"The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent" or "Saint Isekai" (or "Sei Isekai") is definitely the hidden gem of this season.
A show that was rather down in the list of seasonals, I initially just skipped over it, but after hearing a few things about it, I decided to give it a try, and had a HUGE surprise waiting for me. This anime immediately jumped to the top of my seasonal list.
You see, Saint Isekai doesn't do TOO much new in the field. We've seen Isekais before, and we've seen that one fantasy world maybe a bit too much.
But still, it is able to play its cards right.
Sei, our main character, voiced by Ishikawa Yui (aka Mikasa from AoT) does an excellent job at giving her a more "chill" and relaxed voice, as opposed to the usual shouting we know she does.
Sei as a character was definitely a fun one. She originally gets summoned to the other world against her will, and cast aside by the summoners, making her feel very annoyed and angry about the situation. But after taking some time she decides to at least make the best of what she has and even make it a better life compared to what she had before at home.
Meeting new people, making new friends, and slowly learning about her own powers, was definitely a treat to watch. On top of that, add the various funny expressions she did, and you've got yourself an extremely adorable, yet human, character.
In addition, we've got some slow-paced romance sprinkled on top of it. It's not exactly THE main theme, but it's definitely there and gives us the spice we need in between.
Unfortunately for Saint Isekai, I felt like the worldbuilding in general was very lacking. Magic boiled down to a few basic elemental spells and the Saint herself can basically just use different degrees of healing abilities.
It also doesn't really help that the fight animations are also pretty non-existent and we mostly have "powerpoint presentations", but since it's not really the focus of the show, I did not feel it was that bad.
Although the art in comparison did feel very off and having half-drawn faces was pretty off-putting.
All in all, Saint Isekai was a fun show to watch. Watching Sei grow as a character alongside her new friends, seeing her experiment with different aspects of her power and having a bit of romance in between.
8/10