Karen's Anime Blog

It’s easy to write about something that’s either really good or really bad. Stories that are wonderful or terrible bring out passion, and passion makes for good writing- hopefully, anyway! So I’m sitting here with The Water Magician, which is fine but doesn’t wow me, and I’m having trouble figuring out how to talk about it. Gah, why couldn’t it just suck?

First, the good: the OP has some very nice animation. It looks like main guy Ryo will team up with another guy rather than a girl, which is somewhat unusual in the isekai genre. I hope it’s a passionate bromance. The water magic that Ryo wields is explored in great detail, so we know exactly what he can and can’t do. The first half of the episode introduces the magic, while the second half shows him learning how to use his magic in combat. Everything is executed with no small degree of skill

If you like watching sunlight reflecting off the surface of the water, this show is for you. No, I take it back– your show is Free!

Now, the bad. The way the show starts with Ryo learning his magic is good for the purposes of developing the world’s magic system, but it’s not the most compelling opening. In fact, it starts a little slow. Slow isn’t necessarily bad; I prefer stories that take the chance to set things up rather than rushing at a breakneck pace out of fear of losing the viewer’s attention. In fact, shows that start out fast can feel too manipulative for me. But in this case, watching Ryo practice making magic ice javelins over and over just isn’t that interesting.

We don’t get a lot of information about Ryo in general. We don’t see any of his life before he was isekai’d, other than learning that he died in an accident (likely the mischievous Truck-kun at work again), and even by the end of the episode, we still don’t know much about him. Presumably he’s pretty smart, since he understands the underlying chemistry that makes water turn to ice, but that’s not a lot to go on. When he’s reincarnated, he wants to experience “the slow life,” which gives us a hint as to what his original life was like, but no more than that. Azusa in I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level! wanted the slow life too, but in her case we knew that her original life had ended in death from overwork.

We’re just missing crucial pieces of the puzzle here. One part of the show that wasn’t predictable was Ryo meeting a dullahan, who serves as a sparring partner for him. The dullahan gives Ryo a beautiful ice sword, which is cool but…why? Does Ryo remind the dullahan of himself? Does Ryo do something noteworthy to win the dullahan’s trust? Does the dullahan just give out fantastic shimmering swords to any newcomer he happens to see? No idea.

I’m sure the show will get more interesting once all these people are introduced, but I really need a show to hook me with the first episode in a season where there’s 25+ shows I want to watch.

The show is at its best when Ryo is using his water magic to take on giant foes, but a lack of investment in Ryo’s character made it so that I was never fully engaged in the combat. As it stands, I wouldn’t recommend against watching this show, because it’s competent enough; I just don’t feel any compelling reason to continue. Add this one to the list of “Probably not for me, but I’ll consider picking it up later if I hear it starts to hit its stride.”