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Magatsu Wahrheit is a mobile rpg game which I tried to play but since my cellphone is crap and mostly filled with apps that I need, I could only play the prologue before I had to uninstall it. From what I could play, the game is a generic rpg with generic plot, generic characters, generic gameplay and a generic no name no face self insert protagonist so why would anyone bother with its anime adaptation? Especially when anime based on videogames arenāt exactly good, Kingās Raid from the same season is an example of that.
Another reason to pass on this anime is the studio in charge of it, itās pretty new and they did nothing of value as of yet, heck, the more famous work from them is Miru Tights, a short episodes comedy dedicated completely to a fetish.
Something that caught my attention while playing the game is that the setting was more medieval than the anime, which combines fantasy elements with an european like setting with contemporary technology and clothes (not present day technology and clothes of course). Combining that with how different Leocadio looks in the game made me think that the anime was going for its own completely different story, well thatās because I donāt know german and thus I didnāt know that the Zuerst in the title means the first or beginning, meaning, itās actually a prequel to the game.
Anyways, Magatsu Wahrheit combines several elements from other shows of its season and year to grab attention, is based on a mobile rpg just like Kingās Raid, it has an european like setting and messed up nobels like Moriarty the Patriot and a dual protagonist focus, just likeā¦well, many other shows from this year (Moriarty, Deca-Dence, Runway de Waratte, BNA, to name a few).
Its downside, I have to admit, is not being exciting, it plays out like a mystery instead of an action adventure and thus it has a lot of talking and investigation which are not going to thrill many viewers.
On top of that the visuals are nothing like in the PV, they are weak in the beginning and downright pathetic towards the end, making it even duller to watch, the setting is pretty good looking, the backgrounds are well made, but almost everything else in the visuals falls apart completely. The character designs are terrible despite standing out a little from the norm, they lack detail, shading, lightning, they are not even completely drawn at times, and the qualily drops are making things worse, the characters barely look good because the artwork is weak and the in-between is poorly made and keeps giving them deformed faces in all of the episodes, especially the second and third to last.
The motions are ok in the beginning, thereās a good fight in the first episode with a good choreography, but as the episodes goes on, they become worse and worse, the movements are very sloppy even in moments in relaxation, so just imagine how bad they are whenever thereās action.
The special effects are overall ok when it comes to shots and magic but I have to admit that there were pretty looking moments such as a certain thing beneath the Capital and the explosiĆ³n in the last two episodes which reminded me of Watchmen, blowing up everything and even showing the horrors of having people being dragged on by it. In general, the last episode is better animated than the rest, but not by much.
I really should stop talking about the sound when I have nothing to say about it, voice acting is ok, nothing particular about it except for the fact that the distortion effect for the monsters is good, but there are at least 4 soldiers voiced by the same guy and his voice is weird and his acting not really convincing, sound effects are pretty good and impactful, the music is fine too, the ending is fine and the opening is pretty great, too bad modern audiences donāt seem to be very fond of instrumental or opera openings, donāt miss the 8 minute full version of it by the way, it has different sections and itās completely different from the minute and a half version.
The big plus of the show is having a conflict which is interesting yet simple on paper but multi layered on execution, here there are monsters appearing near the city and villages and killing people, the military have to take care of them on the Capital of the Empire and the Diet orders that every city has to protect itself however they can, thus they are unable to protect other places, which obviously makes the citizens and villagers unhappy and hostile towards them.
There is a group of rebels that want to help the people to take down the monsters, there are episodes showing how the monsters attack the different places, as well as some episodes showing people about to die from a decease which they also try to find a cure for, there is the Diet that controls everything and they lead some sort of plan to take the Empire and they are also making experiments with people and turning them to monsters, with the idea of it being a next step in human evolution or something generic like that and the series does not shy away from showing some of these people losing control and attacking others, including their loved ones (like in Fog Hill of Five Elements) without censorship and there are double agents and traitors on both sides, which are of course shown investigating or plotting.
All of the above as well as the way they are connected and the cause of it all is shown with a proper pacing and without much exposition, despite featuring lots of terms from the games, itās nothing like other videogame adaptations where there are lots of exposition through talking nor complicated explanations of complicated terminology, everything is shown by the charactersā actions and interactions and the world building.
Another plus is how neither side is shown as completely good or bad and how most if not every character seems to have their own agenda and doing something both on their own and as part of a group all the time. There are evil nobles like in Moriarty that rape their maids, get them pregnant, mistreat them and even lead them to suicide (this reminded me of Journey of Elaina by the way), as well as others that are part of the rebels and genuinely want to help the people. There are soldiers that are messed up in the head and are shown as ruthless and sadistic, and they like to torture, kill and beat others, as well as good soldiers that genuinely want to protect the citizens and becomes allies with Headkeeper once they learn the truth.
