenn rushes to free Sisti from marrying early, since she does remind of Glenn’s love, the white dog, whom we have no idea as to what happened to her and let’s not forget the puppet master who manipulates things in the shadows.

Mediocre 5, Overall:

One only has to watch the last episode to see why, so, another season? Yeah right.


Radars Out!

(This review has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

I inherited from my parents a tendency to keep records of the important documents I come across.

Financial papers, important personal information. While not the most organized set of folders imaginable, I keep track of the details in my life that require it to make sure that things are in order on my end.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records (or Akashic Records for short) could have done the same, keeping track of itself so that everything proceeded smoothly. Instead, it misplaces its details all over the place.

STORY

Akashic Records: another anime, another arc-tiered cake to devour. The ... Infiltration Arc, the Necklace Arc, the Project Revive Life Arc, and the Justice Arc layer this tale for the audience to digest as best it can. Unfortunately, weak frosting and missing flavor deliver to the audience an anime that starts out somewhat appetizing but eventually devolves into a forgettable foodstuff when the last bite chomps down.

The first taste starts at the top with the Kidnapping Arc. Minus the overt sexual assault scene, this arc argues for its status as the strongest of the bunch, setting the anime up for moderate success. The comedy is snappy and fun thanks to Glenn’s lazy, prideful attitude. (Indeed, said comedy is Akashic Record’s greatest strength as seen multiple times throughout the season.) The magic system takes a bit of priority with extra lessons as to its usage and construction. The plot heads for action and skirmishes as allusions to grander story beats and darker pasts appear.

Altogether, a competent first arc. But, after having one’s fill, the next tier to the cake becomes a tad harder to stomach. In the Necklace Arc, again disregarding a sexualized segment involving a strange older gentleman and his fetish, the anime still does a nice job on the comedy side. For example, Sisti reinforces how cool of a dude Glenn is for involving the whole class in the field games, forcing him to double down on his nice-guy act. It also makes use of particular plot elements. Specifically, Glenn transforms into Rumia as a demonstration to one of his students, and this same transformation magic equates to the solution required to dissolve the queen’s conflict.

However, this arc starts to give this cake a bitter flavor. It repeats a previous plot point – Rumia’s kidnapping – which demonstrates a lack in narrative variety way too early on in the season. Furthermore, Rumia herself somewhat out of nowhere just remembers now that Glenn was, in fact, the person who had saved her all those years ago, glossing over what was presumably setup to be a big moment between the two.

Nothing too problematic for the time being. Indeed, to be fair, the new characters Re=L and Albert hope to keep the cake from falling over in their ability to sweeten the proceedings with new relationships between the cast. Then the show reaches the third arc.

The Project Revive Life Arc, taking place between episodes seven and nine (inclusive), begins to turn Akashic Records into a mushy mess. It repeats, yet again, the Rumia-gets-kidnapped plot point which really makes one wonder if she shouldn’t have body guards protecting her 24/7. Regardless, the anime tries to cram in backstories about (fake) brothers and strange experiments that ultimately provide necessary info but do not lead to anything emotionally impactful. These episodes also don’t quite nail down the drama when Glenn survives despite a massive wound through his chest without ramification and when the anime fails to capitalize on incorporating his students despite their higher emphasis in the previous arc.

Again, nothing here is technically horrendous in construction. But it is a whole lot of blandness as the anime does not quite have the know-how to provide a plot that reaches someplace interesting or worthwhile.

Finally, in rolls in the last arc of the season, the Justice Arc, which makes the cake almost entirely unappetizing. The comedy isn’t as balanced as it was with the previous arcs, giving way for harsher happenings and more drama to unfold that it never quite got right in the first place. The plot goes with yet another “kidnapping” (read: blackmailed and forced to marry a weirdo which is basically kidnapping) scenario (but at least Sisti is the victim this time and not Rumia so that the show avoids outright repetition). And Glenn’s weirdly handled loss to “Leos” and leaving of Sisti put the story in a rough spot.

For, it must be noted (and in its own separate paragraph at that) that the final episode of Akashic Records is the worst one of the season by far. It rushes forward to a ridiculous degree thanks to a couple of time skips, pushing the content forward without much regard. Moreover, a very brief flashback or two aims to draw supposed parallels between this tense situation and a similar one he encountered in the past with a girl named Sara from his memories. But, without much context of the latter, these parallels do not form well at all.

