Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon

Art: 7/10 There isn't anything particulary new for the art. It is not bad, just okay. So animations are - there isn't spectacular show to see but it's decent. Characters could've been designed a little better for me but i didn't dislike it all. Sounds: 6/10 Firstly, Opening and Ending songs are pretty good and somehow cachy. Too badly that there isn't too much "background" music in the actual show. Sound effects and voice acting are just okay for me - just like with art. Character: 6/10 Basically we have here standard set of characters, typical for romance/ecchi/harem anime. Every female "hero" 35 is in love with our MC. Wehave booby-one, perv-one, shy-one, open-one and they all are like: He's mine! Don't try to take him away from me! So it's nothing special but it's kinda funny after all. On the other every character have some problems which we discover tro the show although the plot is too rushed. Story: 6/10 I've seen a big potential. I thought it may be something different from typical harem/love/friendship (dunno) anime. Story is too rushed and too focused on romances and friendships in the 2nd half of the show. So it's just okay - nothing more. Enjoyment: 8/10 I did enjoy the show. It made me laugh in some parts and generally it was light to watch. Decent show If we have some free time. Overall: 6/10 As I mentioned above this show have had potenial but it turned out to be another harem focused anime with bad developed romance and rushed story. Other than that there isn't anything special in art, animation, sounds and characters - everything is just okay.

Ah Silver Link. You...you really didn't do a good job this season, now did you... Story: Kusanagi Takeru is a student at AntiMagic Academy. In a world where magic and witches run rampant, only one platoon is fit for the job. No, not the top ones, this little one called Platoon 35 with only 5 people. One guy and four girls. That's...that's a harem right there. The story, as mentioned before, follows the 35th or "Small Fry Platoon", comprising of what many in the Antimagic academy call a platoon of failures. Following a more arcic setup on account ofthe way that the light novels are arranged, the show organizes itself to follow the story of the LN's (with quite some variation might I add) from start to end. As a fantasy series, Antimagic requires quite a bit of explanation in order to progress the story, and that's really only when the problems for this adaptation begins. Pacing (like every other show Silver Link made this Fall 2015) is the main issue for this adaptation. Because Silver Link wanted to do so much in so little, a lot of the content that was in the original LN was cut out to the point that most of what was happening didn't make complete sense or was made so insignificant that even if it was key to the plot, you would never know whether or not it was. As a result of the pacing issue, the series lost a lot of its own content and became only a hollow shell of its former self. They rushed so much that I began questioning what was even going on in front of me, and that is never a good sign. The ending itself didn't really solve much of anything either because the show just...ended. It dropped everything that was happening and created an original ending that was just kinda shoehorned in there just to finish off what they were doing. That is not only a bad move, but leaves a lot to be desired. Overview: + Interesting premise - Terrible, terrible pacing issues - Lack of explanation - Lackluster ending Characters: Characters in Antimagic also share some semblance of lacking quality similar to its story. Up first we have Kusanagi Takeru, the main protagonist of the Antimagic series. As the main protagonist of a harem series, he has the 'nice' quality that almost every godforsaken one of those dense asshats have. As a wielder of the Kusanagi sword arts, Takeru spends most of the series on missions to aid the girls in his Platoon of their problems and does so with promise to share half of their burden. As such, he has built up quite a legion of potential wives just like others of his kin. (Kin being other harem protags.) He's also apparently prone to anger, but that just doesn't seem like it's in there. Then we have the girls in the series. Ouka, Mari, Usagi, Ikaruga, and Lapis. As with all harem series, I will give a quick rundown for all of them. Ouka: Token tsundere of the series. Mari: A witch forced to be part of the platoon. The one with the bust complex. Usagi: The small one with the oversized chest. Quite easy to tease and is quite the wimp. Ikaruga: The last one to give a shit about anything. Also flirty. Lapis: Kusanagi's Relic Eater. (Basically, a zanpaktou of sorts.) The loli/kuudere character. The entire runtime of the series is essentially devoted to these girls (except Lapis) and their respective arcs. With each proceeding arc, we tackle one of the girls' issues, cure or take care of it, induct them further into Takeru's harem, rinse and repeat. The problem here is that the pacing issues really hamper what we know about the characters. Because it's so rushed, the explanations are either incomplete, or so pushed through that it doesn't really make sense. As such, the reason as to why or how they changed really doesn't make the most sense and doesn't fulfill the character development that they should have. In addition, the show doesn't really focus on a lot of the other characters as much. All of the other characters are pretty much shafted to the side to be plot related more than anything else. Even going to the extent of showing you a few scenes of characters that Antimagic fans know, but never get to experience because