The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy

“An Anime to Skip”

Time can change so many things, much more than some are willing to accept. In our present world, it’s astounding how much change occurs within the mere span of a year, and the rate of change just keeps increasing. These changes can be subjectively viewed as good, bad, or neutral, depending on the person, but there are some objective truths thrown into the mix. Perhaps a legendary figure from ages ago is no longer remembered, showing that immortality in whatever form is tricky.

So instead of dwelling on a past long gone or a future beyond your control, isn’t it better to make the most of the present? This is not to say you should haphazardly ruin your future, but it’s always nice to take a break and enjoy the moment when you can.

“The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy," also known as “Seiken Gakuin no Makentsukai," is a 12-episode TV anime series that aired from the 3rd of October until the 19th of December in Fall 2023. It was produced by MediaNet, Nippon Columbia, KlockWorx, BS Fuji, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan, Kadokawa, CTW, and Plus Seven, licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and adapted by Studio Passione.

The main staff behind it includes Oomori Shinji, Ozawa Fumihiro, Fujikawa Hitoshi, and Beppu Youichi as producers. Featuring the genres of action and fantasy, alongside the themes of harem, reincarnation, and school, this series of 23-minute episodes earned a rating of R-17+ for its violence and profanity.

The anime is based on the light novel of the same name, which began publication on May 25th, 2019 and is still ongoing. It features the genres of action and fantasy alongside the school theme and is the work of author Shimizu Yuu and artist Toosaka Asagi.

The series has been published in English as “The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy” via Yen Press under the Yen On imprint ever since August 18, 2020. An alternative version exists in the form of a manga with the same title, which began publication on November 26th, 2019 and is still ongoing. Targeted at the Shounen demographic and serialized by Shounen Ace, the manga is the work of author Shimizu Yuu and artist Keigen Asuka. Since November 22, 2022, Yen Press has also been publishing this in English.

It all starts amidst a destructive battle against the forces of evil, a war nearing its end as the last remaining contender is the undead King Leonis Death Magnus from among the Dark Lords. Seeing that he stands no chance against his enemies on his own, Leonis chooses to seal himself deep underground, harboring a singular goal for the future: to reincarnate a thousand years into the future and rebuild his demonic army!

Unfortunately, so much can change within the span of a millennium, and this world is no exception. In fact, everything changes to the point that the people of this world no longer remember the great war that led to Leonis' downfall and start to face a new threat altogether: monstrous creatures called Voids.

Magical devices have supplanted sorcery as a means of adapting to the shifting tides, and "Holy Swords"—weapons bestowed by humans with extraordinary abilities—have materialized. As a defense mechanism against the Voids, these individuals are currently undergoing training at the Excalibur Academy.

In the present time, Leonis is reborn as a 10-year-old human boy and fatefully meets Riselia Ray Crystalia, who is a dutiful girl who just happened to stumble upon the ruins of his hibernation chamber. Convinced that Leonis simply has amnesia, she kindly offers him guidance and even enrolls him at the Excalibur Academy! Regardless, Leonis’ plan to take over the world has not changed, but he has many other issues to address before that. It is vital that he first familiarize himself with this completely new reality he has woken up in and let go of the world he once knew.

I know what you’re thinking—yet another Demon Lord Reincarnation anime that has been done a thousand times over by now. Even so, there are a few good executions of this trope, but sadly, Seiken Gakuin no Makentsukai is not one of them. Even if the synopsis sounded a bit different, this series follows an overused formula and doesn’t stand out in any way.

The author Yuu Shimizu isn’t a big name in the industry, but they do have “Seireitsukai no Blade Dance” (Blade Dance of the Elementalers) under their belt, which you may or may not be familiar with. However, their latest work pales in comparison and is nothing more than a throwback to that era, attempting to do the exact same thing with the reincarnation aspect randomly thrown in.

Storywise, the main character, Leonis Death Magnus, is one who has fought his way through hell and back. While his plan to resurrect himself is successful, Riselia, her childhood friend, and Regina, his personal maid, are waiting for him when he awakens as a 10-year-old boy.

