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This review is spoiler free.

Shokei Shoujo is a show with a great central concept which is reinforced by wonderful world building. The magical system is one of the most innovative I’ve seen in recent shows; instead of more classic “elements”, it relies on abstract concepts as specializations which enable a range of unique abilities. The “isekaied” people in this world have certain attributes which make it advantageous for various factions with diverging goals to attempt to summon them and over millennia, they have fundamentally altered the isekai world’s society and the mix of magic and technology which permeates the isekai world is something that is ... worth seeing. The world follows a hierarchical power structure with three states, the Church, the nobility and the common people, which are a natural extension of the inequality in power which results from the world being one of extravagant and extremely powerful magic and magic technology; the Hobbesian idea that all men are equal as even the weakest man can kill the strongest man is no longer necessarily true in this world.

Unfortunately, as a whole, the show does not live up to the potential which this fascinating setup gives it. The production quality is generally mediocre which unfortunately means that the world and the various magical battles, creatures, abominations and artifacts scattered throughout it are rather uninspiring. The final product on screen does not live up to the quality of the concept. The characters are average at best. None of them are particularly bad conceptually, but their final execution does not make any of them particularly memorable. The show could probably have also been directed better; while the show balances showing and telling well, most of the character-centric and “slice-of-lifey” filler scenes don’t do enough to build up the character’s central to the story.

Hence, at the end of the day, Shokei Shoujo ends up as a 7- good, but not great. It really has some solid elements (especially in its world-building) and the main plot is quite interesting. However, as a whole, the show certainly isn’t exceptional. I can’t help but feel that if this anime had a better production team behind it and a better sense of direction, the characters could have been made stronger and both the action scenes and the magic of the world could have really popped. Unfortunately, this is note the case.

I would also mention that there are definitely limitations to the world building, it certainly can’t stack up against something like Fullmetal Alchemist, Attack on Titan, or Legend of the Galactic Heroes, but it certainly is above average and really brings in some great concepts.