Madan no Ou to Vanadis

The series plays out like a "Docudrama", with explanations of enmities and alliances, breakdowns of larger combats explaining troop movements and how a small force / "hero's" impact change the balance, etc.

(This means Anime fans who want non-stop action should likely skip this one.)

The slight difference was enjoyable and allowed for more massive engagements without turning each episode into endless combat. With only a few exceptions the majority of characters didn't feel like cardboard cutouts.

Pros:

• Battle "synopsis" during combat explaining actions taken by the armies is an interesting story trick.
• Nice variety of personalities and motivations behind the factions.
• Magic (weapons or casters) are rare and powerful, making it it something that changes the balance of conflicts.
• Characters are generally not cardboard cutouts.
• Consistent Animation.
• Good English Dubbing.
• "Fan Service" is uncommon.

Cons:

• Harem situation made sense at first and then got a little silly.
• Comically oversized special sword.
• When "Fan Service" shows up it's a bit distracting.
• Short ending.

I wish it had a follow up season, but plan to track down the OVA shorts, "Tigre and Vanadish" hoping for some closure.

I liked this show, but somehow it just fell a bit flat for me. Not sure why, because I usually enjoy fantasy/battle shows in general (GoT is the bomb!).

Tigre is a young nobleman from the fictional province of Alsace in Brune. He is a highly skilled bowman, but he gets captured by a cute and busty War Maiden of Zchted named Elenora during a skirmish. She takes him prisoner but treats him very well, eventually lending him her army to defeat some unpleasant Dukes in his own kingdom with designs on the throne. Cue lots of battles and bouncing bosoms.

The animation is quality and the characters are all likable. The story is interesting enough to hold your attention, but maybe I might have liked it more if it wasn't so tame. Overall, it wasn't bad, but just not great either.

The setting of this show is pretty standard high fantasy, but leaves the door open for a great show - dragons, magic weapons, political intrigue: its all there. There are other things the show does right; the artstyle is crisp and very colorful and the few action scenes we do get are pretty well animated.

However, the most important part of any show is its writing, and thats where Lord Marksman falls flat on its face.

As mentioned, the setting is pretty cliche, but I have no problems with that. The big issue is the characters and the plot.

Every character in the show is incredibly flat, with the most shallow and simple of motivations. There is no real character development, no complex relationships. Every conflict is entirely surface-level. Even the mc lacks any depth beyond "hey he's really chill and shoots arrows real good". The show fails to make you care about any character beyond their outward aesthetics.

On top of that, there are countless elements of the story just being thrown around haphazardly with no connection. New characters and conflicts just kind of drop in randomly without any setup and are resolved just as quickly. McGuffins just appear out of nowhere and are either never explained at all, or vaguely mentioned once and then entirely forgotten. The closest thing we have to introducing an internal character arc is dropped on us in episode 2, basically never discussed again until the climax, and then once again is ignored entirely immediately after it comes up.

Overall, the shortcomings arent enough to make the show unwatchable - just boring. If you want an interesting fantasy story, there are countless shows far more gripping than this one. If you just want to relax on an afternoon and throw on a short show in the background with just enough bright colors and action to keep your attention while you work on other things, this is the show for you.

This show certainly deserves higher rating than 7.

For one, all actors in the story pursue their own interests, so there is no inherently evil non-characters.

Then, none of the commanding officers are incompetent in battle tactics. Even in case of silver spoon boy, despite being priory shown as a detestable person, he still implies textbook-class tactics and requires a few ruses to be beaten.

What brings us to the battles. All of them are well thought through, major ones even consist of multiple stages. Also, despite significant role of magic, they still leave a surprisingly realistic impression: the breaks for the night, numbers of troops participating, their equipment, banners, logistics, visuals, finally tactics - everything greatly contributes to the warfare's authentic feel.

Then, goes the magic, which also is handled well here: despite providing an immense power to the user, due to it's exclusivity, it doesn't become some omnipotent force that renders all other types of combat obsolete.

Broadening the scope, we come to the politics. This aspect may not be quite as sophisticated as the battles, but is still competently done.

Lastly, the story of Tigrevurmud, the young earl of Alsace who gets caught in a political turmoil due to power vacuum in the kingdom of Brune is well written and pleasant to follow. All main characters are likable, their actions are coherent and understandable.

In conclusion, it isn't perfect, but at the same time without any major flaws.

P. S. In regards to a supposed lasciviousness of the show, except for the character design, there really isn't much to it. There is barely five or six short humorous or awkward "fan service" scenes, like stumbling on someone in a bath and that's the extent of it. Not sure why people focus on it so much.

I love the anime. I love the fact that's it show battle strategy. I'm also interested in the way that magic is presented in the show. I have never seen anime like this one. I will have to admit the story isn't amazing but it's still really interesting. I would love to see more of the series and I would definitely recommend it to other people.