Impression
We’re well into the season now, and our latest offering is Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil, a story set in a world where humans and magic users (or Wud) coexist. Laws on magic restrict violent or arbitrary usage; wizard barristers (or Benmashi) thus represent criminals who break these laws. It’s an interesting premise, the visuals are stunning and the protagonist is a cute, talented girl – although the pacing is lightning fast, I think this holds a lot of promise.
A world where magic is a very real concept is not uncommon – neither is a world where Muggles and Wuds coexist, giving rise to a lot of potential friction between them (social discrimination, inequality and whatnot). It’s rather interesting (and innovative) that they’ve chosen to focus on the legal aspect of things – and alongside that, the process of fighting and apprehending criminals, like we saw at the start of the episode. While I’m sure their duties lie primarily within the courtroom, I suppose a Benmashi could also go about fighting crime, like Cecil tried to do with that shady group. Though I don’t think it’ll make them any more cooperative even if she offers to defend them if they’ll turn themselves in 😀 While we haven’t seen a full trial yet, we saw a criminal being convicted – and was a harsh sentence. The death penalty seems rather extreme for homicide and disrupting the social order… although maybe that’s just me being a product of a society where the death penalty’s been abolished. It was carried out immediately as well – there was no room for appeals or anything, meaning that judges in these cases have a hell of a lot of power.
Anyway, our protagonist is Sudo Cecil, the youngest Benmashi in history! Main characters always tend to be cute girls in anime (not that I’m complaining) and I’m glad that she’s got some skills as well. Or at least I hope she does – her credentials on paper are great, and she’s got a lot of self-confidence, to the disapproval of some (including her fellow newbie, Hotaru Natsuna). I think her confidence isn’t just naivety though. We haven’t seen her defend anyone just yet, but I’ve got high hopes that she’ll pull it off really well! She’ll definitely be fine if she can argue a case as well as she uses magic (giant robots seem to be rather popular amongst many). I also have a feeling the person Cecil visited on her half day off was her mother, who has been imprisoned for reasons currently unknown. Maybe that’s why she became a Benmashi in the first place.
Cecil’s case has her representing an unfortunate defendant, Kohinata Souta, whose rashness got him accused of murder by magic. It was just bad luck that he happened to be visiting daily as an ex-employee to be near his crush… of course the police would interpret that as “scouting” out the bank in preparation for a robbery. If they accuse him of being an accomplice, it’d be the easiest explanation for his continued presence (although it doesn’t say anything about why he killed someone who was supposedly on his side). Claiming self-defence seems like the way to go here – although I don’t think the prosecution will make it that easy for her. There’ll probably be a barrister from another company representing the prosecution, which means there’s lots of potential friction between them and Butterfly. This case also has some significance for Butterfly as a whole – we don’t know what that is yet, but the police seemed rather grim over the office’s future after apprehending Kohinata for his crime.
There’s a lot to work with here, and I was pretty impressed by the episode in general. All the actions scenes were well animated, and I’m definitely excited by what the plot has in store for us in the future – let’s just hope it doesn’t end up like Galilei Donna did (director Umetsu’s last series). As for blogging… I’m fairly interested. The fast pacing was slightly disconcerting, but maybe that’s just because I’m feeling tired today xD I’ll give it three episodes for now, so you can expect me back for next week’s episode at least!
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed
Possibility of Blogging: High
Yay! This is one of the ones I was looking forward to. I liked the first episode, and I’m glad to see you did too. Looking forward to more!
It looks like there’s some behind-the-scenes maneuvering going on. I’m not sure if the folks are trying to go after Cecil, or just trying to ensure that she won’t be able to defend her client. Or trying to go after her BY ensuring that she can’t defend her client. Or going after Butterfly by making Cecil unable to defend her client… Ugh, now I’m seeing wheels within wheels…
Those folks are definitely up to no good, although I can’t quite tell who they’re affiliated with (nor what their goal is, as you said). Seeing as Cecil’s just recently arrived, I doubt she’s managed to make direct enemies that quickly – I’m leaning towards the idea that they’re associated with a rival office trying to bring down Butterfly. Or maybe they’re with the Wud criminals who tried to rob that bank? We’ll have to wait till next week to see xD
Two Words: HOLY SHIT.
DAMN, I knew this is going to an intense action packed show XD It’s a pity I am going to have to pass blogging this one. XD
I’m anticipating many more explosions and high-speed magic battles! While I knew there was going to be action, I didn’t think it’d be this intense xD
Umetsu is famous for his near-pornographic action series. Galilei Donna was totally toned down and not his thing unlike this one. I doubt he’ll screw up :p
That’s reassuring to hear. Galilei Donna was a trainwreck – I futilely kept faith in it until the part where Hozuki magically went back in time. Then the whole romance thing with Galileo just broke the camel’s back.