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Really enjoyed this but the moral of this story is something that leaves me very conflicted and takes the story from just having human contradictions to simply being inconsistent.

On the positive side, the humor of the show is great and the overall message through the arc of our main character is fantastic, as well as the way they handled the self hatred she had for herself before being handled with the utmost care...

Problem is that every other issue is handled very poorly, and not in a way that just ruins the narrative but in a way that goes beyond irresponsible. There are some characters that ... outright betray others, engage in cheating and even do some pretty dark things that I can't mention without spoiling... AND THE SHOW REDEEMS THEM. It even has our MC say that even if the guy she's crushing on has done said things, she doesn't care.

In a show that captured me in the beginning with its positive message, that thing alone brought down the entire thing for me and leaves me with dictionary definition mixed feelings.

It's still enjoyable, but it's hard to recommend this without a disclaimer...

Just a disappointment. After Overlord IV bizarrely skipped this arc claiming that a few episodes wouldn't do it justice, they basically just produced a series of episodes released as a "feature length" one. Every season of Overlord has cut an obscene amount of content which makes the Novels such a different and more serious story, BUT the seasons of the anime are enjoyable in a way that this "film" isn't. Why? Because you actually SEE THE ACTION. Here they cut all battles and fights AS WELL as not explaining ANYTHING about the plotting behind what's happening and the significance of it all.
Not only is the ... lack of action making for a pretty stale watch, but also, the fact the story isn't fleshed out in any way defeats the purpose of this "film". Do people remember how Overlord IV skipped over this huge arc and many people were left feeling awkward as the story just timeskipped and a lot of things just didn't make sense? Well, this "film" was meant to make that make sense and it doesn't, so its reason for existing isn't for the sake of doing the story justice but for a cynical cash-grab.

Not just that but just as a stand-alone thing it's useless. It feels more like a filler OVA if anything for fans that want a side story. Unlike the Kimetsu no Yaiba, Chainsaw Man or Jujutsu Kaisen films that ARE structured as films and can be watched on their own even though there is missing context, this "film" is something outright mediocre...

Worse of all? It doesn't even look particularly good. It still has clunky CGI scenes and there's genuinely nothing to praise about the animation since pretty much all battles were cut out so they didn't even bother adapting anything they would've have to animate to begin with. The art style is the same, just brighter and some set pieces with flames and such look nicer, but there's nothing that stands out...

For people (the production company) who claimed they wanted to do this arc justice, they basically didn't do much of anything, and SO MUCH complex story beats and nuanced details of the characters and interesting B plots and background machinations of what plans were bing set in motion were all completely cut out. So much so that YouTube channels like AniNews have done 14 part series (and counting) breakdown detailing the absurd amount of things the "movie" skipped.

Finally, A LOT of important characters weren't properly introduced and too much of important things that were meant to be set up in order to make the next arcs (including the one they had already animated 2 years prior as part of the 4th season) and they were still left out, so as little sense as the ending of the Overlord IV made to anime-only fans, the next ones will make even less.

TL;DR It's fine, but it starts out really cool and becomes more generic every episode. Went from thinking I discovered a great one to considering dropping it.

Fantastic first episode. It starts with a more funn and less done approach to the Isekai set up where students are summoned to defeat the Demon Lord. It was fun to see our MC hide and not take the Royals' words at face value, so I was optimistic. Although one of the things that was cool was learning that the Captain of the Knights was planning a coup, yet, despite him teaching our MC about the world, he never ... talked about how he wanted to do it even why...

BUT in the second episode the show started to lose me. Not because we start to see sights of our under leveled MC becoming a bit OP, because that's par for the course in Iseaki so it was fine... But after our MC is in the dungeon, finds a cute Elf Princess who is immediately smitten with him I started to roll my eyes a bit because the show that was so fun because of abstaining from corny tropes started engaging in corny tropes. Down right to the fact that our MC sneaks into the room of someone who's putting a curse on one of his classmates, shows his face and just leaves despite it making zero sense. Although when they retaliate by framing him for the murder of the Captain of the Knights, instead of simply sneaking up on the King and Witch like he's done already... He just leaves.

