Kikansha no Mahou wa Tokubetsu desu

A powerful mage is sent back in time to undo a screwup. This show is a solid line of tropes played straight-up, and with decent execution it's enjoyable if you're a fan of them. There's a clear power fantasy aspect with semi-explicit power rankings, the MC concealing his power level, people underestimating him, etc. though that's only part of the focus. There's a magic academy and nobles that are pompous to the point of absurdity as well. Then there's the love interest who's literally named "romantica" and... yeah, it's about as tropey as you can get. The thing that makes this fun is that it's not absurdly rushed like many other low-quality anime plotlines are, and the core group of the MC, the love interest, and the femboy sidekick have decent chemistry and are entertaining to watch. Their antics weren't hilarious but they did elicit a chuckle from me every now and then, which puts it leagues ahead of most anime. The show also has just enough of a meta story about the end of the world to not be totally unambitious. It's a pretty simple show. If you like these sorts of tropes then this will give you a fill of them.

It was a production that I watched with pleasure; its subject matter was successful but not well processed, especially the character's return to the past was interesting. As with any time-themed production, the main character here is trying to shape the future, but these events actually take place in a very clichéd way; they are all ordinary and well-known. I would definitely give it a higher score if it was handled well. The character of Azest has more aura than the main character; I liked the ambient design and character drawings, and if you want to open it in free time and enjoy it, I recommend it.

Maybe because I have been wading through a lot of anime mediocrity and trash lately, but this anime felt refreshing how it doesn't force feed you exposition. I even like that in the first episode there were flashbacks to people I don't know with no explanation except the main character grimaced in remorse and sorrow while having said flashbacks. I knew these people were important to him and gone. A good case of showing and not telling that stays true through most of the anime. After fighting a long war, the protagonist is sent back to high school. This is the fantasy magic high school where they learn no basic skills except how to fight and the filthy commoners barely even get that. Protagonist now wants to use this opportunity to minimize the horrors of war by training his friends that do no know they are friends, using said friends to say "fuck you, classicism", and tab bit of diverting terrorist schemes. We know nothing of the protagonist aside from "commoner", so there is a bit of Mary Sue energy. I am fine with this because there no kirito harem and love is not a focus. We don't need to know about protagonist because we understand the world around him by following him. Like in a video game where the map gets revealed as you venture to new spaces. The side characters and antagonists are fleshed out and feel like complex characters. Except that one noble teacher that is the personification of classicism, but he comes and goes. I personally like that the children are not objectified as sexy symbols. The fight scenes are pretty good. Sometimes you see some feet getting clipped into the floor and other animation errors, but I don't think that is a huge issue. Note that this anime ends in a setup for the next arc. Kind of like it is telling us to push for another season or read the source material. I liked it because now I can go do that. But don't like reading manga, then better not start the anime until it gets more seasons.

I read the manhwa and it is fire unfortunately though the anime is not. The story is good and the art is fine. Desir is definitely a the most fitting protagonist for this and the side characters although cliched they still have depths to them. I believe that the characters were okay however many character development scenes were rushed at the end .The pacing is off, a lot of still frames, okay animation, and they montaged a lot of stuff at the last episode. Overall still an okay adaption compared to other horribly adapted anime but if want more of the story then I highly recommend reading the manhwa.

There were quite a few things I liked about it, but on the whole it sort of felt like a mess. Things that were fun/good: rainbow hair pram is a super cute and fun character azest is hot However - the plot in general is very basic and follows the same tropes weve seen a million times without really adding anything fresh. The main girl is annoying, and the logic of the MC / general reasonings doesnt make any sense. Were never given a reason why the MC is OP, nor are we given anything about the background of the world to justify the over the top "commoners suck" prejudice that is being fought against the whole time. There also seems to be alot of going back and forth on the "rules" of everything like the tournament and so on. There was a bit of satisfaction in terms of seeing the how the characters get stronger and seeing how they get through situations, but neither of those was done well enough to weigh it out. Overall I thought it was weak and shallow/tropey with some good characters that made it watchable to the end, not sure if its worth the time it takes to watch, but it feels like the second season would be better than the first since all the good characters are finally coming together.

