An isekei with a female lead? Sounds good! Unfortunately, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent has many interesting aspects, but suffers from a passive protagonist. Sei Takanashi sits in the center of a reverse harem in an rpg-like fantasy world. This is an isekei, after all. Like most isekei, Sei is overpowered. I mean, it’s in the title! However, she isn’t overpowered in the typical “damage dealer” way. Rather, she is a healer. Her magic power can heal wounds and even regrow limbs. As someone who plays MMORPGs as a healer, I like the idea.
Sei also has an interest in herbology. In her fantasy world, herbs and magic are used to make healing potions. Sei excels in this and uses her modern-world knowledge of herbs to introduce new recipes for healing meals. And the potions are needed. As you can guess, monsters plague the kingdom. The increase in monster activity prompted the Kingdom to summon the Saint who will drive the monsters away. While this is standard fare, the fact she is a healer and not a fighter sets the story apart. The world is also interesting and has some suggestion of political antics under the peaceful, amicable surface.
However, as a heroine, Sei falls flat. She remains passive throughout the story. She only asserts herself, politely and submissively, when it comes to studying herbs. She has the power to grow back severed limbs and wants to study plants more than magic. Okay… Sure, she wants to study herbs. That’s fine, but her reluctance to pursue magic is strange considering her power. It ties into her passivity. The men of her harem are all charmers, as expected in this sort of story, but she doesn’t actively decide anything. She more impresses on Albert Hawke, the main love interest of the harem, than gets to know him. Although, of the options, we learn the most about him.
As the Saint, Sei could be more assertive. She has political influence, but she is reluctant to get involved or be recognized as the Saint. This leaves room for interesting character development. After all, when the protagonist grows into her duty or reluctantly takes on what she must, you have an interesting character arc. Sei is reluctant, but she doesn’t really step up. She goes with the expeditions, but she remains passive throughout the story. The guys defend her. Perhaps this is part of the appeal of a reverse harem: a bunch of hot guys protecting and showing courtesy to the female lead. This is an isekei, however. Part of what makes an isekei appealing is the power trip. Sei doesn’t pursue this beyond making potions and in one other instance linked to her true saintly power. She doesn’t attempt to explore her powers.
As for the quality of the anime, the costumes are interesting. The animation isn’t spectacular, but I enjoyed the slime monsters. It’s amusing that what are usually the lowest level fodder are actual threats in Sei’s world. This isn’t an action story, so don’t expect any good action animation. The character designs are solid, and you do get a good feel for the place and culture.
The Saint’s Power is Omnipotent isn’t terrible. It is missed potential. Although it is meant to be a harem and a light fantasy romance, it dangles many interesting story threads. The story doesn’t develop any of them. With a 12 episode run time, not all threads can be developed. However, some could have. The anime comes from a light novel series. It’s possible some of these threads are better developed there. Potential story and character arcs that fail to develop have become common in anime. A healer-focused isekei is a neat idea. The protagonist’s reluctance to live up to the burdens of power is a classic story arc. Sadly, The Saint’s Power doesn’t pursue either idea in depth. Even the romantic elements felt flat, although Sei has some cute moments. The elements felt flat to me because the guys were too perfect. We don’t get to know their flaws, except Yuri who is obsessed with Sei’s magic, nor do we get to know anything about their pasts. Again, run-time may be the culprit here.
The Saint’s Power is Omnipotent offers a fluffy escape and some fun ideas. Like many short-run anime, its best to consider this story a Hershey candy bar–the new chocolate formula, not the good ones before the recipe was changed. It tastes decent at the time, but it leaves you wanting something better.
I disagree with some of this. This is more of a love story so that’s why there isn’t a lot of action. I think Sei not being overly assertive is refreshing. Most isekei show people getting used to the new world and taking the lead too quickly. I also think the way they portray her romantically is more believable than a guy who knows the harem is in to him but won’t do anything even though he wants to, or is obviously to all the women throwing themselves at him. Sei admits she’s not used to that type of relationship especially with someone so attractive. She also does take an interest in magic and showed this with asking for a tutor as one of her rewards. I also think not having her being an attack magic power house leaves this for the other girl that was summoned. It also makes sense that she would still be more drawn to potions because that was the subject that allowed her to start making friends and slowly accept that new world is her new home. Suddenly being more gungho about the healing magic would be very out of character for her.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! You are right. Sei is better than the standard harem protagonist with her awareness. I may have had higher expectations than I should have for the story. I still enjoyed it, however.
I didn’t know it had gotten and anime. I read the manga a way back and dropped it for the very same reasons you mentioned here. Which was sad because it had some cool ideas.