Furthermore, the villain and his tactics after his big reveal are laughably silly. His final attack amounts to practically nothing, the crucifixion symbolism following his defeat is really unnecessary, and he just runs away after everything anyway. And the episode barely crams in some relevancy for Celica right at the very end with some subplot about a labyrinth that doesn’t matter at this point. The episode does have a full-circle narrative insofar as Glenn re-narrates his words from the very first episode, but that’s not nearly enough to justify the complete mess that proceeds his words.

With this cake now begrudgingly devoured, it settles for a while before introducing other talking points. Specifically, each arc (more or less) focuses on a certain character and delivers a certain idea pertaining to an overarching motif on personal growth. In the first arc, Sisti showcases hope in her beliefs and the intentions behind her actions. In the second arc, Rumia wrestles with her true feelings and the notion of no regrets. In the third arc, Re=L highlights how one does not always need a reason to live if one just protects what is close to him or to her. In the fourth arc, Glenn proves how easy it is to lose one’s true self along the way.

Over-reiterating at this point, but, while these ideas are not by any means explored let alone powerful, it’s nice to see that the anime had some kind of thread keeping this cake together as best it could.

Still, Akashic Records uses scissors of its own accord to cut this thread. Despite the title and their potential importance, almost nothing about the so-called “Akashic Records” pops up except for a few words here and there as to their existence. Other plot points, like Melgalius’s Sky Castle or the Researchers of Divine Wisdom, do not properly resolve. And the show does not do a very good job of carrying over a lot of the details from one arc to the next, like providing more about the academy itself or using Rumia’s royal bloodline.

So, while this cake doesn’t taste horrible, and the thread that binds it isn’t so much torn as it is mangled amidst sloppy extra details, the entire experience rises no higher than the absolute bare minimum in execution.

ART & ANIMATION

The main artistic element that stands out in Akashic Records is the designs for its characters. Specifically speaking, the main outfits for the girls go straight for eyeful pleasure. Exposed midriffs, skimpy skirts, garter belts, complementary colors (blue and white), extra details (tiny cat ears, ribbons).

On the one hand, these designs serve their purpose of crafting a bunch of cute, ecchi looks for the female leads. On the other hand, they’re a bit too overt when taking into consideration the anime’s goals. I.e., their sexualized nature does not benefit either the story or the characters. Regardless, Glenn’s meager look – a white button-up shirt, a red tie, and a disheveled head of hair – fit his lazy, unassuming nature well. And Celica’s appearance – blonde hair, black dress, and “evil” color scheme – coincide with her witchlike persona. Meaning, not all the designs misalign.

After the characters’ designs, the anime does not venture too far with either its art or its animation. It has different magic usage and skirmishes throughout the season, but variety isn’t a selling point here, and their effects usually do not amount to much besides flashy explosions. Background artistry and cinematography likewise provide nothing more than is absolutely necessary, putting the visuals in a passable state but without any flair to call their own.

However, besides an incorrect coloring to a student’s eyes during a comedic bit in episode seven, the anime does not commit any egregious errors that detract from the presentation. So, the mixed designs and the serviceable visuals keep the show upright enough to carry the show from start to finish.

CHARACTERS

For Akashic Records, it cares about four main characters: Sisti, Rumia, Re=L, and Glenn. Ironically, though, “care” may not be the correct word to use here.

Sisti is Rumia’s “sister,” and she comes from a political family with ties to the academy she attends. Her grandfather (now passed away) inspired her to pursue the ancient wisdom surrounding magic so that she could one day go where he sadly could not. While she is not exactly a juggernaut in the field, her promise and her drive push her along nevertheless.

A lot of her character revolves around fear. Fear of the truth behind how people sometimes use magic for vile deeds. Fear of going against her own beliefs. Fear of losing her friends and those close to her. Throughout the season – be it from Glenn’s harsh life lesson, Re=L’s provocations, or her own refusal to fight back – this fear grips her heart at most turns.

