The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy (2023)

[聖剣学院の魔剣使い]

Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Studio: Passione
Starring: Marina Inoue, Yui Ishikawa, Saori Onishi
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
The Demon Lord Leonis is reincarnated a thousand years after his defeat and must adapt to a new world of magic technology and a menace known as the Void Lords.

Impressions:
When I saw the PV for this series prior to its release, I thought the premise had promise. The character designs looked appealing and I had liked Passione's work on Mieruko-chan, so I had some hope. That hope was misplaced. The setup is decent, but the execution falls flat. Despite his backstory, Leonis is a mighty lame excuse for a demon lord who ends up being just another weenie male protagonist. No amount of fancy light shows against awful CG monsters can offset mob-level lameness. While occasionally undercutting his sense of gravity can be comedically effective, when it happens all the time, your so-called demon lord becomes nothing more than a joke. Selia isn't much better as the lead female, who is similarly underwhelming even after she finds herself empowered. You can argue the idea is to show her growing into her powers, but she has a poor showing of it until the finale (and by then you'll likely be so deflated that you won't be impressed). The supporting cast is there but are mostly ciphers, and the politics of the world aren't all that interesting. As I said in the beginning, the potential is there, but what we get isn't going to do much for you. Production values aren't the worst I've seen this season, but it doesn't feel like Passione brought their A game. I'm tempted to just tell you to pass on this, but maybe there's just enough for you to find some merit. There is other stuff from this season I hate a lot more, so it just barely passes the threshold for me to say take it or leave it.

Rating:
50/50