I’m not gonna sit here and pretend that Shuumatsu was, at any point, even a strong contender for anime of the season. I don’t feel particularly burned or let down by this show falling apart, but at the same time I can’t help but feel a little surprised: Two super hot main characters, one of them being a witch or magician, a story with historical context, a metal-based OP, and one of the best soundtracks of the year come together to form… a light 4. So, what the fuck happened?
To be honest, it wasn’t that anything really happened, it’s just that Shuumatsu put on a nice facade for a bit. That sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but hear me out: This anime was only good on a conceptual level. Beyond writing "MAGIC + WW2" down, the writing team had no idea what the fuck to do. There’s no singular element to Shuumatsu that makes it bad, it’s a consistent series of fuck-ups and bad writing that starts to become apparent after the story’s introduction.
Much of the conflict can be blamed on people being complete fucking idiots, and that’s never a good thing. When you have some pretty high stakes such as… I dunno, a WORLD WAR involved, it’s expected that the people have some sort of responsibility. This involves not discussing the weakness of someone who is single-handedly carrying you in the war, or even discussing this someone period, in broad fucking daylight. God forbid someone hears you and runs back to camp to tell all his friends about it for no reason... ... ... ... ... ...HEY WAIT A MINUTE
Another problem that becomes more apparent as time goes on is the absolute perfect perfectnicityness of the three lead characters: Izetta, Fine with an accent at the end, and Izetta’s Tits, which you better fuckin’ believe are fine with an accent at the end. These are the good guys, so they’re good people. They do absolutely nothing wrong and have no flaws whatsoever. Finemon is noble and brave and lives to defend the country she proudly leads. Everyone that’s not literally Hitler happily supports her. Izetta is the most OP being on the planet, and all she wants to do is use her power for good, which means indiscriminately killing shitloads of Nazis. Her entire character is that she totally wants a piece of dat Fine ass and will do virtually anything for it. She might be a little childish due to literally not having a life for the most part, which doesn’t really count as a flaw.
Meanwhile, the bad guys are Nazis. They do bad things because they’re the bad guys and that’s basically it. I suppose the real context of the antagonists can be summed up as “read a fucking book”, but it’s not like we’re getting actual historical figures in this anime. This isn’t Drifters. This is an original story with not-very-cleverly renamed things like “Germania” involving original characters. Original characters such as Smug Villain who is a villain that smiles in a smug fashion. He has a low voice and talks clearly but quietly while smiling in a smug fashion. Because he’s the bad guy.
Unyielding good versus unforgivable evil. It’s too obvious who you should root for. Tropes aren’t bad on their own, but too many of them will dumb things down and come off as boring, unless you can fully embrace them and use the best parts to tell a satisfying story. I’m describing ‘My Hero Academia’ for the record. Not that it’s related. But meanwhile, Shuumatsu is full of one-note, trope-y, flat basic bitches. Well, not Izetta. She’s not flat. She got some pretty big dynamics nahimean?
In short, despite the serious tone Shuumatsu puts off in its early moments, its story is far from mature. Even when nothing is happening, there’s still something wrong. Like, talking about pie for all eternity, or watching Izetta get molested by some creepy designer lady. I think that’s where they uh… Cross the Line, eh???? Goddamn that song is good.
Okay, so I’ve complained a lot about a show that’s based on a hot chick flying around on a gun. So let’s talk about that for a moment. For some reason, people defend bad writing and fanservice with “she’s riding a gun, it was stupid to begin with!” Just because something’s a little silly doesn’t mean all its faults are suddenly cleared. Like, what? It doesn’t even look or seem that silly. Not only is it cool as shit, but it brilliantly combines both the setting of war and the concept of magic. If anything, wearing a big hat and flying around on a broom would’ve been inappropriate.
But anyway, the battles themselves are actually pretty good. Izetta is OP as shit and just fucking destroys everything in her path. It’s a lot of fun seeing shit like that, and it’s not every day where you see tanks getting thrown around. But, of course, the stakes need to be raised at some point, so the enemy introduces… more magic. Aww… It’s kind of a bummer that they couldn’t stick with Magic vs. Military and had to make it Magic vs. Magic instead. Granted, the story’s timeline gives it very limited technology, but it would’ve been really cool to see the Germans--oh, sorry--the GERMANIANS (you know that's just Germany in Romanian, right? That's not a rename at all, those hacks!) develop some sort of weapon or even a clever strategy to level the playing field a bit, instead of just introducing more magic out of nowhere.
That said, when Izetta has finally met her match, things don’t go downhill. They get crushed, flattened, stomped on, pushed off a cliff, and dropped into the fucking ocean. Shit gets real FAST and that made me appreciate the evil side a lot more.
Nothing’s animated too well, though. Izetta flying around looks quite nice, and let me compliment the character designs one more time because they’re outstanding. But, as expected, the larger animations such as large objects getting tossed around or a collection of swords slicing around… they’re CG. The CG itself isn’t particularly good nor bad, but combined with normal 2D animation, it looks kinda weird and took me out of the experience a little. I don’t remember anything being terrible, though. The general style is very common despite the obscure studio--if you told me this was by A-1 Pissants or J.C. Staff, I wouldn't have questioned it.
The soundtrack on the other hand… now there’s a hidden gem. The mystical, magical music in the back with a rock influence, particularly with Izetta’s fight scenes, holy shit it’s brilliant. It felt a little overdone, though. Exposition could be going on, and the composer’s still going apeshit with dark, jittery, and mysterious music as if the most amazing plot twist’s about to happen. Still, I’m gonna be downloading thi--I mean purchasing this soundtrack in a very legal manner when it releases to the public. And the credits themes were equally outstanding. ‘Cross the Line’ has one of the most hype-inducing introductions of the entire year, and its piercing metal sound kept me on my toes the whole way through. The epic piano ballad used as the ED is equally mesmerizing despite being basically the exact opposite sound.
Would I recommend Izetta: The Last Witch? Given the interesting premise, I might. After all, an anime with historical context always draws in an audience. 'member Joker Game? Talk about awkward! Anyway, just be warned. You’re not getting a very intricately-written story. It has some good moments for sure, but more often than not you’ll want to rip your hair out. Come in mostly for the fights and the occasional charm. And don’t forget the boobies. Hooray for boobies.
Story - 3/10
Art - 6/10
Sound - 9/10
Character - 2/10
Enjoyment - 4/10
Izetta - Fine/10
Overall - 4.25/10 (Score range: 3.5-5.0)
Favorite episode - 1
Favorite character - Izetta’s Ettas
Recommendation level - Medium
