Happy Halloween everyone! I felt it fitting to get this post out on Halloween so here we are! It’s been quite a while since the announcement for this series and while I wasn’t super hyped for it, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to how they’d adapt it. I have been playing the english release of the game for a few years due to a deal I made with a friend and stayed for the pretty card art and the story is actually pretty engaging. A part of me was a little worried because… a mobile game turned anime almost never goes well. glances at ensemble stars So I was going into this a little wary since this could have very well just ended up as more or less just a fanservice project like Ensemble Stars. Just from the first episode I think it is a little difficult to tell the overall quality of what this anime will be like, but it wasn’t bad. But I think because I already know these characters, it’s a little difficult for me to definitively say if this episode was a GOOD introduction to the series.
And while I don’t fully remember how the series started in game, apparently they are taking the manga route where they are adapting the manga rather than straight from the game. Which could prove to be better in this case… maybe… we’ll have to wait and see. Though it’ll definitely be interesting to see how they handle the rest of the arcs since in the manga there is a different protagonist for each one. We are introduced to Yuken, the “Yu” for this arc (which all the protagonists will have in their names in some form or another) and I do really like this guy’s design. He slightly reminds me of a character I like elsewhere, but that is besides the point. Considering we don’t really have much of a personality in the game, it’ll be interesting to follow the story through Yuken’s point of view and personality. Because we didn’t really get any background on the “Yu” from the game, I actually felt really sad that Yuken got forcefully taken away right before an important kendo match. Especially with how much effort he put into making a kendo team from scratch and was essentially a role-model to the other members. Though will never not be funny to me how this is literally an isekai into a “Disney-like world” and instead of “Truck-kun”, Yuken got hit by “Carriage-kun” as people have already dubbed it lol.
Yuken is then brought into this weird mishmash of a world between Disney and Hogwarts and was chosen to attend a magic school despite not even being able to do magic. I actually don’t even remember whether or not the “Yu” in the game even develops magic or not. So I’m not sure if they’ll address the situation a little more straightforward or just pass it off as a mistake. Which makes it even more tragic BECAUSE HE NEEDED TO GET BACK FOR HIS KENDO TOURNAMENT. Guy literally already went through an anime of his own to get to that point, only to be transported to a completely different genre lol. Just when things were already confusing and crazy enough, chaos erupts when Grim crashes in and sets everything on fire. To which, with a room full of magic users… does no one know a water spell or something??? Even the headmaster was completely useless and did not help whatsoever. And not gonna lie, I feel like that scene dragged on a little too long.
And then I think we run into the first issue of the mobile game turned anime where it wants to showcase EVERY SINGLE character all at once. Granted, some of them are still missing but it just felt a little haphazard with giving us small moments from every single character. Not to mention they kept panning to every single house warden… several times. The once was fine, but then they KEPT doing it. While it was nice to see everyone, I kind of wish they kept the focus mainly on the Heartslybul cast instead of bouncing from one character to another. Like the first reaction shot was fine to show us the different characters, but then it started feeling messy when we had to get a scene from each of them. Which made it feel like it was done just as fanservice for the people who are already familiar with the series, but could be overwhelming for the people being introduced to the series for the first time. So… maybe not the strongest first episode but not the worst I’ve seen.
Right off the bat, I will admit, I am a big Riddle fan. He’s probably my second favorite character out of the series and his story arc so far is my favorite in the game, so I am EXCITED to see how the anime adapts this arc. I typically don’t like angry/violent characters, but he’s just a little angy guy that I can’t help but be amused by him. His backstory is also probably one of the best too which does fantastic in explaining why he is the way that he is. And seeing him animated in all his glory, I admit I did giggle in excitement watching him. They did a really good job on his design in the anime. All of the details are pleasing to my eyes lol. I don’t remember if Riddle threatened “Yu” in the game after the Grim incident, but it’s clear that he and Yuken in the anime have not started in the best of terms. Not only did Yuken unknowingly disrupt their opening ceremony, but he also made the mistake of trying to help when Riddle has a large amount of pride of being able to handle everything on his own. So Yuken “saving” Riddle seemed to be an insult to him towards his capabilities. It’ll definitely be interesting to see how their relationship develops so long he’s able to keep his “head from rolling.”
There were some things that irked me a bit while watching. Besides the “cram every single character into one episode” situation, there were some other things that threw me off a little. I am aware that there are some characters that uses “slang,” so when some of the side characters used language like “serious aura,” I just cringed into myself. I legit hate it when current day slang is used in series. Maybe because I’m too old for that terminology, but gosh, it takes me out of it. So I’m going to warn you, I already do not like those characters that use current-day slang. I find it annoying, but I know a lot of people find it amusing for those characters. I am not one of those people lol. I also hope the magic looks better in later episodes because I wasn’t too impressed with the animation and the overall look of it in this first episode. The sound effects also sounded a little unbalanced compared to every other sound in the episode. The opening visuals were also arguably worse compared to the original opening animation for the game. And I just snorted at how “The Animation” portion of the title just appeared on screen without a fade in or anything. It was just there suddenly lol. Compared to other anime openings, it felt a little lack luster. I wish the title came in like how the game did it with burning in like a flame instead of just slowly coming together like a powerpoint effect lol. Not to mention it felt like there were a little too many still-frames.
While I had my irks, there were certain things that made me inexplicably happy. The fact that they actually took some of the game music and integrated it PROPERLY into the scenes gave me a wave of nostalgia. Not to mention they just used the Opening theme from the game and made it into an anime opening gave me so much joy because I LOVE that song. And I think it was because they used it for the opening that they actually made a full version after FOUR FREAKING YEARS. I was stuck listening to an unofficial “full version” that just looped the original one minute song. And then the ending theme was the dorm song they released a while back, which I also really liked. So music-wise? ON POINT. I also really liked them showcasing the Disney Villains that represent each of the houses by using actual footage from the respective films. There’s just something about the use of the familiar movie footage that hammers home the close connection the series has to them and it just made me so happy. And I really liked the ending animation, arguably more than the opening animation. Probably because it focused solely on the Heartslaybul cast and wasn’t trying to showcase every single character in the series. Not to mention they did a great job with the visuals hinting at Riddle’s situation without being too explicit or spoilery.
While the first episode wasn’t perfect, I am really interested to see how things go since I haven’t read the manga version of this series. So it’ll be both a new and not new experience. I’ll try and not draw too many comparisons from the game in my reviews since I do want to just focus on what the anime is doing. But I am excited to see how some parts get adapted since because this is a visual novel we don’t get to see how things are visually. Specifically Riddle’s past. I also watched the episode a second time in English and I have to say, I might enjoy the English dub a little more than the original Japanese dub. Mostly because there are a few voices in Japanese that I don’t particularly enjoy, coughGrimcough. And so far from what I’ve heard, the cast matches the character pretty. Specifically Riddle as the english VA for him captures his angry yelling really well. Which is important because that guy yells A LOT. Honestly perfect casting for Riddle. So I might just watch the series in English from this point onward. I am so curious to see how this all plays out so for sure I’ll be covering it considering it’s only 8 episodes.
Possibility of Blogging: 100%
Possibility of Watching: Heck Yeah