Review of Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor

There's one main thing I need to say about Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor: The premise looks generic, but the story don't! I mean, if you see the plot, you'll notice that this show is about: witches and magicians. It looks like something I already saw: is it basically Little Witch Academia, without the flying brooms? Basically yes lol, but I noticed that's more than that. Usually, I don't like being so harsh when it comes to make anime reviews. Akashic Records is quite enjoyable. It's not the best, but it's not the worst show I've ever seen. It's average, ok? So, let's getinto it.

Story: 8/10

[WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS]

To start to talk about Akashic Records, if you look my reviews, you'll noticed that: the most important thing, for me, on the animes (or in any show) is: the story and character development, right? The history of Akashic Records takes place on Alzano Empire, an prestigious empire due to their big magician school, when there's a lot of young students, learning about magic powers and techiniques, to mainly fight against the enemy faction of the Alzano. And firstly, we're introduced to Glenn Radars, which is a man: that when he was an child, he was aspiring to be a master magician, due to books that he read, that were given to him by Celica Arfonia, the most powerful witch on Alzano Empire, and the main creator of the magician school. Years passed, and Glenn turned to a lazy man, that was summoned by Celica, to be an substitute teacher (that after, he turns an fixed teacher on the school). And we're also introduced to the two main girls: Sistine and Rumia. Sistine is the daughter of the greatest magician on the Alzano (that lives on an Sky Castle), and she's aspiring to be an magician as good as her father. And Rumia, which is the daughter of the Alzano's Queen, but she was abandoned by her mother, because since when she was born, she had (and still has) an dangerous magic power, that may can turn her into an monster. So, a lot of people on Alzano are behind her, to explore her, or to make her stay away from the people, because the contact with people can feed, more and more, your bad magic power. So, these two girls (specially Sistine) aren't accepting Glenn as a teacher on the magician school, because Sistine noticed that he's lazy and a disrespect to the magic society. But, the days passed, and Glenn start to take seriously the life of a magic teacher. You know, I used the words "magic" and "magician" on my review, until here, I know lol. But, this show is about that, but not only about that. There's a lot of dramatic moments, which is quite tense, but there's a lot of funny moments (for example: Glenn disturbing Sistine, specially on the first episode. The canteen scene and the battle between Glenn and Sistine, on the 1st episode, was the funniest moments on the anime, for me. And also, when Glenn is calling Sistine as "Shironeko", which is: "White Cat"). But there's some tense moments, such as: the beach episode (which I don't remember the number of the episode), when Glenn is looking to Sistine, and remembering of an deceased girl, who he met in the past (and fell in love in the past); the episode about Rumia and her mother (damn, really the relationship between them is a very deep thing: her mother abandoned her by the simple fact the she can turn to a monster, it was definitely a punch to the feels, but at the end, it was everything okay. I really wanted a scene, or a moment, that Rumia and her mother could pass more time together as a family. The fact that it doesn't have that scene got me a little bit frustrating, but yeah, everything ended okay, so it's a little bit fine at all); and on the last episode (with the Sistine's marriage scene and the final battle). Damn, these moments were very unexpected, and I like one thing (which is not an mentioned genre): ROMANCE. YES! You guys can't believe on it, but there's some romance on the story. It's a little bit visible the romance between Glenn and Sistine (even though Sistine hates him a little lol), but it's very cute sometimes. I definitely hated the relationship between Sistine and Leos Kleitos, because he was already an suspicious character, with suspicious intentions. Because he looks a very handsome man at the first glance, but we can't judge by the appearance, right? And with the course of the episodes (approaching to the end), we discovered that he was a very idiot character, right? So, I rate 8/10. It was very good, but I feel that some things are incomplete. Ok, the final of the story (last episode) was too closed, but I mean, I'm feeling that we need to have a 2nd season, right?

Art: 9/10

Damn, the art is beautiful and very stunning. Some people don't agree with that, but the art is very great for an anime of this genre. Well, I never heard about the LIDENFILMS studio, it was very unknown for me, so I thought that they could be very sketchy about art aspects. But I just only needed to see Akashic Records, to prove the opposite (that they can make an beautiful design), right? The scenarios are very verdant, especially when it comes to more aesthetic traits. they worked really well on the castle design, and the characters design are very cute. When I started to watch it from the 1st episode, I noticed that it would have an pretty art. And it has. It's very detailed, and I actually need to admit: that I was very impressed and enchanted with this element. Because I mean, this will be a little bit dumb comparison, but I will compare Akashic Records and Konosuba: both of them have very similar premises (magic and Isekai), but the art of the two are very different. Konosuba's art is definitely more simple than Akashic Records. So, I started to watch Konosuba before Akashic (and I'll definitely watch it to the end, and make an review about Konosuba), and I can say: I was expecting an simple art on Akashic Records, because both of them have very similar premises, so we can expect very similiar art style, right? NO!!! It's very very different. While Konosuba is a funny and smoked anime (lol), Akashic Records is also about Isekai and magic, but it's more dramatic and romantic, right? Again, there's some moments that will shock you, and will give a punch to the feels. So, the art is a very freaking good element on this anime: 9/10.

