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I think that the main reason why I dislike the show was because I set my expectations too high.

What I expected was a deep, introspective show about military combat with the assistance of magical entities, akin to something like Tales of Zestiria, or FMA. Instead, what I got was a major disappointment, which I can sum up entirely in Episode 3's "battle".

Outnumbered and outgunned, our heroes attempt to fight against a vastly superior army. They are up against trained soldiers, all of whom boast (presumably) steel armor. However, they are "luckily" joined by a handful of villagers with close to no military training, and ... have a small army of their own. (The other lords join them too, but they had no way of knowing that.)

This is a perfect chance for our heroes to show off their brilliant strategy of...


Charging directly into a better armed numerically superior force. Great.

Ignoring "MAGIC!!!", critical mistakes I noted were:
1. During the initial charge, the hero's army lacks both shields and lower torso armor, and yet fail to even try to guard their incredibly exposed bodies
2. In a single scene, Theo's sword isn't able to cut the shield, but CAN cut through steel.
3. Humans ran as fast as horses.
4. A hammer too heavy for anyone to possibly hold knocks off someone's head.
5. A line of F***ING CROSSBOWS penetrates STEEL ARMOR. THEY'RE NOT EVEN MAGIC. THOSE ARE JUST CROSSBOWS!

This basically becomes the entire show. Theo and crew do something ridiculously stupid that shouldn't work, it does work, and everyone treats Theo like he's a goddamn genius. It's worse than making a Kirito. Kirito at least has a believable excuse: Some gamers are hardcore as f***, and he got in on the early beta of a poorly designed game. But Theo is just an idiot. and it bothers me that he actually gets anywhere.

Man, originally I gave this 4/10, but after actually articulating my thoughts, I might have to bring it down.

3/10
Although I totally get why other people enjoyed this show, I had difficulty getting through any of it. And yes, that includes "After the first 4 episodes", because I'm an insane completionist who sometimes forgets to sleep.

Story: 2/10
I guess my hopes were brought up by the abundance of other reviews saying that you just have to wait it out, and get past the exposition. Well, I'm here to tell you the exposition never ends. Never.
Honestly, the show feels like a preteen's idea of politics. Entire nations are basically given away at the drop of a hat, with no attention payed to the political ... or societal ramifications, nothing close to farming is ever shown, and large armies are decimated with no justification for why they HAD large armies in the first place. Now normally, this wouldn't matter, but this show has the annoying habit of pretending its politics matter more than they do. Yes, the world surrounding the show is incredibly detailed, but due to a fundamental failure in storytelling, it is forced through exposition that nobody living in the world would ever need to give.

Art: 8/10
The writers of this show seem like they've never heard the adage "Show, don't tell", and most of the admittedly amazing art staff seemed like they were relegated to either fanservice or "make it look pretty". Now, don't get me wrong. They did indeed make it look pretty, and I can't take that away from them, but great visuals should help convey the story, not the MC's constant (and, btw, completely intentional) sexual assaults.

Sound: 7/10
Not much to say. Stuff lined up well, but even though the songs were decent, it was nothing memorable, and I don't think I could pick any of their songs out of a lineup. Constant exposition was a pain to listen to.

Character: 4/10
There are individual characters that make me want to say "10/10, almost perfect", but that's hardly representative of the vast majority of the character pool. The characters who are given backstories, individually, range from "Huh, that's interesting" to the "WHAT THE FUZZNUGGET IS WRONG WITH YOU?". Now, admittedly, a lot of these "WTFIWWY?" could be considered by others as "deep" or "meaningful", but I still don't see it. Many of the... less savory actions taken by various characters, especially the MC, range from assault to sexual assault to child(?) molestation. Politics only seem to matter when they're convenient, and halfway through, the MC loses their one motivation out of, as far as I can tell, boredom, which sums up my attitude towards the show perfectly.

Enjoyment: 2/10
Just off the bat, I don't think I'm being elitist when I say I didn't enjoy this. I was able to enjoy SAO, even though it's just a self-insert power fantasy. I was able to enjoy Fairy Tail, even though it was pretty much directionless. Hell, I enjoyed Hanamaru Kindergarden purely for the cuteness. However, this show gave me none of my levels of enjoyment.

1. "Turn your brain off" enjoyment. Think SAO
Doesn't apply. Too much exposition

2. "Wow, that's really pretty!/AWW" Think Your Name or (Loli show here)
Nope. Art's good, but not that good.

3. "Character Growth" enjoyment. Think DBZ or Fairy Tail
Nope. Characters literally drop their motivations halfway through, and the rest don't grow at all.

4. "Intricate Worldbuilding" enjoyment. Think Shinsekai Yori
Nope. No farmers/farms/farming is ever shown. Ever. Also, the characters don't take their world seriously, so why should I?

5. "ROMANCE" enjoyment. Ranges anywhere from "Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun" to "Golden Time" to "Erased"
Once again, never given a reason to care, and it doesn't focus on their pre-accident relationship enough for me to care about them getting together.

6. Jojo's. Think "Jojo's"
It's not Jojo's.


So yeah, overall, didn't like it.