When the 2019 anime spring season started, Magmel of the Sea Blue was my second favorite of all the new series I picked up.
I thought that it had the most intriguing premise among the lot, and its
pilot episode gave me the impression that it was heading out to interesting
storylines.
Unfortunately, as I went
through its 13-episode debut season, it became clearer and clearer that my
first impression was wrong, and it gradually fell from its initial spot on the rankings. It eventually became obvious that it was
actually pretty mediocre – not necessarily awful, but still bounds worse than what
my optimistic expectations for it were. At
the end of spring, I felt it was either the last or second-to-the last of all the
anime I followed that season (will make a final ranking for the 2019 anime spring season soon).
Magmel of the Sea Blue features a world like ours in which a
massive continent mysteriously appears out of nowhere in the middle of the
Pacific Ocean. The continent is named “Magmel”,
and it proves to be the home of numerous kinds of strange animals and plants
which have never been seen before by human eyes. Thus, it becomes primed for exploration, and
many set off to seek their fortune there However, it’s also an extremely dangerous place, and it’s not unusual
for explorers to get lost or killed in it.
Enter Ractors like Inyou and Zero
– individuals who have expert knowledge of Magmel and are capable of conjuring
up matter from thin air. And thus, they
let themselves be hired as escorts or rescuers for clients finding themselves
in trouble in Magmel.
Although Magmel of the Sea Blue wasn’t
close to matching the visuals and overall production value of Made in Abyss, its enigmatic titular place inspired the same
sense of wonder and interest that The Abyss had, albeit in a much, much lesser degree. And based on what I felt the pilot was
suggesting, I assumed that the series, while featuring episodic adventures for
Inyou and Zero, would give focus on exploring the mysteries and marvels
that Magmel holds. However, that wasn’t
the case. Magmel was merely treated as a setting to tell episodic stories in. The
show never really did any expounding of it.
Some of the episodes
were fairly thoughtful, and its themes were somewhat diverse. However, the majority of episodes were either
moderately entertaining but forgettable or straight-up boring. Its overarching plotlines were not quite worth
paying attention to either.
In addition, none
of the characters invited emotional investment; they were generally
unimpressive – bland even.
Lastly, I also
felt in its pilot that there was some promise in the shonen action department. However, I didn’t really notice any battle scenes in
further episodes that were equal to what I saw in the pilot (if I did, then I forgot about it).
Overall, Magmel of the Sea Blue is disappointing.
And it all comes down to failing to mine effectively the potentials of its appealing
premise.
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