Moving on, he and the young girls form a group called “Platoon 18 of the 7th Assault Garden," which serves as a military order to protect people from the Voids. The series shows how older platoons get destroyed and are replaced with new ones, while the Excalibur Academy trains students to be useful on the frontlines of war.

This is all okay, but for some reason Leonis wants to develop the almost-useless Riselia into a capable magic user! Why does he even bother with her when he has his personal maid, Shary, and servant wolf, Blackus? All we get is that doing so will somehow benefit his 1000-year quest by weaving current events as per his vision.

Even worse is the fact that Leonis is in the body of a 10-year-old boy, and girls who are much older than him are thrusting over him. Riselia even becomes his personal guardian, showering him with care while being oblivious to his true nature, as he “molds” her into a supposedly powerful ally.

Leonis is referred to as “Leo” in his human form and is obviously considered a child prodigy blessed with natural talent. The Assault Garden is a place where people wield sacred swords, following the equipment’s acceptance by its bearer. Surrounded by the aforementioned fangirls, Riselai, Regina, Sakuya, and Elfiné, Leo schemes to dominate humanity using the indispensable “pieces of utility” before him.

But as he spends more time in the present, he unsurprisingly starts to like humans and not wish for their destruction anymore. He begins to think it's a waste to destroy such great knowledge and intellect, considering how much they’ve evolved, while also developing feelings of sympathy and friendship with his new companions.

This extremely generic plot feels rushed in so many ways; the characters do not change or grow in any way, and the story moves forward because of it. Unfortunately, despite having decent ideas and designs at their core, everyone is either extremely generic or completely dimwitted.

They suffer from having no personality outside the initial persona, get overused for harem purposes, and are heavily sexualized. I could rant about the absurdly low IQ of these characters, who constantly do idiotic things just to progress the already bad plot.

Another issue I had was that there were way too many inner monologues, especially when it felt like they took up a good 1/3rd of every episode. Clearly, the MC has a lot of thoughts floating around, but all of them were just unnecessary and overall distracting.

There’s not much to say about the art and animation departments either. It felt like this just wasn’t Studio Passione’s cup of tea; the execution was just bad and lackluster overall. Within just an episode or two, it somehow managed to lose all its allure and never regain it. Credit where it’s due; the character designs are great, but I really didn’t feel anything for any of them outside the visuals.

There’s a lot of action, and they somehow butchered it all; all the fights look miserable, and the animation is inconsistent in both the moves and abilities used. I don’t think they invested much into the choreography, and it clearly shows. This department overall lacks quality and is monotonous, making for a very boring visual experience too.

If you were hoping the Sounds and Music department was the show’s saving grace, I’m sorry to let you down. The opening theme is "1000-nen Ai" by Chiai Fujikawa, which can be a hit or miss depending on your personal music taste. It certainly wasn't a memorable piece for me, and it isn’t topping any charts.

The ending theme is "Yururi" by Kaho, which isn’t much of an improvement over the opening. Both of these songs are decent and don’t really rob anything from the experience, but they don’t add much either. The OSTs are so forgettable that I don’t even remember any by the time of writing this review. The voice acting is decent, but none of the performances stand out, and this is mostly thanks to the lackluster characters they had to work with.

Overall, “The Demon Sword Master of Excalibur Academy” is an extremely generic show with so many blatant issues. The plot is already overused in the genre, the characters are boring and underdeveloped, the action scenes are snore-inducing, and the audio is just there to fill the silence.

Neither the plot nor the characters succeed in showing immersion, and everything just feels messy and scattered. The story is utterly predictable and irrelevant; you wouldn’t care less if it existed or not. This is mainly thanks to the MC taking stupid and unreasonable decisions ever so randomly, all within the confines of a work severely lacking in originality.

Overall, this is not a show worth your valuable time, and there are many others just like it, some of which are actually better. I do not recommend this anime to anyone, but if you want to give it a try for whatever reason, it’s best to follow the 3-episode rule.