English Dub Season Review: The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The Arnold Academy of Sorcery for society’s most elite has just received their first commoner student: Ray White (Kevin D. Thelwell). Despite the contempt he’s received, Ray’s managed to befriend an eclectic group of classmates that get him into all sorts of schemes. But the pressures of maneuvering teenage drama are half his worries, as he secretly is the most powerful sorcerer…the Iceblade Sorcerer!

Our Take:

The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World is an anime adaptation of the light novel series written by Nana Mikoshiba and illustrated by Riko Korie. It was written and directed by Masahiro Takata, who’s also the sound director. The series is produced by Cloud Hearts and supervised by Yokohama Animation Laboratory. Makoto Shimojima handles the character designs, while Tatsuhiko Saiki and Natsumi Tabuchi compose the music. The opening theme song is “Dystopia” by the musical project Sizuk, and the ending theme song is “Loud Hailer” by Maaya Uchida.

At first glance, this seemed like another fantasy anime series involving reincarnation, magical academies, and the main character who’s secretly a powerful being. Well, it turns out I was half right. The Iceblade Sorcerer involves an ordinary person attending a magic academy and hiding their true power. However, it doesn’t include them being reincarnated from their previous lives like the other anime with similar concepts, including The Misfit of Demon King Academy. Instead, the series focuses on the secretly powerful character fitting into normalcy in the same life. It’s enough to make the concept stand out a bit from other shows with similar topics, but does it also make it worth our time?

The first season consists of three interconnected arcs centering on Ray White fitting in at the Arnold Academy of Sorcery. The first arc has Ray attempting to live a normal life by attending the academy as a commoner. Unfortunately, he’s forced to reveal his identity to his friends when a spy from a mysterious group called Eugenics infiltrates the school and threatens the students. The second arc sees Ray adapting to this change after defeating the Eugenics spy. Additionally, it focuses on the noble student Amelia Rose (Alexis Tipton) competing in the Magic Chevalier but is also facing the pressure of living up to her expectations. Amid the tournament, Ray and the others also face another threat in the form of the Grim Reapers, an assassination group plotting to murder the noble students. Finally, the third arc has Ray and the students encounter another sinister plot by Eugenics. The villainous group targets Rebecca Bradley (Macy Anne Johnson) as she holds the key to opening the door to Akasha.

Regarding its seasonal plot and characters, there’s almost nothing in its formula that we haven’t encountered before in other magic academy shows. You got the usual main character (Ray White) with tremendous power attempting to be normal while forming a harem crew. There’s also the school’s tournament arc, with Amelia competing in the Magic Chevalier. The Iceblade Sorcerer checks off almost every box in the magic academy anime list without breaking a sweat, resulting in it being derivative, mainly in its first three episodes. However, the series offers enough moments in its characters and plots to keep itself away from the deep freeze.

The first three episodes didn’t make a massive impression on me regarding the basic formula. They form a fish-out-of-water type narrative involving Ray being treated with hostility as a commoner by the noble students. Although, his generous personality resulted in him befriending nobles Amelia, Claris Cleveland (Sarah Wiedenheft), and Rebecca. He also makes friends with his roommate Evi Armstrong (Clifford Chapin) and half-elven girl Elisa Griffith (Emi Lo). It’s a straightforward arc that won’t win any awards for storytelling, but it usually benefits from Ray’s intriguing background. Ray is a generous and supportive commoner/former Iceblade Sorcerer who’s also secretly haunted by his traumatic past, which led to his decision to live an ordinary life. It’s a good aspect that paid off well in the show’s fourth and fifth episodes, which is enough for me to continue watching The Iceblade Sorcerer, and I’m glad I did.

Starting with its fourth episode, “The Boy Who Became the World’s Strongest Sorcerer Releases His Secret Power”, the series mildly improves itself through character development. Despite relying on the formula’s elements, The Iceblade Sorcerer increases the characters’ likability by further expanding upon some of their traits, including Ray and Amelia. For the latter, the series explores Amelia’s fear of inferiority during its Magic Chevalier arc. Being part of a noble family, Amelia faces the pressure of living up to the expectations set for her, especially when facing her childhood friend Ariane Algren (Marianne Bray). However, she eventually learns to overcome her fear due to her friends’ support, serving as one of the show’s themes. Additionally, they made the school’s bully Albert Alium more tolerable than in the first four episodes, where he was the series’s most annoying part regarding his personality until episode five. While it does result in Ray’s personality changes being a bit off-putting sometimes, the season’s second half provided enough interest in the characters to make it a mildly better experience than how it started.

The English voice cast was also solid regarding their vocal performances, with most actors being familiar faces from other anime shows. Kevin D. Thelwell was suitable for portraying Ray White’s kind-hearted nature and humorous moments, including his female disguise in the Sorcery Academy and maid cafe episodes. Alexis Tipton, who recently voiced Aileen in I’m the Villainess and Reze in Chainsaw Man, was also decent in her role as Amelia. Emi Lo’s performance as Elisa quickly resembles her role as Yaeka in The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting regarding the voice and personalities of both characters. However, I was willing to get past that because of how adorable it sounds, even though Elisa is older than Yaeka. Macy Anne Johnson and Monet Lerner also provided solid voice work as Rebecca and Lydia Ainsworth, Ray’s master, respectively.

On the technical aspect, the animation is produced by Cloud Hearts and its production management Yokohama Animation Laboratory. Cloud Hearts is responsible for animating the second season of Tawawa on Monday. The companies are also set to produce the upcoming adaptations of The Great Cleric and Whisper Me a Love Song. The animation for The Iceblade Sorcerer works well in displaying its fantasy action and vibrant backgrounds, even though it’s not as revolutionary as Ray’s Iceblade magic. Based on how it looks in the show, the studios might do fine with their upcoming anime projects.

Overall, The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World is another series that lacks any cool and refreshing ideas in the genre but benefits nicely from its characters and enjoyment factor. The first three episodes struggled to provide substantial interest in its straightforward concept. But once I stuck around until the fourth episode, I immediately warmed up to the show due to its character arcs. Regarding its decent voice cast, characters, and animation, the series kept itself away from the deep freeze long enough to provide another watchable addition to the magic academy anime category. I won’t be surprised if we hear about a second season sooner or later, mainly due to the teases portrayed in the season one finale. If so, then I won’t mind seeing if it can improve the show’s icy magic regarding its seasonal narrative.