zaterdag 16 december 2023

(Average) The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent

Series in one sentence:
"I got so distracted by all that talk about herbs and alchemy that I forgot to ask about the monster attacks.." ~Sei, perfectly summarizing this fucking anime's problem.

Series in more sentences:
An overworked office worker is suddenly transported to a different world, in need of a holy saviour. She spawns alongside another girl, who is believed to be their saint and thus welcomed by the prince, while the older and less charming Sei is assumed to be an accidental summon.

With no way to return home, Sei is forced to find a purpose for herself and settles on becoming a potion maker, satiating her interest in herbs. Whilst learning the ropes, people begin to think a mistake has been made, since her magical abilities far exceeds that of the girl under the prince's smothering care.

Stop talking. Stop talking about herbs. Stop talking about fucking herbs, you unbearably boring show. For what reason is this such an inexplicable borefest! Where are the monsters! Where's the drama! Someone die, please!

The ingredients for a cool story are there, but Saint's Magic rarely cares to get to the point. Instead, it shows you Sei going on and on about her lame interests and how to improve her skills for her lame interests. Get comfortable, because your stupid ass is going to listen to every word of it. Hope you weren't expecting, you know, an actual adventure in this isekai series that speaks of monster attacks.

Sei spends her days happily performing her yawn-inducing hobby that accidentally exposes how strong her magic abilities are. Her love for herbs and alchemy felt so random. The only thing you learn about her before she gets summoned is that she was overworked and lived by herself. How does someone like her even have the time to be involved with a hobby like that, or know how to cook using herbs? The overworked don't cook, they are microwave artists.

Sei is an excruciatingly boring character in all terms; personality, interests, and physical design. The latter is more or less on purpose, but then, couldn't you at least work on her personality?
Most episodes don't further the story in any meaningful way, and those that do, only have about a minute of actual development.

Stop fucking making healing potions all day, go out there and fight monsters, which you were summoned to do! Shit!

In one episode she complains about the food, making you think she landed in a world were spices and such don't exist or are not considered as a food condiment, but then she goes on a date with her bland blond boyfriend an episode later, and the shish kebab they buy in some random village is apparently "oishī" like every anime character shouts out when they eat anything at all.. so then, what is it? Is this an old-timey world where its food does not compare to the overprocessed snacks of today, or does this kitchen at this ROYAL PALACE not know how to cook? Some random village fool is better than trained chefs, appointed by the king, really? Sad.

The series tries to get better further on, episode 7 finally shook me awake and features the other saint. This girl is everything I hoped Sei would be.
Aira is confused, cries over having lost her old life, and at the very least somewhat questions her surroundings and its people. She doesn't just settle on doing some random hobby, smiling away as if she hasn't been kidnapped.
The prince promises to look for a way to get her back home, giving her a good reason to get her spirits up, in fact, this guy has more of a story arc than any of the male characters Sei interacts with.

And then the episode ends. Back to the sleeping medicine that is Sei's story. And don't worry, Aira's superior story receives the most anticlimactic end, so no reason to get too upset.
They do no one right in this series.

There are only a few battles Sei takes part in and they're all slow and boring. Every other battle is fought off-screen, whereafter the soldiers return, gravely wounded, because not even highly trained soldiers who were born and raised in this world can take on these uninspired monsters plaguing them without losing a hand.

Sei doesn't do anything of true importance the entire series long. She makes potions all day that are supposedly very good, but then, why do men still return beaten up from battle? Doesn't sound like her craftsmanship makes any real difference.

The ending would've been alot more impactful if it were the entire country that got destroyed in battle, and if Sei and the captain had shared more scenes together that didn't consist out of her bolting it out of embarrassment. These two really didn't hang out that much throughout the story.

There's no resolve for Aira, who once expressed wanting to leave and instead assumed the position of Hogwarts student, the prince who looked after her and had the most intriguing story despite his few minutes of screentime got completely erased from the story, and the friends Sei started off with also make no prominent return.
This was a non-adventure. The most empty isekai I've seen, and I've seen aplenty empty isekais.


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