The death of the commoner
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability, Episode 1, titled “I Reincarnated as the Seventh Prince” begins with black and white footage of an obviously dying man being attacked by a group of others who can wield magic. He apparently cannot.
One of the men gives him a change to manifest his magic, but all he is able to create is a small ball of magic that just gently hits the man’s chest.
The man calls him a “commoner”, then tells him that lineage, talent and diligence are the only important things when it comes to being a mage.
He then sets the “commoner” on fire and kills him.
Interestingly, though even as the man is dying, he still thinks the magic that was wielded was magnificent and just how a mage should be able to yield something so powerful.
His final wish is to master magic just like that.
The next scene of the first episode of I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability is now in color and is someone waking up in a bed surrounded by incredibly cute young maids.
We then hear a male voice asking why his own hands are so small, and wondering if maybe he should fire some magic at the girls as they may be giants.
Turns out that magic is so powerful, he blows a hole in the building he is now in.
The next scene has a newspaper boy rushing through what is obviously a fantasy-style city shouting about the birth of the seventh Saloum Kingdom prince — Prince Lloyd.
We then see through a hole in the wall into a room where shocked maids stare in dismay at the damage, while a self-satisfied baby looks on with his finger smoking.
Yep, this is our “commoner”, who has just been reincarnated into the baby body of newborn Prince Lloyd and, apparently, has already become the powerful magic wielder he always wanted to be.
Prince Lloyd and cheating at sword training
After the anime’s opening theme song and intro plays, we move to the palace of an obviously wealthy nation where several maids are currently looking for the prince.
As they leave, Prince Lloyd himself, now a 10-year-old child, emerges from behind a statue and attempts to run away before coming across two members of the palace court.
He asks them not to tell the maids where he is then, before they can get him to go on a hunt with them, has already run off.
This leaves the two men discussing why Prince Lloyd has so much freedom — with one man saying he is the seventh son and so is not ever likely to need to take the throne. That also means there is no point trying to curry his favor.
The second man, however, disagrees pointing out Lloyd could speak soon after his birth, read magic books like other babies read picture books and, because of this, he believes Prince Lloyd is the reincarnation of William Bordeaux, the father of sorcery.
Meanwhile, Lloyd himself has heard the men’s conversation and agrees with the man that he is definitely reincarnated. Just not the person they think.
As he heads towards the palace library to learn more magic, he also admits he remembers his past life’s memories.
His pursuit of magic that day, however, is cut short as one of the maids — Sylpha — immediately finds him, and removes the book of magic from his hands.
A few minutes later, and the two are out in the courtyard fighting with wooden swords, with Sylpha insisting sword instruction is important for a royal. Even one who is seventh in line to the throne. (watch the fight in the video at the end of this recap)
But, as Sylpha is guaranteed to beat Lloyd, even though his own skills are excellent, he decides to use a levitation spell cheat while also growing his sword longer so that he can beat her quickly and go back to the library to study.
Of course, Sylpha eventually realizes he was cheating but, instead of being angry, is thrilled he was able to use two spells at once, as few people can do that.
Lloyd doesn’t bother telling her he was actually using four spells at once.
The forbidden library’s demon
Now in the baths along with all the maids (yep, copious amounts of fan service abound in this anime), two of the maids are gossiping about a secret book in the castle’s “underground forbidden library” that houses a demon called Grimoire.
That night, Lloyd makes himself invisible, and walks past the guards and down into the bowels of the castle.
It is here he finds the door to the forbidden library, which has been sealed by 10 powerful mages to prevent anyone from entering. After all, a demon is locked away there.
Five seconds later, and Lloyd has easily broken the barrier, entered the library and begun looking at the books stored there.
It is only minutes, though, before the demon appears from inside a book and tells Lloyd he is impressed he was able to break through the library’s seal.
Lloyd asks the demon’s name, to which it replies “Grimoire”, and then asks him to free it from the seal that is holding it inside the book.
If he does, Grimoire will give him as much gold as he wants.
Gold that Lloyd figures out is nothing but an illusion, five seconds after a piece of it has fallen on the floor.
He then tells the demon he will be strengthening the book’s seal anyway, as he has no interest in having a dangerous demon roaming the kingdom.
As Lloyd feigns disinterest to the demon’s increasing bribes, one of the bribes catches his attention when Grimoire promises to teach him some ancient magic that has long been lost to the world.
Of course, for Lloyd, who is obsessed with learning all the magic he can, being able to learn ancient magic immediately has him salivating at the mouth.
Soon he has freed Grimoire from the seal that has been binding him for hundreds of years, and Grimoire immediately attacks him destroying half of the library in the proces.
But, when the dust clears, it is only for him to see Lloyd completely safe inside a protective dome.
Grimoire attacks him again and again, but Lloyd’s dome holds, until he sticks his finger outside it to test the dark magic Grimoire is throwing at him and learns it is one of the best things he has ever seen in his life.
This so incenses Grimoire, he uses one of the most powerful spells he knows — two dark magic spells together, which is almost impossible to do.
Of course, Lloyd’s barrier still holds, which is when Grimoire tries to escape the library only to learn Lloyd has erected barriers around it so that nothing can escape while, at the same time, nobody outside the library can hear what is happening inside it.
We then learn just how demented 10-year-old Lloyd is when he attacks Grimoire with a crazed look on his face, while asking the demon to show him his defense magic.
Grimoire is almost annihilated by the attack, and immediately learns he probably shouldn’t go up against Lloyd as it is doubtful he will win.
After Lloyd puts the library right back to the way it was before Grimoire destroyed it, it is also then that he begins calling Lloyd “Master”.
When Lloyd suggests he should hurt him again just to see how much Grimoire can take, the demon promises to become his familiar and work only for him as, come on, while Lloyd probably can’t kill the demon, his attacks sure as hell hurt.
Lloyd tells Grimoire, if he is going to be his familiar, he will need to disguise himself, as walking around the castle as big as he is could cause problems.
Grimoire shrinks down to the size of a small teddy bear so he can fit under Lloyd’s cloak but, as he snuggles under the cloak vowing to learn how to fool Lloyd so he can make his escape, he finds out Lloyd has unlimited mana and realizes beating him might just be impossible.
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince, Episode 1 nicely sets the scene for the rest of the anime by introducing us not only to Prince Lloyd, the reincarnated commoner, but also does a very good job explaining his immense power and showing how difficult it will be for others to defeat him.
After all, if a high-level demon can’t do it, what chance would you ever have?
I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince, Episode 1 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
And by the way, if you are looking for an isekai that is a little bit different from the norm, if the remainder of the season is as good as the anime’s first episode, this one could be a definite contender.
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