Sisti does have her small moments throughout the season. She supports Glenn during their skirmish with the skeleton warriors in the third episode, and she trusts in their judgement during the field games to keep spirits high. Unfortunately, it takes the entire season for her to finally confront those fears of hers altogether. In the final episode, she symbolically rips off the lower half of her (unwanted and bloodied) wedding dress, choosing to stand by Glenn and up for herself rather than running away as she so regularly did in the past.

While Sisti’s turnaround is appreciated, it’s a too-little-too-late inclusion. However, worse off is Rumia. A kindhearted girl, she looks after Sisti and Re=L like an older sibling does, keeping a level head about the situations they find themselves in and treating everyone around her like a true friend.

She becomes the target of the baddies because of her special ability to amplify a user’s magic, a rare trait within this world. As such, she spends most of her time kidnapped or otherwise on the sidelines without contributing much, if anything, of her own. Rumia makes up with her real mother, and her occasional asides with Glenn give the audience more insight as to her thoughts and her meager backstory. But, for the most part, she does little else besides be the nice one of the group.

Where Rumia barely maintains a presence as a notable character, Re=L goes one step lower and comes off as pretty pointless. From the get-go, she has two plans in mind: to always charge right at the enemy and to devote herself to Glenn indefinitely. As such, she’s very much the major comedic relief part to the group in her deadpan mannerisms and silly behavior.

She’s introduced at around the episode five mark, but doesn’t have much of a place within Akashic Records immediately. Instead, it isn’t until the Project Revive Life Arc (which is where her name Re=L comes from) that her character receives attention. During these episodes, Re=L befriends, betrays, and befriends again as more of her backstory as a laboratory copy surfaces.

Thus, she officially joins the cast – only to lose all relevancy afterwards. When that last arc rolls around, Re=L may as well have never existed to begin with since she does almost nothing of value throughout the last three episodes of the season. (Rumia is in the same boat here, but she at least had a role in the show from the very beginning.)

With Re=L not even noteworthy as a cast member, that just leaves Glenn. While once an impressionable kid who sought to guard and to nurture the world from its evil ways, he quickly learned that magic did not follow his ideals of a complete force for good.

But the audience does not learn about this detail of him right away. Instead, he presents himself as an unconventional main protagonist of sorts. Beyond lazy. Dishonest to a degree. Unfazed by the cliché dude-walks-in-on-a-bunch-of-girls-undressing scenario. Plus, he doesn’t fight normally either, relying more so on his secret weapon – the Fool’s Card – to do the exact opposite of battling with magic by negating it all around him. A fitting ability for the man who no longer loves magic.

With each episode, bits and pieces of Glenn’s backstory come to light, and he teaches his students more about magic and life in general. In other words, he slowly becomes a rounder character, a stronger professor, and a better person. This transition from lazy loser to full-fledged teacher does not equate to anything nuanced, but his progress at least demonstrates an improvement for him overall.

As the season nears its end, Akashic Records tries to do more with him on a personal level, but it mishandles the content. His roundabout description of himself in his aside with Sisti in episode eleven isn’t as meaningful without that aforementioned context. Furthermore, the poor attempts at linking his (presumably) beloved Sara with Sisti in episode twelve do not work well since the former’s relationship likewise does not have much of a basis.

Still, his lapse of self stands as a nice contrast to his professorial role throughout the previous rest of the season. A clear indicator that he belongs alongside his students to guard and to nurture as he has always wanted rather than away and alone within a world that he does not desire.

There’s one last “character” in the anime. Quotes needed because this character isn’t an individual but instead a collective. Although somewhat hinted at earlier in the season, episode four of Akashic Records turns Glenn’s whole class (minus Sisti, Rumia, and Re=L) into a cast member themselves. Some of these students form cliques and have tiny moments here and there, letting their involvement go beyond just filling space in the classroom to complement the main girls.

In the end, the entire cast sadly puts forth more negatives than positives. Sisti has an arc, but it is not addressed enough. Rumia drives the plot, but she does not maintain much of a presence. Re=L makes for a completely pointless inclusion. And Glenn receives a few sides to his character, yet they are not as pronounced or as sound as necessary for his part in the anime. At least the other students do not go unnoticed, but that realization doesn’t save Akashic Records to any large extent.

