Secrets of the Silent Witch

Monica is such a cutie, love her character a lot. I'm always so excited for more episodes and can't wait for it to release. Monica and Felix make such an adorable couple totally ship them. I hope there's more to come in the plot in the coming episodes each episode definitely got me wanting more of the series and more of Monica and Felix.

I have watched quite a few shows with premises not too different from this one, which tend to be very boring and disappointing. This was a pleasant surprise.

In most ways, the story seems like an average slice-of-life romance with an overarching political/detective plot (similar to Apothecary Diaries), rather than an action fantasy, which was a great decision by the writers.

The animation, while not being very stylized and occasionally having the typically bad Japanese CGI (even if very rarely), is nice enough to look at and fits the vibe of the overall show, while still delivering good moments in action scenes.

I enjoyed the characters and the setting. The stakes in the story were not particularly high compared to many other similar shows that pretend to have high stakes, while featuring the typical OP black-haired MC who could destroy the whole world if he so pleased, winning every fight with ease.

Sadly, I struggled to stay entertained for long. After the third episode, the charm wore off and left me bored and uninterested. There are no real stakes, with an overpowered MC like this (in terms of strength/power) dealing with mundane struggles.

The main character just felt like a fusion of Bocchi (Bocchi the Rock!) and Frieren (Sousou no Frieren), but in the process became less funny and less interesting to watch grow.

The dynamics and relationships between the main character and the side characters are the second-worst issue, in my opinion. The character interactions, while logical and sometimes quite funny, are lacking in depth and substance. Running gags are not charming enough and feel dragged out and annoying after a short while. All the side characters feel like they are just there as convenient plot devices with the illusion of personality attached to them.

The biggest issue in the show by far was the dialogue. As is common in anime, the dialogue is pretty bad: exposition dumps all over the place, with characters just stating everything they feel in a mostly logical and straightforward way. The characters tend to just stand there and talk to themselves about sensitive information.

A badly executed moment I want to call out specifically occurs about six minutes into the first episode. After we already had enough information to deduce that the girl we have been following is the Silent Witch-by paying attention to her nervous and anxious attitude, mixed with her skill and knowledge in mathematics-we could already understand that she is the Silent Witch and doesn't talk because of her anxiety. Yet the show decides to waste two minutes of its runtime to show us irrelevant and redundant information while exposition-dumping.

Overall: I'm glad the story is not cheap power-fantasy slop and was enjoyable for some time, but there are not enough stakes, nor enough interesting side characters to show more sides of the main character. A fine show to watch and, in animated fantasy, a 7/10-but in general TV shows, I can give it nothing more than a 5.

(12+) Solid anime with good animation, a decent story, and well voiced. That being said, there wasn't anything to really make it stand out either except for the maid (the maid's always steal the show in anime somehow) and there was a twist about halfway through the series that I didn't see coming. This curveball did not push the series into greatness, but I would recommend a watch if you have some free time. The Silent Witch's difficulties in conversing with other people wore a little thin over time, but it didn't detract from the series in any meaningful way - at least for me. I also liked a very minor character that was pretty funny (the supposed "evil" noble that "bullied" the Silent Witch, but they didn't really have her on enough). Not a waste of time by any stretch, but not an amazing anime either.

Check out my comprehensive list of Anime titles to find your next watch - just click my profile link at the bottom left of this review!

I have watched and personally enjoyed many animes not similar to this one but still really good. Examples being, The Eminence in Shadow and Solo levelling. So this Anime really took me by suprise because animes that I felt were similar were quite disappointing.

So let me get to the point, the animation is just fantastic and quite unexpected because I had never really heard of the the studio that created this masterpiece before.

The charcter development is pretty good but I feel its even a bit slow but its definetely happening and it's quite good. Its definetely quite unique character development as the MC is female and quite shy unlike most (MC is a big strong OP male) anime.

Finally I want to touch on the Main character herself. (Small spoiler) Her name is Monica Everett and she is so incredibly shy that she invented a way to cast spells without incantations. This led her to become one of the strongest mages in the kingdom. And this is just simply amazing. Its quite unique as I dont thiny anything I have watched has a Female MC let alone as shy as Monica is.

I'm on episode 11 right now and I am pleasantly impressed. Never heard of the animation studio before (probably watched something by them just never noticed) but this is a great first impression. They have my dearest gratitude. Even though I think this anime only talors to some people and not everyone as everyone may not like the style and story I still highly recommend to anyone as it is definetely worth a try.

(Forgot to mention but the Opening is Really Good and the soundtrack is also pretty nice)

The world building, art and animation are OK and what you would expect from a mainstream big budget anime project, but the protagonist is despicably frustrating to watch. I get it, it's meant to portray what people with social anxiety and there are numerous other anime with this theme which are enjoyable and pay off with character development and empowerment. This anime? We're already through the whole season and there is still an unfathomable and implausible disparity between her actual OP status and abilities and her self esteem. It makes it practically unwatchable.