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EP. REVIEW: Reign of the Seven Spellblades

No usual anime romcom hijinks when Oliver catches Nanao bathing.... er, purifying herself in ep 1. I like Nanao and this show already.

This sticks out early in the second episode, where the whole issue of Nanao's challenge against Andrew sees Oliver concerned that the seasoned samurai warrior with the multi-digit body count might have trouble holding her own in a swordfight with a high schooler. It's all a roundabout writing mechanic to have Oliver and Nanao be the ones to showcase the centerpiece duel instead, and the result looks pretty damn slick and also leads to those other interesting asides like Nanao's PTSD. But it's just one example of Oliver's clunky way of butting into things.

But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.

I thought it was fairly obvious (even if unspoken) that the reason Oliver and Chela feel the need to guide others through everything is because the two of them are the most experienced, or at least the best prepared, of the group. Chela is part of a long noble lineage whose dad has the pull to give Nanao a direct admission referral, and Oliver has both a bodyguard following him around and the ability to recognise Nanao as a killer and keep up with her, indicating at least something more that he's not yet telling us.

As for why they are all friends within two days

Nanao might not be the main character, but she is the main heroine and will be the one with the greatest impact on Oliver's development. She definitely is a main selling point for the series. It's a nice change when she doesn't lash out at Oliver for seeing her bathe, and later spoiler[she's very open about her feelings for him. In a normal way, not in a obsessive clingy stalker sort of way.]

Vaisaga wrote:

Nanao might not be the main character, but she is the main heroine and will be the one with the greatest impact on Oliver's development. She definitely is a main selling point for the series. It's a nice change when she doesn't lash out at Oliver for seeing her bathe, and later spoiler[she's very open about her feelings for him. In a normal way, not in a obsessive clingy stalker sort of way.]

That just makes me disappointed because Oliver is a total herb. One of the main things that turn me off the show (though I find it very interesting!) is the thought that other characters' development will be sacrificed for the sake of his, which I don't care anything about. Hopefully he'll win me over, but he has truly been insufferable and boring in the first two episodes.

Also, I know it's been said before but 20%? The Scholomance laughs at their silly baby school for babies.

For record as someone has read way past where the anime will cover, I think all the character are great. They gel really well together and seeing form tight-kit as they work out their interpersonal issues as they struggle survive through the school is one of the novels charms.

I think the bolded is the issue. It seems to me that the people who like Oliver more are the ones who are already familiar with the series and we newbies are the ones with a less positive impression. Whether thats because the anime skips or rearranges information that would make him come across better, or if he was the exact same in the source material, I don't know. I will concede that I see a lot of potential in his reveals and development- but there are some issues with the execution that mean it hasn't been realized yet.

I boil those issues down to two things. First, I don't have the slightest idea of how unusual he is. This entire setting and system is new to me. Am I supposed to find it unusual that his family sends a bodyguard? I don't think it should be- since the school loses 20% of its student "to the spell", I'd assume any family with the means to do so would be invested in sending bodyguards to protect their children. So why should I find it odd? Is he supposed to be a good swordsman? We've only really seen two fighters- he and Nanao- and while the plot directly tells us she's good, we also don't know the baseline for the class, or the world as a whole. Is he a bit better than them, or a lot? No clue. He and Chela know...call it "Kimberly Survival 101"

Am I supposed to believe this as uncommon knowledge, or do underclassmen really never get told not to wander the halls after dark? Or are the other 4 being dumb so he and Chela can show off how knowledgeable they are? Well, other 3. Nanao at least gets away with not having what seems like it should be setting common knowledge due to different cultural upbringing

The second issue is that he's secretive and mysterious. This isn't inherently bad, obviously. But in a setting where I have questions about literally everything, the guy who refuses to say anything is at the bottom of my list of questions. A setting like this needs a comparative viewpoint character to ask our in-lore dumb questions for us. Nanao and the new kids are that, which makes it easier to relate.

As I said, he can turn it around. But he's initially coming across as bland and unengaging to me.

Also, I know it's been said before but 20%? The Scholomance laughs at their silly baby school for babies.

Vaisaga wrote:

Nanao might not be the main character, but she is the main heroine and will be the one with the greatest impact on Oliver's development. She definitely is a main selling point for the series. It's a nice change when she doesn't lash out at Oliver for seeing her bathe, and later spoiler[she's very open about her feelings for him. In a normal way, not in a obsessive clingy stalker sort of way.]

That just makes me disappointed because Oliver is a total herb. One of the main things that turn me off the show (though I find it very interesting!) is the thought that other characters' development will be sacrificed for the sake of his, which I don't care anything about. Hopefully he'll win me over, but he has truly been insufferable and boring in the first two episodes.

Also, I know it's been said before but 20%? The Scholomance laughs at their silly baby school for babies.

Might that just be me constructing my external interpretations of Seven Spellblades as it remains technically a relatively rote kids-at-magic-school show this week? Maybe, but it's the most generous way I can regard the series as it keeps hurtling through the surface-level story signifiers it's setting up. Well, I say "surface," even though the continuation of the big brouhaha from last week takes place underground at the start here, but you get what I mean. They are still throwing new characters at us, including some antagonists with truly outrageous names that confront our main mess of mages, and it's not made especially clear how regular a thing trying to kill your new first-year students is here at Kimberly. This is mostly a showcase anyway, with the skeleton-summoning guy and the sexy succubus lady hurling huge magic monsters at each other and constructing a scenario that Nanao can try running headlong into so we understand just how deep her trauma goes.