Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon

     Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon is one strange name for an anime. This anime is a harem which basically means that the main character is a guy and he's surrounded by all these girls who are fighting for attention and affection. Some people don't like this kind of anime because sometimes it can be kind of lame. But this show was awesome! The best thing about it is that its only 12 episodes, perfect for people who don't have a lot of time to put into an anime. I would say this is a great newer anime (from 2015) and I would recommend it to any anime fans out there. But first, what is this about? 

     As the name suggests, the show is about a platoon of young people (not quite kids, but not quite adults) who are studying at a school how to take out witches and stop magic from harming people. Basically its like Harry Potter except these platoons use guns, swords, and special magic things like the main character's samurai mecha armor and one of the girls uber guns that absorb blood from her body the longer she uses them. So there's some interesting ideas here and some of the fighting gets gory (a little blood, not too much). As far as plot lines go the show is pretty much all over the place. We don't really get if the Platoon is secretly like the best platoon in the entire Anti-Magic Academy. Because they take out all these magic baddies and witches yet they're labeled the worst platoon in the academy. Then suddenly everything changes when Kusanagi (the male lead character) gets this power armor that he uses a sword with (he uses a samurai sword in a world of magic and guns, comes from a samurai family) and the whole show changes. The platoon is able to tackle anything that comes across their path. The fights were okay but not great. They were short and often unsatisfying. But I still liked them because of the characters. That's where this show really shines. All the characters are interesting and you care about each of them. The platoon becomes like family. And yes it is a harem. So there's a lot of scenes where the girls are trying to hit on Kusanagi and they love his attention and affection. But I felt that this show doesn't have too much of that. I mean Tenchi Muyo, now that's a true harem. A better word to describe this anime is action and ecchi-basically playfully sexy or erotic, but not all-out sex or something vulgar. I found this element of the anime to be great! The show has a couple waifus in addition to them having great personalities and being interesting characters. In terms of cute waifus there's even a swim suit beach episode! One of the girls is a sniper on the team. Another joins the academy as the first witch. Another one uses special dueling pistols that absorb blood the longer used. And another one is the brains of the whole operation and handles technology stuffs. And then there's Kusangi leading the team into battle. And is always victorious. 

     The ending story arc of the anime is about Kusangi's sister. Apparently she has this magic power that can destroy the entire world unless she's always kept asleep. Sounds like something that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but do animes ever make sense? Back when Kusangi was a kid he could've killed her and that would've meant that the world would've been safe but he choose to run away. And now his sister asks for Kusangi to kill her so that she wouldn't have to deal with the suffering and the idea of possibly killing more people. In the meanwhile there's this evil wizard who's trying to kidnap Kusangi's sister and use her power for Valhala (some evil magic group, the main enemies). So there's a big fight and in the end Kusangi saves his sister. But at the same time its like for how long? And would've he have saved the world if he just killed her? He could've bring himself to kill her but they make it seem in the show when he's going back for her like he was going to kill her to stop her powers from destroying the whole town. Her power was a little bit weird. It was like these giant meats of flesh with eyes that could talk and attack people. And then there were these giant bats that had an eye for a body. Pretty strange stuff but it definitely fits in an anime about magic. There was a lot of sibling love at the end there. And a lot of love with and for the 35th Platoon in general. They rose together as a group and overcame every obstacle through teamwork and by "letting me carry half of your burden", Kusangi's best one liner to all the girls in the show. And they all fall head over heels for it. Came for the magic and fight scenes. Left having had a good time watching a guy and a bunch of girls develop and mature as a the 35th Test Platoon.