There is a lot to The Most Notorious "Talker" Runs the World's Greatest Clan that feels one note, but it's quite the note if you're in the mood for some anti-hero cheese. This is a light novel adaptation that really, really lives up to its namesake. While there are no fancy frills to its villainy, something diabolical about it makes it mildly captivating.

Like a lot of main characters in power fantasies, Noel wants to be as strong as possible. His origin story seems pretty typical, having a renowned warrior for a grandfather who gets killed in a violent monster attack. But it's not enough that Noel has to be strong like dear ol' granpappy. Noel has to develop a tongue sharper than his forebear's axe. See, unlike his hardened Seeker-class grandfather, Noel belongs to a class known as Talkers, making him physically weak and only mostly suitable for shouting buffs to up his party's stats. Except he never uses his Talking for good. There's nothing supportive about Noel either, since he barely uses his powers for anybody other than himself. Using his silver-tongued abilities leads Noel to be...well, a “Notorious Talker” is one way of putting it. Another way of putting it is that he's a huge shit-talking edgelord.

The man develops quite the mouth rather fast, and his vernacular lends itself to verbally (and often physically) explosive moments. On the field, Noel throws out as many magic words as possible. Off it, Noel drops insults, threats, and shade to anybody unfortunate enough to be within his proximity. Noel's caustic and snarky enough to give Triumph the Insult Comic Dog a run for his money. He's got enough chunni to get those Lelouch vi Britannia vibes down pat, albeit with more rizz this time around. Paired with the brains of Light Yagami, Noel ensures that each dastardly plan goes exactly as he wishes, and when I say dastardly, I mean...really, really dastardly. When Noel's friends steal a few bucks off of him, he decides to even the score by threatening to report them to the police, only to then sell them off into slavery. You already know where things are going with Noel right off the bat.

The anime reaches its slower moments right between its first and second acts, right when the girl Alma enters the frame. The pacing allows the show to breathe a bit; admittedly, his character remains true to its edgelordery, but a sense of comradery is developed between Noel and Alma to make their relationship seem credible, even if Alma's character doesn't brim with personality. Some of their scenes together drag just a teeny bit - I didn't feel it was necessary to see Noel and Alma go shopping together, for example. Still, we see enough of Alma and learn about her backstory to build intrigue to keep things going. Granted, I felt Alma was the only supporting character with any hint of depth, but I'll take what I can get.

At some moments, the show does lean a bit too hard on its premise. We're given a ton of battles of the minds and not enough battles of the brawn. I realize this is kind of the point. After all, Noel being physically weak means he must rely on cunning alone to maneuver his way through situations. And though they are still entertaining enough, I think it diminishes the impact of the actual fight scenes, which are pretty decent. A few fight scenes are cut shorter than I'd prefer, with one being flat-out interrupted before it can even begin. Another fight between Noel and a warrior starts towards the end of the episode, and when it's about to reach its peak in the next one, it stops itself on a dime. Why? Just keep it going!

The art and animation aren't anything to write about, but I still liked it. Even when the anime's visuals slightly diminished in quality later, nothing ever looked flat. Again, some of the fight sequences are fun, plus Noel's design has some drip to it, and there are some cool shots where Noel's image is juxtaposed with serpentine imagery. Specific plot points and character arcs are set up for a possible second season, and time will tell if this will happen. But color me intrigued either way.