MUSIC & SOUND

“Blow Out”, the opening track for Akaschic Records, isn’t the most original song around in the medium, but it nonetheless has a solid foundation. The dual guitar riffs. The fast-paced drumming. The clean vocals. Each part combines to form a track that follows the anime’s premise and plot while still working as a fine song on its own. The “Ahh!” is perhaps a bit too out of sync, and the background sound-effect during its second half somewhat muddies the instrumentation. But these downsides do not completely detract from the OP’s audio appeal.

Opposite the OP, “Precious You☆” plays at the tail end of each episode as the show’s ending track. Slower and daintier, this beat-driven song puts more emphasis on the vocals. Multiple singers, specific sound placement, charming lyrics (“Be with me. Stay with me. You and me.”). Sadly, the ED is not as interesting as its OP counterpart, and it doesn’t catch the ear when listened to it on its own. So, while it works as a means to hear something at the end of each episode, it isn’t exactly a wonderful inclusion.

Between the OP and the ED, the original soundtrack does not contain anything too notable. Violins, pianos, and wind instruments usually make up most of the music played throughout Akashic Records as it pushes ahead with its fantasy setting and its more grounded moments. However, one particular piece does stand out. It plays the sound of a cuckoo clock, coinciding with Glenn’s dunce-like persona and bringing a dash of laughter when first heard.

As for the voice-acting performances, nothing too grand exists. Yume Miyamoto as Rumia stars in one of her first main roles, and, while not an incredible performance, she can clearly play kindhearted characters well. Akane Fujita as Sisti also stars in one of her first main roles, giving the “white-cat” girl cute reactions in her various scenes with Glenn. And speaking of Glenn, Soma Saito as the main protagonist deserves a small shoutout, too. When not so serious, his sillier moments give him the chance to display a fun contrast that further helps the comedy of the anime.

With just the ED not pulling its weight, and the rest of the music and sound offerings supporting the anime as best as they can, the audio production for the show barely earns a passing grade.

ENJOYMENT

I did not pick this anime up initially during the Spring 2017 season. Some people back during its airing suggested it to me, and I myself saw all the fun they were having with it despite its somewhat common approach in the medium.

From the outset, it had me laughing and entertained if for nothing else besides the character interactions and the comedy. Glenn was a silly guy in his laziness and inability to accept defeat. Sisti’s shyness, usually from the romance angle, were cute to watch, too. And even the tiny scene with her father and mother at dinner in episode four got a big chuckle out of me, enough to highlight it in my notes while watching.

Past these first few or so episodes, though, the anime put higher focus on its drama and its action rather than sticking more strictly with its comedy. Because I didn’t particularly care for the serious scenes and because the action never really did anything cool, I slowly lost interest in the show as it went along.

To be fair, I did occasionally laugh during the last half or so of the anime. Re=L declaring to the whole class that Glenn is her “everything” got to me. Yet, when the last episode faded to black, I found myself shrugging my shoulders, unsurprised by its decline into less-than-mediocre territory.

If I had one wish, it would be for the anime to include Celica more in the festivities. Yes, the show jokes about how little screen time she has during the after-ED theater bits, but she’s attractive and fun whenever she is around. With each subsequent episode, though, I would frown at her continued absence. And so, both shrugging and frowning, the show just did not impress me much.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records has bits and pieces going for it, but the overall project simply doesn’t come together. A bland story, a bunch of mishandled characters, and an acceptable set of art and audio design decisions create the majority of this project. Rarely interesting and usually boring, it tracks only an unfulfilled desire for better organization.

SUMMARY

Story: Bad, an arc-tiered cake whose subsequent layers either bloat or upset the stomach

Art & Animation: Fine, mixed designs and serviceable visuals lead to a presentation that carries on well enough

Characters: Bad, Sisti fears but without enough going for her person, Rumia drives the plot but lacks a presence otherwise, Re=L fails in her pointless involvement, Glenn tries to become a better individual, and the other students at least contribute

Music & Sound: Fine, okay offerings from the OP, the OST, and the VA performances, but the ED isn’t too intriguing

Enjoyment: Bad, entertaining first few episodes, some funnies sprinkled in afterwards, but mostly a shrugged experience that needed way more Celica

