That said, the aesthetics and character designs are quite easy on the eyes. But the character themselves do not get a passing grade, unfortunately. Starting off with Kanata: he's just a run-of-the-mill "got something to prove" main character who stumbles upon a macguffin that conveniently pertains to something his deceased parents were looking into. While I do appreciate his egalitarian outlook on humans and Magus, I can't help but feel disappointed over the lack of any other discerning quirks or traits to make him stand out.
Next up is the eponymous meek Magus, Noir. As mentioned already, I love her design. Despite being featured in the title, she gets sidelined heavily in 60% of the episodes, which is a shame. Had they focused less on Drifter antics and more on the mystery surrounding her origins, it would've handily elevated this show's quality a few levels. Her status as the series' macguffin coupled with the reveal in the final episode, more manufactured drama and hot-potatoing incoming in the second cour.
Okay, since this is dragging on. Here's a lightning round for the rest of the roster.
Tokio - Kamina without any of the charisma
Mouton - Tokio's devoted sidekick
Ellie and Angie - The quintessential pinning childhood friend and her bridesmaid
Micheal and Bob - Some mild comic relief, I guess?
Kurokamen and Schnee - An amalgamation of the blandest parts of every Char clone and his lady-in-waiting
Ciel - The badly written woman on the fence (Props to Nagisa Aoyama on the voice work and singing though. If you're a fan of J-pop like me, then Genwaku Desire and You & (A)I will catch your fancy)
Claudia and Flamme - The two extremes (Of? That's for me to know, and you to find out)
Alba Kuze and Ada - "Look guys! We made a mixed media project!"
That about covers the notable characters. As for the plot, all it does is lay by the wayside while the cast just gets up to the most harebrained shenanigans we've already seen in hundreds of other anime. Simply put, the first cour was 70% filler and 25% plot. The build up for Kanata's coming-of-age moment shouldn't have deserved more than two-three episodes let alone an entire cour. The world building is also lacking. But there's an argument to be made here. One could say that they intended to explore the setting alongside the plot, but I've already expounded the problem with that in my aforementioned point.
Ultimately, this show ends up being a listless mixed media project with a release order that does it no favours. The fact that they led with a sequel for a yet-to-be-released game and yet had the audacity to skip over establishing the setting is a very poor choice. Releasing the game first and having it do the heavy-lifting for establishing the status quo would have helped immensely, but alas it was not meant to be. The game has been delayed indefinitely as of this writing, and its release coinciding with the second cour is highly unlikely. Here's hoping the second cour gives us some answers in lieu of the game.
All in all, this was a very disappointing affair, and the series is sorely undeserving of a weekly watch schedule. The best way to watch this show is to wait till all the episodes are out and binge it over a lazy weekend or two. This way, the lingering dissatisfaction and confusion won't overstay their welcome.
