Jun 7, 2021
WARNING: This review contains minor/harmless spoilers.
Nowadays, most of the light novels specifically fantasy and isekai is somewhat based upon the established tropes. Be it an unlimited list of overpowered protagonists despite having little to no experience, background and creative explanation /or/ the overwhelming charisma of the protagonist--even with the terrible personality--which for some reason still attracts harem.--This show is NOT an exception, atleast based on current volumes. For an instance, there's the abundance of female characters as well as the annoying age disparity problem which is quite common in this medium - like most character presented are teen/young adults especially the top magicmasters (you want
...
me to simp on them aren't you, that alone decreased the tone of this series by a ton). The premise is fine but it feels unutilized as there's a dumbfounding lack of political struggles between this cramped up nations/cities. Storytelling on itself is quite mediocre, the pacing per volume is great but the plot they're going for is surely nothing out of ordinary.
To say the least, the novel delivers the plot very well to its target audience which is the casual light novel readers. It is easily noticeable from the get go that everything is toned down a bit. The series doesn't provide revolutionary concepts which made it great for a casual read as you can close your mind and read without thinking critically. Whether it is a good or bad depends from person to person but eitherway, it definitely has a potential to be a good series. Not a masterpiece, but atleast above those trash.
STORY
The humanity lost much of their territories battling against the existence of the so-called Fiends which is running rampant with their physical and magical prowess. After years of desperation they somehow created Babel which provides a barrier from the fiends and here is where the 7 nations carryout their last stand as well as hoping to not only depend themselves but to reclaim the lands they lost - And that duty falls unto the so called magicmasters. (Attack on titan vibes lol)
The story began when Alus, a 16 year-old prodigy which reclaimed the most of humanities teritories, the forefront on the battle against fiends and the top 1 magicmaster (idk how don't ask) asks for early retirement. (Well for some reason he wanted to take it easy, yes despite the ongoing issues) The governor general found an alternative solution and put him as a student at a Magical Institute so that he can loosen it up and learn to socialize on someone his age in a condition that he will answer on military's command in times of emergency. He then studied on the institute discreetly without anyone knowing about his background and rank, up until two girls discovered it and he was forced by principal to train them as his successor.
CHARACTERS
The characters on this series are bland and generic. This is not to say that its bad but its definitely not good either. Most of them are predictable and doesn't have much of depth only acting based on their archetypes which readers are more familiar with. They have average opinion and little to no aspiration or objective as well as the rarity of deep talks and ideals. Eitherway, reading it casually is not that bad as the characters aren't that annoying. The only issue here is the slow character development which is a real turn off for most of the readers.
Other than Alus which is the rank 1/100,000 magicmaster, there are also alot of supporting character mostly female heroines (what a surprise) each of them carrying their own archetype. First is Tesfia a nobles daughter and will be Alus' student, a typical tsundere, second is Alice which is Tesfia's bestfriend and will also be his student, she's a typical gentledere (she's cute but also nothing much stands out) and Third Loki is which is also from military but wanted to be Alus' partner & for that reason followed him to the institute, she's a typical kuudere. These three archetypes works really well, proven and tested but at the same time it poses alot of problems since the MC isn't even interested in romance. On a plus side, he's not as dense as a brick wall and is aware of any romantic attacks; he find it annoying though.
The heroines and other supporting characters on itself are primarily bland and shallow, they develop steadily as the story goes but much of their goal and motivation are lacking. Their interaction and dialogues are light and straight-forward making it alot harder for readers to take the situation seriously as you can hardly feel the intent and emotion the dialogue portrays. In addition, the author keeps introducing other heroines one after another apart from the said archetypes which are actually unnecessary. Instead of deepening the present characters, it disrupts everything by consuming the screentime of the more supposedly significant characters.
On the positive side, there are actually some interesting characters - deep enough to be invested in. The MC [Alus] for an instance is still full of mystery, he is an introvert, silent, serious, no romance and gary-stu character, a typical sasuke-poi. What captured my interest is that he does have a ton of inner monologues but it doesn't goes back up to his past, which if I read the subtle premonition tells me that something absurd happened on to his past. Whether it'll be a great revelation or not, will be up to the author. Generally I thinks there's still a ton of potential, though it would be great if the story focuses more on the characterization of the existing ones rather than adding another unnecessary character.
ENJOYMENT
As for enjoyment, it is actually one of the series I have to read the day after its volume release which just goes to show how enjoyable read it is for a casual ones. The series itself was average or slightly above at best but it definitely delivers what readers are hoping for which its good storyline development and pacing. Without mentioning its depth, the overall plot isn't even half bad as it gives a SnK feeling and surprisingly doing well expanding it bit by bit while balancing the inner and outerworld issues within the people.
The other aspect that I find enjoyable is the fact that the MC [Alus] is hiding his identity (connection to military and his rank) to his classmates, in exception to heroines and principal. It gives us a situation to look forward to, and creates an interesting moment as he try to cover his identity. Though as strong weapon as it is, the author is not using it in its full potential. As he is an introverted and not even connected to most of his classmates, it is really hard to be sympathetic with nameless characters afterall. (I mean come on, atleast name one male classmate of him. Does his radar only detects female characters?) The right way to utilize it is to have deeper connection between these characters he's hiding it from. This will make it more emotional as it wouldn't be only awe but also other sorts of emotion'll be present such as disappointment or even hatred.
Lastly, there's also the interaction and development between the MC & heroines as he tries to teach them magic. It is actually quite enjoyable as they kept annoying him at first as he is a bit of a tsun-tsun himself. However as the story progresses--little by little--, he learns to be less ruthless (yeah, its on edgy side), to be more sociable, and to take care of them as they learn magic from him. In that regard they undeniably compliment each other - like a give and take. It truly reached the wholesome territory.
In summary, these are the four things that made me look forward into it so much and if you are not onboard with it, you'll might wanna pass on this one:
[1] World-building aka Outerworld/Fiend conclusion [2] MC's background mystery [3] MC's identity reveal and; [4] Wholesome interaction [non-romantic] with heroines.
OVERALL
This series is a generic and straight-forward fantasy light novel, incomparable towards higher tier storytelling series like MT or Rezero. Its not a life-changing nor a thought-provoking type of a series, it won't attack you emotionally and certainly wouldn't give you a deep storyline & characters to theorize. Nevertheless, it still delivers an interesting plot and provides points to look forward to. It wouldn't impress you but if you're familiar with light novels & its tropes, just bored in the middle of nowhere and want to pass up some time--you won't be disappointed. 6/10.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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