Final Score: 3/10

Oh great, here we have yet another one (out of the hundreds already existing) of your typical shounen shows. Let's go through a list of all the tropes shall we:
Premature little girls that wear more revealing clothes than strippers? check
Annoying tsundere female lead? check
The "other" beautiful, kind, sweet, what every guy wishes for in a girl, supporting female lead that is also in love with the male lead? check
Somehow super incredible and genius but lazy male lead? check

The characters are bland and nothing you haven't seen before if you've watched any shounen anime before. I honestly don't understand why it's so incomprehensible to ... animators to maybe switch things up a bit before giving the rest of the us recycled plot, characters, and design.

Like of course the female lead is a huge ditz who is passionate about learning and yet is a huge tsundere. Of course she practically gets raped in the very first few episodes. Of course the idea of anyone having any romantic interest in her is unfathomable to the human brain. Of course the main character basically treats her like shit.

I'm not asking for a shoujo lmao, I'm asking for a fair representation of both genders?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!/

Im Gonna start this off by saying ive completed aroumd 250 different shows to date and that my rating of 1/5 or 2/10 on a 10 scale reflects that 80% of the shows ive watched are better than this one. Im not saying this show has 0 entertainment value to be found. Now ill try to keep this short and sweet because itd be silly to put more effort into writing this review than the writers put into writing this show. Dont get me wrong i understand the appeal of this show, which happens to be more for the type of person who watches anime ... to project their self into the main characters position as a wish fulfillment fantasy of sorts. Theres nothing wrong with this per say, but its definitely far from my cup of tea. The show is riddled with uninspired writing, boring characters and villains and lacks any real depth.

The main characters of this show are all flat and boring and have no more depth than the archetypes that they were created around. Silver haired tsundere (sisti) is just a basic tsundere, she even makes a point to yell baka at least 3 times an episode in the most grating voice possible. The main protagonist (glen) is basic light novel protagonist type 2, the edgelord. He constantly trys to act like a lone wolf cool guy and of course gets all the underage girls he teaches affection despite his shitty demeanor. You get the point, none of the main cast is likable. The school outfits the girls have to wear cross the line between fantasy and fetish as well. The author just shamelessly put the main females in super revealing clothing and garter belts. Typically im fairly lenient with this kind of thing but as i said previously this is past fantasy and into fetishism. If a character wants to dress like that on their own accord so be it, but for a school to force them into these clothes is just kinda sick.

The story is just another uninspired high school magic acadamy based one like asterisk war or irregular at magic high. the show brings nothing unique or interesting to he table just like the other two shows i mentioned along with it. if youve seen one you might as well have seen all three. They also dont seem to know how to write a proper plot twist at all either. in the last mini arc the main villain reveals himself to be some other guy weve never even seen up to this point. on top of that the guy he was posing as was just introduced as well. as viewers we have no connection to either of these guys so finding out that he was just posing as some other guy is meaningless.

The villains in this show are also as weakly writen as the protagonists. Their motivations are weak and lack elaboration. Almost all of them are just mindless murderers or rapists hat just do it because gotta be evil somehow amiright?? The writers dont spend any time making these villains seem human at all and its just another example of this shows poor writing. I dont think theres one instance of nuance being added to the villains, which just leaves them as cackling maniacs with no real presence. I can honestly say i dont remember one of their names or faces.

It may be obvious by now between the title of my review and my commentary thus far but this show definitely gets a pass from me. Theres many shows that do this genre much better, Chivalry of a failed knight is one great example but theres also just many better shows out there in general. Go watch or black lagoon, sunabozu, my hero academia or psycho-pass season one if youre looking for something with action. Hope this review helps a person or two or opens he eyes of someone stuck in this genre of anime.

Akashic Records is a fantasy light novel adaptation that is about, shockingly, an overpowered protagonist that has both a harem and is at a magical academy. I know shocking material for fantasy anime; however, I will say that remarkable the show is not an isekai series with the protagonist instead just being an overpowered mage for some reason. However, despite not being an isekai series Akashic Records still falls into the same story pitfalls as most generic isekai series and just comes off as another bland overpowered fantasy series with the only shocking aspect being the magic academy’s uniform choice.

