English Dub Season Review: The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest Season One

Based on the Japanese light novel series, written by Shinkoshoto and illustrated by Huuka Kazabana. The story takes place in a fictional fantasy universe where mages randomly acquire one of the four “crests” that represent the extent of their magical capability at birth. Equipped with a crest specializing in the creation, a man named Gaius reached the ceiling of his potential, becoming known as the world’s strongest sage. Despite his overwhelming power, he is unsatisfied with his abilities and desires to possess the mark suitable for close combat. Knowing that a person’s crest is unchangeable, Gaius decides to reincarnate himself far into the future, hoping to alter his fate. Thousands of years later, Gaius is reborn as a young gifted 12-year-old kid named Matthias Hildesheimer (aka “Matty”), successfully obtaining his long-coveted crest. However, he is surprised to learn that in these times, magic has vastly waned, and the techniques that were once widely used are now nothing more than just a speck of legend. Moreover, the crest that he painstakingly strived to attain is now considered the weakest—merely dubbed the “Crest of Failure. Nevertheless, Matthias naturally exceeds all expectations when he enrolls into the royal capital’s Second Academy, acing every trial that comes his way. But soon after, Matthias discovers the dark truth behind humanity’s downfall into magical mediocrity—demons—and endeavors to remedy the consequence of his millennia-long absence once and for all…

On the technical side, the animation was done by J.C.Staff. (The very same people who did the “Prison School” and the wacky anime sex-comedy “Shimoneta”) and directed by Noriaki Akitaya, with Hiroki Uchida overseeing the series’ scripts. The opening theme is “Leap of Faith” by fripSide, while the ending theme is “Day of Bright Sunshine” by Yuki Nakashima.

As previously stated in my mid-season review, the story is about your by the numbers, power-fantasy badass of a preteen 12-year-old kid who enrolls in a magic academy. All of this seems simple enough, at least until you learn that Matty has some tricks and major secrets up his magical sleeve despite what the magical symbol on his hand called the “Crest of Failure” being evidence to the contrary. During Matty’s time at the academy, it turns into a borderline “harem” story as we have the character dynamics of one dude surrounded by three girls: Lurie, Alma, and Iris who as a character sometimes stole the show for me and was easily one of the highlights due to her funny wholesome attitude as she’s a dragon that magically takes on the form of a cute redhead whose design and personality give off similar vibes to another character from something else I covered a while back with much of the humor of her personality not only being her extreme appetite but also not knowing her own strength while getting used to walking around in a bipedal body.

As the plot begins to unravel, we are given a clear idea through Matty’s perspective that nothing is what it seems in this magical world with schools, dungeons, monsters, and an unraveling conspiracy involving demons that have secretly influenced society while hiding in plain sight. It also gives the proceedings some level of substance when it delves into the undercurrent of corruption and classism within the hierarchy of the land they live in, while the last four episodes reveal how far this demonic influence has reached and what Matty and his crew must do in a race against time to keep everyone safe, leading to a finale with its share of twists that were a mixed bag at best…

Overall, despite this show being your by the numbers fantasy/adventure, it remained compelling and watchable enough to a certain degree. Even if the storyline felt repetitive, at the very least, it wasn’t insufferable with its drama and only one girl within his circle so far seems to have the hots for Matty compared to the other two who are simply doing their own thing. If a season 2 does happen, I wouldn’t mind watching it in the future to see if it leads anywhere…