The Water Magician – Episode 1

What’s it about? Mihara Ryou got hit by the infamous truck-kun and is transported to a fantasy world with the help of his guardian angel.  He’s given enough food supplies to last him two months so he takes advantage of his solitude to learn about this new world and master the art of water magic.

My first thought after I finished watching this was that “not everything can be Frieren Beyond Journey’s End.”  To start, that would require this premiere to have a protagonist that feels worth following, but Ryou is such a bland character that he made this episode feel longer than it should be.  There’s no doubt in my mind that the light novel author, Kubou Tadashi cares about how the rules of magic systems would work in a fantasy world and enjoyed writing that specific process through Ryou’s training arc, but that alone cannot carry a story.  What made Frieren unique is that it focused on the aftermath of an adventure by exploring themes about humanity, memory and the importance of building meaningful connections through the eyes of our favorite immortal elf, Frieren.  She loves magic too, but that aspect of her personality is the means to explore her relationships with others rather than a series of infodumps.

Plus it also helps that there’s layers to Frieren’s character, which is something that just isn’t there for Ryou. Apparently, he’s also immortal, but that just feels like a quick add-on in order to make him feel important.  If the author is keen on writing a simple adventure story about Ryou learning water magic and making friends along the way then he should at least be someone fun like my girl Kumo from So I’m a Spider, So What? If you think about it, she’s basically alone in a dangerous cave for a majority of the series, which meant her personality alone had to keep us interested in her journey.  I keep having to bring up other characters because nothing about Ryou caught my attention during his sole training arc in a remote forest.  If anything it was frustrating that everything kept being handed to him on a silver platter.  A guardian angel gives him supplies; a headless king gives him a water sword because he felt Ryou was “worthy,” but it doesn’t feel like he did anything special to earn that judgment.

That said, the animation is nice and the opening theme gives the series such a cozy vibe.  I’m also amazed at how well the water sequences were animated—liquid is often seen as the most challenging thing to animate convincingly.  I can imagine the fighting sequences will be something worth talking about, but again, I’m not really sure if fantasy fans will stick around for this series to fight its case in court.  In addition, it’s worth mentioning that all the female characters in the opening theme are fully clothed AND seem like they’ll get a basic level of respect. The bar is on the floor, so the fact that Ryou might not have a harem of women at his beck and call is worthy of a celebration.

Overall, it seems like it’ll be a harmless show that might interest fantasy fans that want to self-insert themselves into the story through Ryou’s character.  If I view it from that perspective then that might be the target audience that this show is looking for.  This ain’t for me folks, but I do hope it entertains the viewers who decide to stick with it.