Anime Spotlight #26: The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent

Article by Sean Wilkinson,

a.k.a. the Animeister,

Wishing you a Magical St. Valentine's Day!

There's no doubt in any anime fan's mind that the isekai genre is oversaturated, making it harder and harder to find a good enough twist for a series to use as a point of differentiation as the seasons and years pass us by. Kind of like how much harder it is these days for a man to be romantically proactive without saying or doing something that could be construed as inappropriate. That's not to say I don't see couples groping each other and trying to eat each other's faces when they're "kissing," or that sex by its very nature isn't aggressive, or that I was trying to make any kind of point. But, yeah; it's hard out there for a man and a mangaka.

If you appreciated that Hustle & Flow reference, please share the love by remembering to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment your true feelings at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read, and choo-choo-choose me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest heart-shaped boxes of news on my content.

The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent, on top of being a long title and the main reason that I accidentally open new tabs when trying to italicize said title with keyboard shortcuts, is (surprise!) a still-ongoing novel-turned-light novel-turned-manga-turned anime series written by Yuka Tachibana and animated by Diomedea that falls into the isekai and shojo genres.

Its twist on the "reincarnated/summoned to another world" formula begins with the main character, Sei Takanashi, being a relatively rare case of a female isekai protagonist.

When a fantasy world comes under threat of "demon beasts" and the expanding influence of "miasma swamps," their king authorizes a summoning ritual to bring the titular Saint from another world (as usual, this is from Japan, on Earth) to fight the monsters and cleanse the land of its toxic atmosphere. But somehow, the ritual goes awry and two young women are summoned instead of just the one. Based on appearance and demeanor alone, the king and his priests and attending knights assume that the other girl, Aira Misono, is the true Saint, and begin training her for etiquette and combat against her will (and mostly offscreen so we get hit with the harsh reality of it all at once later in the first season). But as it turns out, Sei is a horticulture and herbal remedies nerd, and bucks societal norms by endearing herself to a local socialite and finding her place as a researcher at the Medicinal Flora Research Institute, where her true magical capacity (and title character status) slowly becomes apparent.

The first season mostly follows the "nothing happens until the big battle six hours later" formula of your average, one-off promotional anime, but for those who aren't fighting anime purists, that "nothing" is actually chock-full of social politics, romantic buildup, Apothecary-style medical drama stuff, and a few "go to the place, cleanse the land, heal the people" episodes to let our White Mage literally shine.

At the time of this writing, Season Two has one more episode to dub and release, and with the social politics and "recognize the main character" flow of the first season mostly resolved, it focuses more on Sei training her Omnipotent Magic Saint Powers and helping Commander Hawk's (dubbed by my other spirit animal that isn't Brittany Karbowski, Ian Sinclair) knights with the last of the kingdom's "go to the place, cleanse the land, heal the people" issues. Also, there's a short arc where everyone has to conceal Sei's true identity from a visiting noble for political reasons that was kind of fun. But once this is resolved and Sei's Saintly duties are finished, the season does a little of the "main character wants to bring Japanese stuff to fantasy land" and reverse-harem shenanigans that one would expect from a series of this type. It's a bit disappointing that TSMPIO had to resort to this so quickly, but I commend the author and animation team for not going at it as predictably hard as its peers and predecessors have before. I like it, but I don't see the need for a third season at this point.

Speaking of concealed identities, the content for this Thursday actually makes sense, as I give you a Ticket Stubs on Shane Black's directorial debut with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, and my 21 Jump Street review gets a TBT Anniversary push; cops, concealed identities, and comedy!

Stay Tuned, and please share the love by remembering to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment your true feelings at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read, and choo-choo-choose me on Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest heart-shaped boxes of news on my content.

Animeister,

Out.