Rental Magica

Rental Magica is a bit of an odd anime. It's mainly a series of one shot episodes relating the exploits of Iba Itsuki, the 2nd president of Astral, and his various employees as they combat evil spirits, demons, rogue mages, magical pollution, etc.

What makes the show a bit odd is the fact that it initially can't decide if it wants to be a combat anime, or a highschool romance, a purely supernatural thriller, or a comedy. It literally has a bit of all those genres. Because of this, many people may be put off watching the show after a few episodes. Bear with it ... though, as it does get progressively better.

The story in itself, as explained already, is mainly a series of one shot episodes. There is, however, an underlying story which is hinted at throughout most of the series, and becomes clearer towards the end (which is why I said bear with it).

The art and animation in the show is generally quite good. The characters and backgrounds are generally very well done, and the majority of spirits/demons/etc, are very well depicted. The combat scenes are very well animated and should satisfy most people.

The sound is also well done. The opening theme is a catchy J-rock song which has become a favourite of mine (both in japanese and english). The sound effects and atmospheric music are generally good throughout the series.

The characters are reasonably well realised. The characters of Itsuki, Honami and Adelicia are generally quite good, and an effort has been made to focus on specific characters in several episodes scattered throughout the series. This helps to round out the characters afair amount, but otherwise there is no real effort to develop the characters more - but then again, this type of anime doesn't really need character development.

I'm a bit of a fan of episodic animes (Mushi-shi, Aria, Mokke, Ghost Hunt, to name a few), so watching Rental Magica was an enjoyable experience for me as I didn't expect any distinct plot to appear. I also liked the fact that this show highlights one thing that is commonly left out of other "magic" based shows - the rules.

I'll explain. Astral is an organisation made up of practitioners of various forms of magic (Celtic Witchcraft, Shinto, Onmyoudou, etc - they even have a ghost working for them). Astral isn't the only magical organisation though, as there are numerous others (Goetia - the descendents of Solomon, is the most notable). All of these organisations are governed by a mysterious organisation simply called "The Association", who enforce the rules regarding the use of magic. Certain acts are considered taboo, and the show covers some of these very well.

The other side of the "rules" coin are the rules governing a particular form of magic. The show very clearly highlights the differences in the various forms of magic used, and also covers some of the dangers of misuse or breaking one of the taboos. This is what really sets the show apart, as it is one of the few shows that covers the technical side of magic, and it covers it quite well. The creators of the show went to a lot of effort researching the various forms of magic in an effort to make the various rituals as accurate as they could, and for me at least, the effort paid off.

The only thing I didn't like about the show was the character of Itsuki Iba, as I found him to be a bit too shy/reticent/cowardly/etc. This is supposedly balanced by his alter ego (when he removes his eyepatch), but initially the difference didn't sit well with me as I kept wanting to punch him in the face (I should point out that he does improve later in the series though).

This isn't a straightforward combat anime. Nor is it a truly supernatural thriller. It most definitely is not a horror, although some of the uses of magic in the show can be called horrific. It's a complicated mixture of several genres which may, or may not, sit well with most people, depending on your preference.

If you like coherent, sensible storylines with good plot and character development then you may not enjoy this (doesn't hurt to give it a try though). If you're after thrills, action, chases, etc, then you may not enjoy this either.

If you're after an enjoyable anime that isn't too serious, and is sometimes a bit tongue-in-cheek with it's humour, then you may actually like this show.

I can think of worse ways to spend half an hour.

Reason for watching: Thought it had a good premise for occult themed story lines, base on its synopsis.

TL;DR: I thought wrong. The story is shallow and messy, with weak animation for its battle scenes, and the characters are as flat as a deflated balloon.

Story
The story is so incoherent. That's the only way I can describe it. I have come across animes with messy, borderline incoherent story-telling. But this is on another level, not only is the story-telling rocky, the concept on a whole is not even clear. The episodes were originally aired in a non-linear pattern, where the First episode is the Sixth in chronological ... order. And whichever way you choose to watch it, whether is using the chronological episode numbers, or the broadcasted jumbled pattern, both ways don't make the show any better. Maybe the novel tells the story better, but the anime really did not tell any sort of story. The different magics weren't explained, the state/ rules of the world weren't properly established, the storylines were all vague. The romance genre in here is at best, surface value, the storylines on the romance element were just there as a convenient way for the characters to interact with each other to increase the dynamics between them, there is no real substance in their interactions. The "mystery" element is just a poor by-product of not having the characters' backstory smoothly relate to the current events, and not having establish the characters' power/magic/capabilities and throwing them straight into battles with suspense music. The events that happens in the anime just seemed to happen with no reasonable cause. This makes the story very shallow. There is potential in the story, but the anime really disappoint in not bringing out even the bare minimum.

Art
The character designs are interesting and very fitting to their personas. Basically the art quality and design is not bad in this anime, including the backgrounds, there is nothing much to dislike. But the animation of the battle scenes really lowered the overall art score for me. For a show that is basically based on battle scenarios to move the plot and grow the characters, the battle scenes really are too weak. The movements are not smooth, the crossfires are underwhelmingly portrayed (is like they are depending only on the sound effects to bring about the intensity of the fights), and the characters are seemingly just standing still when the scenes focus on them.

Sound
The sound score is highest as I am also acknowledging the VAs work. The sound effect is above average. While the opening and ending themes are average at best.

Character
The characters are like empty Kinder Bueno Surprise Egg chocolate. You will expect some sort of surprise, whether is good or bad, but turns out, is empty. The characters started out with very vague personas, and yet could still fail to develop into a reasonable, story contributing character. The growth of the characters are forced, and more dialogue based than actions. And even after such forced development, the story doesn't use them effectively, is like a mental note to the audience that the characters have changed, but the changed characters won't be acting any different from before their changed. The character development is so superficial, is insulting.
I honestly can say a lot more on how disappointing the characters are, but I shall stop, for reasons like, I am tired. I will at least have to say that, the characters really had way more potential than the story itself.

This show's story makes no sense and is boring. The art is typical and mundane. The sound is fine but the opening and ending are typical Anime junk. The characters don't stand out and are average. The show is one of the thousands of Harems with average video quality, stereotypical characters, lame plot twists, and cheesy production values. Overall, I had to drop this series because it was so unpleasant to watch. If you're really into Harry Potter, then I guess you could love this series though.