Anime Spotlight #63: Wistoria Wand & Sword
Article by Sean Wilkinson,
a.k.a. The Animeister.
It's been quite awhile since I watched today's anime up for review, but I'll try to include and elaborate on as much opinion as possible. And, as you'll see in my initial thoughts on the series FROM Anime Spotlight #41: Spotlightning Round IV (August 5, 2024), said opinion was mixed at best and ascerbically cynical at worst:
Wistoria - Wand & Sword: What if Mashle wasn't funny or trying to say anything meaningful about brutal, class-based societies? What if Black Clover was boring? A guy with no magic who's really strong with a sword and almost useless otherwise enrolls in a magic school so he can be a strong mage and protect the world with his childhood friend. The animation and fight composition are pretty peak so far, but I don't expect to be invested in this for very long.
In refreshing myself for this review, I went back and listened to the credits music because I...don't remember them. And to be brutally honest, the OP ("Fire and Fear" by Penguin Research—amazingly quirky name, BTW) is the kind of generic, vocally atonal speed-metal you'd expect for a mid-profile shōnen anime like this. But the instrumentation is so rich and varied in the full version (oddly making me think of "Freedom" by Rage Against the Machine, another song I don't find particularly catchy even though the instrumental is practically a cross-genre symphony) that I enjoyed it despite the OP edit not being a "must listen every episode" banger. The ending song ("Frozen" by True) is diabetic bubblegum pop-rock, but the wordplay and syllable manipulation in the Japanese lyrics are Eminem-quality. Again, not an every episode banger, but there's something to like there.
As for the anime itself, it does ring of Mashle and Black Clover (and maybe a hint of Tower Of God, considering the "protagonist chases female friend up a tower" angle), and I almost stopped watching when I saw his roommate's name was Rosty Nowman (because Ōmori-sensei put an Ossan Newbie Adventurer level of effort into naming his characters). But then I gave Wistoria another episode, and the fight animation grabbed me hard (I said what I said).
Will Serfort is the aforementioned magic-less swordsman grinding and writing his way to the top of the class at a magic academy built to train future "Magia Vander" (this series' "gotta be the best" title, a la Black Clover's Wizard King, but I just picture Holyfield punching evil while dressed as a stage magician, which is hilarious and totally not the visual that the author intended...I hope) who will maintain the barrier that keeps out the apocalyptic hellscape raging beyond (so, maybe a touch of Attack On Titan, too?). As one does in anime, Will gathers rivals, love interests (in knockoff Bastard Magic Instructor "uniforms," of course), and allies by the episode as he either kicks their pompous, magic-weilding asses, generically inspires them to follow their dreams, or solos any boss with his skill, strength, knowledge, and supply of Rosty-crafted magical items while they stand and watch in disbelief amid their crumbling worldviews. And as is typical of school-set anime, this season's journey to the top includes a tournament and practical exam (the latter borrowing dungeon exploration plot beats from Ōmori's other work, as it serves as a way for teams to speedrun their required credit quota for graduation by slaying monsters; something that Will has been doing on the daily between classes, a delivery job, and a shift at the local dwarf tavern). So just like in DanMachi, the season ends with Will unlocking a new power and defeating a monster that's ten times stronger than anyone else was ready for because two evil mages interrupted the practical while searching the dungeon for a MacGuffin that kills mages (so definitely some My Hero Academia influence there, too). There's more to the story, like Vander assistants posing as students to recruit actual students for advancement up the academy tower, and dwarves being treated like second-class citizens (so I was wrong about Wistoria not having anything to say in my first impression). And the implications of the larger world (what of the dungeon's lower floors? What if the barrier cracks? Is the world beyond really what the characters have been told?) are worth the continued investment despite the plot's (probably) intentionally misdirected focus and Wand & Sword's more derivative elements, and I'll probably do a full rewatch next year for Season 2 because it's interesting and it looks that good.
Sometimes the only way up or forward is to hustle and grind when you're not feeling particularly magical, so please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, help out my ad revenue as you read so I can afford to think of a decent pun to put here, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
Animeister,
Out.
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