The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest - Reviews

TLDR: Worse than generic.

 

     I don't usually do reviews but I had to do it for this one because it is so incredibly terrible. They narrate literally everything that's happening as if the viewer can't figure it out themselves. Every aspect of this show is generic, except it's worse because it can't even execute the basic formula that it's using. There is no tension or real conflict. There's always a convenient plot device to defeat the next demon (1.5/10 story). Every character is incredibly lacking in depth (0/10 characters). There's no good art style, animation, or sound design to try to make up for its faults. The production quality is as basic as it can get, but at least there wasn't anything that actively worsened the experience (3/10 production quality).

     Didn't get a 0 because it helped numb my mind when I watched it at 2x speed, and because I'm a sucker for the kind of setup this story had. I love power fantasies, an intelligent main character, and I was initially interested in what Matthias was going to do in the new environment, even if it was generic.

     I didn't have super high expectations going in, yet it still managed to disappoint.

So i had to drop this after only 7 episodes and the reason is simple: It's so freakin' LAME!!!

Overall this is just a mediocre anime, a dime a dozen fantasy that stands out in no way what-so-ever, so really it shouldn't have been difficult to sit back turn off my brain and just pass the time with it. Unfortunately tho i couldn't.

Everything this anime does is lame! Every twist to the story, every big reveal, every time they tried to make the main character look cool or badass, it was just lame lame lame! At first it started out funny, how lame it was, but after a few episodes it became embarrassing and finally just frustrating.

So yeah, i've dropped it. I don't like dropping anime but i could not take the lameness anymore!

"When you're in doubt, blame the demons."

Did someone disappear? Those demons must be behind it again! Is someone acting weird? Those demons must be behind it again! Is a place suspicious? Those demons must be behind it again! Is a disaster impeding? Those demons must be behind it again!

This may seem like a joke, yet this is the exact feeling I got while watching the anime. Whenever something out of the ordinary occured, Matthias' number one suspects were the demons, and (un)naturally he was always proven right.

Spoilers. All of them.

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Now, the entire "human good. demon bad." story has been done many times before, and there must certainly be better executions (that I haven't watched yet) of it than whatever this anime had done.

In The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest we follow Matthias, in his former life known as Gaius, one of the most powerful sages who chose to reincarnate himself because he hit the limit of his growth with his former 1st crest and sought the more combat proficient 4th crest, on his quest of becoming stronger. Though he succeeded on his first try, acquiring the crest, he woke up to a world where his former crest was labeled as the strongest while his current one the weakest. He was, as expected, confused of how much weaker the world had become; besides misjudging the crests' potential, casually labeling weaker monsters as calamity class, using shoddy weapons, or chanting spells (with a severe weakening in their power).

Eventually his conclusion was that the demons he couldn't confirm at that time whether they were even still alive were behind the anomaly. Miraculously he was proven right moments after when he fought the First Academy student who was secretly a demon in disguise.

From that point onward every new obstacle that Matthias and his party encountered had something to do with demons. Afterall it is a black and white world where humans can only be good, and if they do seem bad then that is because some demons were behind them. The entire story summed up in a single sentence would be "I'm committing demon genocide on my quest to become the strongest and it's fine because they are not supposed to have any redeeming qualities anyways."

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Matthias is a protagonist who constantly did miracles, knew things that an everyday human in no way could ever know and casually refered to a past life, yet nobody ever questioned him in deeper detail of just who he was. People didn't care. The fact he was there whenever an impossible situation arised and solved it with effectively a snap of his fingers was good enough for them. Why would a country investigate a suspicious person whose knowledge of ancient artifacts and techniques are light years away from theirs? Why wouldn't a single person subconsciously believe he has ulterior motives? People didn't care.

He was also a very good narrator, since he told every itsy-bitsy detail of what was happening and what he was going to do. You wouldn't have to rack your brain hard since an answer would certainly arrive within a minute. I'm not being sarcastic here... really, I'm not... And if you were still in doubt, just blame the demons. 100% It always works.

On another hand there was supposed to be a romantic subplot going on, or at least judging from how Matthias and Lurie acted around each other that is the feeling I got. Frankly, nothing would have changed if it was removed. It didn't add to character development, it didn't add to the story, it only added weak comedic moments where they suddenly blushed at the smallest thing the other person did or said. At the end at least they got their relationship forward by a bit with the necklace Matthias gifted to Lurie and even if slowly, but there was shown hope for their relationship to progress even further rather than just having blushing scenes left and right for all eternity.

Alma............................... there is NOTHING to say about her.

Iris was probably the best from the MC's team (MC included). Her comic actions and reactions were never overdone or annoying. Her annihilating the entire schoolyard then acting proud of it or stuffing herself at every scene during their travels were some of the more enjoyable moments.

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As for the demons...

First of all, having seen their current world's circumstances it sure was a miracle it hadn't been destroyed yet. While being cautious is not a bad thing, as more time passed the less I felt like the demons had any reason for holding back. Really, the humans would have never stood a chance even if they started wiping them out before Gaius was reborn. However, there may be something that I feel like has justified their actions, and that would be...

Second of all, the demons are INCREDIBLY stupid. The usual demon-like attire, smug grin, extreme self-confidence and the single most defining characteristic that they are the sworn enemies of humanity is all there is to them. No personality, hardly any individuality besides their species' special skills (such as the mist demon with his mist abilities or the devils with their unusual level of cooperation for demons).

