Princess Anisphia “Anis” Wynn Palletia is the reason this anime is so enjoyable. Her erratic and unpredictable behaviour brings life into this already amazing show. Her passion for developing magical tools (magicology) is so infectious that it not only affects the character in the anime but the audience itself. You can’t help but love and adore her.
Such an amazing character is more than enough to make any show good. However, if you are not yet convinced. I will give you another reason why you should watch this:
The story.
I know many people who didn’t watch this anime because of the “Isekai” tag. Truthfully, I cannot blame them. Isekai as a genre is always a hit or miss, sometimes you may get to discover some amazing isekai like “Ascendance of a Bookworm”, “Mushoku Tensei” and “That Time I Have Reincarnated as a Slime.”. Or sometimes, you watch an isekai that is so bad that you wonder how it even receives an adaption in the first place.
For MagiRevo, I will put it in the “amazing isekai” category. Unlike other isekai, MagiRevo did not start like your typical isekai anime where it shoves the fact that it is an isekai right in your face. MagiRevo slowly sprinkles in small details that signal that this indeed, an isekai. Her invention, like the self-heating kettle, mana sword and magic broom is heavily based on her knowledge of her previous life. Anis occasionally mention her past life experience. Or during the ED where the image of our modern world is shown in a fraction of a second. This subtly allows MagiRevo to develop this unique and enjoyable storyline.
The story starts with Anis crashing into the party (literally) amid her brother, Prince Algard publicly calling off his marriage with his ex-fiancée Euphyllia “Euphie” Magenta and denouncing Euphie as a bully. Anis then recruit Euphie as her assistant which she reluctantly agrees to and flies off with her magic broom. Euphie helps Anis in her magicology research and follows her on her adventure. Slowly but steadily, their relationship begins to change and develop. In what way? That is for you to find out!
Now, the negative part of the review.
The criticism I have with this anime is how they tone down the personality and the relationship of the characters in MagiRevo. Let’s use Anis as an example, Anis is far more aggressive and erratic in the Light Novel and Manga compared to the anime. In the manga and light novel, there are some instances of Anis fly kicking the door wide open. She has been described as a bloodthirsty monster who will not stop anything short of what she wants to do. Compared to anime where Anis, is much more reserved and tamed.
Anis’s interaction with other characters has also been toned down. Especially the interaction with Ilia, her maid. In the light novel and manga, Anis and Ilia act more like a pair of best friends than a master and a servant. Ilia will throw a jab at Anis whenever an opportunity arises. She even physically slaps the living soul out of Anis when Anis tried to assault someone. Even with that, there is a strong mutual respect between them. While in the anime, you can tell that there is a barrier between Anis and Ilia. Yes, Ilia is still quite rude to Anis at times, but it is nowhere near the level of the light novel.
For me, one of the main reasons why I love MagiRevo so much is because of how Anis interact with other characters. How others interact with our not-so-princessy princess. So, when they tone down their personality and interaction. It feels like the anime missing parts of its soul.
By no means, the anime is bad. I know some people do prefer the more toned-down version of Anis. Everyone has their preference. Is just like a cup of tea, the anime version is just like a cup of well-brewed tea, while the more aggressive version of Anis is the sugar cube. Some people prefer tea without any sugar, and some people prefer drinking their tea with a few cubes of sugar. There is no wrong way of consuming tea.
Another criticism I have with this anime is how much content they skip. I understand this is a necessary evil to cover 3 volumes worth of content into a 12-episode season as it is almost impossible without skipping some content. Due to how the light novel is written, there aren’t many filler chapters the anime can safely skip without harming the story as a whole. As a result, they are forced to skip some content while sacrificing the world-building and character development aspect of the anime. For example, the light novel explains why Ilia treats Anis in this way. Or Algard’s reasoning behind why he does this or that. There is much more content that has been skipped in the anime, but it will make the review way too long. This skipped content makes the story, and the character looks shallow, and undeveloped and gives an impression to the viewer that the story is rushed.
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, or MagiRevo for short is one of the best, if not, the best isekai in this winter 2023 season. The main character, Princess Anis is one of the most infectious and loveable characters I have ever seen, and the story is not your typical copy and paste but an original, well-written story. Even though it has some issues with the adaption, it is still a must-watch for anyone who enjoys watching isekai or fantasy anime. I will award this anime a strong 9.
If you wish to read its light novel, please note that this anime has adapted all the official translated volumes of MagiRevo (As of March 2023). If you wish to continue the story where the anime left off, you must wait until April 2023, when Yen Press release the 4th volume of MagiRevo. However, if you want to read its light novel, I will strongly recommend you to read from the first volume compared than starting at the fourth value (when it’s released). As mentioned earlier in the review, much content has been cut in the anime adaptation. So it is worth starting from the start.
If you don’t like reading hundreds of pages of light novels, you can read manga instead. The manga is an extremely good adaptation of the light novel. Where the personality I mentioned earlier is shown in full display. Unfortunately, the official translated version of the manga only covers till around Episode 7 or 8 of the anime.
Story: 10/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Character: 10/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 46/50 (9.2)
