English Dub Review: A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special “Destruction”

Overview
Based on the South Korean web novel written by Usonan. The story takes place in a fantasy world on the brink of destruction after a devastating ten-year war in the “shadow labyrinth.” Desir Herrman is one of the least skilled magicians left standing, but even he is no match for the formidable foe threatening humanity’s existence. Just when he’s certain the end has come, he finds himself sent back in time to the enrollment ceremony of his school 13 years ago…


Our Take

Like most Fantasy/Adventure stories ala DnD, it begins with your by-the-numbers fight between a hero party and a demonic Dragon lord boss, the atrocity that the dragon has to be animated in CGI. It starts and ends the same way where the heroes want out once the world is saved by being “cleared” from the Shadow Worlds, this is the objective of Desir Herrman and his team of 6 allies who have fought hard and looking to get shit done. But the lingering fact is that the dragon is still alive, which you’d think would’ve been impossible, but thanks to the dragon’s heart which stored up massive amounts of Mana (magical energy) it results in a Magical nuke bomb that devastatingly wipes out everyone.

However much to his shock, Desir (and possibly the audience) now finds himself alive yet back in time with all the knowledge memories and experiences he had before he died, but now back in Hebrion Academy as a young student where headmaster Professor Brigitte wants its students to clear a Shadow World as a test of enrollment. The view of the Academy as Desir remembered, he remembers them all and is greeted by 2nd Year Ladoria Doriche to be his mentor in the Academy has a massive divide in terms of classism. In the meeting place, Desir encounters a familiar face who died in his arms who died in his arms, and knows her all too well and is determined to give her a better fate than the one they previously experienced…

Overall, this was one hell of a setup. It’s like they took the elements of that Ashton Kutcher movie “The Butterfly Effect” or that obscure 2002 sitcom “Do Over” yet somehow mixed it with a Fantasy/Adventure Anime. So far it’s a compelling setup for a good story, but hopefully, it’ll find ways to further set itself apart within the Japanese market since there’s often been this oversaturation lately of Fantasy/Adventure stories to the point that it could potentially be lost if it doesn’t do anything interesting with it. And it’s not every day a South Korean story is adapted into a Japanese property. I don’t think we’ve seen anything like that since Lookism or Noblelesse. Hopefully, the next episode will continue to wow me somehow…