Night Wizard Reviewed

Night Wizard – Series Review

~Uncle Yo

The last time Japan made an anime out of a tabletop role-playing game, they gave us Record of Lodoss War, which to this day is still my means to break friends into both anime and Dungeons and Dragons. So, naturally, I entered Night Wizard with high expectations.

Early last October Hal Film Maker Studio released the stand-alone, thirteen episode series about a team of modern day wizards (teenagers with custom weaponry) who fight to gather seven jewels of virtue and save the world from darkness: your basic action/comedy/fantasy mad lib plot. Despite following a basic formula, however, Night Wizard is clever for reversing your expectations.

We meet our basic main character, hard-fighting and hard-lucked Renji Hiiragi as he unveils his giant sword (naturally) and lays waste on an army of skeletons dressed as clowns. Renji and a small assortment of wizards use their flashy weaponry to stave off an invasion of Emulators, or monsters, from marching into our world and resurrecting their god of destruction. By the end of episode one our rules are easily established: wizards smash Emulators. In a predictable twist, our newfound friend, kind-hearted loner and supposed orphan Elis Shiho, is unveiled to be a wizard too. Her bracelet has seven open materia - whoops, I meant jewel - slots for seven jewels of virtue. Within moments, a new team of wizards featuring Elis, Renji and crossbow-wielding Shinto priestess Kureha is formed.

Every episode takes the characters to a unique location that surprised even me: places like Elis’ subconscious, ancient Babylon, the moon, and various others. For a short series of thirteen episodes, it covers a lot of ground. The comedy is standard character-based while Renji is always poised to provide slapstick and “that’s-gotta-hurt” humor. Do not expect any direct manga symbols; director Yusuke Yamamoto (Welcome to NHK) keeps a very consistent world, and quite a colorful one too. The animation is seamless, bright and even the surreal moments are eye candy.

Though the series is generic, magical-team-boss-fight-per-episode format, it does plant several issues of Machiavellian loyalty early on and pays off every loose end, a credit to series writer Ayuna Fujisaki (Aria the Animation). I did not see the ending as ridiculous, rather more of a satisfying puzzle that fit perfectly.

Thought by no means the next big thing in anime, Night Wizards is action-packed and humorous, and the toddler-level message of friendship-conquers-all is played off in a mature manner. I recommend this series to any Inuysha, Rune Soldier, or Slayers fans. This series works great among friends rather than a personal viewing. A statement about friendship, an altogether satisfying ride, Night Wizard earns a borderline four-out-of-five.