Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata - mini anime review/ramble

Today I'm wrapping up Magic Maker: Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata. Current fantasy and isekai anime get a bad rep for their repetitiveness, but I believe there are special cases worth sifting for.  With preconcieved notions aside, I've kind of been enjoying this anime as new episodes dropped. Not only for it's visuals, but also for it's slightly underrepresented take on the isekai protagonist. Shion is aged down in comparison to the typical underdog adolescent MC, with self-driven development of his magic ability that only he holds. In fact his fellow humans of the new world are rather stunted in terms of medical advancements, foreshadowing the larger crisis. The episodes have more focus on family life because of his age, which was admittedly comfy to watch given how supportive their role was in his growth journey. I find that the humor had an issue of becoming repetitive when it wasn't hilarious to begin with, but I wasn't overly annoyed by it either.  I appreciate how it's not afraid to get weird for something so recent. Again, I really like the visual stylistic choices, especially regarding the monsters, which have a very cryptic intimidating feel. Their visual texture really sells this, which always makes them seem dark even in the light of day, which reads like a bad memory that gets scribbled out by the mind but still holds negative presence despite being repressed. I loved feeling creeped out and even scared for the other helpless human characters during some parts, which is a mood hard to set when fantasy anime tend to lean into characters who are already fearlessly OP. As expected there isn't too much horror/action in this anime, but part of me wishes that those kind of scenes were less sparse. Ep12 winds down with very wholesome family vibes that are even stronger than in the beginning for reasons I won't spoil. In retrospect, I realize it smoothed the "weirdness" levels since the beginning. The fanservice doesn't skyrocket to absurd degrees simply because it's the last episode, which would have likely made it feel unnatural if this particular anime had taken such a route. I'd say the conclusion was pretty solid if not a tad trope-y. I'd give this a 6.5/10, but I recommend it if you want to watch something recent and already enjoy the isekai genre more so than not.

This is my first time reviewing an anime typed out like this. I was expecting the show to be more or less something sweet to chew on while I seeked out more substance, and I couldn't be swayed to any hyperbolic statements with this one, so the nuance left me with more to write about!