And in the third episode when they choose to take a Dungeon Boss who turned out to be a giant cute cat despite first presenting as a dragon, I was honestly starting to feel annoyed. And by the end of the episode where they leave the dungeon and teleport to the Elf Princess' kingdom and are ambushed by people who turn out to be the soldiers of her Evil Little Sister, who I assume is going to play the arrogant and stereotypically unlikable sibling who wants the throne for herself, I'm honestly considering dropping it if the story doesn't go back to the refreshing style the first episode and half of the second episode had.

It its defense it has some redeeming qualities, like the hints at the fact that the "Demon Lord" and demons in general might not be bad, or how a few of his classmates don't buy the frame-job they've done and want to meet up with him, which was refreshing to see since I fully expected the other classmates to resent him just because.

I'll keep up with it for the next couple weeks but I honestly might drop it and there's no better way to describe it than 'Mixed feelings'.

I don't get it. This is the runaway for Anime of the Season, but I just don't see the appeal. I wish I did since it seems lots of people are enjoying it, but I don't. I see how other 'Not recommended' reviews are getting laughed at but I simply don't see anything remarkable, outstanding or even noteworthy about this, except for the Japanese title which is actually pretty cool wordplay (which was the only reason I gave this a shot)

The characters are copy/pasted from archetypes we've all seen countless times:
- Intimidating MC with crippling shyness and a heart of gold
- Cute soft-spoken girl ... as a romantic interest who is immediately smitten by him
The MC's squad is has the same cast of characters:
- A comic relief guy who's loud and makes a fool of himself
- The cold & calculating one who's smarter and more cynical
- And the average guy bang in the middle.

The story is a convoluted set up where there's some type of sectarian divide between the rich girls' school the romantic interest goes and the boys' school our MC and his squad go to. And it's understandable until you see some scenes where it's stated that merely being in each other's presence could lead to an altercation and could ruin your reputation in your own school.

Other than that it is paint by numbers episodic story. If anyone has seen one of these you can just simulate the show in your mind and you'll probably play it out in your head without seeing it.

Perhaps the mange executes it all better? I don't know. I just don't understand how a show so average is at the topping a season with so many good shows.

I'm shocked at how much I'm enjoying this one. I usually roll my eyes at these type of stories, but this one is so well done patching all the issues I tend to have with this genre. Instead of falling into the formulaic, story of the week, this presents a very chill slice of life.

There's very much a plot. Each episode moves it forward, but instead of the formulaic set up where each week something eventful happens, it gives little hints through character reveals and even subtle hints that are NEVER really explained in the moment and instead revealed episodes later confirming suspicions. And that ... fits more naturally in the school set up, a laid back character focused approach does ring more true than the standard style of having front page news happening every other day. Same goes for how they skipped most go-to school anime clichés.

While our protagonist is a groundbreakingly overpowered prodigy, it doesn't magically solve everything. If anything the challenges she faces can't be circumvented with her magic since it's all because of her anxiousness, and her personality is one I normally find tedious & gimmicky, but in this case she's fleshed out into a more realistic version that does have genuine flaws that limit her and not just cutesy overly shy/socially anxious mannerisms that are played for laughs or manufactured sympathy. Plus, the fact she's incredibly anxious about anyone even suspecting her ability and that all she wants is to finish her mission and go back home to her cabin is refreshing too seeing all the stories whose MCs appeal are more based around them being indomitable chosen ones with grand aspirations of achieving as much notoriety as possible.

One skilled way I see the story do this is that, it pairs her with a cast of characters that help every scene flow without making the protagonist a background character. You can't operate much dialogue through a character that struggles to speak at all, but when those interactions are aided by, for example, her trying to find the most secluded spot possible to eat lunch only to bump into someone who wants to hide for safety reasons... It's not exactly epic writing but it's better than, let's say, a teacher having her sit next to someone and lazily meet that way.
Another detail that I liked is how the progress she makes on her shyness isn't linear, and that, just how most real people make strides, take two step forward and one step back... We see that too.