Im very disappointed with this adaptation. It skipped a lot of scenes, interactions between the characters that builds up their relationships and turned a lot of things into slideshows (Promised Neverland S2 style). They fit around 53 chapters in 12 episodes. Its so disappointing because it lacked substance making scenes less impactful. The animation also didn't help. I loved Arvo's adaptation of "Bokutachi wa benkyou ga dekinai!" but it seems that they don't excel in combat animation. I gave the anime a 6/10 just because Im happy that this got the attention of the anime industry and got animated. If the anime is your introduction to the series and loved it, i'd say its fine. But you're missing out on a lot of stuff.

From reading a manga to this, you can expect some content to be cut out and added because it's a different media and needs to be adjusted. But for an "anime" (anima-tion), there's a surprisingly little amount of smooth aniomation. Most of the time you'll get fixed png's with small differences or a crappy 1 second 3d animation that loops back and forth. Added to that, it seems they invented a rule for their work where "You can only animate 1 action in a frame". A handshake is first one hand, then the other, then the shake, then cut to next scene. That all takes 30 seconds. It's not an anime, it's a presentation, a slow one that only has one thing going for it. The special effects, the little lights, magic circles and "rubble", probably all thanks to 3d animation. I think time is to blame and the effeciency. The art is up to standards, so I it is a matter of growth for later projects. So I'd give it a 4/10 for good art but bad actual anmation. Now the sounds, effects and especially the voice acting are really well done. You do get the feelings of the characters even if they have shabby lines or poor animation as reference. For the music I'd say it's good, but sometimes not well placed in the moment (probably due to poor animation and tempo). Sound gets 7/10 (mostly the voice acting). Now for the story itself, it is already slow (animation's fault) and a bit out of tempo (again, animation), but be it due to the writer or drawer, it can't clearly tell how advanced the technology of the world is. Even if they tell it clearly, it seams they have electromagnetic trains and medieval housing at the same time. 5/10. Now some extra things to say. Romantica is super cute, atleast the animators did that well, especially the VA Suzushiro Sayumi. Good job. The art (frames) itself is real nice, shadows are good and everything is coloured really well.

(Before I start, I'd like to mention that I had read the manhwa and felt it was a decent read). =====Introduction===== A Returner's Magic Should Be Special. But sadly, it isn't. The plot of this anime is pretty cookie-cutter for 2023. We've seen tonnes of anime with a tragedy-reset plot or an overpowered character in a school (The Irregular at Magic High School comes to mind, and that was nine years ago!). The problem with shows like these is that there's nothing much new to discover apart from the shallow world-building & hodge-podge mix of themes copied from various other franchises, plot twists barely existent, and like junk food, most people understand these shows don't have a lot of variances to offer. But they still watch them for some brainless entertainment. As much as I want every anime to be unique, I guess there's a safety blanket of comfort anime to watch when one is in the mood. =====Story===== 5/10 The story is fundamental and nothing special. Witnessing the eventual demise of the entire world, Desir's soul travels to the past to the time he joins the academy (quite convenient!). However, this time he assures himself that he will not let the tragedy occur again and will do everything in his power to prepare himself and the people around him for the doomsday. Shows like these are never meant to impress story-wise and a quota of only 12 episodes doesn't help (though it's not impossible, anime like Terror In Resonance & The Promised Neverland prove that it is possible.) There is another overused trope of the nobles vs commoners, which enables easy opportunities to set up internal conflict at the academy. And everything (conveniently enough) is settled through a ranking system. All these tropes and setups are utilized, just to tell a story that is a trope of its own. =====Characters===== 6/10 The characters do give the show more color. While we have cookie-cutter tropes in this department, it is fun watching them bond with each other. Many stereotypes are used, like the evil teacher, the helpful teacher, the strong & silent girl who uses ice magic, the tsundere character, and the character that hates commoners. There is a sense of comfort in using generic characters. Some people may even enjoy that more since people, in reality, are more 'down to earth.' The problem is that their reaction to events is always predictable, and the appeal loses quickly. There is no amusing moment of changes or growth as a character. Every character can seemingly be symbolized as a line segment, traveling from A to B in a straight line without ups or downs. =====Art, animation & sound===== 8/10 I think this department was a clear step up from the norm. Something about the visuals was more vibrant & colorful, especially the spell usage. A few soundtracks hit the sweet spot at the right time. The studio did a decently above-average job. But lights & sound without proper story guidance can only pull the weight so far before the fragility of it all shows itself. I think the animation itself could've been slightly better. It felt a bit lacking compared to the OST and the art (a lot of standing shots & weird movement.) =====Reasons NOT to watch===== If you're not interested in watching something generic or witnessing tropes you've most likely experienced prior, then I can tell that you won't enjoy this show. This show has most of the typical isekai/fantasy tropes of generic anime over several years prior. =====Overall===== 6/10 I get the need for these shows. It's a comfort show where you can hop on and celebrate the MC's wins, and you don't have to use your mind actively. Unfortunately, I feel like we're being bombarded with too many of these kinds of shows as studios think it's probably a meager yet stable profit to capitalize on the folks attached to them. I hope the number of these shows goes down, otherwise it trivializes its existence.

