If I had to describe the show with one word it would be: Competent
The world-building is fundamentally a baseline on how to do a fantasy setting right, everything is correctly built up, we get more than enough info of both the world and the magic-system so it is fully logical, understandable and intriguing.
I made fun of the base premise*, but it was an effective and necessary setup for the story to be told this way.
The characters are really well done, all have their agencies, several of them have their own arcs, and even their own lives and thinking are completely logical and intelligent so they feel relatable and human, even their flaws come from their base character so even when they fail it is sympathetic.
For the plot I just go back to the word of today's review: competent. Sadly, it is mainly the base element I can criticize, especially as it felt like the story, they wanted to tell would've needed more than 13 episodes, but as they only got that many, they tried to cram everything into those 13 episodes, which contributed to a lot of time-skips and rushed plot-lines. The story was kind of predictable for a more experienced eye, but it might just be a routine issue. [When a racer can predict the second half of a racecourse, just by how the 1 half went.]
Still, it was really engaging and full of twists and turns that kept the interest always high, with new elements and challenges for our heroes to overcome.
To summarize I'd say that competence is the main element, but it does feel as if it was written by an AI. Everything is designed to a mastered textbook level, but there were really few peaks of quality. In numerical terms there was no moment that went below a 7, but there was no moment above a 9 either.
8.6/10
Subjective parts: I don't like CG, but it was nothing egregious, and maybe it is a hot take, but although I like Rie Takahashi, and she did manage to make a 10-12yo boy voice, for the latter part it was really weird having a 15-17 boy/man still having Rie as a voice actress.
*2017 isekai show about a successful company-man getting reincarnated into a young fragile body, where he uses his knowledge from his previous life and integrates it with the magical elements of the new settings, because of that he quickly climbs the ranks and becomes a child prodigy, but with every promotion the situation just gets more and more dangerous for both him the team he gets to lead [which was specifically granted/created for him by the country's leader].
