May 3, 2021
I chose to drop the series after the 5th episode, something I almost never do since I tend to finish what I start watching. In this case I simply found it wrong to go on and wished to explain why. It should go without saying, everything I write is for up to the 5th out of 12 episodes of the series.
This is a series about an Italian mafia family ("Famiglia") of magic users, which is protecting an island city (practically city-state except it doesn't have its own currency) somewhere in the waters of Italy. The Famiglia is responsible for upholding the law and safety within
...
the island.
The important members of the Famiglia are magic-users, utilizing the powers of Tarot's Great Arcana archetypes and vice-versa, that is, any character that has an Arcana power *is* important and a notch about the rest of the common people in the organization and is responsible for an integral part of the organizations' structure : There's the head of the Treasury who also runs/works at the Casino, the head of Security, head of Intelligence etc. For the context of this review, *everyone* mentioned is an Arcana-user unless otherwise stated.
The story starts off with the head of the Famiglia, the "Papa" along with his non-disagreeing wife, the "Mama", unexpectedly announcing a great tournament for the Arcana-users, the victor of which will have the right to decide on their daughter's marriage, who is frequently referred to as "Princess" for no apparent reason.
The entire plot is presented mostly by the characters' flashbacks, day to day activities and the young Arcana users' coming-of-age trials. The driving force is the expectation and pressure of the upcoming tournament as it forces the young Arcana users to seek control of their own lives and take effort to become stronger, more useful and explore themselves. This sounds brilliant. And it would have been, if it delivered at all. Sadly, it is utilized in the least while the foundations of the world are too weak to support anything of the like.
I will spell it in short : the anime simply refuses to follow on its main drive, the characters are left grossly unexplored even when the plot appears to do so, there is no dramatic tension worthy to speak of, the suspension of disbelief required to digest it is enormous for the too few (if any) rewards. I finished the 5th episode and simply found the show not worthy of investing any more time in.
The overall story could be interesting but is left so unexplored that I have to call it unworthy. The art is decent. The music is too basic but the voice acting is pretty alright and fresh. The characters... well, if we were shown actual depth would be a proper 8, but the show simply neglects them to the point where I give it only a 3/10. I found the show enjoyable only for its portrayal of the Italian culture : the voice acting, architecture and general setting and foods and various details support this very well but nothing else actually kept me hooked.
If the anime gave more effort to support the plot in a more professional way, being consistent and exploring the characters in a meaningful way, it would have been at least decent. But it falls so short on what really matters that I give it a 3 overall. I found it a hollow experience and my time would have been better spent on other shows.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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