Seven spellblades is... quite a few orders of magnitude short of measuring all the edge this show wants to have. Yet with all that edge there are almost no good points to be found.
If you came looking for a good anime Harry Potter with swords I can at least guarantee you most of that statement is true, just not the "good" part. The show is every bit as shallow, cliche, and needlessly grimdark-edgy as one might expect any random mid-late 2000s Harry Potter fanfic to be. In fact I would honestly be more surprised to learn that this show *wasn't* actually just someone's Harry Potter
...
fanfic they wrote back in highschool when they still thought edgy meant deep. But enough dunking on the whole, let's waste some time trying to make sense of the parts.
Characters - 1/10 (a point for each dimension they collectively have...)
We've got the kirito one, the suicidal samurai one, the noblewoman one, the dumb jock one, the nerd one, and the animal lover one. That single sentence just did about as much to characterize our main cast as 4 episodes of the show. The only other characterization for them is that they're all mary sues: they are all always right and anyone who dislikes them or disagrees with them is wrong and a horrible person. Speaking of people who dislike them, they're all stereotypical idiot bullies who get easily one-upped the second kirito or suicidal samurai draw their swords (at least half of the main cast exists purely to be protected by our lead duo after all). There are also some obnoxious teachers and some upperclassmen with weird fetishes, but none of them have done anything remotely important.
Plot - 3/10 (placeholder score until a main plot actually happens)
We've got 6 kids at sword hogwarts studying magic and swords. There's not really anything resembling a main plot yet, just some B plot about troll rights. The lack of any main plot is itself not a problem for now, as the core concept of "kids go to sword hogwarts" is more than interesting enough to keep engagement for a while, but the mini episodic plots so far have all been incredibly contrived and cliche to the point where I have almost no faith the eventual main plot will be anything better than bad. Oh and don't forget: if you or someone you know is depressed/suicidal, just tell the person to stop feeling that way and the problem will instantly be solved (/s).
Worldbuilding - 1/10 (How did you fail this horribly this quickly?)
Harry potter with swords. This should be a free 7/10 or better, except in the same breath we explain the concept in the story we immediately undermine it. "We use swords because one time a mage got beat by a non-mage with a sword because magic is bad at close range. Also when you fight with a sword don't forget you can use fast-casting stun/confusion spells which are exceptional for close quarters combat." Seriously, that's (paraphrased) actually how it went. There are also other issues with how the school is run and how we see magic being used in the world, but it's much easier to just point and laugh at immediately invalidating the argument for using swords.
Music - 7/10? (I haven't been paying enough attention tbh)
Fairly certain the OST at least sets a pretty solid mood and fits the show well. I'm honestly too focused on how terrible the writing is 99% of the time to notice it so it's at least not bad.
Animation - 8/10 (it's honestly just good.)
For as terrible as the writing is, at least the show looks good. We've had at least one strong action scene now that was genuinely entertaining enough to make me forget how much I hated how we got to the fight and how the fight was probably going to (and actually did) resolve. I feel bad for the animators, because they deserve to work on better shows than this dumpsterfire.
Edginess - 2000s punk rock/10 (wakemeupinside)
Unless the mortality rate of mages who don't go to school is somehow higher than 20%, I can't see a single reason why anyone should accept the existence of a school where so many people constantly get crippled or die. Then we have suicidal samurai... Then we have people willfully abusing other sentient beings because they are "resources to be exploited" yet also seeming to revel in the fact they are being immoral... Then we have kirito... So far the least edgy things in this show have been the swords, because those apparently are dulled normally for student duels so they don't kill each other in class.
Conclusion: Honestly, if you really want as much edge as this show wants to give, you should just go listen to some Linkin Park or MCR. I guarantee you anything they have put out is better written and more enjoyable. If you want harry potter fanfic, maybe just go dig through AO3. If you want something to hate-watch, welcome to the club, our support group meets at 9pm on Saturdays.
I'd rate this show even lower, but I feel bad for the non-writing artists involved in the production.
Edit after episode 6: I genuinely hope the people saying "it gets really good" weren't referring to the events in this episode. Or maybe I do because at least then I can understand how they fooled themselves into thinking mindless edge is "good" somehow? I don't know, I'm just enjoying the trainwreck colliding with a dumpsterfire by laughing at it.
Aug 2, 2023
Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru
(Anime)
add
Seven spellblades is... quite a few orders of magnitude short of measuring all the edge this show wants to have. Yet with all that edge there are almost no good points to be found.
If you came looking for a good anime Harry Potter with swords I can at least guarantee you most of that statement is true, just not the "good" part. The show is every bit as shallow, cliche, and needlessly grimdark-edgy as one might expect any random mid-late 2000s Harry Potter fanfic to be. In fact I would honestly be more surprised to learn that this show *wasn't* actually just someone's Harry Potter ... |