the time they're shown in is so miniscule. Overview: +/- Semi-decent main characters - Lack of character development/personality - Other characters are pretty much ousted and/or only show up when needed Art: Art for Antimagic is a bit of a rickety subject. For the most part, Antimagic has a lot of fairly nice animation, as the general look of the show has a moody yet bright look to it that genuinely looks nice as an artstyle. They also have quite a few magic circles and other magical bits like that that look nice and detailed. On the flipside however, because Antimagic has power suits, mechs, and the like, a lot of the action scenes with those qualities have CGI attached to them, making Takeru's fighting form and other things in the show look like clunky bits of CG that are only semi-meshed with the background. As such, it looks quite awkward to see the CG in an animated background, creating a clash that just looks off. Especially in the last episode. Overview: + Good standard animation - Bad CGI Sound: The OP and ED tracks for Antimagic are quite hit and miss. The OP for starters sounds so generic and one-note that I don't think it's really think it's worth mentioning. The ED on the other hand has a tone to it that connects more to the Antimagic series, as it's a more technical, more darker or melancholic tone that relates to some of what goes on in the series. Personal Enjoyment: I heard quite a few good things about Anti-magic academy before going into it. Things about how the females were very strong despite being a harem series, there were some pretty deep and personal arcs for the characters, and there was an imouto that turned into cthulu. Well...I guess one out of three wasn't bad? Did I enjoy this anime? I wouldn't say I enjoyed this anime as I was intrigued by it. A lot of what was shown was ok to watch, I laughed a bit, but there wasn't really anything that made me think that this was worth more than I'm giving it. What didn't I like about this anime? The rushing. I had to get someone to explain to me what was going on with every passing episode, and just saw how much there was missing. Plus, the CGI is eye gouging. It's not as bad as other series' I've seen, but it's definitely not good CGI. (I don't think any CGI in anime is really that good tbh.) Would I recommend this anime? Not...really. I would say you're better off reading the LN. They skip over so much detail that you'll be left with more questions than answers if you watch this by itself. (Or without someone to spoon feed you information like I did.)

It's becoming a common occurrence for various series that I know absolutely nothing about to blindside me and overtake a 4-5 hour portion of my life, leaving nothing but a few gasps and several wide-eyed stares in their respective wakes. In just this year alone, it's happened with shows like Ranpo Kitan, Death Parade, SaeKano, and so many others. Why do so many of the shows that I haven't looked into wind up being better than the ones I count down the days for? Am I just overhyping things too much? Anyway, Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon is just another example of one ofthese series to glide in under my radar and become something much bigger than anticipated. However, not everyone seems to see it that way. Being another light novel adaptation, the Anti-Magic Academy anime already had a story set in stone prior to its creation. This is both a good and bad thing. The good part is that since the product has already been exposed to the general populous, there are a guaranteed few people who will be tuning in to see how the anime turns out. The bad part, though, is that these same people are typically the ones to shout, "Heresy!" when things don't play out exactly as they should. Personally, I haven't read the light novels. And I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing at this point after reading so many reviews from people who did. Written by Touki Yanagimi with art from Kippu, Anti-Magic Academy focuses on one of the many different student platoons of the aptly named "Anti-Magic Academy." However, the platoon that we will be spending our time with (Platoon 35) isn't exactly the best one out there. In fact, they're total crap in comparison to every other platoon of the school. But that all changes once Ouka Ootori is appointed as its newest inquisitor. For those that haven't watched the series, inquisitors are basically this anime's version of magic-police, or people who dedicate their lives to eliminating "Witches" which can be viewed as criminalistic mages for lack of a better word(s). Ouka Ootori happens to be a damn good one, but that's probably because she has given up everything else in her life in order to exact revenge for her sister, who was basically killed by a witch. Kind of. As for the rest of the platoon, well, they're pretty okay. I guess. The leader of the 35th test platoon, Takeru Kusanagi, is a level-headed, semi-typical male protagonist. And I say semi-typical because he isn't an overly-dense unrealistic moron that doesn't realize he is the main character of a harem. Takeru isn't just another carbon copy of this type of character, though. His backstory, which is briefly highlighted in the later portion of the anime, is actually pretty cool. There is this whole thing with how he is forced into either protecting or murdering his sister (SPOILER: She's a witch) and it's actually really cool. The other characters are all equally memorable as well. There's Usagi: The sniper rabbit, Suginami: The girl next door if that girl never left her house, and Mari Nikaidou: The second cutest girl of the season. The cast itself is probably the most memorable of the season as far as I'm