Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu

The low score is based on the lack of: antagonist, plot twists, suspense, character dev, quality dialogue, and etc that a good story should have. I found this series from recommendations of another shoujo anime that I watched, Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. Some 8 people recommended watching this series... What a mistake! Generally, I enjoy shoujo and the like with sentimental stories even if it's a harem. Sadly, Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu failed my expectations. Story 2/10: The plot is super basic, predictable, and therefore boring. There is no antagonist in the story, no real conflict or anything that can cause emotions, characters just exist. Thedialogues are boring. Either character say what will happen next and it happens, or its just a filler talk. I have not seen an anime with filler talk before. Who do they think will like this?? Art 4/10: You can feel the cut corners in the plain basic backgrounds and characters don't carry any unique designs. At least they use a normal modern anime style and it helps to make the story more bearable. Sound 5/10: No complaints, no annoying music, but no masterpieces or even catchy tunes. Mostly elevator music that is good enough for this show. In some scenes, voice actors were a bit hurried and didn't get enough time to perfect their lines. I attribute that to the low budget. Character 3/10: Little to no character development, effortless magic. Love from first sight. Enjoyment 2/10: I would say for a certain demographic (12 and under) this will be an okay show to watch. I did not find it enjoyable at all, it feels like a Disney fairy tale written through the eyes of a Japanese salaryman. Not a true shoujo.

"The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent" or "Saint Isekai" (or "Sei Isekai") is definitely the hidden gem of this season. A show that was rather down in the list of seasonals, I initially just skipped over it, but after hearing a few things about it, I decided to give it a try, and had a HUGE surprise waiting for me. This anime immediately jumped to the top of my seasonal list. You see, Saint Isekai doesn't do TOO much new in the field. We've seen Isekais before, and we've seen that one fantasy world maybe a bit too much. But still, it is able to play its cardsright. Sei, our main character, voiced by Ishikawa Yui (aka Mikasa from AoT) does an excellent job at giving her a more "chill" and relaxed voice, as opposed to the usual shouting we know she does. Sei as a character was definitely a fun one. She originally gets summoned to the other world against her will, and cast aside by the summoners, making her feel very annoyed and angry about the situation. But after taking some time she decides to at least make the best of what she has and even make it a better life compared to what she had before at home. Meeting new people, making new friends, and slowly learning about her own powers, was definitely a treat to watch. On top of that, add the various funny expressions she did, and you've got yourself an extremely adorable, yet human, character. In addition, we've got some slow-paced romance sprinkled on top of it. It's not exactly THE main theme, but it's definitely there and gives us the spice we need in between. Unfortunately for Saint Isekai, I felt like the worldbuilding in general was very lacking. Magic boiled down to a few basic elemental spells and the Saint herself can basically just use different degrees of healing abilities. It also doesn't really help that the fight animations are also pretty non-existent and we mostly have "powerpoint presentations", but since it's not really the focus of the show, I did not feel it was that bad. Although the art in comparison did feel very off and having half-drawn faces was pretty off-putting. All in all, Saint Isekai was a fun show to watch. Watching Sei grow as a character alongside her new friends, seeing her experiment with different aspects of her power and having a bit of romance in between. 8/10

