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In a word - surprise! After all, a power fantasy adventure with an OP main character (and I do not care if he is an isekai or not) whom many girls crowd around usually turns out badly for me because most of them are cookie-cutter characters. The characters are often quite stupid and totally clichéd, trying to show me how awfully powerful is the generic main male protagonist. Plus, I am supposed to therefore respect and admire him for that (like his harem does), even though there is nothing really special about him character-wise. However, The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest is somewhere a little different, in my opinion. It is as if its creator Shoto Shinko used his brain when writing this. He managed to turn an anime series I went into with a ton of preconceived notions (that it would be another version of the same old thing) into a pretty fresh show that I even enjoyed watching. What did Shoto do right? Perhaps just the fact that he did not base the entire story on the fact that we have one strong and invincible male protagonist who takes everyone down with his finger up his nose and pulls solutions to problems out of his ass. Mathias thinks that it is better to share his skills with others because it might save his skin one day, and most importantly, having capable people around him who can take care of themselves and be useful makes sense. So he teaches his girls, he teaches normal students, and unexpectedly it has some impact. He even goes so far as to give the other characters room to grow on their own, not interfering if he knows it is in their power to win and knows they are going to learn something by doing so. It is not just a boring one-person show with an over-the-top fighter who takes it all in stride, and because of that, it makes you suddenly like the main male protagonist a lot more than many of his ilks before him. However, it is not just what is done right. The anime's creator has managed to build an interesting world in which the main villains operate so that you see the activity has long-term plans, not just some short-term perspective. The demons are believable with their long-term plans, and more importantly, they are carrying them out, so you perceive real consequences. Yes, it again gives you the impression that there are demons everywhere and behind everything, and you are afraid to even look in the toilet, lest the demon is there. However, the atmosphere is quite good and works well at certain points, so the threat feels much more real and powerful than in similar anime series. Plus, we are introduced to everything relatively early on; there are no cryptic hints that we are going to find out the villains' plan at some point (usually in the last episode), and it would not logically work with the way the world it is set in. The narrative builds up that way anyway. Back to the main male protagonist, there is one more thing that is true about Mathias. Even though the show tells us he is the strongest sage of all, it does not tell us he is the strongest being on earth. It shows that without some of his tools, not all of which he has immediately at hand, and without thinking about the problem and its solution, he could look bad. A hero, in other words, always has some limits, so there are situations where he has to prepare himself. Realistically, he would quickly lose if he just walked into a fight like some other similar protagonists. Unlike other fantasy power anime, there are moments when you might even be a little worried about the main male protagonist (and his team). As I have stated several times, this is always good for the overall atmosphere. You could argue that some of his gadgets and strategies are quite silly. You could also argue that the way some situations (such as the last episode) are resolved, gives the impression that the anime's creator wanted to make things as easy as possible for himself within the show's narrative, and some stuff could be described as the proverbial MacGuffin. However, I have gotten so used to cutting corners with the plot and nonsense like that over the years of watching anime series that it does not annoy me unless it is explicitly punching me in the eye. The other thing that works here is the composition of the main protagonists. The chemistry between them is very good, and everyone has a role to play, both within the story and within a specific role within the group. It is actually not a harem anime series (unfortunately for some, fortunately for me). It is clearly defined what or who each character likes, and even one romantic relationship in fact develops somewhat normally by the standards of this kind of anime series. The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest is not a groundbreaking anime series. It is nothing brilliant or breathtaking. The action scenes are weak (sparing wherever possible, a lot of things happen off-screen, do not expect any smooth sequences full of punch exchanges either), the animation is mediocre, and the soundtrack is nondescript. There are some clichés and tropes typical of this genre that I am not a fan of. Also, I was not too fond of Nina Tamaki's voice for the main character. Despite all that, I have no problem giving this series a 6/10 after the first season because it seems that one anime creator finally made a serious effort with a fantasy power adventure with a generic OP main male protagonist. It worked quite well, so I would be happy to watch the eventual follow-up. (26.03.2022) (menos) (más)