crossposted MAL Secrets of the Silent Witch is my favourite anime this season partly because I know that the light novels content is superb. The anime has great production values and it has a great story. Thats why I give it a 9 out of 10. That said Im gonna be frank about the mistakes of this adaptation. As a standalone season its great and worthy of this high score. But if we consider it as a potential first installment in a multiseason series which the story rightly deserves it faces critical issues Ill discuss at length. Overview Monica Everett the Silent Witch who is one of Ridills 7 Sages has been tasked to protect the Second Prince Felix Arc Ridill. To do this she has to go undercover take the name of Monica Norton and become a student of Serendia Academy. Can she fulfill her mission despite her overwhelming social anxiety? Notes Lets talk about the technical aspects first and the staff. When I first heard of the Silent Witch it was called most anticipated at least for Japanese viewers and its great visuals show that the studio took care of it and gave it some love. 220https://i.ur.com/ySjuFtK.png Studio Gokumi isnt really wellknown for having good visuals. Of the two anime I watched from them 1 Seiren 2 Im Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class they are average in terms of visuals. I am willing to bet that this anime is the bestlooking one theyve done so far. 1a I heard the Konosuba director also handled this and I checked. MAL lists two directors: The chief director Kanasaki Takaomi and the other director Iwamoto Yasuo. Aside from Konosuba Kanasaki Takaomi also storyboarded Episode 9 of Apocalypse Hotel storyboarded Episode 8 of Gleipnir and was a key animator for Episodes 2 and 7 of Please Teacher these are anime Ive seen. Other wellknown anime I havent seen he is involved with include storyboarding Episodes 11 and 26 of Nisekoi S1 storyboarding Episodes 4 and 7 of Nisekoi S2 and storyboarding Episode 6 of PsychoPass. If theres a person responsible for making Monica really adorable he takes the credit. But he also takes the blame for some of the things I dislike about this anime. More on this later. 1b The other director Iwamoto Yasuo also worked in Konosuba as an episode director. He also worked as episode director of the first episode of the Quintessential Quintuplets Season 1. With how well Secrets of the Silent Witch turned out Im now inclined to check out Konosuba and maybe compare. After all it should be no surprise that their previous works served as a foundation for whatever we are enjoying with the Silent Witch. 1c Lets talk about the chief animation director Hirata Katsuzou. Ive seen some of his older works Tenchi Muyou Ryououki Shinpi no Sekai ElHazard Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy where he worked as an inbetween animator or key animator. Theyre okay for their time. But his recent work Anyway Im Falling in Love with You not only failed to impress me it utterly appalled me. Its amazing how the animation in Silent Witch is superb while that travesty leaves you so disgusted. 1d I havent seen the other works of the cinematographer Etou Naoki and for the other cinematographer Satou Souta this is their debut work. There are some moments in this anime especially in Episode 2 where the cinematography shines. In Episode 2 the environment is unfamiliar and it looks so daunting and huge from the perspective of Monica. 220https://i.ur.com/88DxkTo.png Also Nero is framed in such a way that provides a clue for anime viewers and makes source material readers like me smile. Lets talk about the story the characters and the execution. Secrets of the Silent Witch is what I call overpowered done right. Monica is extremely powerful yet has a great weakness that practically negates it. The big picture view of the story is that Monica is called upon to protect Prince Felix and as an undercover student of Serendia Academy Monica experiences tremendous personal growth. Eventually the plot involving Duke Clockford and geopolitickal implications is revealed. As for the anime it only covers the first part of Monica becoming a student again. It doesnt reach the serious plotlines yet. Despite that it succeeds in showing Monicas personal growth arguably much better than Gotou Hitori aka Bocchi the Rock dropping hints here and there of the more serious plot. With all due respect this is why I have a lovehate relationship with the moniker Bocchi the Witch. Its an awesome description that one can use if you want fans of Bocchi the Rock to consider watching this anime. Those who loved Bocchis funny facial expressions and how she tries to overcome her social anxiety will also love Monica as she displays awkward facial reactions and tries to do the same. 220https://i.ur.com/kfFRTEn.png But I am uncomfortable using the Bocchi the Witch moniker for two reasons: 1 I wasnt pleased by how some people treat Bocchis social anxiety as a laughing matter. Speaking as someone who has social anxiety it sucks. 