Kenja no Mago (Wise Man's Grandchild)

In the kingdom of Earlshide, Merlin Wolford was once regarded as a national hero, hailed for both his power and achievements. Preferring a quiet life however, he secludes himself deep in the rural woods, dedicating his time to raising an orphan that he saved. This orphan is Shin, a normal salaryman in modern-day Japan who was reincarnated into Merlin's world while still retaining his past memories. As the years pass, Shin displays unparalleled talent in both magic casting and martial arts, much to Merlin's constant amazement.

On his 15th birthday however, it becomes apparent that Shin only developed his combat skills and nothing else, leaving him with blatant social awkwardness, a lack of common sense, and a middling sense of responsibility. As a result, Shin enrolls in the kingdom's Magic Academy to hone his skills and mature among other teenagers. However, living a normal life is impossible, as he is established as a local celebrity almost as soon as he arrives.

As Shin Wolford adjusts to his high school life in the capital, he makes new friends, learns about the world, and fights off the various forces of evil surrounding him and his city.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Kenja no Mago
Other:	Attouteki Vivid Days

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Characters & Voice Actors

von Claude, Sicily

Main

Honizumi, Rina
Japanese

Wolford, Shin

Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke
Japanese

von Earlshide, August

Main

Komatsu, Shouhei
Japanese

von Messina, Maria

Supporting

Wakai, Yuuki
Japanese

Wolford, Merlin

Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku
Japanese

Corner, Alice

Supporting

Kubota, Miyu
Japanese

Bowen, Melinda

Supporting

Takashima, Gara
Japanese

Schtrom, Oliver

Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki
Japanese

Carlton, Yuri

Supporting

Nagatsuma, Juri
Japanese

Hayden, Christina

Supporting

Koga, Aoi
Japanese

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Cook, Justin

Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki

Producer

Iizuka, Aya

Producer

Umeda, Kazusa

Producer

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Opening Theme

"Ultimate☆MAGIC (アルティメット☆MAGIC)" by i☆Ris

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Ending Theme

"Attouteki Vivid Days (圧倒的 Vivid Days)" by Nanami Yoshi. (吉七味。)

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Reviews

Jun 26, 2019

Rich_n117

Recommended

Wise Man’s Grandchild, the story of another sad man from Japan getting killed and put into another world. And if it wasn’t for the purpose of this show I would criticize this. Which leads me to a point that I believe everyone that ridicules this show and other isekai never understand. COMPARE IT TO THE RIGHT SHOWS. To many people that I see criticize this show are comparing it to the wrong isekai. In my opinion if you are comparing Wise Man to shows like Re Zero or Overlord you are sadly mistaken. I will admit that yes the side characters are simple, the plot ... is nothing special, and the MC is WAY overpowered. But most of that is the point. Shows I compare Wise Man to are Konosuba and In Another World With My Smartphone, aka parody/comedies. Wise Man is one of the funniest shows I have ever watched, and running against Isekai Quartet gave it hard compilation. I’ll go through more of what I mean in the individual sections, but I just wanted to state my case and let it be known.

Animation (6-7/10): The animation is nothing special, its appealing enough that you don’t want to look away. It also has its many moments of fanservice, which I don't mind at all haha. And honestly I thought that the fights and magic were fairly well done. I wouldn’t recommend this show because of its animation, but I really don’t see any problems with it.

Music/Voice Acting (8/10): Being completely honest most of this comes from the voice acting. Music wise I never really cared for anything besides the op, which while nothing special was catchy and cute. Also I watched 11 of the 12 episodes in english and I LOVED it, and while some people think Sicilien’s raspy voice was annoying, I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I give major props to Funimation for having a fairly unknown cast give an excellent performance. Sub wise from what I watched they were also good, but I didn’t see enough to really rate.

Characters (6/10): I’m going to be honest, the characters are only memorable for two things comedy and their bodies. I don’t mean that in a bad way but I am a young man so that is something I look at. I rather liked Shin as he used the science of our world to be that powerful in the other world, a fact many people don't seem to acknowledge. Prince August was generic but better than most male friends in Isekai. Most of the girls were generic based on the usual types, clumsy, aggressive, flat, busty, all that jazz. But the writers used that to their advantage and gave us funny sequences. Villain wise I thought they were at least inspired and not some “I'm going to take over the world because why not”. But again the characters are nothing special unless you are attracted to 2d girls, but most of us are probably

Plot (5/10): Again it's nothing special, a group of young kids taught by the most powerful prodigy ever fighting demons/demonoids. As said before, I like that the villains reasons are more inspired than most other isekai antagonists. But its simple and honestly I think it’s just enough to keep people interested, because if this show was always comedy it would become forgetfull like other isekai, as really only Konosuba has pulled off stupid comedy 24/7

Enjoyment (10/10): So far this is my favorite show of the season and I doubt anything will top it. I haven’t laughed this much over an anime in forever. I binged the first 11 episodes in no time and waited in agony for the last episode. I loved the cute romance, although I do love harems haha, the simple plot that kept things serious, the constant humor that really hit me hard and just an enjoyable overall feel.

