4/10- Would give 5-6 if all the things below are intentionally done like Eminence in Shadow
This anime offends me with its averageness like Saiki K loves staring at that most average guy in his school. Everything this show does, it does by the book, as if it aims to be the middest of mid consciously. Good to know the technology is there now to input some character archetypes, plot skeleton, color filter and a Computer will massvomit such generic content. Finally able to finish till ep3 on my fourth attempt. Before this, my brain made me wash dishes, clean my room walls instead, rather than watch this. So much unnecessary verbose while completely void when needed. The plot is bad, the production follows Tokyo revengers style adaption, doing no creative interpolation for the plot.
(Made things as abstract as possible to prevent spoiling. Find TLDR at the bottom)
Plot or the lack of it, Plotholes, Inconsistencies:
At 2minutes in, 6 random characters walking by the street on their way to school orientation become great friends just like that. Big Monsta at 4th minute, these not-even-first-year group up and tackle it while some 70 people watch and do nothing. Oh, they are already proficient in kinetic spells but later on why attends class on basic magic? All mob characters are static, the FMC is in a silent crowd in small ass room, talking to MC yet her facial expression looks like she is shouting. 2nd episode ends with a cliffhanger of a fight only to have nothingburgers in the 3rd episode.
There's a 20% fatality rate for the students, because too much magic is dangerous and imploding of character, but it appears that all danger so far originates from students maliciously attacking each other hunger games style, sounds like edgy survival fight plot, but why at school? We are told that fights without safety spells are strictly forbidden, but then they are attacked with killing intent by older students. Except that for some reason this aggressive behaviour is perfectly normal and they could have gotten in trouble for fighting back? Later a teacher uses illegal torture magic on a student, in front of other students and another teacher but there are no consequences. he even admits to ignoring the law and says he'll do it again.
Safety rules only apply to swordfights, but in another class a teacher was expecting the students to get injured and did nothing. Well, that fits the narrative with the fatality rate, but why such double standards? Characters with little importance or mobby choosing a 20% fatal murder school is ridiculous. There are two AnimalLifeMatters characters which while not wrong, why would they join a murder school lol?
That reminds me, there is no reward mentioned for surviving the school. Do they get a plum civil position, do they get infinite god powers, do they get pensions, or do they just get a piece of paper. Whats the reward, why people especially those can't even hurt a fly want to join this school?
This show can’t decide whether the school is hunger games no holes barred, or it has some law and order. Person gets hexed into a deadly situation, survives and reports to the authorities, then no action. So, there is a reporting process in school yet a hunger game situation is also present and punishments are little to nothing for hunting noob’s spines and dicks? Headmaster even talks about being independent and free and that life and death is in the individual’s hands, legitimizing violence. How does it even make sense?
Environment:
There is no worldbuilding and foreshadowing, nor any real setup, everything is so disconnected, isolated and contextualized. The plot is so random and all over the place. They are doing too many things at once. And all this in the midst of continuous barrage of useless convos either explaining dumb basic stuff, or just fillery talk and sequences like putting a blanket on a sleeping roomie. Instead of fillers there could have been some creative sequences connecting isolated contexts by detailing useful info.
Character:
With such a big cast they should have focused on 1-2 character per episode instead of all at once like Monogatari. The MC is especially boring but somehow I feel like MC+FMC going to spellblades just because they look the complementary pair and the others will also be paired up for no reason.
Can't even figure out whether it is a school college or university. On one hand people already know spells so they must be teens or adults but then FMC claims "she was in a war" just before. What war, woman? The war does not have a name?? You were there last week!! Teens and Adults would know of some war going on by name even if its overseas, c'mon. Such a dumb script.
Art: generic/10
Main Character: Kirito/10
Characters: forgettable mass isekai/fantasy shounen characters/10
Music: Japanese dubchestral you decide/10
Story: Negative/10
Conclusion:
Initial Impression was it is Shikimori isn't just a cutie level of blandness, now my impression is it’s on the level of SAO. Production did no creative interpolation and much like Tokyo Revengers, just feels copied frame by frame from manga. I know source is LN but that’s how the adaptation feels, 1:1 inappropriate copy. Combining how bad and generic each and everything was, I am vociferously offended, maybe not to the level of animes that exploit blindness, cardiac, pancreas issues in FMC or animes that exist to promote idols and figurines but this show is somewhere up there.
