Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon (2015)

[対魔導学園35試験小隊]

Director: Tomoyuki Kawamura
Studio: Silver Link
Starring: Yoshimasa Hosoya, Reina Ueda, Rumi Okubo
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A misfit platoon struggles to stay afloat at a school for witch-hunting inquisitors.

Impressions:
I was introduced to the characters of this series via Fantasia Re:Build, so I wanted to check out the source material for more context. Even though the story has a school setting, there's not much in the way of academics to be found, no real training sequences or anything like that. It's more like guild work you'd find in an RPG. Our lead Takeru starts off as a weak leader whose focus on swordsmanship makes him as ill-suited for combat as he is for command, but he grows into his role, particularly when the disbarred prodigy Ohtori joins the team. Although the eponymous 35th Platoon doesn't even have enough members to qualify as a squad, there is a fairly good balance of the character types and their interpersonal dynamics are fairly entertaining. I like the concept of the Relic Eaters (and I have to believe it was a deliberate choice to cast Jouji Nakata as Ohtori's Relic Eater Vlad, which is brilliant). The series is only long enough to really get the ball rolling, so you're going to have to refer to the original light novels or the manga for more. All told, it isn't amazing, but it's solid and entertaining enough to warrant a watch.

Rating:
Watch It