Review of Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor

This was a decently enjoyable series, but--as with many anime that one would simply describe as "decent" or "good"--the problems with this series definitely drag it down, and thus even with my overall being at a 6, you'll most likely notice that most of my time spent in this review will be spent discussing the bad. Story: 5, Basically NEET is forced to be a magic professor, the annoying part about this is the way they've designed the whole introduction because he's really not a NEET. (Don't worry, i'll proceed without giving massive spoilers away, but I will tell vaguely of a few events.) The firstepisode basically makes the MC look like a massive loser who is way overconfident and arrogant, and tries to make as many comedic moments as possible, with "tries" being the operative word in that statement. It isn't awful--obviously, I still kept watching afterwards, but it's certainly not the best way to try to sell your MC; not really a character I feel that I can relate to. Then the episodes that follow show him being a badass and a better person in order to try to make you think he's really improved, when in actuality they just really oversold his shitty personality traits in the opening episode. The story is all over the place, but still laughably predictable--theres like 4 or 5 people that are introduced that all end up being villains, and it was obvious in every instance that they were a villain, basically from the moment of their introduction. What's worse is this show does that lovely thing of giving you no fucking clue how much time has passed in between episodes. Yes, some episodes start at the end of the previous episode, but seeing changes in characters' personalities from one episode to the next without seeing that natural growth of character relations is quite jarring, but I'm starting to bleed into the "character" section of this review, so to conclude this section--the one positive I saw in the story was the running theme of "the fool" and how it relates to the MCs life.

Art and Sound: 7, Usually I review these two separately, but I have nothing negative to say in these categories. I wouldn't say either were "phenomenal", but both served their purposes adequately and supported the show well.

Character: 5, There were a few likable characters, but honestly, most characters in this show are completely flat. You could say some characters have changes, but most of them just build-up until they explode, or just explode randomly with no warning, and then simmer back down after. The unknown length of time-skips between random episodes certainly makes character relations perplexing, as its weird to see two characters acting incredibly friendly, when they weren't friends, got in a fight, resolved, and were now like close friends? Just unnatural and jarring to the experience. The villains are just a list overly cliche troupes; like they were going down a damn checklist. Not everything was awful, but I binged the whole anime this morning, and I can literally only remember like 5 character's names, so I feel like a 5 in this category is generous.

Enjoyment: 6, It's the kinda thing that isn't awful to have run in the background while you do other stuff, but there really isn't enough depth in this show to really keep your attention, or at least mine.

Overall: 6, Honestly, unless you wanna do what I said, and have it run in the background while you do other stuff, I wouldn't waste your time on this one. Its not awful, but there is certainly a wide range of anime that far surpasses this one. I genuinely didn't think it was an awful watch, but I have noticed the more and more I sit here and pick at Akashic Records of the Bastard Magic Instructor that it falls apart whenever I think critically about it, or even without trying. I was literally saying the "reveals" as they happened because the only information they go over is stuff they plan to be turning over within 3 episodes. You also gotta love the asspulls of, "I'm a super smart character so I'm gonna shout out whatever other people are doing," because the show is dumb and forgot to introduce and teach the things to the audience before the middle of a conflict. Enough is enough though, my point is, if you want a series you can think critically about, and enjoy the thoughts you're having, then for your own sake, skip this one.