Overall (9/10): If this show didn’t have its serious plot or tried to be a serious show like a Re Zero then I would probably believe with the naysayers of this show. But not enough people look at the small details and things this show does that make it so enjoyable. If you have any questions or want to try to see things my way I urge you to message me, like a human and not some but hurt critic, and rewatch the show as a parody then as something that's serious.

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Jun 26, 2019

Mythologically

Not Recommended

After being killed for no reason whatsoever, an average salary-man is reincarnated into a fantasy world. Upon his reincarnation, he meets one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Entering a familial relationship with this being, the protagonist becomes extremely overpowered. Following this, every character who knows about the MC's awesomeness does little but talk about how awesome he is. All the while, we have an insanely bland cast of side characters and really generic art, with barely any overarching plot.

Some dude from an insanely influential family enrolls in a magic high school. Turns out, this dude is the most overpowered creature in the ...

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Jun 26, 2019

Ryuseishun

Not Recommended

In the words of Charles Barkley:
"THAT'S TURRIBLE."

Okay, seriously, people…why does it have to be so GOD DAMN hard to write an actual good fantasy story nowadays? Where’s the sense of originality? Where’s the sense of creativity? Apparently as of right now, anime is under a mini-crisis, and it involves the all-too-familiar infamous genre of “isekai”. It’s not the genre itself that is bad, it’s just the endless supply of all these cheap knockoff shows, written and produced purely for the sake of easy cash grabs and light novel promotions. Now, in all honesty, I will not condone the lack of originality in a series as ... long as it can be entertaining and creative with its premises. But oh my lord, this series, Kenja No Mago (or Wise Man’s Grandchild, Philosopher’s Grandson, or Magi’s Grandson) had absolutely NONE of the two.

To start off, I’m pretty sure we all know the drill regarding what constitutes as isekai (translated as “different world”). It’s actually a subgenre of general Japanese fantasy, and it usually revolves around a main character(s), usually normal humans from Earth, being transported to, reincarnated, or trapped in a parallel universe or an entirely different world, often a fictional one with notably more supernatural or magic-based premises. As much as the isekai is often criticized as a subgenre and concept, it still welcomes a good amount of creativity as there has been a good number of unique and alternative takes on it. The problem is that the general premises of isekai are just way too easy to establish, and it’s because of this that many writers will forego the chance at creativity for the sake of “quantity over quality”, whether it’s writing up a story with typical tropes and unengaging themes and plot elements, or just blatantly rip off a previously produced show’s work and tweak it a little bit to claim it as “original work”. In this sort of case, Kenja no Mago had committed both sins.

The story of Kenja No Mago is by no means anything complicated whatsoever, but I guess I can add a bit more details for “context”.

An unnamed Japanese salaryman gets killed by Mr. Truck-kun and is reincarnated into a fantasy world as an orphan, while still retaining his past memories. He is raised under the name “Shin” by a renowned elder magician and quickly displays his overpowered abilities in terms of both magic and martial arts, but apparently has a lack of common sense and social skills. On his 15th birthday, Shin is enrolled into a magic academy to befriend others and hone his already busted skills, but his raw talent makes it difficult to conduct a normal lifestyle as he quickly gained local celebrity status. The story is supposed to follow Shin’s high school life as he makes friends, learns about the world, and fights off evil that threatens him and the city.

Now from first glance, the story, while generic, doesn’t seem like something particularly bad. It seemed like just a typical, harmless, “dumb fun” isekai fantasy. However, there is a clear lack of creativity from the get-go. Already we have an elephant in the room: the case of the overpowered main protagonist. Now overpowered main characters can still be well-written and complex as long as there’s proper establishment to the overall story and character depth and development. However, Shin has nothing to really make him stand out as unique; he’s your typical Gary Stu, an artificially manufactured husk of a protagonist, a physical manifestation of conveniently written plot armor and plot devices. The nature of his existence in the series means that the plot basically revolves around him and prevents any chance of innovation or development for the story and the other characters.

But that’s not the only problem with the story. From what I was told, the original source material of Kenja No Mago is supposed to be more along the lines of slice-of-life fantasy. However, there is no sense of that in this adaptation, and the main culprit: a bad choice of PACING. The show apparently loves to speed through the events of the story so rapidly that it’s hard to really comprehend or understand what exactly is going on. What’s worse is that the show tries to hide those issues by inserting some awkward attempts at lighthearted comedy, which are basically hit-or-miss at best, and can come off as nothing but hindrances to the story as well as one’s enjoyment, depending on how one feels about the half-hearted “herp derp” gags. Most of these gags are, of course, revolving around Shin accidentally utilizing too much power and everyone getting shocked and sh**. Like, it’s literally one of those comedy skits where they have exaggerated faces and derpy character depictions…seriously, that’s not really funny at all after a while. It’s even worse in the final stretch when they try to utilize comedic gags in the more serious parts of the plot. They basically go to these gags where the baddies get all cocky and then get blown the f*** back, One Punch Man style. I would’ve been okay with this if the show was a parody isekai, but it really isn’t. The lack of innovation with the roles of the characters and the course of the story prevents that from being a possibility.

