Sometimes you can have too much fun.
What They Say:
Chiharu is the wizard in charge of the magical crisis counter-measure division. His days are stressful until he meets Toyohi at his favorite bar, and the two hit it off. The two begin a budding relationship, until an accident at work causes Chiharu to devote more time to his work, and begin to push Toyohi away.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With some good exploration of both characters so far, this series has done a lot in two episodes in terms of relationships and engagement than a lot of single cour series do throughout their run. When you’re focused on actually telling a tale and not having to deal with the bigger picture or long term elements, you’re able to just get right to the heart of the matter. And in shows like this where it’s basically a single OVA spread out over four parts, you want to hit the right points and make it count. The trick is to give it enough heart that you really can do it. The first two episodes humanized both characters well and made the mild courting very engaging to watch.
Watching how the two interact and the personality quirks come out is a lot of fun, such as Chiharu being kind of easily lost while trying to go out together or the way Toyohi is very attentive to what Chiharu is into. Small moments but good moments. Similarly, Chiharu gets to show some of what he can do with magic here and it’s definitely great to see while at the bar because it just adds to the atmosphere of the place wonderfully. And you can see how it totally mesmerizes Toyohi, though Chiharu is kind of uncertain about that aspect of it. You don’t want to be pigeon-holed as just being about one thing. Of course, that uncertainty is what leads Chiharu to drinking a lot and ending up in Toyohi’s place, though nothing happened.
This provides a better look at Toyohi in a way that we need as we see what kind of person he is by his surroundings, which includes a good bit of travel as well that’s definitely a nice component to things. Of course, it all has to go askew a bit because of work problems that he missed and that puts a real damper on his mood to the point where his internal beating up of himself is pretty intense in a controlled way. It adds a nice bit of tension to things because he begins to pull back in a big way as he doesn’t want to have things in his life that will hurt his work. It’s an overreaction, but it’s the kind of thing you get from people when they’re uncertain and scared on a number of levels. With some additional flashback elements to his childhood, that’s well reinforced here.
In Summary:
This Boy is a Professional Wizard throws the obvious wrench in the works here since it can’t bell about the good times – as much as we’d like it to be. Chiharu’s actions are something that’s somewhat normal to a degree, though he takes it a bit further, some of which is likely cultural. The show works its design style really well here with the use of the magic and the way the words are floating throughout Chiharu’s mind in a really neat. Visually, it continues to be a treat and this episode is no exception. While the distance introduced may be a bit forced, it’s who Chiharu is and exploring that works surprisingly well here.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