Set predominately in an academic setting ... the series focuses on the protagonist Glenn, personal journey of evolving from a perverted lazy shut-in, to a perverted lazy instructor. Don’t get me wrong as the series progresses Glenn is shown to not only be a competent instructor as he breaks down the rules of the world’s magic system to both the audience and students in an easy-to-comprehend manner, but also seems to generally care for his students. However, before that growth occurs the viewer is unfortunately forced to watch Glenn flounder around the first few episodes as he not only struggles to act his age but also stays off an FBI watchlist. I know this initial impression is meant to give the viewer a point to see Glenn grow; however, due to his poor introduction I struggled to ever truly take him seriously, and even by the series end he never latched onto me as a character.

Okay so the mc might be terrible but surely the side cast can save the plot or at the very least try to carry the series? Unfortunately, while Glenn might have been annoying and childish he at least saw some character growth something that completely missing from the side cast. First, you have the prim and proper student Sistine who serves as the series mandatory tsundere, as well as candidate A for developing an odd romantic relationship with Glenn. As a by the books tsundere, she is fine; however, outside of her romantic on and off feelings for Glenn her character doesn’t have much happening in the show. She is the best friend of Rumia, who actually does have some purpose and she has a fixation on wanting to unlock the mysteries of ancient floating civilization, but despite bringing it up a couple of times in the earlier episodes it is never brought up again so who cares. Besides Sistine is her best friend Rumia whose single defy trait for the series is that she is a magical MacGuffin that serves as the show’s damsel in distress. Seriously in a twelve-episode series, all but one of the show's arcs is about her being kidnapped and Glenn having to rescue her. In fact, every single plot point of the series can be summed up as a new school event occurring, Rumia gets abducted during a school event, Glenn fights a generic magic secret society, villain fights Glenn only for him to unveil a new magical ability and save the day. Repeat about four times and just swap out Rumia for Sistine during the final arc and you have the entire series. Outside of the core trio you also have the magic police due of stoic Albert who has little to no character info, and the Re=L whose personality is that she has the mind of a doll and a really dumb name.

If you haven’t guessed already I wasn’t particularly thrilled about Akashic Records; however, if there was one oddly strong standout about the series it has to be the show’s magic system. The first few episodes take great strides to break down the rules of the world’s magic system going so far as to divulge the inner workings of incantations and how to morph and bend spells by altering their pronunciation and incantations. It was an aspect that truly felt unique for the series and was constantly being added to throughout the show with each hostage citation needing new SWAT tactical magic, heck the show even briefly has a magic tournament arc.

Sadly, while the magic system goes a long way to establish the world of Akashic Records as a unique setting for a fantasy anime, its visuals and soundtrack leave much to be desired. The art style and music of the world are so painfully generic that it is barely worth mentioning with only the character designs partially standing out and even then not for a particularly positive reason. The school uniforms for the female students are bizarre, and probably the first thing you notice about the series, with their uniforms being divided into two halves attached by belts with fully exposed bellies. It is very strange and is never mentioned or explained throughout the series. Outside of that Sistine has cat ears for some reason that unique right, and Glenn has a glove fixation. Yeah, the character design isn’t particularly great, but sadly for the villains, it's even worse. The main villain of the series and leader of the secret magical society is an evil maid who is never named and is always dressed up in a maid uniform for no particular reason, and the final villain of the show is the all-powerful evil carriage driver. The only bright spot design-wise is the fight scenes have some visual flair and degree of strategy mostly due to the magic system.

I can not say with a straight face that Akashic Records is a good show or even worth viewing. It is a painfully generic series with a world and characters that never try to break free from their stereotypical fantasy molds. The story is stuck on an endless loop of hostage rescue, the characters lack both good design and dialogue, and there are little to no character developments. If you need an academic fantasy anime respect your time and watch anything else.