It's also fun how our OP MC doesn't collect a bunch of people that see her powers and instantly become part of her fanclub, but instead are oblivious to it, opting to just connect with her in a more organic way that centers around the type of person she is, albeit plot-driven way.

Even the supporting characters are well done, while all of them do fit in a archetypal mold, again, they're fleshed out well enough that it doesn't feel recycled.

Although, I don't know if the fact that I enjoy it when I usually don't like these type of shows also means that fans of this genre will feel alienated.

There's still the final third of the show to go, and I kinda dread that it will shoehorn and speedrun a serious arc at the end for the finale and step over the tone that has been established, but as of right now, I like it a lot.

Arguably the WORST anime adaptation I've seen. I haven't been this disappointed since the 2016 Berserk adaptation. HOW can you adapt over 50 chapters in two episodes and average 15-ish chapters per episodes since?

Anyways, besides that, even as a stand alone it's everything the original novel isn't. A schizophrenic pace and the viewer is just dropped in the midst of a world completely blind, but even the POV character it sets up suddenly just understands anything and nothing is really ever explained, so I've no idea how anime-only viewers are grasping it unless they just like the cool art and nicely animated set-pieces.

Our MC gets ... completely butchered in this adaptation. His personality is MIA, and so are his goals, and the show just turned him into a cluelessly meandering puppy going along for the ride, and every other character also devolved into an archetype as bland & unmemorable as the character design choices made to portray them.

And as someone who has watched plenty other donghua, even the voice acting is one of the most flat and unemotional I've heard.

Outside of a few nicely animated set-pieces it's an utter waste of time when the great novel exists.

A part of me is happy newcomers to the series are enjoying it but I wouldn't be surprised at all if this just alienates a lot of people from reading the source material, or simply gives people the wrong impression of the story altogether.

Fantastic premise, setting, characters and world-building... But the ending and final arc ruined it. The beginning is amazingly refreshing with a protagonist that isn't just a chosen one archetype being recycled (No characters are too stereotypical).... And the story pushes interesting themes about breaking norms and having to reinvent yourself to move forward. So fun and unorthodox that it only makes it the more frustrating that the manga's ended with with the most cliché trope and just went for the never ending drawn out final battle which now takes up A THIRD OF THE ENTIRE MANGA, and after just wraps it up with an ambiguous ... 1 chapter summary epilogue.

I cannot say it's a bad story, because it objectively isn't, but I also can't recommend it to anyone, hence the 'Not recommended' take. Well, if someone is likes a manga where a third of the story is a drawn-out final battle that takes up 2-ish years of weekly chapters (I guess people who binge it now that it's over will have a different experience) only for the final battle to end aaaaaand it's done, and the chapter after the battle's over - end of the manga - then this will be your cup of tea, but as far as encouraging people to read it? I wouldn't as it feels like wasted potential now. It's one that joins the ranks of other long running shows with endings that do the rest of the story a disservice, and I just say, don't bother. If anything, just watch the anime and hope they expand and improve upon it.

Unsurprisingly this one's flying under the radar, but I am shocked to see how underrated it is. The comedy is really fun, and it doesn't devolve in being too absurd or simply a list of gags. IT IS a comedy, though, which is something the poster doesn't really convey, given that it looks like Ao no Exorcist.

It's really refreshing how there's not much exposition, and we get told how things are now, but we're not walked through how they ended up the way they are.

And I do like to have main characters who have genuine personalities that aren't recycled tropes. Our protagonist is ... genuinely quirky, and the fact we first find out he's a type of poltergeist entity but is still struggling with money and in his first scene doesn't want an ambulance called because he has no ID, insurance or money, is genuinely fun. And the fact other characters recognize how shady he is instead of being stereotypical people who blindly trust, yet they still want to do the right thing and (despite all the things they witness) still maintain a realistic level of skepticism...

