There’s a certain sweet spot of disappointment that The Water Magician perfectly nails. It’s the kind of show that draws you in to believe in it – only to shove that belief up its ass as it sputters about in the back half. I hate that I could have predicted it going to shit cause it’s a fucking isekai, and I hate even more how that wouldn’t have been a fair assessment of the show.
All that said, it does have a strong start and manages to hold off the isekai burden for longer than I expected. The first few episodes are fairly fun and adventurous but the creeping clutches of isekai tropes are wide reaching. The show really is just your standard “overpowered protagonist isekai” forced into a laid back pace. A laid back pace that features a lot of more episodic short stories… aaaaaahhhh this is exactly what I looking for half the time in shows and they fucked it up! That’s why I actually hate this stupid show! Most of the “stories” were just so dumb or meaningless and they gave so little towards the build up of whatever the flying fuck The Water Magician was trying to accomplish!
Ahem, uh, I would still like give them some credit for trying so we’ll just give it a neutral and call it a day. I guess the light novel might be good or get good eventually but I just can’t be bothered at this point, too disappointed.