On the upside: The characters in this show are incredibly likeable.
Anis steals the show right from the beginning by being a very fun protagonist, and as the season goes on and we understand her more and more she also becomes a character that's very easy to be invested in. Her story is interesting and she puts a unique spin on the normally tropey "isekai protagonist" that's not really been utilised before.
Euphie, our deuteragonist, took me a little longer to love. Upon first being introduced she feels like a very stereotypical "cute quiet girl that exists only as the object of the MC's affection," but throughout the series she has what I feel is a very satisfying character arc. Out of the whole cast she has the most tangible character growth and it's a real pleasure to watch.
The other important characters also serve their purpose very well. Anis' relationships with both Ilia and Tilty are a lot of fun, with her having a casual rapport with both that often feels like watching two real friends bicker and banter, due to the dialogue feeling very natural. Lainie is unfortunately underutilised but considering only so much can be fit into twelve episodes I'd say her existence does it's job well, since she's mostly used for world-building up to this point. Algard wasn't handled perfectly and certainly could have used more time for development, but the arc centred around him was enjoyable all the same
The anime also handled a lot of other things very well. The animation, although simple at times, had some real charm and beauty to it that can really capture one's attention, including a very pretty fight scene in the fifth episode that I've found myself rewatching a few times. The story beats are interesting for the most part, the world building is limited but engaging, and the writers use a lot of repeating motifs that have some very satisfying payoffs. And, of course, the show doesn't earn the yuri tag for nothing, and the romance may be one of the best parts of the MagiRevo. The progression in the relationship between the main pair is feels natural, satisfying and... well... romantic. It's handled very well from start to finish and is the aspect of the show that had me the most hooked.
Now the bad parts:
This series is rushed. Almost agonisingly so at times. In fall 2022 we were spoiled with The Eminence In Shadow adapting two light novel volumes in twenty episodes. MagiRevo does 3 volumes in 12. While certain aspects like the romance don't suffer too much from this, certain plot beats are underdeveloped, skimmed over or even outright ignored. Having watched the finale, the reason is obvious: the studio has no faith they'll be greenlit for a second season, and wanted to leave the story in a satisfying place. This fact alone brought my rating down from 9 to 8. The first 10 episodes are incredibly enjoyable, and the pacing issues were more a nitpick than a serious gripe, but episode 11 sets up too much and episode 12 is simply unable to deliver on everything promised. This leads to an ending where the show is literally saying to you "oh yeah, after this all this other cool stuff happens too. Might show it later, might not, who knows." The final episode outright says how Euphie and Anis' story ends despite the fact that it's only really just begun (there are 3 more light novels already released and the series has yet to finish). The desperation to make a satisfying ending for a project they obviously know they'll never be able to adapt fully ironically leads to a final episode that feels like it's trying far too hard to tie up every loose end and doesn't really give a satisfactory conclusion to any of them except one (I won't spoil which).
After all is said and done, I still recommend the show. The first 5/6 of it are a very fun watch and make for a nice change from the extremely generic isekai that we see ten of every season, but it unfortunately does no stick the landing. The source material, however, I cannot recommend enough. I've not gotten to the anime's ending yet but what I have read so far makes the complaints I had towards the anime practically null and void.
