Reign of the Seven Spellblades

Watched: Sub

Magical school is probably not an uncommon setting to find in anime, but it is hard not to find similarities between some of the characters and tropes in these shows and Harry Potter. While Mashle takes that concept to a generally more comedic route, Reign of the Seven Spellblades instead has a more serious, yet also still coming-of-age type story. Gone are the houses that people are divided into, but sports, a school on top of a mysterious maze, and other elements remain. Our story follows Oliver, a jack of all trades who still keeps up with those who excel in specific fields. An incident on the first day unites him with five friends representing a variety of interests and backgrounds.

The setup of all these characters allows the story to explore the world in a more immediate, personal way. One member is born to nonmagical parents and has a lot to learn. Another advocates for the rights of demi-humans and better treatment of all magical creatures. One comes from a prestigious family; another is a samurai from a far-off land. And lastly rounding out the group we have the dumb guy, but he’s also from a farm and very good with plants. Since we have all of these characters there’s lots of pieces that can be touched on, even if only briefly within the 15 episodes of the show.

The magic in this show is a little confusing, as it generally seems to require incantations but not always. Mana exists, but the usual aspects of it needing to be replenished or conserved in battle seem largely ignored in this show. In addition to magic, combat also involves swords, which I guess can work as wands despite wands also existing and being used? There’s some aspects here maybe I just missed or weren’t fully explained, but it allows for some interesting fight scenes. All important to this magical world is that many become “consumed by the spell”, which is to say magic takes hold of people when they’re in too deep, usually leading to their death and a few others along the way.

There’s also some trans themes in this story, being the center of one episode in particular. It was surprising to come across, and it also was done pretty well. Everyone was supportive, and it wasn’t used as any sort of joke. If anything it was celebrated, so all around better to see in media.

Overall it’s a pretty good fantasy adventure show. I didn’t even mention some of the interesting aspects here, but that’s partially because their implication hasn’t fully come to light. However, this show feels more complete than other one season adaptations, though I do hope we get to see more in the future.