This show is magic and there isn’t a better way to describe it, rarely do you see such a perfect adaption of a Light Novel into the anime medium. This review will expand on why I believe this is among the best LN adaptations ever done, and how the show effectively executed its story, art, soundtrack, characters, in a way that exceeds other LN adapts.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Story: 8

The Journey of Elaina is essentially Kinos Journey meets fantasy magic world, Elaina travels to all sorts of interesting destinations and meets all sorts of unique people, along the way she might make friends, the occasional enemy, or completely choose to avoid everything and remain neutral. The show is very episodic, and many episodes will contain their own story or even multiple stories, however that does not mean the show doesn’t have a good plot, overall even the short stories are well written and have important messages that are conveyed to audience outright or in subtle ways.

Some of the better stories are whole episodes and focus on an interesting setting in countries with special rules or attractions that Elaina adapts to, she may make friends in these countries or maybe she will have a hard time, but they always end with Elaina having a great story to tell when she gets back home. She might visit a country that only magicians can enter or a country without magicians, she might meet thieves or people trying to scam her but also meet friendly people who help her expecting nothing in return. The journey she travels on parallels real life backpacking, and really exemplifies how big and diverse the world is, and how many different experiences a person can come across depending on their circumstances.
Some aspects of the show are a bit hard to watch, but they are grounded in realism, there are bad people out there and there are plenty of countries where the rules and customs may conflict with your moral outlook, for example with slavery. This show delivers these experiences without holding back and demonstrates how people can think and act in entirely different ways from what the audience or Elaina view as moral, without being cardboard villains. In comparison to the original light novel, this adapt had very little important information was skipped and it was largely faithful of every section covered, the studio went out of its way to make sure all the little details of the story were added and it helped make the world all the more immersive.

Art: 9

From an excellently choregraphed and well animated fight in episode 1, to amazing particle effects and endless gorgeous movie quality backgrounds throughout the show, this show has some of the best visuals this year.

Every city, town, forest, field of flowers, general location was drawn so perfectly that it just completely draws the audience directly into the show. These are some of the most amazing locations I have ever seen in any fantasy anime, the field of flowers in the show make the audience want to experience visiting one, the city on the cliffs fills the viewer with wonder, the realistic looking clouds make the fields even more beautiful and the amazingly detailed towns really bring the show to life. The backgrounds were also able to easily communicate emotions and enhance scenes with the various coloring choices made, darker or introspective scenes had a beautiful selection of subdued colors while more pleasant scenes had light colors, the choices of colors never detracted from the backgrounds and always felt fitting for a scene. A fantasy world can be made or destroyed by the quality of the backgrounds and how appealing they are to the audience, the background art in this series was perfect and really draws the audience into the fantasy world presented and portrays it in a suitable way.

The animation in the show is nothing to look down at either as it greatly exceeds what is necessary for a slice of life travelling show, in fact the action scenes in this show were among the top 3 for the entire season including actual action series. Magical effects in this show were also a treat, in most anime magic is demonstrated with balls or blasts of energy and magical circles, once in a while creative effects are used but they are rarely ever demonstrated as effectively as in this show. From magical vision enhancement, to amazing teleporting, time reversal, and storage abilities, the show brings together an array of magical effects, each demonstrated in ways that are unique and creative compared to the vast majority of anime.

The sound: 8

The OP was great, the soundtrack could easily draw the viewer into the show, all the background music and sound effects complemented the scenes they were in effective and generally made them even more emotional and enjoyable. The sound effects for wind, magical attacks, and water were all especially good, among the best I have ever come across in an anime. It was also nice to have all these little sound effects that are not included in most anime, such as the character walking down a staircase or tearing apart bread, it makes the world so much more immersive.

Overall, the soundtrack is magical and deserves at least an 8/10 for how all-encompassing it is, how much it complemented every scene, and the strength of the OP.

Characters: 9

It’s important to point out ahead of time that some viewers may be seriously bothered by Elaina’s inaction and the very short periods of time she spends in the places she travels to but this has a very specific purpose. Elaina is a traveler, not a Shonen protagonist, and she cannot get to comfortable or involved in any of these places otherwise her journey would end. Elaina also promised her parents to never pick a fight even when wrongdoing is occurring, if it does not directly involve her, in order to get them to give her permission to travel in the first place.

If anything, Elaina is a refreshingly realistic take on a main character, most people would not try to save everyone as a tourist in countries they visit or try to improve a situation even if they are capable of helping a bit. This is because it’s incredibly difficult to make lasting change, a country where slavery is legal would require the entire government to be overthrown in order to fix the problem, something that Elaina might not be capable of doing. There are other systemic issues presented in this series as well where Elaina will not intervene due to understanding how hard it will be to solve the problem, how her attempt to solve it could backfire, or how committed she would have to be in order to see her solution through. It is worth adding that Elaina may come across as being way to full of herself, however she largely lives up to her own hype. Elaina is in fact quite attractive and popular wherever she goes, her skill with is quite real as well given her achievement of being a witch at such a young age. There is nothing wrong with the main character being very confident in themselves if it backed up properly.

Side characters like Fran and sometimes Saya were also quite nice, seeing Elaina meet them again and catch up, and learn more about each other’s lives was enjoyable. Most characters in this series do not show up again after their initial appearance, however even in a single episode they usually get a lot of development. There were side characters that made the audience feel sorry for them, characters that were lovable, characters who you wanted to see join the journey with Elaina and characters who you hate, all of these characters were developed in the span of single episodes yet felt quite real. The Journey of Elaina did an excellent job with the side characters as even though they don’t get a lot of screen time, most of the named ones had a full story told in a single episode.

Enjoyment: 8

It’s a fun SOL show with some dark moments and moral lessons thrown in, don’t expect too much out of the story as it is episodic, however you can anticipate really fun characters and excellent production values. The comedic timing and reactions with Elaina are great as well, and its very fun to watch her interact with new characters and explore new nations.
I would say this show was very much something that is easily enjoyed as long as you don’t over think the story and recognize that Elaina is not a Shonen hero, they are not on a journey to become a hero, they are just a tourist wherever they visit.

Overall: 8

Relax, sit back, and enjoy as Elaina takes you to interesting countries and watch her deal with all sorts of unique situations. Everything about the show can be described as pristine, from the detailed particle effects, to the beautiful movie quality backgrounds, the soundtrack which draws you in and the characters that keep you engaged. There are very few flaws to this show and it is definitely the single best new show that aired this season, overall, it gets a solid 8/10 rating.