It's a very solid medieval fantasy anime revolving mostly around a war campaign led by the main character. Since it's a midieval fantasy though, don't expect elves, dwarves, orcs, etc. though dragons do make appearances of course. Very little magic for the most part, some weapons are enchanted and have special abilities though.
The story is fairly interesting.
For one, the protag, Tigrevurmud, is an archer, which I find really awesome. MCs almost always use some other type of weapon, since other weapon types are generally more proficient at playing a main role, archers are usually a support role. Swords are the general hero type, fists can work too for alpha type guys usually, staves/magic for the strategist type, there are some others, but that's pretty much it. So seeing a bow is really cool for a MC to me. Especially since he's forced to act like a general... using a bow, which is very exceptional. Even though most leaders can use a bow, none to my knowledge use a bow exclusively in any story.
The war campaign story really works and keeps you very interested in how battles play out and where the strategy and the main players make a spot in it. We obviously know the main characters will win in the end because Narrative Causality/Plot Armor, but as usual it's the journey/how they win that matters as opposed to the end.
The pacing is really fast, but I was able to follow even on my first watch what was going on. In my opinion this is probably it's biggest flaw, that the story goes too quickly, it would have made a lot more sense to have the story span 2 cours, but I think the studio did well for what they were trying to accomplish.
Characters are pretty decent in general, I like many of the characters. The anime does strip a fair amount of the character development out of most characters, but protag and heroine still get their fair share. A large part of the story is the development of the protag. It's done alright, as we watch him go from a person who can barely lead 100 men, to someone who leads 20,000.
The other characters are not very fleshed out in the anime, but you can see their general personalities. Again, because of the story's pacing we don't get to see enough of all the characters to really understand many of them.
As for the the music, the freaking music, super fitting for the series and it is really good too, I'm going to have to get the OST if it's available because it's too good. It fits the medieval fantasy feel really well. Not much else I need to say.
I really enjoyed the OP (I listen to it on its own), the ED is meh though. Your mileage may vary.
Animation is alright, nothing spectacular though. Nothing to complain about, and the important scenes were well animated. The art in general is pretty good, especially when drawing the skirmishes between armies.
I personally really enjoyed the anime, enough to subsequently read the light novels and then watch the anime again. Again, the development and story of the protag, and the action of the campaign he leads, is what really makes me enjoy the series.
Overall 8/10, the setting and story are good, with the uniqueness of the archer general being a main sell point of the anime. Characters are okay, but the battles, and how the art and sound help accentuate these in the story, are what do the series good. I think anyone looking for a war-centric medieval story will enjoy this one.
I do want to mention the adaptation quality. I watched the series, read the LN up to where the anime ends, then rewatched it. The adaptation is pretty good, but condensing FIVE volumes into a 1 cour anime is kinda crazy, A LOT of scenes were left out, but nothing that was really mandatory so I think it's a really good adaptation considering what they were dealing with. The first five volumes cover the whole first arc, so it makes sense to condense it into one series.
Nearly all the scenes that were included are accurate, no gecko ending or anything. Things are wrapped up nicely, and if you want to see what other kind of adventures the protag leads, then you can read the LN, but it doesn't leave you off at a point where something big is about to happen, a la NGNL anime.
I think it would have been a better anime if it was 2 cours, as a few of the characters aren't as fleshed out as in the LN, Limlisha in particular. Regardless, I think it's a solid adaptation. Props to Satelight since the goal was clearly to advertise the main series of novels by doing the complete first arc, but either couldn't or didn't want to do a full two cours, perhaps due to budget concerns. I think they managed pretty well considering that.
