Score: A-

Did I expect to be talking about a show where the female lead kisses a cat’s butt? No, no I didn’t! But here we are! This was honestly a rather fun first episode. A lot of that is thanks to Spica as a lead and the comedic sense of the show. The road ahead for Spica and Claude is a long one. But this is one case where it’s a pretty clear direction. The solution to getting Claude back to normal is straight forward. It may involve kissing a cat’s butt hole…but at least it’s a clear path.

There’s some good

Claude really is a piece of work though. This guy has been stuck as a cat for multiple years. And he’s seemingly done very little in terms of actually resolving his situation. The moment he finds someone that can actually understand him…he just uses her to get a beer and planned on ditching her soon after. The man may be gifted, but he’s kind of an idiot. And even after all that happened he was going to still walk out on Spica. Thank goodness the situation didn’t let him off easy. If he wants that curse broken then he’s stuck with her. There’s no shortcuts. He has to teach and build Spica up into someone that’s actually at a comparable level to himself. Then and only then will he get back to being a human permanently.

I won’t say he’s completely without good qualities. When push came to shove he did throw himself in front of that attack to protect his apprentice. Now it requires life or death for him to step up…but he does do it in that case. It’s just kind of funny that if something isn’t quite that pressing then he has no problem cutting his apprentice off. I hope by the end of the story (long and far into the future) that he can actually build a relationship with Spica that he won’t be quite so quick to discard.

Yep…this happens

Poor Spica though. The girl did have a gift inside of her, just one that wasn’t clear or easy to spot. Considering it’s anime…someone that’s just really durable/heals fast isn’t someone we’d give a second glance to. But in this case…that is her magic at work. Nothing she had to outright cast, but a power that would heal and restore. She both did and didn’t luck out in this case. That magic allowed her to forge a connection to Claude and gives her a chance to make her dreams come true. She does have the potential to reach that first class mage level. Spica still has to actually make it happen, but having the potential at least gives her hope.

It’s just too bad her hope…involves kissing a cat’s butt! Seriously…I don’t know how to bring this up without it sounding absurd! That’s how it is though. The only way to temporarily undo the curse is getting her lips ready to work. Thankfully she doesn’t need to know how to use any magic for that ability to pay off. But it does mean that there’s a definite need for her to improve quickly…because I can’t imagine she wants to keep doing that! But that’s the thing that allows her to form a bond with Claude. He can’t afford to cut her off or he loses his one way of undoing a pretty legitimate curse! And for that curse to work on him…someone must’ve really hated this guy.

A more serious backstory than I expected

It is a good thing though that Spica is such a good girl and is easy to like. She works hard. Her flight training might not have worked, but she was clearly giving her all. And when it came to the “find the book” test she was giving everything she had. Even when things were emerging from the tomes she just kept on searching. Spica even learned how to read ancient runes because she thought it might be helpful for this! It’s easy to love a character that just gives everything when she puts her mind to it.

And her background was honestly a touching one. Claude has many flaws, but he absolutely saved her life as a kid. It makes sense that she idolized someone that turned the scariest moment of her life into a fond memory. And she has a better moral compass than Claude. It’s not like she’s obsessed with Claude and that’s it. She wants to be like him…so she can save others like he did.

From butts to this

Just a very solid first episode. They definitely had fun with the banter between Spice and Claude in this one. This episode just leaves me nice and hopeful for where things will go from here. Clearly Spica will be joining a class of misfits and it makes sense to have a cursed teacher leading such a group. There are clearly antagonistic forces that will help make sure that Claude has to have his curse undone every now and then. But beyond that I guess the key will be the rest of the cast. Definitely a first episode I didn’t expect to be this much fun.