Sound: 8/10

Ok, the opening is addictive. I still can't take off the refrain from my head: "Fukadaou sae mo tobashiteikou BLOW OUT". The guitar on the opening is the catchiest thing on the sound aspects of Akashic Records. And the background soundtracks fits so perfectly. On the funny moments, it's the best thing. However, I feel I missed some things, for example: there's some dramatic moments on the anime, that the soundtracks doesn't fit. Again, I liked so much of the sound element, but I don't know: they could do a better job on it. Again, the soundtrack is basically the same thing as the anime: "It's not the worst, but it's not the best. It's average!". Same for soundtracks. The only really greatest thing (when it comes to the music of this anime) is the opening: very excentric, very beautiful (specially the contemplative takes) and the rhythms (the guitar on opening) are very addictive. So, yeah! 8/10. I'm giving that rate because LIDENFILMS studio also have the big potential to make great soundtracks. They got it, but not completely. It's a little bit catchy, but not something like: MEMORABLE, OR UNFORGETTABLE. It's on standard levels, the normal, okay?

Characters: 7/10

Ok, the characters were really well built, but there's some weak points. My favorite ones are the main ones: Sistine, Rumia and Glenn. But, one another defect that Akashic Records have is the character development: again, they were very well developed, but the anime just basically focused on the main characters, which is a good thing, but I really wanted a wider thing about the characters. What about the past or life about the another students (such as: Wendy Nablesse, or Theresa Reidy). Or even, about the past of Sara Silvers (one of the most intriguing girls on the whole anime). The facts and things about Sara Silvers just passed like a light flash (like really quick). I really wanted to see more about. Ok, the anime talked a lot about her, but there's some things I really wanted to see (like I was feeling a little bitter taste on my mouth, I was feeling I miss something). For example: how did Sara and Gleen meet each other? Why did Glenn love so much Sara? Those things weren't explained, if I'm well informed, because I watched Akashic Records since a lot of months, so I don't remember everything of the story. So, if I'm wrong, correct me, okay? But, again, those things (as I can remember) weren't explained. I feel that Tarou Hitsuji should make an movie or an OVA explaining more about her, because she was left open. At least, it was explained: how did Glenn meet Albert Frazer and Re=L. As I can remember, they met each other during an attack on Alzano Empire (years ago), and Re=L almost knife Glenn lol that was intriguing, but they met each other of an unusual way. At the first, Glenn didn't believe that they were here to protect him, but with the course of time, yeah! You probably know what happen after that. So, the main characters are very important, but what about secoundary characters? WHAT ABOUT SARA SILVERS? I was really paying attention to her, but she was like an supporting character, but I was feeling that she could be a really important girl to the story. So, I rate 7/10. I mean Akashic Records is average in all the aspects, but the character development point was very average. It could be a lot better, LIDENFILMS studio could make really a lot better job on it, but it's acceptable. Even Sara Silvers was forgotten (which I found her very cute, very mysterious but very important to the story), the character development is quite acceptable. It has holes, but yeah. Compared to Uchiage Hanabi (which was probably the worst movie I've ever watched), Akashic Records is pretty well about characters.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

Clearly, the story is a little bit generic, it has some holes, and some things didn't enjoy me. But, considering the majority of animes from the LIDENFILMS studio aren't memorable, it's quite interesting to see the amount of effort that they putted to do Akashic Records. The premise is very generic, it's not something like new (original idea). We're already saw animes or shows with magicians and witches (such as: Little Witch Academia and Harry Potter, or something). I can say that: Akashic Records looks a little bit that: is Harry Potter in anime version. It's quite funny to think on that way, but yeah! Akashic Records is a little bit the same that read a really fanciful book with a lot of unreal elements, such as: magic, powers, spells, curses, etc. But, I feel Akashic Records is different than that. It mixes magic and fantasy with drama and romance. Even though it's very common, Akashic Records kind of got to give: an more mature and deeper climate, with a lot of tense moments. So, is this show basically an more adult version of Harry Potter and of the Disney's fairy tales?. No, it's not well that. Because, we can saw a lot of things that can also happen in the real life (the main things were: the hard relationships between families, that can be seen between Rumia and her mother; and the distant or impossible love, that we can see on the Glenn and Sara Silvers relationship in the past). So, it's very fanciful, but there's some very deep things. So, it's not 100% a fairy tale. Again, the characters development is great, but it lacks sometimes. Specially from SARA SILVERS, bruh. I felt a lot of potential above her, and she didn't deserve to be only an supporting character. I was always feeling that she could have more attention, but we can do nothing, right? None anime is 100% perfect. Akashic Records sinned in some points, but in general, it's good. I'd give it a 6 or 7, but it would be very harsh, because Akashic Records showed it had a lot of potential, and it worked, but not completely. So I'll give 8. I'll not judge so hardly, because there's a lot of other really bad animes, and Akashic Records wasn't bad. It was pretty enjoyable at all. So, yeah. They delivered something good to me. I don't know if I will keep Akashic Records for a long time on my head, because isn't something remarkable, but the experience was good. I'll finish right there, and my opinion, overall, is: it's a good story, not the best, it has holes, but in general, I appreciated it. I reccomend you, at least, to take a quick look on that one. But, if you're more a harsh reviewer, then you won't probably like too much of this one. But it's acceptable. This was my review, it was very long, because I like a lot to type, to express my real opinion. But yeah! Thanks for reading until here, and have a nice day, guys. Bye!