Shiro Seijo to Kuro Bokushi: r/anime Awards 2023 Thoughts
This is part of a series of posts, reworking my casual writing from the r/anime Awards about the various shortlists and nominees. I do a lot of writing for the awards which never gets released outside of awards, so I figured I’d try bringing some of it out and putting it here. They’re not meant to be anything too serious or in-depth, just reworking my thoughts as I posted them in the awards server to here. This isn’t representative of the awards themselves or anyone other than myself involved in the awards. I’ll make a larger post with all the shortlisted shows from each category in the Write-Up Collections tab after I’ve posted all of the individual write-ups for that category here.
Of the categories I was juror for in the 2023 r/anime Awards, Shiro Seijo to Kuro Bokushi was shortlisted in Anime of the Year and Slice of Life, and so those were the categories where I discussed it.
Watch Links: Crunchyroll
Saint Cecillia is a simple Slice of Life/Romance with very little progression (not an issue necessarily). The show is pretty inoffensive, but I also generally found it did very little to set itself apart. It's very light fluff, which again isn't a bad thing, but I didn't find it particularly entertaining or meaningful, and it's pretty repetitive. There were a few moments where I felt a pulse, especially in the story of Frederica, but for the most part the show perpetuates a very basic formula.
I find the dynamic of the main duo frustrating. Cecilia just gets flustered around Lawrence, and Lawrence is overprotective of Cecilia. A bit of complexity is introduced as Lawrence tries to explore his feelings for Cecilia, but overall this is how every interaction between the two will play out. This puts the onus on the scenario writing to carry their interactions, but even within the first episode I was already growing tired of their dynamic, and while there's some later scenarios that felt like they offered a bit of variance, I never felt like the show was doing much to justify 12 full length episodes. It's a shame, because the show does introduce some intrigue and nuance to the dynamic with Lawrence's condition, but it never really does anything with it. The world-building was kinda neat. They exist in a fantasy world with angels, demons, and fairies, which is caught in a strange time where they have digital photography and modern fashion while also having horse and carriage instead of cars and mail as the primary form of long distance communication. I will say though, they say saints can't lie, and that's the biggest lie of them all. Cecillia is a liar, she lied to that one lady in town when asked what she was doing in town alone while she was following Lawrence! World-building destroyed!
I like Cecillia well enough. She is cute! She's somewhat let down by her partner, though. The dense, oblivious main character isn't something unique to this anime, but Lawrence is emotionally stunted and nearly expressionless for a large portion of the anime. He's just not fun to watch. The supporting cast doesn't really save the show either, even if they add a small nibble of variety to the comedy. For the most part they play very anime archetype roles, largely centered around bemoaning the MC's obliviousness. Again, this isn't inherently a problem, but again the show kind of fails to set itself apart by keeping the cast so one note. Also Hazelita has the worst haircut of the year, just gonna put that out there.
There's just nothing which stands out in this show to me, unfortunately. I don't hate it, it's pleasant enough. I'm just at a loss for what the show might do to deserve nomination.