After many attempts, Diomedea got it right. Finally we have an anime that we can rate the studio for its progress and execution in adapting a show based on a Light Novel. Honestly, since the demise of Domestic at Kanojo, I've had no hope of a studio that has been known to significantly damage the original material and which has consequently crippled the entire franchise. But now it's an exception, this time we have to recognize a good job! Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu is the kind of show that arrived in 2021 with an idea that was often questioned about its own functionality, evenmore so by those responsible for the show. Diomedéa's staff, as mentioned above, does not have a positive reputation, as their latest projects were weak and didn't even present quality or exclusivity. This is not the case with this anime. Of course, Sei is the protagonist who enters and is summoned into another world, more specifically, the Kingdom of Salutania, along with another character, Aira. One of the two aims to save the kingdom from the evils of a miasma, which strengthens and attracts monsters against unprepared people. Unlike the more common isekais, where the main character automatically fits into a group of strong heroes and mages, Sei starts out in the world as another civilian who is unaware even of the concept of magic and potions. She, like us, arrives in this world without many expectations of consolidation and positivity, considering that the universe is classic for being boring and uninteresting. Sei even expresses at the beginning of the episodes her breaking of expectations, until curiosity takes her to formidable places. After meeting Jude, one of the employees of the Research Institute, who use herbs and other plants to create medicines and healing potions, Sei becomes interested in a new branch in his life, while his powers and his supposed qualification like Saint are still kept secret and in rumors throughout the kingdom. Sei develops from the beginning the practice and techniques of magic and begins to stand out within the Institute, attracting the interest of Johan, one of those responsible for the place. Along with this, the protagonist begins her shy adventures with responsibility and caution, while she forms good friendships and relationships throughout the kingdom. Her evolution as an important character is remarkable, in fact, the universe and the natural environment work positively and create a perspective very close to Sei, where she builds strong bonds and wants to help as much as possible. Well, even though Prince Kyle had segregated her and ignored her during her summoning, Sei wasn't shaken at all. In fact, the setbacks made her more mature and decisive in relation to her actions and honors, which made the character popularly known. Even though he had an internal responsibility not to expose himself too much for being the real Saint, if an emergency could be resolved by her, Sei wouldn't hesitate to help. Part of this makes her a miraculous person in the lives of the citizens of Salutania. But it's not just Sei who stands out during the show. Like Jude and Johan, other characters who come into her life promote her well-being and support her in the simple moments of her research. Ashley, her first friend, sees Sei as a modest girl, but recognizes her incredible potential to save many lives, Drewes is the strongest wizard in the entire kingdom, becoming a teacher and a support for research and improvement. Aira is a character constantly subdued by being considered a farce by the students of the magic school, but Sei supports her, even though the title of Saint has already been used by both of them, by others. Finally, Hawke. He is the head of the third order of knights and is always with Sei, just as a prince accompanies the princess on her tours of the realm (and beyond). I must say that the coolest and most relaxed moments come from their conversations and the relationship that can become a very prosperous love. Although the show has a greater dedication to the characters, the universe is not harmed during the adventures. Sei is basically the catalyst that promotes future adventures and discovery, like the Klausner region, the herb land of the Kingdom of Salutania. Sei's desire to discover new things during the episodes is conveyed by the audience with competence and dedication. Even though some episodes are sometimes tiring at first glance, episode composition and direction help sustain the show as he connects Sei with his new receptions and events. This promotes a very good show in character and world building. In fact, it's the biggest highlight of the entire show. Without that, we would possibly not have a charming potential within the anime. Finally, Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu is an anime that really deserves greater prominence, as it consolidated well in 2021. I didn't imagine I would find a strong show that was interesting in so many ways at the same time, especially in the last moments, where good stories are lost, or in shows that dedicate more to the universe and forget to incorporate good characters. Seijo is an example of an anime that did very well and united these two audiovisual construction elements in a dynamic and promising way. It's a show that I look forward to a sequel as soon as possible. And again, congratulations to Estúdio Diomedéa, even with a low expectation about this project, the staff was very important to keep the qualities visibly high. If you haven't seen this show yet, give it a try, it sure is better conducted than countless recent isekais.

Tl:dr: Unless you are part of the targeted audience (i.e a female anime fan, preferably of non adult age), this anime has no redeeming feature Nothing like an anime with a cute girl on the promotional picture. It's an isekai slice of life? I mean, the competition is big so maybe the author is just that confident in themselves. Oh, so it was targeted at a female audience and I've been jebaited... Well so be it. Otome game was also aimed at a female audience and I enjoyed it, so really it can't be that bad, right? Well it was that bad. Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou desu,or the Saint's magical power is omnipotent is, as you may have guessed already, a power fantasy slice of life isekai, with a twist, twist being that female exist and they probably like to have their own self insert power fantasy. Who knows, maybe there's been outcry asking for that and if there was, rejoice woman, you can now also have a mediocre anime to your demographic. But more actual criticism rather than me just shitting on an anime that was very obviously not made for me. One big issue I have that may sound like a small nitpick, but the naming convention in the anime, while it wasn't the best, was plenty good enough. Now can someone explain to me WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOUR EUROPEAN INSPIRED MEDIEVAL FANTASY ALTERNATE WORLD HAVE A CHARACTER NAMED KYLE?! That may not be much, but to me it was extremely painful to hear. Kyle? How the fuck is that a medieval sounding name? Fucking hell he was even one of the two better characters. But whatever, I'll just chalk it up to the author being drunk. Next, the story, it was shit. It's your classic world ending calamity threatens to take over the world and only your very powerful but very uninteresting self insert protagonist can destroy this menace. Now I'm not the kind of guy to pee in the cum sock, I know it's a slice of life isekai and therefore the story is kind of a lower priority, but it would have been a lot better if you didn't pretend to care by having random uneventful battles where things happen and the protagonist gets some sort of boost. Also, talking about boost, the power of love? This anime is clearly targeted towards teenage girls, or perhaps emotionally immature female adults? Who knows, that's clearly beyond me. Now, my personal philosophy is that the "It's slice of life, so of course there is no story" excuse is only valid if your characters are good. Is it the case here? Fuck no, or this review would have been a lot nicer to this garbage. The more obvious thing out of the way, this anime has a bad harem vibe to it, as in, every single character interaction revolves around our protagonist. That's a real problem, because it makes the world feel static. One small upside is Aira's small arc in the story, which lifted up this Anime for one second before it fell back down into the crapper, because she took over some of the character interaction before Sei took back the monopoly. Secondly, the characters are as interesting as a plain wall. You have to watch them, but they are extremely boring, and their purpose is very obviously to support our main character, which is yet again a self insert, meaning that every interaction is boring as shit and very few characters have slightly decent quirks, you've seen them for 10 seconds and they already feel old, and even those with said quirks get boring fast, because that's all they have going for them. Fuck, now I feel like the anti-moe patrol, this anime was very clearly not for me. The production was actually alright, hell it even looks good at times, so I can't really deck it on that one. Great going Diomedea, you've carried an irredeemable piece of garbage. And that's it, this anime doesn't have any good aspect, consumes itself like a bad fanfiction and can only cater to teenage girls, the kind to look for romance in every little interaction. A waste of time but that's what anime is all about.

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