I usually like these types of anime, and I wanted to like this one as well. However, I was unable to like it and it is because of the characters. First, there is the tsundere Sistine, who is quick to use violence on her own teacher. I do not have problems with tsunderes, but when they do not hesitate to use violence on the mc, but unable to fight back against their enemies is annoying. If Sistine is not using violence on mc, she is crying or freezing-up against the enemy. Next comes Rumia, which most part of the show ... she spends as the damsel-in-distress. Then again, she is a princess, so she is always in another castle. She should be training on protecting herself more. Probably the character that I dislike the most is the one that fits the typical manga/anime trope, easily forgiven. In manga/anime, no matter what horrible act a character commits, if they apologize all will be forgiven. Another trope I dislike when a parent is also easily forgiven for what they did to their child, which the mother in this case is forgiven. Later, in the anime, it was made like the mother was not that bad. She was and she still is, but all the characters are okay with her, including her daughter.

This show starts off pretty strong, and I thought it was actually pretty good for the first half or so. But after the second arc it suddenly feels like filler in some long running shounen series. It just becomes: New bad guys show up, do something evil, get beaten, move to next arc. Honestly, the second arc wasn't much better, but it hadn't become a pattern at that point, so it didn't bother me as much.

The characters were entertaining in the beginning, but not enough to make the second half actually enjoyable. The show went from being one I looked forward to every week ... to one that I finished just because I was already almost done with it anyways.

Also the uniforms are probably the worst I've ever seen. Seriously, they went with an unrealistic and impractical design that was supposed to look good, but it doesn't even do that. Maybe that's just my personal preference, but I think R=el looked way better in her first appearance than she did wearing that uniform.

At first, Roku de Nashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records seems slightly better than average. It starts with a somewhat good and fairly comical first episode, with the introduction of an excentric and lazy protagonist who somehow ends up as a teacher in a magic academy, but instead of doing his job he clowns around and acts like some sort of troll to his students. Sadly, this first episode is a trap designed to hook the viewer by giving an inaccurate idea of what the series actually has to offer: stereotypical characters, cartoonishly evil villains, a generic magical fantasy universe and a predictable plot.


THE ... PROTAGONIST IS THE ONLY DECENT ELEMENT IN THE STORY

The protagonist, Glenn Radars (what an awful name!), is first introduced as a low-rank magician who was just hired as an instructor in a prestigious magic academy thanks to his weirdly-clothed female friend who pulled strings so that he could get a job and stop sucking out her money. In the first episode, he is portrayed as a disastrous teacher, as he is super lazy and constantly mocks his students, instead of helping them, or just doing his job properly in general. Doesn’t that sound comical? It does sound comical. There’s no way something like this isn’t comical.

UNFORTUNATELY! This show is neither a comedy nor a slice-of-life, it has an actual plot – by plot I mean one female character fondling another female character’s breasts in the girls’ locker room – and soon after episode 1, what appeared as a somewhat better than average anime, turns into your generic fantasy anime. Glenn acts like an asshole? Well actually that’s because he knows how much magic is dangerous, and doesn’t want to give teenagers the power to kill people! Glenn is a lazy clown who doesn’t know how to do magic? You fool! He’s just hiding his power level! He’s actually a former elite magician who became disgusted with the use that is made of magic! Glenn goes on a field trip to a beach resort with his classroom right after a terrorist attack? You imbecile! He does that to keep his students out of danger! Glenn is a pervert who enjoys staring at his teenage female students’ breasts at the beach? Let me guess, is that because he’s actually pretending to be a pervert to catch his enemies off-guard? No! He’s just a regular pervert! Great!


GENERIC AND UNORIGINAL

Generic anime magic school, generic European-stylised buildings seen hundreds of times in the medium, generic and plain character designs, generic clothing. In terms of world-building, nothing stands out. It’s just your run-of-the-mil anime fantasy universe where magic can do everything, from teleportation and healing wounds to… phone calls and computers? This is just re-branded SF at this point.

Same thing for the characters. On the “good guys” side you have the tsundere catgirl who acts like she hates the protagonist but is actually in love with him, for some unknown reason. Out of all the characters (not including the protagonist) she is probably the “least worst”, because she is the only one who has some kind of objective.

Then there’s the “too young too simple, sometimes naive” girl with big boobs whose only purpose in life is to be abducted or attacked by the bad guys and then saved by the protagonist like the damsel in distress she is. It’s not supposed to be comical, and it happens three times in total. Three times! In a 12-episode series! Predictable! Repetitive! Ridiculous!