Now about the romance going on between Shin and Sicily, the main heroine (apparently) that was featured in the show. While many people may say it’s nice to see a romantic relationship in a fantasy series be straightforward to where they actually kiss, I find it really hard to comprehend the authenticity of it. Shin and Sicily’s relationship felt very superficial and too convenient; there is no sense of good dynamics or chemistry between the two that would make me really care about their affinity for each other. It’s mostly them doing all these mushy gushy gestures and cliché romance gags as well as having the other characters tease them about their relationship. It honestly feels…fake. Soulless. There is no effort implemented to really build a lot of appropriate content and structure to justify their implications of romance. There’s nothing to really make me feel like I should have any care about it as it seemed practically useless to the overall story, anyways.
When the series does reach its serious content, especially in the final episodes, it doesn’t seem like anything particularly tense or unsettling. The presentation of it feels half-hearted yet forced at the same time…like all attempts at tension are painfully cringe with the forced screams of terror and the typical cockiness of the antagonists. The construction and depiction of the main villains is by no means any good. It’s your typical bland “muhahaha I’m so f***ing evil I can c** on myself” sort of bad guy here. He doesn’t even feel like a genuine villain, just some salty boy tacked onto the story to let our Gary Stu flex his muscles on. It’s also a poor choice to have the show just really end in the most cliché and predictable way: having the MCs and co. face off against the villains in an overplayed climax (well, if you wanna call it a climax).

The animation in this show is subpar, considering that it’s coming from a studio like Silver Link. It's "potato quality" at best, if that's a proper way to put it. There were so many instances of where the sequences of the frames just feel hella awkward, especially during a lot of the action scenes. The comedy scenes, whether or not it’s done on purpose, had a lot of moments where the characters’ expressions look heavily exaggerated or derpy, to where they can seem somewhat like stick figure drawings. The designs of the characters and the settings are all very typical and not something that can really catch someone’s attention. In fact, I found out that the settings of the world look almost EXACTLY the same as in Konosuba. Even, Shin and Sicily share too many visual similarities to Kazuma and Aqua, and the former basically stole Megumin’s “EXPLOSION”. While it’s not technically plagiarism, it’s a definite case of a knockoff/rip-off. I don’t even wanna talk about the ending of Episode 6….just what the actual f*** was that CGI eye-rape?? All in all, at best, the animation quality is nothing particularly notable or commendable.

The soundtracks and sound effects are nothing worth of praise, either. The OP is so cheesy-sounding while the ED feels like a silly out-of-place impression that doesn’t really reflect the show at all. The voice-acting is unimpressive and at times hella annoying. I don’t think the VAs were even trying to implement any sort of genuine emotion. It’s more like as if they simply walked into the studio, read their lines without any notable expression, and leave on their merry way out knowing that the show is dismal but at least they can get paid just to show up. (P.S. Can I can please kill that Mary loli, please? Her voice is annoying as hell!)

The characters I can ramble about all day, but it’s like beating a dead horse. Shin Walford, being the Gary Stu he is, received no sense of actual character development or maturity; he doesn’t seem to have a strong opinion of his own, yet somehow has to overreact and get angry when the frigging generic-as-hell villain shows up. The whole thing regarding him “not having any social skills or common sense” and “having his past memories” have been made irrelevant. Like what was the point, anyway? You could’ve written him without the whole “common sense” and “past memories” shenanigans and the script for him would be almost exactly the same. His social awkwardness is an excuse, and only serves to feed the gags involving him, which would’ve been fine if the jokes actually hit their marks. There’s no extra depth or dimensions to him…the one case where he feels bad for having killed someone doesn’t have any significant sense of empathic value and is a weak attempt to get us as an audience to pity him making that choice. All the support characters get no sense of development whatsoever. The main villain wasn’t very compelling, either. Considering how rushed the show was already by the time they get to him for the final episodes, dropping nearly an entire episode featuring flashbacks of his backstory was a poor choice and attempt to try to get us to think he’s a competent villain we should been sympathizing with.

I would want to talk my enjoyment level more regarding this show, but I’ve already made it clear with the previous explanations. I tried. I really tried to enjoy this show. I tried to lower my standards and enjoy it as just one of those “fast food” isekai/fantasy seasonals. But the “fast food” delivered to me here was so stale that I can’t even savor it. Not even copious amounts of sauce or condiments could save the foundations of this one. Yes, I ended up throwing up all over the floor with this one.

Kenja No Mago is an exemplification of how to NOT write a fantasy show or adaptation. It’s extremely passable and forgettable due to its conglomeration of simplistic themes, regurgitated tropes, underwhelming to bad animation quality, and non-existent innovation and creativity. Whatever identity this show tried to be, it wasn’t a good showcase at all worth watching. It's just another copy-pasta cashgrab show and only succeeds from a business standpoint. You’re better off watching some other fantasy with actual competent writing and interesting characters. Trust me with this. You’ll thank me later!

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Kenja no Mago

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von Claude, Sicily

Wolford, Shin

von Earlshide, August

von Messina, Maria

Wolford, Merlin

Corner, Alice

Bowen, Melinda

Schtrom, Oliver

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Kenja no Mago

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