Score: Very good
Rating: 15 for bloodshed
Ryner Lute is a magician. He’d like nothing better than to sleep – having comfortably slept through the last war in a prison cell – but now he’s working for the Roland Empire to retrieve powerful artefacts from around the world.
The start of this series will lull you into thinking it’s a fantasy romp, like Slayers or Indiana Jones. But a couple of episodes in you find out what it’s really about: war, bloodshed and really hard choices. Lute has a unique and dangerous talent: magical eyes which can analyse and copy any magic he sees performed, a powerful trick in a world where each country keeps its magical forms hidden. But the cursed eyes also mark him as an outcast, resented and despised, seen by many as a bringer of death. Travelling incognito, Lute sees people of all nations the same – but a loyal soldier is only as good as the master he serves.
The other half of the story concerns Roland’s king, Sion. Since the coup in which he rose to the throne, Sion is now fighting to bring an end to war and free the innocent. But to do so he will inevitably have to get its hands dirty. When playing the political game with such noble intentions, can you win without losing yourself?