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EP. REVIEW: The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent


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andramus



Joined: 19 Apr 2020
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:27 pm Reply with quote
What's that old saying? "Great people do not seek a harem but rather have a harem thrust upon them"? It looks like Sei might be beginning to develop one of her own.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 979
PostPosted: Tue Jun 08, 2021 6:45 pm Reply with quote
She has been gathering a harem since the start. Its just that it is a secondary harem. Just like in Love Hina the secondary harem recognises it has no chance with the main character but is interested in the MC anyway. They can steal moments with the adored one but realise their interest is focused solely on one person.

One implication of this magic being based solely on the love this person has for another is that it could easily run out. Romantic / Possessive love does not last forever. Wether through learning to live with another and accepting they arnt the ideals we thought of them or through death or separation. Inevitably that love either becomes attachment and family love or fades out all together. The question for me is: can such magic continue working after the fading or does the saint's magic have an expiry date.

Also curious if the master alchemist was the person in the book and if there are engineering solutions to their drought problems (aqueducts / water supply and fertiliser).
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 1:19 am Reply with quote
::sigh:: Well, I'm back for round two (or maybe it's three now) of being the wet blanket here, but once again Albert is annoying me with his interactions with Sei. Here she is, thinking out loud about her plans for when he's away and he interrupts her thoughts to drop a pickup line on her, even preceding it with the misdirection that it's something more important than what she was saying. I suppose to him, it was, hence my annoyance. I can't even let him off the hook for trying to get her to think about something besides his scouting trip to keep her from worrying about him (which he later admits he kinda likes), since she'd already taken at face value his dismissal of that as routine and moved on.

I honestly do like Albert a lot (and not just because of his seiyuu Wink) and most of the time he's smooth as silk in his approach, so that makes this behavior all the more aggravating. Do better Albert. Razz I have a feeling I'm not going to like his jealous side either, so be forewarned.

Other than that, I enjoyed the episode thoroughly, especially the Great Alchemist's diary and the new puppy who's adopted Sei. Her simple "wow" at seeing him made me laugh. And I always like seeing her go ham with the magic. Her no time for small ball "Area Heal!" as she ran off was also amusing.
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Penrhos



Joined: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:33 am Reply with quote
So Sei's Harem increases by one hunky male - Albert isn't going to be pleased someone's muscling in (literally) on Sei.

So this episode covered almost up to the end of LN Vol.3 (with a little cutting/restructuring).

So Sei's finally working out that strong feelings & love are the triggers for the saints powers - so cue lots of Sei blushing animations over the next few episodes.

But unless I've missed something - what happened to previous saints that were summoned?

The LN states that all documents describing the previous saints were ordered to be destroyed - but the diary in this episode was locked away as it was "just a diary" and didn't describe how a saints powers worked.

Also the Brother & Sister - she cast "Blessing" on the fields but there was no mention of her being the saint or being summoned. Were they a previous saint's children, were both of them summoned or is there a possibility for someone with pure love to become a saint that's being covered up by the Kingdom?

I know it's all lovey/dovey at the moment and seems like a slow burning josei but I could do with a bit of darkness/intrigue to spice it up a bit.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:42 am Reply with quote
Violet Park wrote:
Quote:


Violet Park wrote:
Changing Kyle's motivations from the manga (where he was just a stubborn, arrogant ass who couldn't even phantom being wrong) makes everything really confusing. If he wanted to take responsibility and didn't want to drag Aira down with him (why would he think that would happen?), then why not just go to his father and apologize instead of making everything worse for everyone?


I'm guessing he needed to put on a show for the other nobles around so that the word would spread around the court. Doing it in private wouldn't get the same results.


He could have done a public apology after explaining the situation to the king. This way he clears Aira's reputation, doesn't alienate the saint even further and maybe even saves his claim to the throne. I don't think he had to be the braindead moron he was in the manga but maybe having him realize his mistake earlier yet being too proud to back down would have made more sense.