concerned, and a huge reason for that is that each one was actually developed. Here is where the light-novel fans are probably clenching their fists and thinking, "Yo, they weren't developed at all! Suginami only had three episodes of backstory! WTF?!". The fact of the matter is this -- we're looking at a typical one-cour show. With the 12 episodes we have, there isn't a ton of time for development. But honestly, the way this development was handled was actually significantly better than a bunch of other adaptations that face the same issue. Look at Toyko Ghoul √A for example. Do you remember how they handled character development? That's right, they just skipped over it entirely. Anti-Magic Academy actually gives some thought to each of its characters, even if that time wasn't in the form of six-episode arcs for each person. One of the best things about Anti-Magic Academy is how unafraid it is to highlight the darker portions of its story -- a feat that a lot of anime nowadays strays away from in order to achieve a better time-slot and ultimately be exposed to a wider variety of people. There is actually a ton of moments in this series that will make you think, "Wait, what is this show rated?" and those moments really go on to sculpt another unique viewing experience. But at the same time, the series still dedicates sufficient time to those fanservice-craving viewers that just want to see Suginami without her shirt on. That's not a bad thing, don't worry, guys. In fact, I think that's a totally plausible reason to watch this show in the first place. I mean, come on. We all know it. In the later portion of the show, we are finally introduced to Kusanagi's little sister, Kiseki (Which is an incredibly perfect name for her character if you know the meaning of the word). Kiseki is basically Saya from Saya no Uta, meaning that she is basically so awesome that her awesomeness can't be contained and takes on the form of a giant monster that wants to kill everyone. In fact, she is so awesome that the inquisition has had to chain her up for years now just to ensure that she doesn't escape and kill all of their families, making her into some sick test-subject for the inquisition who, up until now, appeared to be the good guys. And so they kill her hundreds of times every day, only to have her constantly respawn as if nothing had ever happened. This sequence of events is not only disturbing and totally f'ed up, but excruciatingly depressing as soon as we find out how adorable and kind she really is. Needless to say, Kusanagi finds everything out about her being murdered all the time and totally flips on the inquisition and spirals into a madness centered on protecting his sister at all costs. And considering this is a harem, his entire platoon follows him, putting their lives on the line as well, culminating in an action-packed arc that turned this series into something even bigger -- a story about "Right vs. Wrong." Now, I don't think I'd go as far as saying this is an essential watch or how I will remember this for the rest of my life. But it's shows like these that serve as a reminder as to why I watch anime. The first two anime series I ever watched were Love Hina and Elfen Lied. And, in a weird way, this is kind of a wonky combination between those two, as well as...Index or something along those lines. What I'm trying to say is that everyone has that niche -- that one type of show that really appeals to them in a nostalgic sort of way. For me, Anti-Magic Academy was just that. I don't care about the light novel (Though I will definitely buy it if winds up being published in the US), I don't care about what this anime "skipped." I care about what I saw. And to sum it up, what I saw was everything that I wanted to see, wrapped tightly in one unique package. In Summary: Despite what you may hear about it, Anti-Magic Academy is well-paced action drama that pays close attention to what its viewers want to see. Character development is executed well for the short amount of time the series has to offer, and the cast is one of the most lovable and memorable of the year. A surprisingly dark story will reel you in within the first several episodes and continue to surprise you from that point on. Though the art might not be as beautiful as some other series out there, the story and cast more than make up for it. If you like action, cute girls, an actual story and weird eyeball-flesh-monsters, this anime might just be what you've been searching for.

"Everyone in my crew was killed except me and Shizuka-chan," a cheerful girl says, in a voice she might use to describe her trip to the store to buy milk and eggs. Remember in the second half of Sword Art Online when the story suddenly dealt with rape and it was really weird and badly handled? This anime reminds me of that. It's really cliche and shallow, bearing striking resemblance to other mediocre anime such as Gakusen Toshi Asterisk or Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry, but it has a lot of dark moments showing (relatively) graphic violence and, eventually, attempted rape. And it just comes off badly.The show's too shallow and immature to handle those aspects well. And given how goofy it is the rest of the time it's just all over the place. But the really sad thing is how that's nearly the only notable element of this show. Otherwise it's just rampantly cliche. It's badly paced, flitting between mostly unconcnected storylines before ending on one that, besides being very bad, doesn't get nearly enough setup to feel climactic or important. Both of the shows I mentioned earlier are actually much better than this anime, which takes a very played out premise and fails to deliver on it quite badly.