#magic anime

Every once in a while, I'll watch something fully in my recommended section, usually when procrastinating heavily. I saw the title, skimmed the premise, watched a trailer and from there I had just about everything I needed to know about The Daily Life of the Immortal King, another magical high school fantasy starring a disinterested, but all-powerful male lead who easily juggles school and global disasters.

But there are certain things that I'm a sucker for, and this show had them: devotion in love, recognition and resolve of loneliness, a strong burst of emotion, an enjoyable magical contest, and feeling as a viewer that my nostalgia is healthy and beautiful at times.

If I had to make a comparison to other shows, it was as if the main character setup for The Disastrous Life of Saiki K and the romantic line of Chivalry of a Failed Knight inserted themselves into a less elitist version of The Irregular at Magic High School. Most of the episode time was spent documenting Wang Ling's (the main character's) power and how hard people have to try to hide it. And this show had some of the bad, sometimes lazy parts of all of those shows. But I watched all those fully too.

I also like it when action shows have romances that begin relationships in the early parts of the show. I don't quite know why, if it's just because that's rare in most entertainment, or if to me, that's where all the interesting stuff starts. Like in the same way that I would love to play a version of Breath of the Wild where the story has only started at the end of the first game, where you can play Zelda and Link together. Love the way Sun Rong just asks him out at the beginning of an episode.

But really, the very end made me like the show a lot more. Sun Rong suddenly gets some serious character development and a talent showcase boost, Wang Ling and the animators do their best to show an emotional explosion, and the use of flashbacks from a new perspective almost makes an extremely accelerated romantic buildup plausible. And then it's watching the ED after the show ends because then it hits different, especially the ED scene where they're looking at old photos.

For whatever reason and for good reason, certain parts of these kinds of shows still make me feel both relieved and motivated. Despite the obvious flaws and the fact that I couldn't recommend it to any of my friends, I still really, quietly enjoyed it and feel more mentally healthy about this mountain of studying and testing I have to do this week.

I’m in the mood to root for an underdog: Iron Blooded Orphans

I’m in the mood for something short and sporty: SK8

I’m in the mood to feel the magic: The Ancient Magus’ Bride