Some demons are even overhyped only to be effortlessly beaten in a minute or two. "This is going to be a tough oppo... oops he died..." - probably Matthias.

Even the last boss was just a mass of smugness who recited generic villain quotes like poetry. And his self-confidence only lasted while he had the upper hand over Matthias. Once Matthias acquired his cheat sword, he quickly lost his cool then was defeated in a single slash; very befitting for a self-proclaimed chaos demon. Of course he couldn't go before even more smugly saying he wasn't the last one of those so called chaos demons. "No human should be capable of it..." BRUH, your opponent was a human capable of creating footholds mid-air and standing his ground until that moment. It was a little late for you to be astonished.

In short, the demons are stupid, lame and annoying.

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In summary: the story and characters are extremely basic, the protagonist is effectively omniscient, character development is almost nil, the villains are lame and generic, there is no tension because all fights end with an overpowered move finishing the opponent in one hit, romantic subplot is basic and dragged out, and most comedic moments not involving Iris are lame.

Really, only watch it if you have nothing better to do.

TLDR : You aint the target audience discord mod pepeg (target audience is kids)

Not as Bad as the reviews said it was, sure, it wasnt the best anime out there, but it aint that bad. I write my reviews based on the reviews of other shows by other people i've watched and compatively score the shows. if shows like arcane (League of legends fanboy show) gets mostly 10/10 although its plot is also predictable, i wouldnt say its fair to give this show a bad score just because its plot is very predictable and cartoon-y. Just don't come in expecting your whole lives to change after watching it, its a show for kids, just good vibes thats it.

What it does right (that other reviews seem to ignore and slam the show for the cons)
- Comparatively, for being a "cheat", "OP protaganist" show, the side characters arent completely useless.
- its premise of is actually quite interesting if you can look past the cartoon-y explaination of "ITS DEMONS", the demons' plans are actually all quite interesting (just that the way they resolve it is pretty lacluster)
- The magic system is actually not dull and edgy with the scants making the spell more powerful kekw (but i guess some people want to watch fantasy anime for the cringey and imbearably long chants)
- genuinely, the world is actually quite well contructed compared to the plot, im actually surprised, it feels like someone wrote a shitty plot over a already contructed fully furnished world.
- At least the protaganist drives the plot unlike some of the worse shows i've watched
- lastly, the show didn't offend me or anything, it felt like a feel good adventure time(cartoon) kind of show. if you're here for a decent show while you eat your meals or study, i don't feel like you'll complain.

Alright time to slam this show like the other reviews
- DEMONS DEMONS BAD
- The show lacks any sort of deeper exploration of the world it created and the inhabitants, instead its Demon bad, Human Good, its too simple for its own good. (although i feel like their target audience is children, so i wont slam them too bad) - its like watching k-on and complaining about male representation hahahaha
- Why would you make a villain with an interesting plan just to have the protaganist stop it before anything interesting happens
- Such a waste of the crest system it adds to the typical fantasy world. The different crests that people have is just explained away by the protaganist, instead of seeing the differences in action.
- protaganist dirves the plot, the side characters are his dogs that he drags around, at least they are strong dogs.

Conclusion: not the worst anime this season, if you got nothing else to watch, i wouldnt be against watching this show. just keep in mind the target audience is most likely not you (because kids wont read til this point of the review, or use this site i guess...)

In this world, magical aptitude is rated by "marks" with a powerful sage acquiring three of them, but longing to have one that was better suited for close combat. So, he reincarnates thousands of years into the future where he is reborn as Matthias Hildesheimr, the son of an influential duke. While he does have the mark he desired, mankind's use of magic and swordsmanship dwindled throughout the years with Matthias's newly acquired mark now being regarded as the worst. 

For the most part, The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest is pretty basic. Matthias is, for lack of a better word, overpowered. He more or less wipes the floor easily on dungeon monsters and manages to slay a venomous Archserpent without much effort while leaving his traveling partners to handle weaker monsters. 

Not only does Matthias mow down rows of monsters without breaking a sweat, but he also murks demons left and right. Just recently in last week's episode, he got his arm cut off by a demon which makes you think "maybe he finally has met his match." 

But no. He reveals that he cast a spell prior to the demon disarming him. So he let the demon cut his arm off and merely re-attaches his arm. That is the flaw with him: he is so OP there are no stakes. Sure, he could get minor inconveniences here and there, but he never suffers hardship. 

When he first attends the Second Royal Academy, not just does he successfully enroll, but he is elected as the one to teach the students non-summoning magic. And what is his goal behind reincarnating himself? He wants to fight monsters. That is all. While you could make the argument that he also wants to break the prejudices placed on the fourth seal, that is just fluff. 

For his two traveling partners Lurie and Alma, they are flat as cardboard. Lurie is Matthias's love interest who had the first crest similar to his previous incarnation. Alma, on the other hand, has a lower aptitude for magic, but nevertheless makes up for it by being a good archer. Both characters rely heavily on Matthias's guidance and lack personal agency. 

The only interesting main character is Iris, an ancient dragon who is aware of Matthias's previous incarnation and is sworn into secrecy for it. She too attends the academy in the guise of a human girl but she was too powerful. Her tasting black ink and sniffing a feather are funny because she has no idea what she is doing. It's endearing enough to not be annoying. 

The animation is nothing eye-popping but competently made.