I’m just going to go ahead and spoil all of Wizard Barristers for you on the off chance that I can spare you from watching it: Sudou Cecil was killed and brought back to life with forbidden magic in order to summon Lucifer who ends up as the chronically chirpy Moyo; Makusu (judge) is, like his son Shimizu (police officer), hiding his identity as a wizard but ends up killing him and is the one trying to summon the Lord of Darkness. There should now be no reason for you to investigate the series further because combined with screenshots, you’re saving time and oxygen and getting a better experience than watching it.

It’s difficult to fully appreciate how terrible Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil is without slipping into hyperbole and making it sound “so bad it’s good”. Make no mistake, this is just bad. To understand disappointment is to follow Yasuomi Umetsu’s directing career because although his character designs are bold, colourful and unique, his directing leaves a trail of disenchantment. It started so well with Kite if you ignore the rape (statutory or otherwise), then got freaky with Mezzo Forte and the lamentable Mezzo DSA, lackluster with Kite Liberator and topped off by Galilei Donna and now Wizard Barristers. Why people keep giving him directing positions is still a mystery.

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The very last scene of Galilei Donna’s eleventh episode is the Earth with the word “Fine” hovering in view. Sure it’s Italian for “end”, but I can’t help feel like it was an exclamation from the production team along the lines of “Fine! Whatever! See if we care!” That’s certainly how the series comes across after such an unsatisfying ending and what feels like ten episodes of build-up - about the same sort of rate that a full twenty-four episode series would take - and a single episode of utter ridiculousness.

The setup is nuts and bolts basic: little genius girl builds a futuristic aircraft and goes off on adventures with her sisters while being chased by a sinister energy conglomerate and sky pirates. Oh and they’re all descendants of Galileo Galilei which is only important because they’re hunting for MacGuffins that used to belong to him. Ostensibly because he created an energy source and that’s the thing that can break the evil energy corporations grip on the world except this is more or less forgotten about as soon as it’s introduced.

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