I’m about two episodes away from the finale so far. As a big Harry Potter nut in my late teens / college years who’s kinda soured on the series thanks to JK’s relentless shittiness, this show is perhaps more up my alley than it otherwise would be. Lots of great little hooks, amazing representation without being ugh about it (no dead gay tropes here yay), some really intriguing little bits of world building that are accumulating, and a surprisingly tight cast of main and supporting characters that’s actually been really skillfully assembled. Some early eps had lots of what felt like jokey, one off side characters, and some parts of the main cast felt pretty flat initially, but episode by episode, they’ve been pulling back more and more and those little nobodies keep getting rolled back in in fun ways, and the main cast is developing really well.
The animation of the, uh, dance in the Grom episode in the back half of the season was really breathtaking and the whole scene was just…everything I like in TV.
It definitely took awhile to get going. I spent two months slogging through the first few eps, with weeks long breaks in between each as my interest flagged, but I’m really glad I kept with it.
It actually has a vague Disenchantment feeling for me, in that it was a silly and seemingly ephemeral gag take on one of my favorite fantasy setups that swiftly developed into an unexpectedly endearing and heartfelt character study.