Aira was outright declared an imposter Saint by the King which is why Kyle didn't want to go to his father.
Oh, and by the way, we now learn in order to use the divine level magic, the saint has to be in love.
AWKWARD.
Is Sei going to say anything or is she going to keep it all to herself?
Is Aira a Saint or not? I may as well start talking about it as I have things to say now that it came out in the open a bit... one of the clearer abilities of the Saint is to heal and invigorate the land like King Arthur was thought to have done but one of the conditions for King Arthur was he had to become one with the land. If Aira is feeling dejected and despondent by the entire world, she's not going to manifest anything. And the fact that she was doing as well as she was would suggest something was a bit abnormal.
At this point, I don't care about Sei; whatever happens, she'll be fine as she's in love wither some people, the land, the fields, even her job. Aira has to want something, want something... suddenly I'm hearing Sondheim's "Being Alive."

Eh, it fits.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 979
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:43 am Reply with quote
It would be a tonal shift to go all dark on us. My recent experience with slime going dark and then completely rejecting the darkness has left me against series going dark without putting the work into creating the sense that the story world should have dark stories. Ascendence of a Bookworm is a good example of a series that has established dark themes in its world. Of peasent exploitation and ignorance, of slavery and starvation for the unwanted.

I think this one would lend itself better to political intrigue and some actual drama in the relationship drama. I believe it being under lock and key in a big safe in a world with only 14th centuary level access to Iron and steel and in a darkened windowless room indicates that it is very much a banned secret book. Has the anime stated that books on the saint are banned? It said there was no books on saintly magic since it was so rare to see a casting. Anyway as far as I can tell this was her personal diary before the lady in question was managed as a saint. I dont think it was a DIY saint magic tutorial book.
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Penrhos



Joined: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:57 am Reply with quote
It's not been said directly in the Anime but the LN states that the kingdom decreed that all information on previous "Saints" was to be destroyed.

Its inferred that obtaining the knowledge could be dangerous - but not to who it could be dangerous, maybe just if it fell into the wrong hands?

If Hawke broke Sei's heart - would she be able to cast blessings? If Aria fell in love would she be then be able to cast blessings?

Aria is supposed to have strong magic skills but doesn't want to be there whereas Sei is embracing her new life and is loving it - maybe that's why the balance of magical power is as it is?.

Love is the saints power - corny but I love it...
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sadoldguy



Joined: 01 Aug 2009
Posts: 67
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:37 am Reply with quote
Just Sei's ability to make extremely OP enchanted gems would have every thief, merchant, noble and warrior desperate to kidnap Sei and force her to work nonstop. This would interfere with her true mission of saving the world so her true abilities are being hidden.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:00 am Reply with quote
Penrhos wrote:
If Hawke broke Sei's heart - would she be able to cast blessings? If Aria fell in love would she be then be able to cast blessings?

Aria is supposed to have strong magic skills but doesn't want to be there whereas Sei is embracing her new life and is loving it - maybe that's why the balance of magical power is as it is?

That's what I was trying to say a couple episodes back. I don't think the Saint needs to be "in love" but simply to love whatever/whoever it is she wants to protect (the Great Alchemist wasn't in love with her brother, and he was not the sole recipient of her love). So I think even without romantic feelings for Albert, she would still love the Kingdom and its people, and still be able to bestow blessings on them. Albert was just the strongest emotional attachment that allowed her to access her power without knowing how.