There are characters such as the father of the red haired girl who seem clueless to the whole thing but they are actually doing something behind the scenes with also good reasons for doing so. And as I said earlier, there are traitors and double agents on both sides, that makes neither side to have complete advantage over the other nor be incompetent and thereās a somewhat high level of tension because of it.
Another good thing is having two protagonists and having the narrative jumping between both of them and showing what both of them are doing all the time. Leocadio begins as a naive soldier with an idealized vision of the military and his learning about the shady and corrupt side of it, before deciding to practically turn against it, kill a superior, and stop the plans of the corrupt government alongside Headkeeper. Innumael is a normal worker who gets dragged by the whole thing by accident in a mostly believable way, beginning as a coward who only cares about his safety (which is understandable) before actually becoming a proper member of Headkeeper and wanting to help others, kinda like the protagonist of Akudama Drive, even becoming a wanted criminal in a similar way. Showing a bit of their backgrounds, their families, how they get involved in the conflict, the change in the interactions between the two of them as enemies at first and allies in the end was also a nice way to flesh them out.
I have to admit though, that aside from them, every other character that seemed to be important at first gets a secondary role or disappear in the second half. The red haired girl is the prime example of that, she seemed to be a central part of the conflict at first, even showing a bit of her everyday life when they get back to the city, and then she gets kinda tossed aside in the final episodes, thereās a blonde guy who disappears after the fifth episode before sniping someone in the head in the last episode out of nowhere. Thereās a kid that we never see again and so on. At least every death feels important because the show follows what everyone does most if not all the time.
This has to do with the weird pacing the show has, it may feel slow in the beginning because it is not exciting but that was allowing for mostly everything to make sense and feel organic and believable with proper build up and treatment.
That, and the fact that the amount of episodes was unknown until the show was two weeks to end, made me think that the series was going to be at least a two cour show ending in March of next year but that wasnāt the case, the series clearly speeds up in the second half and it starts using silly resolutions such as last moment saves from characters appearing out of nowhere with lazy explanations or the rebels easily infiltrating different places and posing as soldiers. This, alongside the book from the second episode and some unexplained things in the last episode, such as Leocadioās seconds of power and Innumaelās plot armor, among other things, affect a little the credibility of the whole thing.
With that said, thereās some sort of excuse for all of that, which is basically the Diet playing around with them because their plan was practically unstoppable and because they were basically setting a trap for them and capturing them for their experiments, yet I feel like Headkeeper should have known that, if that thing was beneath the capital, then the real light would appear there, making the explosion near the end somewhat avoidable. Thatās why the finale will feel weird and unsatisfying, aside from being incomplete, it could have been avoided, and will definitely feel rushed, heck, the PV showed a fight between the two protagonists which never happened, so thereās definitely stuff that was cut off from the main series.
That said, the finale is uncommon and somewhat refreshing for the side that wins in the end, as well as anticipated early on, but itās definitely not a good one. Being a prequel to the game is not an excuse, for all the criticism Rogue One can get, the ending made sense for sending off the events of the original Star Wars and felt satisfying for everything that happened in the movie. Heck, in anime thereās Gundam the Origin which is an amazing prequel to the original series and fits almost perfectly within the timeline while still having a solid ending for its own story.
In the end, Magatsu Wahrheit is basically the Deca-Dence of its season, a somewhat worth watching show, especially for being based on a videogame, with a mostly decent plot and a mosty decent cast of characters that was overlooked by many (if not most) people that sadly didnāt last more to tap all of its potential. I thought it was going to be the best show of the year but itās definitely nowhere near as good as it could have been if it was longer and better paced. Being better animated and a little more exciting and memorable instead of making me rewatch it from the beginning once I finished it in order to write something about it definitely would have helped too.
And now, a little breakdown of each aspect for a little more justified rating
VISUALS - 4/10
Well made backgrounds and effects but very bad artwork, character figures and motions.
SOUND - 8/10
Good music, very good sound effects and acceptable voice acting.
STORY - 6/10
Interesting and well presented conflict with proper pacing and logic in the first half but not so much in the second, with a pretty bad finale.
CHARACTERS - 7/10
Proactive and well established cast of characters that stay relevant throughout most of its duration with very fleshed out and evolving protagonists, but some of them are completely forgotten by the end.
VALUE - 3/10
Mostly unknown and very forgettable title. Rewatching it definitely helps to notice some things that can go unnotice on a first watch but itās something most people would not do for the show is frankly not exciting and on top of that itās pretty badly animated.
ENJOYMENT - 7/10
What can I say? It was the only show from its season that I actually liked, especially during its first half, and I also liked it the same if not even more when I rewatched it a second time.
6/10
