4 Star

Dad Knows Best.

Well, anime fans are in for a fun ride with this Otome manga adaptation, written and illustrated by Michiro Ueyama and the anime was produced by Ajiado (Spirit of Wonder, Absolute Boy, Izetta: The Last Witch), Now MVM release Season 1 on Blu-ray, This is an anime that will get under your skin, as you spend five hours in this fantasy world.

Magical Academy: Love & Beast is Hinako Tondabayashi’s (Tomoyo Kurosawa, Sound Euphonium (TV Series), Skip and Loafer (TV Series)) favourite Otome video game, she loves taking the villainess Grace Auvergne (Mao Ichimichi, World Conquest: Zvezda Plot (TV Series), Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters vs. Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger: The Movie) through her paces as she berates the commoner, and heroin of this story Anna Doll (Akira Sekine, Princess Principal: Crown Handler Part 1 (TV Series), Princess Principal: Crown Handler Chapter 3 (TV Series)).

What they didn’t expect is that their father Kenzaburo Tondabayashi (Kazuhiko Inoue, Junjo Romantica Season 1 (TV Series), Naruto), a 52-year-old bureaucrat, selflessly jumps in front of a moving lorry to save a young boy, and now he lies in hospital in a coma.

What Hinako didn’t expect is that her father would be reincarnated into Grace in Magical Academy: Love & Beast, and she knows that her fathers mild manner will surely change the outcome of this game.

Hinako and her mother Mitsuko ( Takako Honda, Bleach, Naruto Shippuden) are of the same ilk, and even knowing their father, it is still a big shock when instead of chastising the commoner she helps her, and offers her advice.

This changes everything in the game Hinako knows so well, now everybody in the game sees the changes in her, and they are pleased with the change. But we all know this is an otome game so, the aim of the game is to get Anna a romantic partner, and her being the girl with the highest exam marks, this gets her and Grace into the Student Council, that has the cream of the crop of eligible young males. With crown prince Virgile Vierge (Kaito Ishikawa, Golden Time Collection 2, Your Name.), Richard Verseau (Yūichirō Umehara, Spy Classroom S1 & S2 Collection, Goblin Slayer II), Auguste Lion (Ryōta Suzuki, The Human Crazy University, Beyblade X), Pierre Gemeaux (Takuma Nagatsuka, Divine Gate, The Most Heretical Last Boss Queen), Lambert Balance (Seiichiro Yamashita, A Certain Scientific Railgun S, Golden Time) and finally the young prince Lucas Vierge (Aoi Koga, Princess Principal: Crown Handler Part 1, Princess Principal: Crown Handler Part 2).