Full disclosure: this is a first episode review. So lets get right to it. The best primer I can give you is a straight description of the anime's opening moments.
The anime starts with a graphically violent but vague flashback sequence that gives us a glimpse into the main character's shared history with a mysterious young girl. It's strongly insinuated that the girl's destiny is somehow
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Full disclosure: this is a first episode review. So lets get right to it. The best primer I can give you is a straight description of the anime's opening moments.
The anime starts with a graphically violent but vague flashback sequence that gives us a glimpse into the main character's shared history with a mysterious young girl. It's strongly insinuated that the girl's destiny is somehow intertwined with that of the dark power the protagonists are fighting. No doubt, as the series progresses, he will encounter this girl, earn her trust and love, and have to rescue her from a terrible fate.
He then ends up at school which trains those who share his type of special abilities. Very quickly, he becomes the subject of wonder from his peers. He doesn't appreciate their admiration, though. Despite being among the strongest people in the school, even as a beginner, he's humble and tries to avoid notice.
The first episode then introduces a number of characters. First, he meets a series of minor supporting female characters who will likely serve as damsels in the early episodes to establish his heroism, and later as "emotional support" cheerleaders in his final battles. He also meets a handsome male protagonist who will possibly alternate between being an ally and a male foil to establish the protagonist's "unwanted" alpha male status. He also meets an awkward but eager girl who he will have to shepherd into emotional resolution with his hackneyed wisdom. And finally, he encounters an angry tsundere who's a leader among the students and among the strongest at the school; she refuses to accept him, challenging him to a duel.
Is it cliche? I don't know; I haven't even started talking about this anime yet. Everything I wrote above is a plot description of the beginning of another anime entirely. Can you guess which one? No, you can't. Somehow, through amazing coincidence, this synopsis not only exactly fits this anime but several others. How many can you think of?
This anime does have some wonderful unique features, though. There's a "male protagonist" who is transparently a girl in disguise, in both her voice acting, hair, demeanor, and facial design. Take a guess as to whether she's the mysterious girl in the opening sequence. In fact, the only reason we even know that we're /supposed/ to think she's a guy is because the series repeatedly states it explicitly via dialogue. Why not just make it less obvious, you ask? There's a reason. It's not an oversight. It's because, like every other series in this genre, narrative consistency is secondary to this being a straight male power fantasy, so they can't add anything remotely resembling a homoerotic note. Don't worry. They probably won't even let him be stupid about it. I'm fairly sure the protagonist will eventually have a, "I've known all along. I was only playing along for your sake," moment.
Final verdict: is this worth watching? Sure, if all you want is moe battle waifus in skintight outfits. But even only by those criteria, frankly, this anime is subpar. The narrative consistency is low even by the low standards of this genre. The animation is mediocre, at best, a pretty serious sin for a genre in which 50% of the draw is the fight sequences. And the character design is hamfisted and tropey, with almost no unique flourishes, another sin if your intended audience (hardcore male otaku, for a series like this) really wants more moe.
I rarely do this, but in the spirit of writing a proper review, if you actually enjoy this genre, just go watch Asterisk War instead. Yes, I rated that series 1 star too. But that show, at the very least, has quality animation in its best moments, has interesting visual design for some of its characters, and the story is not completely transparent. That show is a better example of this genre, and it's actually running its second season during this same season. This show, barring some miraculous reversal in quality over its run, is one of the worse examples.
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