And lastly, there’s the generic inexpressive and shy teenage anime girl template who adores the protagonist and is very powerful despite her childish appearance. Tina Sprout in Black Bullet, Sasami Saya in Gakusen Toshi Asterisk… you have seen this boring character template dozens, if not hundreds of times in recent anime.

What about the “bad guys”, then? Ah, don’t worry – they’re worse! They are part of some sort of secret society of evil mages. All of them are cartoon villains with overly distorted faces who just can’t help bursting into evil laughter every five seconds, and then yell angrily at the protagonist when they realise that their very evil plan has failed. How original!


A DUMB AND INCOHERENT SHOW

Let’s talk about the blonde girl again. She is abducted by the evil organization on at least two occasions, and on both on these occasions, the protagonist comes to save her, tries to break whatever magical spell is restraining her, fails and then collapses on the ground. On both of these occasions, the bad guys could have used this opportunity to strike him and finish him off. But they did not. Instead, the bad guys stayed in the corner of the room, watched him as he stood up, and let him beat them up. So much for the members of a secret society who are supposed to be plotting against a whole empire!

At another moment, the evil organization does some sort of terrorist attack where they take the queen hostage with a magical spell, because they want her to execute the blonde girl. Glenn is first beaten by the bad guys, but then comes back in perfect health two minutes later to save both the girl and the queen. Now, try to guess what the next episode is about. There has just been a terrorist attack and a hostage situation… what would happen after such a serious and terrifying event? A beach episode, you say? That wouldn’t be dumb enough for this anime. No, what would be fitting for such a ridiculous series is a 3-episode beach resort arc where the blonde girl gets abducted again!

And lastly, towards the end of the series, another magic instructor appears to steal the protagonist’s favourite catgirl. The protagonist then turns very edgy and dark – he has the overly edgy-looking anime eyes, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about – and comes to the catgirl’s rescue. And then they run around the town fighting zombie drug addicts. Yeah.


GOOD MONARCHY VS EVIL SECRET SOCIETY AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE POLITICAL MESSAGES

“What the heck man? It’s just a random 12-episode fantasy anime, what does it have to do with politics?” Not much actually. It is clear that this series is mostly about a quirky protagonist teaching in a magic academy. HOWEVER! Anime or not, fantasy or not, the political content of a work must always be analysed and criticised.

The story takes place in what appears to be a feudal society since there is a powerful nobility, the country calls itself an empire and is ruled by a monarch. The political system is never challenged by the “good guys”, at most some character will be disappointed by the fact that some people use magic for evil goals. But the monarchy or the nobility are never questioned – most of the time they are even portrayed in a positive light! Some examples: the monarch is a very kind and understanding woman, most of the characters on the good guys’ side are of noble blood, and at some point in the show the protagonist says that the life of the nobility isn’t actually as easy as we think… holy cow! If History taught us anything about the nobility, it’s that they are parasites who must be either forcefully abolished as a class, or executed by the hecking guillotine as my ancestors did back in the day!

Oh and by the way, the only people in this series who actually challenge the empire are the bad guys from the evil secret society, and they are called terrorists by the good guys. Sure! I too, love stories where a feudal empire are the good guys and an organization of people who see the current political system as corrupt are the bad guys. Doesn’t look like monarchist propaganda at all!


PRODUCTION-WISE, IT’S ACCEPTABLE

As I already mentioned earlier, character designs, clothing and backgrounds in this anime are generic and unoriginal. The faces are very basic and lack detail: male characters’ faces are single-coloured, and female characters’ faces only have a bit of pink on their cheeks to make them look cuter. Character designs are also incoherent. Glenn is clothed like a normal person from our world, not like a fantasy character, which feels out of place. The background music was forgettable, but not bad enough to hinder the show.

On the upside, even if the art-style is generic, it is clean and doesn’t look ugly. For once, characters’ faces aren’t inconsistent. There are some landscapes and buildings (such as the flying island) that aren’t completely generic and look good.


CONCLUSION

Except from the fairly decent first episode, Roku de Nashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records is a bad anime series and a waste of time, even in terms of entertainment value. So my advice would be to watch only the first episode and then move on to something better, as the rest of the series feels like a completely different show.