Sky Wizards Academy (Boxset Review)
By: Rae
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Kanata, once a hero, is seen as a traitor to the floating cities above earth that humans now inhabit. He’s assigned to teach a team of three Sky Wizards in training, all of whom are convinced he’s a pervert (thanks to a complicated series of mishaps). As time goes on, he works to uncover the strengths hidden in each of his students.Mixed into the fray is a story of giant bugs that nearly killed off humanity and drove them to their cities in the sky.What is the actual plot? Well, I’d love to tell you, but I’m still not 100% sure.A short rundown:
- Giant bugs attacking people
- Humans now live in sky cities and fly around battling each other in tournaments
- The power of confidence and teamwork can always save the day!
(((*°▽°*)八(*°▽°*)))
I usually try to give a better rundown than this, but I’m still at a little bit of a loss of how to explain this series. After sneaking a peak at what other viewers thought, I get the feeling I’m not alone – a lot of people commented on the thin and/or missing plotline. So just know it’s an almost-harem anime featuring a lot of magical fights. That should prepare you well enough, because I’m struggling right now.WatchabilityThe English voice acting was okay sometimes, and really annoying at other times. There is seriously no need to attempt over-feminizing a female character’s voice by pitching it unnaturally high. I promise you, most of us don’t talk that way. It’s grating and obnoxious, and for some reason is a staple of English-dubbed anime.This particular blu-ray highlighted a major problem caused by this type of voicing (aside from just annoyance) – often lousy sound quality. The music was nice, and there were some characters that weren’t bad to listen to. But it was hard to focus on that because the high-pitched voices of the main female characters were just SO loud. I had to turn it down every time one of them was having a conversation. Which always meant I couldn’t hear any of the quieter characters, and of course without subtitles that quickly became an issue.
I actually liked Kanata more than the average “male protagonist frequently landing in sexualized mishaps.” He wasn’t whiny and hopeless, like I’ve sort of come to expect from these types of setups. In fact, he was kind of cool at some points and fairly likable. Overall though, the characters were quite bland. What little personality they showed was short-lived and soon replaced with more fanservice.
Honestly, Sky Wizards Academy seems like something I might have liked a little more in another form and with a little more substance. Overall it’s not terrible. It’s just nothing special. The premise seems like it could be interesting, but it’s presented in a pretty standard way. The plotline isn’t really too special. The characters are a little flat. There’s a general overreliance on boobs and fanservice.A lot of times it felt like there was a story in there somewhere that just wasn’t being told – and considering how long the series of light novels is, I wonder if that’s the case (someone who’s read them will be a better source, I’m sure).
AnimationSky Wizards Academy is not a particularly visually appealing series.The art is relatively cliché. It’s not ugly, but it’s nothing unique or beautiful either. I’ve been spoiled by some Funimation releases with incredible backgrounds and movement, and I found myself rather unimpressed this time around. At most, I can say that it was fairly colourful. You can decide for yourself if that’s a compliment.
The animation was pretty disappointing. I’d already tried to prepare myself when I saw the opening, but the fight scenes were surprisingly slow and a lot of the movement was really stiff. There was almost no background movement or interesting detailing. Even in crowd scenes, literally no one moves except for the main characters. It made it difficult to be visually engaged or excited – even during big fight scenes.BoxsetHere you’ll find the usual – trailers, opening/ending, etc. The set itself isn’t bad looking – but it’s nothing special. Kind of like the show itself.I don’t know if it was the discs or the way the anime was made in the first place, but the sound quality for this just about drove me up a wall. We had to turn the volume up and down several times. The opening was very loud, as were some of the female voices. Everything else was very quiet. It definitely took away from the viewing experience because we had to readjust every 5-10 minutes.
Overall? If I could start over again, I’d pass this one up. I’m curious about the light novels, because there were a few things about the story that I found intriguing, but the anime was definitely not a fulfilling check off my “to watch” list.Still want it? You can get the Sky Wizards Academy boxset here!