2 The lighthearted moments displayed by Monica acting similarly to Bocchi understates the seriousness of the plot down the road. And even before we reach that framing it as Bocchi the Witch makes people unprepared for the tonal shift where this anime is not lighthearted all the time. It includes drama and heavy emotions. Its execution is a mixed bag. The chief director Kanasaki Takaomi has done a great job in endearing Monica to anime watchers thanks to his previous work in Konosuba. But he has neglected the worldbuilding aspects and failed to convey much of the same information through different scenes. I know an anime adaptation cant include everything especially one thats constrained in a single cour which is a shame. The author of the light novels has wrought something meticulous in worldbuilding either through dialogue or foreshadowing. This is watered down in the anime and it pains me that some people and haters are criticising the writing of this anime just because the intricate narrative structure of the source has been destroyed or at least damaged in the anime adaptation. One great example I can cite is how Monica handled a lifethreatening situation. Without spoiling it the anime did not provide enough details as to the gravity of the situation leading to some posters who criticise it as having plot holes. The anime mentions the name of the neighbouring kingdoms but it underemphasizes the geopolitickal implications of what Monica does. It would have been better if instead of adapting 3 volumes in a cour the anime had chosen to either 1 adapt only two volumes or 2 adapt three or four volumes in a twocour season. I know one should be thankful that the adaptation of the Silent Witch is better than many adaptations. I acknowledge that. Its just sad that this anime hasnt shown the full potential of the story. Its one of those stories that I believe should have been given the Apothecary Diaries treatment i.e. give each volume time to breathe by including as many episodes as possible. Slow burn is the way to go so that the plot will reveal itself from all the hints foreshadowing and worldbuilding. As for potential romance and shipping I dont mind it but I also dont look forward to it. They are there to spice things up. A change from the light novels is that the director appears to be biased to the MonicaPrince Felix pairing and ignores the MonicaCyril pairing. The light novels are more balanced. The MonicaCyril pairing has more chemistry and there are several situations showing how they care for each other situations that are omitted or minimised in the anime. Its a shame even if Im more in favour of the MonicaPrince Felix pairing. Im partial to Prince Felix because he comes across as mysterious and theres more to him than meets the eye. From the spoilers Ive seen I was right to suspect that 220https://i.ur.com/rMRxzoM.png Unfortunately such characterisation is bungled in this anime and he comes across as flat. In fairness to the anime it did foreshadow something thats gonna be revealed in the volumes that are untranslated as of the date I am posting this review. Its not possible to do so in the written medium of the LN but it is possible in the visual medium of anime. 220https://i.ur.com/b2ooY0Y.png Another missing part of the worldbuilding is something basic. Its in Chapter 2 of LN1 and should have been in Episode 1. Its about the rank of nobles and how Monica by virtue of being a sage has a rank of Countess. Knowing this fact would have made quite a difference in how viewers see Monicas bullying by random NPCs. Excerpt from Chapter 2 of LN 1: Also note that another member from the student council Bridget has been downgraded to a bit player whereas she should have been one of the mean girls. I know animeonly viewers wouldnt find the pacing an issue and some even complain that its slow but knowing how much of the source is omitted it is quite painful. The pacing is too fast so that the impact of some scenes is less than it could have been. You cant help but imagine what it would be like if an already excellent adaptation were to be improved and given more episodes to accurately convey all the good stuff the author had in mind. Despite all these issues at the very least the anime has provided enough characterisation of Monica as well as the supporting cast. It could have been better but its enough for anyone to conclude that Silent Witch has a roster of great supporting characters. 220https://i.ur.com/dWGUHKe.png Miscellaneous Items I love that a serious Monica uses her Kimishima Ayano voice. This role elevated her status among seiyuu. Hitsujibungakus performance in both the OP and ED is decent. Nothing spectacular but good enough. Monicas leitmotif reminds me of Zenshuu in the transformation sequence. Its use of mathematics is just elementary arithmetic and geometry. Its not advanced but for what its worth the light novels and to a certain extent the anime are effective in using maths as a tool for characterising Monica. Conclusion Despite sounding negative in this review about how the adaptation misses the storys true potential and how it could have been better I still gave this anime a 9 out of 10 90 out of 100 in anilist just because Im a true believer that its an excellent story. You can watch this for the great relationships Monica develops and be inspired to overcome social anxiety if you are similarly wired. The adaptation is great but I implore everyone who loves this anime to read the source material as that is even better. Youll be in for a treat. NOTA BENE: A grade of 9 out of 10 means that I find this anime to be exceptionally great an almost masterpiece but it falls short in some aspects. Perhaps it is also other peoples 10 out of 10 anime but it did not capture my heart. I definitely enjoyed watching it. My enjoyment spectrum lies from 4 to 10. If I have scored an anime below 4 I actively dislike it.