I have watched quite a few shows with premises not too different from this one, which tend to be very boring and disappointing. This was a pleasant surprise.
In most ways, the story seems like an average slice-of-life romance with an overarching political/detective plot (similar to Apothecary Diaries), rather than an action fantasy, which was a great decision by the writers.
The animation, while not being very stylized and occasionally having the typically bad Japanese CGI (even if very rarely), is nice enough to look at and fits the vibe of the overall show, while still delivering good moments in action scenes.
I enjoyed the characters and the setting. The stakes in the story were not particularly high compared to many other similar shows that pretend to have high stakes, while featuring the typical OP black-haired MC who could destroy the whole world if he so pleased, winning every fight with ease.
Sadly, I struggled to stay entertained for long. After the third episode, the charm wore off and left me bored and uninterested. There are no real stakes, with an overpowered MC like this (in terms of strength/power) dealing with mundane struggles.
The main character just felt like a fusion of Bocchi (Bocchi the Rock!) and Frieren (Sousou no Frieren), but in the process became less funny and less interesting to watch grow.
The dynamics and relationships between the main character and the side characters are the second-worst issue, in my opinion. The character interactions, while logical and sometimes quite funny, are lacking in depth and substance. Running gags are not charming enough and feel dragged out and annoying after a short while. All the side characters feel like they are just there as convenient plot devices with the illusion of personality attached to them.
The biggest issue in the show by far was the dialogue. As is common in anime, the dialogue is pretty bad: exposition dumps all over the place, with characters just stating everything they feel in a mostly logical and straightforward way. The characters tend to just stand there and talk to themselves about sensitive information.
A badly executed moment I want to call out specifically occurs about six minutes into the first episode. After we already had enough information to deduce that the girl we have been following is the Silent Witch-by paying attention to her nervous and anxious attitude, mixed with her skill and knowledge in mathematics-we could already understand that she is the Silent Witch and doesn't talk because of her anxiety. Yet the show decides to waste two minutes of its runtime to show us irrelevant and redundant information while exposition-dumping.
Overall:
I'm glad the story is not cheap power-fantasy slop and was enjoyable for some time, but there are not enough stakes, nor enough interesting side characters to show more sides of the main character. A fine show to watch and, in animated fantasy, a 7/10-but in general TV shows, I can give it nothing more than a 5.
