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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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[series:4592#628] | ||||||
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(Seven episodes watched): This was the first new series of the Winter 2023 season that genuinely excited me, though in the end it didn't turn out to be nearly as good as it had initially seemed. A team of disillusioned adventurers? That might be fun. Each has a believable backstory: Nick was declared not suited to be an adventurer at all by the man, Argas, who he had admired and loyally served. Afterwards he passed his time as a fanatical fan of an Idol(!). Tiana, a blond mage, got so good at magic that her fiance became jealous and dumped her (then she lost her money gambling). The priest Father Zem was framed by a girl who wanted him to fall in love with her. Curran, a 'Dragonian' says only that something precious was stolen from her by someone she trusted. Each is mostly, but not completely, innocent of the charges levelled against them. They are not perfect, which paradoxically makes them unusual and more interesting. The only fault most isekai characters have is that they have not yet become as powerful and skillful as they possibly could. It's easy to sympathize with them. What with their detailed backgrounds, I got the feeling that episode one had been unusually long, but no it was just the usual 23 minutes. The story seemed to race forward without wasting any time, which is rare and a sign of quality. Basically, a fresh twist on isekai anime, which is something that is badly needed. I looked forward to more of this. Episode two was OK, but not as good as I had been hoping. The four members of the new group, 'Survivor' (apparently there will eventually be a fifth) go on their first adventures and have some trouble with how much they can trust each other. But it seemed unfocused and confusing; I got the impression that to a large extent they were already friends and trusted each other, and the accidents which shook that trust seemed pretty weak. Given that their disllusionment is supposed to play such a large part in the premise, I could only wonder why more wasn't made of this opportunity. I also noticed that the animation of action scenes is pretty modest. Episode three lays out Curran's past--how she was betrayed by a team she had come to trust. This incident didn't make a whole lot of sense to me; what did the others gain by figuratively stabbing Curran in the back? Did they actually consider her expendable all along and were OK with sacrificing her when it suited their purposes? The answer should be obvious and unequivocal (and might have been expressed with more finesse). My overall impression was that while this show has an intriguing premise, it wasn't being exploited to its full potential. This show was suddenly looking OK rather than great. In episode four the Survivors get their fifth member, or maybe I should say they have four-and-a-half members, because this person, Kizuna, can transform back and forth from a human appearance to a fearsome magical sword. This is the 'Sword of Bonds' that somehow is strongest when the 'bonds' between the members of the team using it are strongest. Or something like that. It seems to me that trust between the Survivors is already about as strong as in the average adventuring team (they were each willing to risk their own lives for the sake of their comrades during the fight with a big Golem). So, had that problem already been solved? These characters were not looking quite as novel as they did during episode one. As of the end of episode five, there is still no discernable sign of the crisis that will put the world itself in danger. Could Kizuna be the key to fixing things? For now we get to know her (or him?) better and the team undertakes modest quests. Somehow they get into a combined mathematics/boxing contest(!?), which made no sense at all. Again, aren't the Survivors supposed to save the world somehow? I was left thinking that maybe I should drop this show which had initially seemed so promising to me. In episode seven there's a situation where Tiana is being grilled by a monster with the ability to detect lies. She convinces it that the members of the Survivors cooperate purely out of convenience and feel no particular loyalty to each other. But that was news to me; I had gotten the impression that they had already become a closely knit, all-for-one-and-one-for-all team. If that is not so and there really is something unusual about them, this show has done a very poor job of impressing that important message on us. If it were not for the tantalizing promise that they will save the world someday, I would have quit watching already. Even so, I doubted if this show would get any better than a 'Watch', and I don't have time for shows of that caliber. Last updated Saturday, April 15 2023. Created Sunday, January 08 2023. | ||||||||
