This review is based on the anime only since I haven't read the LN. I will try to spoil as few as possible, however, some points cannot be given without specific "example". In addition, I hope my review will give a different perspective toward this anime inspire of what people have already said about it.
Story: 8/10
To be honest, I could not believe myself that I will give this an 8 out of 10 especially when I was about to drop it half way. At first glance, (specifically the first 6 episodes), it is at best a mediocre product which cannot even be compared with similar anime within the genre. We are talking about a typical setting with abunch of student joining a magic academy specialized in magical-knight (well, to be fair, it is hard to come up with genuine idea given how saturated the genre has become). A typical harem rom-com setup with a blatant nonchalant MC, a tsundere crimson-hair protagonist, a brother-complexed loli sister, etc. A typical goal of winning some 'random' tournament (this time is to graduate from the academy - things cannot make
any less sense at this point, let alone the originality of idea).
However, I have to say that, the tides have been turned from episode 6 thereafter. Which makes me confused about the true message of the anime. In fact, I could not help but choose to think that the anime is simply badly delivered and expressed. To be specific, what change my opinion can be summary in this quote from episode 12 ( you heard it correctly, the damn episode 12 of all 12)
"let's not get our kids involved in adults' schemes"
This should be categorized as a mature anime (I aware of the PG17 but it seems not sufficient in my opinion). What I am trying to tell? The climax - aka episode 11 tells everything. The story is not about some stupid plot where the MC meaninglessly fights to serve some selfishness reason he could think of. It is actually a reflection of real life, of how the ultimate goal and the struggle to achieve it is. Of how we realize the "black and white" color shaped by perception and social norm, the very system that shape the society as it is. This is genuinely shown during the imprisonment of the MC. A It reflects the unfairness treatment rooting on some long lasting tradition, rules that noone even bother to think of. And worst, people are consumed by that thought too deeply that they don't even think on their own and follow the crowd to feed the confusion, rumor on something they don't even know about. (it is based on how people react to the news represented to them in the anime, you will understand what I said if you watch it till the end)
I am so disappointed by how the story proceed yet being impressed by how deep it is especially during the last 3 episodes. It could have been a good shows overall should the focus be made clearer. It doesn't need to be a harem ecchi kind of story (I found this part completely irrelevant to the anime) when you want to deliver such a message to the audience. Heck, we can clearly see a difference in concept between the first half (full of fan service and awkward situation just like in a typical ecchi anime) with the second half (where we see the anime in its "true" color most of the time). This leads me to an overall score of 8/10. It could have been a masterpiece original idea which I cannot find somewhere else.
Art: 7/10
Unlike the story part, I wont mention much this time since art is never my things to say about. To me, it is good enough. I especially like the color concept of the anime (in the second half part of course). It is brilliantly black and white in a way that we rarely see.
Sound: 3/10
I am a diehard fan of anime when it comes to sound effect and songs. In my opinion, the sound is just bad. There is absolutely nothing remarkable about this anime. The OP and ED songs are not good at all, I cannot get the feeling the author want to express.
Character: 5/10
How can I start with this part.
It is both a big let down and top selling point at the same time.
From the previous review, you can clearly tell how I enjoy the way Akaza has been sketched. He is cruel, vicious, merciless to the core that we cannot help but hate him about how terrible he is. We can also see the arrogant, pride, disdainful behavior of Kuraudo. Yet he stills respect the truth, the real strength of his opponents. Simply put, the antagonists are amazingly created in my opinion. Their motivation, purpose, are complete. Even though the anime hide them carefully, I got excited to find out why Ikki's father act like that. What does it means by the quote I show you before. It seems strange but it really is realistic to a certain extent (for the most part, it is a magical world anyway so we dont need to be very critical about how close it is to the reality). The way the anime reveals those character also hit the sweet spot of delivering sufficient hint to follow up yet not to spoil too much about them.
However, the MC and his harem is the biggest let down. He lacks personal development. We knows his intention, his will. But we don't know why he could exceed his limit when he fought another "mini boss". To be fair, it is hand down a purely romance setting rather than a harem as I said, but I cannot accept such a fabricated relationship development between our MCs. The girls are also too "typical" to the point that I cannot say why should they even exist except for Shizuku. Korogane family circumstance could be a good reason to rationalize her behavior. However, the same cannot be said to others such as Nagi. I dont even know why s/he appear in this anime. There is absolutely no hint at all about his/her background to guess a point or two.
Stella is also a problem. She is so tsundere (dont take me wrong, I love tsundere) to the point that it feels so superficial about her relationship with Ikki. It is just that the relationship is there and it develop just in a way that suppose to be for a tsundere. (are we even talking about the protagonist?)
Enjoyment: 6/10
This is something purely personal so I won't say much. I simply looks for a romance anime with some ecchi and possibly harem to begin with but it ends up something I enjoy in the most unexpected way. Heck, the part which I initially look for is just average to be generous so I cannot give anything more than a "fair" rating.
This leads to the overall rating of 6/10. However, the story really stands out for me personally. I wish there could be more "mature" content anime just like this to reflect our thought on how the society currently is.