Kikansha no Mahou wa Tokubetsu desu (KnMwTd for short) is strong contender for my underrated anime for this season. The story is nothing we haven't seen before and the music is ok. What KnMwTd excels at compared to other similar titles is the pacing. Studio Arvo Animation has taken there time to build the world and introduce the characters whilst keeping the viewer interested. The animation quality is decent. The first fight in episode 1's monster had CGI so I was expecting that the rest of the season. However, I did not notice any obvious CGI the rest of the season (with some casting spells there must have been but the CGI worked). The fight scenes animations are all quite good compared to other anime in the genre. Although the characters personalities are not unique, you still become invested in there story. The main gripe that people are having is that in 3 minutes of the last episode they covered what should have been 4 episodes of next season. That may have brought the MAL score down. This should have a MAL rating of 7.5-7.8. It is a quality action/adventure/school anime that doesn't rush with decent animation. I'm looking forward to season 2. I recommend KnMwTd.

Hi, I watched the show, and in all the episodes, the voice acting was great, but please don't add too many cut scenes; it will make the show bad. For example, the powerful fire mage in episode 8 vs. Azest got past him in order to fight Desir and his team. That fire mage guy is really neat, and I like the character. You could at least show us what happened between Azest and the fire mage guy, Gabrial. Also in episode 12, please don't cut off the chess match between Desir and Zod Exarion. How Desir would defeat defeat Zod Exarion in the chess match, especially since Zod is talented. Too many cut scenes like those are bad for the show. Please get better.

The only downside only one is... Poor CGI, and rushed story, like wtf how tight your budget must be to do this wrong? Just change the scene a little so you won't need to use expensive effects/animations. What is so hard? You have perfect reference material, one of the most unique and popular webtoon. Yet you rush the story, make fights worse every episode and the last episode does a highlight at the end for at least 6 other episodes completely skipping character development for these characters that will be somewhat important in the second season if there will be. Like really wtf? If you only cut it after Desir had that chess match it would have been fine. Has anyone else read the webtoon? I guess at least some of you reading this review read some chapters. Look how much stuff is in there and how you get to know some of the characters. Our main character is more emotionally affected by seeing his friends and everything. This anime adaptation feels like a low-budget circus show to promote the webtoon. Nothing more. I am still giving it 8 for my personal enjoyment but if it was another studio it would have been much better. If you haven't read the webtoon, read the first 4 chapters and then watch the first episode of the anime and please write to me which made more impact on you. For me, it was the webtoon. Quick summary: enjoyment 9/10, animation 6/10 maybe less, character design similar to reference, story rushed and altered in a bad way.