English Dub Season Review: MAGATSU WAHRHEIT Season One

Based on the MMO game “Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst” (or “MW”) The story takes place In the technologically and magically advanced Wahrheit Empire, as rumors of a returning catastrophe known only as the “light” previously caused a disturbance amongst the people. Meanwhile, in the capital of the Empire, transporter Innumael Grauer prepares his daily deliveries, struggling to make ends meet for himself and his sister. Leocadio Wöhler (Stephen Sanders), a newly recruited soldier, kindly assists Innumael (Aleks Le) whilst commuting to work—unknowingly loading a mysterious package containing contraband artillery belonging to a criminal organization.

Innumael is accused of smuggling the package, facing possible execution due to the Empire’s strict oversight of weapons in response to the rising disorder. However, unbeknownst to him, the very syndicate that placed him in this unfortunate predicament may save him from this fate, at least temporarily. Elsewhere, Leocadio is assigned his first mission—to apprehend the criminal group known as “Headkeeper,” suspected of transporting illegal weaponry. The heart of the story follows these two young men on a journey encompassing the Wahrheit Empire, triggering a chain of events that will not only change their lives but also alter the course of the Empire as they know it…

Directed by Naoto Hosoda, “MW” is a complicated story of intrigue and futuristic wonders that attempts to convey some sort of political/anti-war message that most of these dystopian shows often do. Our two leads, seem to be on opposite sides. Though through different reasons, but that is just what makes it interesting already. Much like Dorohedoro, the characters on both sides are both flawed yet interesting in different ways. It’s not your simplistic “Good Vs Evil story as 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. Along with having possible foreshadowing moments that could lead to plot lines down the line resulting in something very impactful. At least showing the perspectives of both sides is executed better here compared to Tokyo Ghoul’s mismanagement of trying to make you like both sides and not always sticking to the landing.

For a dystopian future story, the show itself is also a good example of visual storytelling done right as everything develops organically on a progressive level as if it’s actually unfolding in real-time in front of the audience without any sort of forced or lazy writing. Heck, I even commend MW for not having a generic romance or wacky fanservice to interrupt the flow of the story which is really well-paced. The art style can be gloomy at points, but more to fit the scenes and mood of the show. But it can be clean and nicely colored when it’s brighter scenes. For starters, I wanted to like the worldbuilding, but the “show don’t tell” approach is also a double-edged sword as it doesn’t tell us the rules and functionality of how this world works. For example. this show (and by extension the game’s universe) has technology from the industrial revolution that’s constantly being used in the series, but there’s architecture and scenery that feels pulled straight from medieval Europe. Magic exists but is used infrequently and the magic system is never properly explained. It seems like most people can’t use magic, and it’s not that strong compared to conventional weapons.


While I do give points for Funimation for going the extra mile of releasing the whole damn season at once instead of on a weekly basis, as a whole, MW is basically the Deca-Dence of this season. A somewhat worth watching show, despite being based on a mobile phone videogame, with a mostly decent plot and a small yet compelling cast of characters that was overlooked by many when it first premiered. The animation does suffer near the 2nd half of the series but honestly, the story carries it long enough to overshadow something badly animated depending on the effort. As for the finale without going into spoilers, it’s uncommon and somewhat refreshing for the side that wins in the end, as well as anticipated early on, but it definitely left more to be desired…