By the same token, Aira could probably cast blessings if she came to love the Kingdom and/or a particular person, but right now, even if she becomes more comfortable there, she still would have mixed feelings about longing for her home and family, (whereas Sei does not) and that would probably diminish her power. Still, I don't think Aira was summoned by mistake (Chekov's Saint!), and it will probably be that both Saints' powers will be needed to ultimately save the Kingdom from this round of monsters and whatever else befalls it.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3629
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 3:08 pm Reply with quote
Looks like I was right about the diary after all Laughing

I can understand why Sei wouldn't do an area heal to avoid causing a scene, but it was odd that there's a guy practically bleeding out on the ground and she chooses to first heal the guy near her who's just a bit scratched up...

edit: Re: Un-summoned Saint; I may be misremembering, but didn't they say early on that they only summon a saint when things have gotten really bad and a saint doesn't appear on her own?
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Eivion



Joined: 26 Dec 2008
Posts: 569
PostPosted: Wed Jun 09, 2021 10:54 pm Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
edit: Re: Un-summoned Saint; I may be misremembering, but didn't they say early on that they only summon a saint when things have gotten really bad and a saint doesn't appear on her own?

You are remembering correctly. Summoning a saint is actually a last resort. They are usually born into the world.
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Penrhos



Joined: 09 Jun 2021
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:22 am Reply with quote
Just checked the start of episode 1 and the LN and that's correct. In previous times a saint has appeared to cancel out the miasma and only when things were desperate did they summon one from another world - which probably explains the brother/sister thing and the diary.

So as it's been stated multiple times that the miasma and number of beasts is unpresented it makes you think the dual summoning means both will be needed to "balance things out".

Lifted this from the LN

However, every few generations, the growing density of the miasma far exceeded the speed at which the monsters could be slain. Fortunately, during these eras, a maiden who would become the Saint always appeared in the kingdom.

The Saint’s magic was so powerful, she could annihilate the miasma’s monsters in the blink of an eye. In so doing, her magic instantly balanced the rate at which monsters were slain versus the rate at which the miasma condensed.
According to one theory, once the Saint had appeared, the miasma could no longer condense at all, at least in her divine presence.

The Saint was generally supposed to manifest all on her own, but at one point in ages past, despite the rapid growth of miasma, she had failed to appear. The sages of that time desperately experimented with all types of magic until they devised a ritual for summoning the maiden who would become the Saint from a faraway land.

The "Saint" can only be a "Maiden".
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andramus



Joined: 19 Apr 2020
Posts: 162
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 9:35 pm Reply with quote
Penrhos wrote:

The "Saint" can only be a "Maiden".

I don't like that maiden bit. I don't like equating sexual experience with a lack of purity or virtue.

Given how flustered Sei gets when it comes to romantic interactions I can see how as a character she would not be very experienced. Also her nervousness might have led to her putting up barriers in the past that prevented her from gaining experience even when opportunities presented themselves.

Still I wouldn't mind reading/watching an isekai with a female protagonist who has some romantic/sexual experience from her previous life.

To be fair a lot of the male isekai protagonists I've come across seem to be pretty inexperienced and often simultaneously nervous, aroused and terrified when thrust into romantic/sexual situations. However they don't tend to be burdened with the same "purity" baggage as their female counterparts.
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:40 pm Reply with quote
andramus wrote:
Still I wouldn't mind reading/watching an isekai with a female protagonist who has some romantic/sexual experience from her previous life.

You owe it to yourself, then, to look up JK Haru is a Sex Worker in Another World. (Both the novel and a short story collection follow-up are available on Amazon and the manga version is due out in English later this year.) It's a story about an isekai heroine who uses her extensive sexual experience prior to Truck-kun to make a living in her new fantasy world. Very explicit and parts of it can get uncomfortably dark, but it also has some surprising twists, unexpected story quality and such keen insight on the sex industry that I strongly suspect the writer has some insider knowledge. It's definitely not your ordinary isekai title, so as long as you understand what you're getting into, I highly recommend it.
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Cryten



Joined: 19 Jan 2019
Posts: 979
PostPosted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 10:43 pm Reply with quote
As far as typical anime MC's I think that a lot of younger members can find a confident in sexuality MC threatening. That and the associations with the H side of the fandom.

Keep in mind though that maiden has not always been about purity, but the vampire modern lore has done a lot to associate them together. Well all I mean is that we might be jumping the gun to assume a brief mention of maiden as to imply all that.
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