Although “The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest” showed potential in its pilot episode, disastrous story-telling combined with horrible action scenes ruined any chance of having a decent Isakei adaption.
The main cast is a group of bland, one-dimensional characters that barely have enough traits to even pass as an archetype. Like a hamburger with only the buns and patty, I’m struggling to find any unique characteristics that add a depth of flavor, let alone make them stand out amongst the hundreds of similar imitations. It seems that the only attempt at creating individuality was put into the MC’s backstory. However, the backstory is half-assed with some contradictions found throughout the show. In the end, I understand next to nothing about Matthias’s end goal, especially since the show spends no more than 4 minutes trying to explain it. As for the others? 2 of the girls are just compulsive teenagers following around their knight in shining armor, and 1 of them is an airhead that serves as comic relief or a convenient plot device. However, the shortcomings of our characters don’t even hold a candle to the lack of effort put into world-building.
Given a generic medieval RPG world and a lackluster explanation for why our villains are the bad guys, the audience is dragged along to every cookie-cutter template town and environment you can think of. I won’t list any for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but if I’m being honest, you’ll recognize them the second they’re displayed on-screen. Maybe even the animators recognized this issue, as each setting’s artistic design is so uninspired one would believe creativity might have been banned in the studio.
But the worst part of this show was, by far, the fight scenes. Every single one of them was the same thing over and over and over again. First, the bad guy gets discovered by Matthias’s magic detect abilities. The bad guy is always painfully overconfident at the start as they have some “unbeatable” strategy, weapon, or tactic. As the antagonist brawls it out with a member of the party, we are given blow-by-blow commentary of exactly what is going on. I swear on my mother, the writer would rather detail the breathing patterns of everyone fighting than spend 2 minutes explaining how magic works and letting sequences unfold naturally.
Then, just when things go from mildly boring to very boring, Matthias pulls out some magic never used before that perfectly counters whatever strategy the demon is using. The bad guy gets one-shotted, the day is saved, and the party leaves without a scratch. No tension, no fear of losing, no development or interesting villains, no explanation (or even limits) to the usage of magic. Nothing at all that makes a fight scene entertaining. Honestly, it was like watching golf except the ball is invisible, the commentators never stop talking, and everyone except the best player are just using wooden sticks for clubs.
So unless you’re planning on turning off your brain and getting high before watching, stay clear of this show. It is a disappointment and a huge waste of your time. Please, do yourself a favor and find a better anime to watch.
