Akashic Records ...

Summary: >

Around the world there are many academies for magic. Sistine and Rumia attend one of the best. Which makes it mysterious why Glenn Radars is chosen to be an instructor and the teacher for their class. He's terrible at magic, and certainly isn't good at teaching. Over time he's able to win over his students, with the exception of Sistine, who remains sceptical. As forces conspire to take Rumia hostage due to her hidden lineage, it becomes clear there is much more to Radars than he lets on. Enough to win over Sistine? Maybe, even if she won't admit it.

Thoughts: >

Akashic Records of a Bastard Magic Instructor is the kind of anime you probably won't remember next week. I'm already struggling to recall what happened, or maybe confusing it with some other super generic anime. That's the problem with Akashic Records, it's just a bunch of anime stuff with nothing differentiating it.

So lets get this out of the way. The school outfits for the girls are absolutely RIDICULOUS. What kind of school has a dress code requiring students dress like strippers? This may sound like nitpicking, or you might think I eventually got over it. Yet even towards the end of the show I'd see the girls and think "dear lord put some clothes on her!".

The story is typical for "magic academy of whatever" stuff. There is a plot to assassinate Rumia, and evil people up to no good, etc. I hoped fun characters could carry the fluff, but it struggles with even that much. The protagonist is the usual guy who seems terrible at everything, but is secretly awesome. Rumia is the lady like girl, while Sistine is the stock tsurendere. Characters were fine until the addition of the emotionless doll like girl. She interferes with the flow of the characters and contributes nothing. For a show that can't bear dead weight well, this is a major drag. If there's a bright spot in all this, the evolving relationship between Sistine and Radars worked well enough to keep me interested (just barely).

Not much to say about Akashic Records of a Magic Bastard instructor. It offers nothing new and does little with what it has. The story isn't concluded (surprise), but the anime doesn't accomplish much as far as it's gotten, so I'm sceptical this anime will have a payoff in a later season. It's another pile of anime stuff but if you're okay with that, maybe it's good enough to kill time.

Screen Caps: >