The male MC is a typical commoner-with-a-will. Past that and he is quite flat for some time, ep 5 is where he actually starts to make his own plays.
This show is not a battle show, the rushed first 4 epis are to get the MCs into a political location where they have enough there to have stakes in that arena. That being said, I am finding myself having to pay extremely close attention to every single line of dialogue and every action much closer than I normally would.
Now that the show is into the political end of the spectrum it can drop a lot of the shorthand that it had been using to set everything up. Theo is effective in this in that he is as unaware of the politicalscape as the audience while actually being from the setting (avoiding isekai hell)
Our other MC is trained from a very young age to be politically savvy as well as having potent magical skill. Her own goals align with Theo's but go considerably farther than his did in the beginning, having her be fresh out of school and thus socially unaware of the world, gives us the audience a good glimpse into the society in the setting as a whole.
Now that we are past the ground block world building, we are looking at the political alliances that the MCs have found themselves entwined in. Where the focus has shifted off of our handy short-hand characters to much more rounded nobility who are rife with problems.
Knowing that this series has 24 epis really helps in gauging the final scope.
As this is a review, I will say that their execution of plot is adequate. You have to really look into what is going on to get it, but the plot is there. It's just not focused on the same thing as most anime are. Battles are not the climax of this plot. They are used to further it, as examples of what the war looks like, as ways to show how each of the Lords acts in combat to their own ideals, ethics, and codes of conduct.
Animation is adequate, not top tier, and not utter shit. I have no opinion on the soundrack or use of music, so it's doing its job.
I am finding myself enjoying this show quite a bit despite its flaws.