I didn't realize it was the same author as Hōzuki no Reitetsu, but it makes sense when you see the style of the dialogue goes beyond the formulaic style and there are some unexpectedly poignant moments that just come out of nowhere through punchlines.

For example, despite our protagonist being hundreds of years old, he has no documentation or any form of ID. At first it seems absurd, but we quickly learn that he did have ID... up until he got drafted into WWII and that's why he doesn't have one anymore. And that was a punchline reveal about him, but then we're shown a quick sequence of someone noticing him doing forbidden spiritual techniques by giving ghost's flame to soldiers about to perish, and someone who's also spiritually awakened notices him but instead of turning him in or causing a fuss, begs for help for his son and promises his lineage will help him forever if he does, and that ties in perfectly and explains why that descendant's son knows our MC and helps him.

For the life of me I don't understand why it's rated so low.

I have my issues with the story but I have to admit that this is an excellent production. It's so artistic in its style that in the first few episodes it seems like it might've been an arthouse psychological film. Maybe that will alienate some people that will find it too slow, but I'm into that.
The directing, soundtrack, shot composition are excellent, and even though the style of animation it uses most of the time isn't cutting edge for different purposes it stylizes animation depending on the occasion was a really clever choice.
There's a very skillful use of non linear storytelling for spots. We'll see ... something about to happen, next scene is the next day, and in the next episode we're shown what happened in very efficient flashbacks. Or we'll see details of how another character experienced the same moment in a different way. And they're so well done, it doesn't feel like a flashback in the tedious way most shows in a "We interrupt this for a drawn out flashback".
And beyond just flashbacks a lot of details are shown as memories to let the audience know why and how a character is thinking as they navigate their feelings.

Even the way the framing of scenes is done to convey details of what's going on in the story is uncharacteristically cinematic for anime, and even more for this genre. For example, when there's scenes of people drifting apart, the "shot" will frame characters looking physically distant even though they're sitting at the same table. And even the way the directing allows for silence to play a role in the dialogue during arguments is really impressive.

The only problem I have is that the story let me down. The first two episodes had me intrigued. For a change it seemed like it WOULDN'T follow the formula of the step-sibling trope and the guy with a friendly co-worker, but it very disappointingly did. It felt we were in for a more unique take on things, but it weirdly speedran its way into all the clichés out there. To the point the last two episodes and first two feel like completely different universes and characters. Also, around episode 6, the story started to revolve exclusively around the sister and how our MC suddenly decides to make it his mission to help her and a lot of character nuance that had been established about him fades into the background.
And this probably won't be an issue for 'newer' watcher, but for someone like me who remembers watching Clannad After Story as it came out weekly, archetypes don't work on me that much anymore.
And, despite it being very well done from a technical aspect, as I pointed out, ultimately the story felt like the weakest link.

The characters did stand out for actually having a personality at first, but then it became a frustrating mess. And it doesn't help that the main girl reminds me a lot of my second girlfriend, and that brought up some unpleasant flashbacks of my own as the similarities in personality were uncanny at times. The manipulative arguing, the weaponized self-pity and trying to get as close as possible only to randomly start pushing people away... It might sound silly but that resonated with me in an unpleasant way.

I can't say it's a bad show, because it isn't and I did enjoy it for the incredibly skilled production it is, but I can't say it's great either.

It's fun enough, but unless someone's a fan of this type of stories, this is probably one to skip.
Started off really well. Fun with a refreshing take on the genre and with protagonists that did have personalities for a change. But in the second half tropes took over. The interesting aspects of the show faded to the background and stereotypical characters came in to set the stage for generic arcs. Almost like the main story was derailed by focus on side quests and then a rushed climax to the story.
All the while the main characters' personalities went from being strong & defined ... to change to whatever the plot contrivances required.