A forgettable and boring story pulled down by dull and even downright irritating characters, this is an anime that you’ll have trouble enjoying. With bad fight scenes and a rough power system, even looking at this show as a generic power fantasy will leave you disappointed. The only way I would recommend this show is if you have fun criticising bad anime, but don’t be surprised when you’re checking how long is left of the episode.
Story: 3
Animation/Art: 3
Sound: 2
Characters: 2
Enjoyment: 2
Overall: 3
Discussion:
“These days it almost seems like there is a seemingly endless sea of bad Isekai to choose from. But fear not! This is a fantasy anime, it’s not even Isekai. So it could potentially be better!” Those were my thoughts before immersing myself in this show. I wasn’t really expecting much, but I also didn’t think it could be that bad. I was wrong. But I’m here to tell you why it was that bad.
When first entering the show, one of the first things you’ll notice is that the main character has a striking resemblance to Kirito. If that doesn’t set off your warning bells, I don’t know what will. In fact, Kufa Vampir is a worse character than Kirito. When discussing his main personality traits, I would say he has three. One, he has a romantic relationship with Melida Angel, a 13 year old girl who is also his student (we’ll get to this later). Two, he is a half-vampire, which for some reason makes him stupidly powerful. Three, he sometimes tucks his tie into his shirt pocket. Kufa is a really forgettable and boring character, the equivalent of staring at a piece of cardboard.
But if Kufa is cardboard, then Melida is like if someone asked you to eat that cardboard. Melida Angel is one of the worst main characters I’ve seen in anime. Not only does she have barely any personality, but the traits she does have are bad. What I’m trying to say is that she’s actually a dislikable character, which is crazy because she’s supposed to be one of the main characters, the one that the viewer is supposed to cheer for. She’s the underdog, but you find yourself cheering for her opponents because it doesn’t feel like you want her to win. However, the worst part (and probably one of the reasons why most people wont watch the show) is her romantic relationship with Kufa. Melida is 13 and Kufa is 17, which is bad enough, but Melida is also Kufa’s student. I shouldn’t need to explain why this is horrible.
For some reason, the pacing in this show is extremely fast. I don’t even know why it progresses so fast, but there are so many things to keep track of each episode that it’s very difficult to keep up and makes the viewer feel overwhelmed. It adds to the feeling that the show is a rushed project without much substance. Worse, this rapid pace takes away form any character development and worldbuilding, meaning that parts of the show are left unexplained and the characters feel paper thin and weak.
One of the main reasons why people watch power fantasy anime is for the action. Even I will admit that it’s really cool to watch a character overcome bad odds with sheer effort and determination. Unfortunately, Assassins Pride doesn’t even do this. Because there is no training arc, none of Melida’s wins feel earned. It’s actually quite funny because whenever Melida uses a special attack there is a quick flashback to training that the viewer was never saw, and the show is like “this happened, deal with it.” It feels rushed and you are never satisfied when Melida wins. So, what about when Kufa wins? No satisfaction either, because he is such a powerful character that no one else has nearly enough strength to beat him and he never even breaks a sweat, meaning there is no progression and whenever Kufa enters the fight there is no doubt that he will win. This is not the way to handle an overpowered protagonist.
The animation and use of music in the fight scenes is really dull and the fight choreography is quite minimalistic. These types of shows usually have decent fight scenes, so I was expecting the fights to be alright when I was thinking about watching the show, but I found myself disappointed. The fights have no substance, are filled with bland characters and do not advance the plot at all.
If I had to pick one decent thing about the show, I would have to say that it’s the mystery arc. While it’s not hard to solve the mystery, it is entertaining to see the people in the town turn against the protagonists and see how they react. The mystery arc also adds a little to the worldbuilding and the overall structure of the show as well as adding a tiny bit more backstory to the overall plot and creating some new plot points that will definitely be used in later seasons.
Overall, Assassins Pride is not your generic power fantasy. It’s less enjoyable, less exciting, and honestly people who enjoy watching power fantasy shows will not even enjoy watching it.
