Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho was something of an early dark horse of the Spring 2017, with it having the aforementioned unique main characters of Mercenary who is a beastfallen (as in half-human, half-animal..in this case a white tiger) at birth and hates witches because witches created beastfallen and society's stigma towards beastfallen is extremely apparent and Zero, a recluse witch in which Mercenary stumbles upon to begin their journey to find the titular "Grimoire of Zero". The opening premise in itself as well as it's main duo was what grabbed LA's attention for the anime and even then Zero and Mercenary's relationship (not-so romantic more like master and bodyguard) does develop ALOT in this anime be it through their trials and tribulations in their journey or their relationship being hindered by third parties. The other characters that have focus are Holdem voiced by Masayuki Katou who has beef with Mercenary and Albus voiced by You Taichi (a female seiyuu...HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM) who tags along with Mercenary and Zero who too wants to find the Grimoire of Zero. If anything the more interesting of the two is Holdem from his evolution from jerk who won't leave Mercenary alone to a quite noble person by the end of it, Albus on the other hand does become an important piece in the plot but quite early on, he's nothing but an annoyance in Zero and Mercenary's travels. Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho also has the added benefit of giving us world-building from all the subjects of fantastic racism as well as how the magic works given us through Zero and you know that LA loves when an anime does go into it's lore and how some spells work...however like it's edge on it's racism issues, the lore of magics in Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho also gets forgotten over time.
So as much as LA is praising (kinda?) Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho, there are some obvious flaws LA purposely left out and some becomes vastly apparent. For one, you'd think the anime would take a more action-orientated approach however for the first half it's more mystery and slice of life of all things that mixes in into this anime and to it's defence, the slice of life elements helps grow Zero and Mercenary (as well as Albus) both individually and their master and bodyguard relationship and explores a bit of world-building here and there, but aside from a few key points within those times...it just "almost" feels like filler until the major arc kicks it into high gear. Next is the more apparent one of plot holes and some plot twist within Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho not making sense in a ways (this revolves around Albus for one and our boring major villain) to the point it feels like the anime is making it up on the spot and covering it's tracks just for surprise value. Lastly is our boring major villain 13 voiced by Takehito Koyasu who is pretty much at the centre of the problems in this anime. From his quite confusing motivations (especially towards Zero) to his grand plan being utterly foiled by Zero by the end of it in a such an anti-climactic way, on that note, because of Zero's importance, she is essentially an extremely OP main character facading as a weak witch. 13 is probably the reason also for shifting focus from it's fantastic racism (from both fronts of the witches and beastfallen) to the more typical good vs. bad routine we've seen time and again and again LA will mention that 13's "defeat" is anticlimactic to say the least.
In terms of animation by White Fox, the animation is quite decent all things considered with some animation derps or dips in quality (though rare or blink before you miss it type), LA did like the character designs but was more favourable to Zero's attire by her end costume of the anime. The backgrounding was typical fair for a fantasy anime, but overall decent enough animation but not much praiseworthy.
However in the voice acting department, LA will honestly say that LA was NOT expecting Yumiri Hanamori to sound like she did as Zero, for those who don't know, LA first noticed Yumiri Hanamori as the ditzy moe main lead Tsumujikaze Koyori from Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume to another ditzy moe main lead An Hanakoizumi from Anne Happy to have vocals like this as Zero!, seriously LA was surprised it was Yumiri Hanamori. To that the minor voice cast (however minimal) was decent but quite obviously...Yumiri Hanamori was a definite highlight in terms of voice acting in Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho.
Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho is one of those shows where yes it does have some major flaws at hand especially concerning it's tone and plot but does outweighing it's strengths of character interactions, unique main characters and it's edge on it's take on fantastic racism balance things out?.......for LA. No, ok trust LA this is an "ok" anime but it's flaws just outweigh strengths for LA to say it's a show to invest in, if only the first quarter. Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho is ok, but collapsed in on itself when it was trying to get serious and anticlimaxes and plot holes arose as a result. Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho is the dark horse of the Spring 2017 that pretty much fell and tripped even by it's halfway point and it pains LA to even say that...
