After a decade spent fighting monsters in the Shadow Labyrinth—a growing dark cloud of magic that threatens to engulf the world and destroy all life—mage Desir Herrman and his five companions finally face their last foe: the dragon of destruction Boromir Napolitan. Although the group of heroes manages to slay this formidable opponent, the tremendous amount of mana stored within the dragon's body is released in an unstoppable explosion that annihilates the rest of the world.
However, instead of dying, Desir is sent back 10 years into the past with complete memories of events to come. He enrolls at Hebrion Academy, determined to put an end to the classist prejudice plaguing the magical world that will ultimately lead to the demise of humanity. Unfortunately, his struggle begins early on during the entrance exams; although he is ranked first of his group, Desir is assigned to the Beta Class, the default class for commoners.
Now, Desir's next objective is to rally someone to his cause that he could not save in his previous life: the wind mage Romantica Eru. Then, Desir will have to show his worth to the Alpha Class with his newly formed party if he wants to ultimately save as many lives as possible.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Have you ever thought to yourself "Hey, this manga would be great as an anime! Why hasn't it been done yet?" That was me with this show--- about 5 years ago when I first started reading the Manhwa. After completing it I can safely say it absolutely FLOPPED and did not live up to expectation like with Attack on Titan or Mushoku Tensei. But looking back on it, the signs were there and realistically even with better animation or editing this was about the level of quality to be expected. I will put it here if you don't want to read the following ramblings: This is showis not very good, is kinda boring, but provides a bit of entertainment if you like Isekai, Fantasy Academy stuff.
I can't comment on the Manhwa since I only read maybe a hundred chapters years ago and honestly don't remember much about it, but I think that in and of itself says something.
Minor Spoilers, if you couldn't figure it out from the title, the main character of the story is Desir, a magician, who goes back in time to save his friends(?) and his magic and his use of it is abnormal, special even one could say. Now, as it sounds this should be a fairly standard I-Can't-Believe-It's-Not-Isekai fantasy story that feels like an Isekai because of the aforementioned premise, but there were a few points to it that make it, or would have made it, a more interesting story.
First, the protagonist isn't overpowered, sorta. Much like many other stories from Korean authors, Desir isn't overpowered because of some God-Given Gift or power but rather his own intelligent use of his abilities, skills, and knowledge.
Second, he is returning to save people who had died rather than for some self-serving purpose. Instantly makes him a more likeable and supportable character whom has their own autonomy.
Third, a harem. You know it. I know it. We watch these shows because it tickles that little funny part of our monkey brains for a nice dopamine hit. However, this show spices it up by making it a more pseudo-harem feel. Like in his eyes he loves them, as his kids, and not as romantic partners so it doesn't feel weird and makes it more wholesome while having fairly legitimate reasons for them to interact the way they do.
Now putting that all together you get a show just as interesting as you reading me list out all of the interesting things about the show. It's bland, tasteless, but also exactly what you came for while knowing it may or may not have something fun or exciting to read.
Did that blow your mind?
Don't worry, I only noticed after I had written out that entire dissertation and realized it truly encapsulated what the show felt like.
If this review bored the crap out of you, there's your answer. I personally slept through 2 episodes before I noticed and ended up having to rewatch them only because where I woke up at seemed interesting and I had hopes it would eventually get better. It did not.
However, If you found this review piqued your interest in the show or found it mildly informative, then you may like the show. It had its fun points and may scratch that fantasy itch
Recommended
What would you do if you failed to save the world? What if you had one more chance? What would you do differently? That is what this story is trying to tell, the story of a second chance. A Returner's Magic Should Be Special is about how Desir failed to save the world and now gets a second chance, by traveling back to the start of his time in a magical academy. We then follow him trying to change what happened originally, to hopefully change the outcome of the world's possible end. The plot is very much about the growth of characters and to start building upknowledge and power, so they can stand together. Through this do you see how Desir hopes to have people more prepared and change the mistakes that originally happened. Which is done through some interesting arcs that help show the world at the academy and a glimpse of how the wider world works.
The characters in itself are based on stereotypes that are seen before, but none of them is done in a really extreme or frustrating way. You explore Desir’s past throughout the season and start to understand why he is making specific choices, so you don't see him evolve that much, but instead learns more about him and his past. The other characters you see grow, overcome obstacles and have a steady progression forward.
This is also a show that sticks very close to the original fantasy vibe, where magic is not explained by levels, but instead is purely based on skill and abilities.
The show also has a specific style of animation that puts much focus on colors, which can especially be seen in the characters' hair, since they have some interesting color schemes.
Overall, is this a good fantasy anime that has a nice plot and some stereotypical roles done right, so i would definitely recommend giving this a watch.
KaKaydansnk
November 3, 2024
Recommended
This is underrated so I chose to overrate it. As per-usual, those who read the source material are heavily influencing the negative reviews 🙄 and consequently hurting the author and their prospective fan base. No better way to say “I really enjoyed your book” than by hitting them straight in the wallet amiright? Moving on. There are not even an eighth as many “returnee” anime’s as there are mangas/manhwa etc and it’s a crying shame, I hope this statement ages like milk in the future 😌 So that aside, this anime was great. The characters were all distinctive, and art was well drawn and captivatingand the story was cohesive. Anime is not known for its subtlety, but this one hit the subtle in the spots where it was needed and the “in your face” when it wasn’t.
It is compared to Irregular at Magic High often and I think that’s very fair. It’s like if someone took tIaMHS and made it less stupid and more coherent. The issue of discrimination is handled much more sensibly. In Irregular the discrimination issue boiled down to [i]it makes me feel bad[/i] before being shoved under the rug. In this it was taken more seriously and from an angle of “look how much talent we are wasting”. The problem is overarching and the very future depends on maximizing everyone’s potential. So that’s one aspect I really liked.
I also love the way the main character is portrayed. He seems to have it all together and took his time travel in stride, but with little slip-ups you can see how much he isn’t actually okay (without the anime spending needless screen time monologuing.. as if watchers are so dumb they need things spelled out) so I guess what I’m saying is I enjoyed that the creators are trusting the audience.
I dearly hope this gets enough season renewals that we are able to watch it do it’s conclusion.
jajackreacher1992
February 28, 2024
Not Recommended
The story did have some potential considering the manwha already has a built in fanbase. However, the studio did it so half-heartedly that a story that deserves 7 or 8 out of 10 becomes a 2 really and averages out at 4 or 5. The characters feel forced, the MC's determination feels half-assed, but the biggest drawback is the animation. It's not that it's the worst, it's just weirdly slow and clunky, like worse than mid 2000s video game, same with dialogue- it felt like something written and acted by AI. It walks such a weird line of rushed or skipped plot but super slowdialogue and animation. Like when you're watching a video buffer but it's not buffering actually. Yet it skips all the elements that might have made me care about the side characters or their motivations or something along those lines.
My recommendation- READ THE MANWHA if you're interested.
