TL;DR: 4.5/5 -> Refer to my Artistic Scale
Based on the Books of the Same name by Author: Leigh Bardugo
Russia Ravka is at war with multiple countries.
There are Magical people in this world known as Grisha and Russia has plenty of em.
Plus there is a whole Deadzone known as the Fold that has split the country in half.
Facing war, the fold and general inequality (Racism) in life
Our protags are thrust into the center of events with one being a prophesised savior and the other her best friend.
On the other hand we have a rag tag bunch of misfits trying to make a living and an unlikely couple of a Grisha and a Fjerden (basically Vikings) trying to overcome their differences despite being from different worlds.
This is a world of magic, malice, and might. Prophecies, Prophets and Profit.
All with a very 18th Century theme to it.
Very enjoyable, very interesting and quite captivating.
4.5/5 -> Refer to my Artistic Scale
1: The nation of Dravka, the concept of Grisha's, The fold. Everything is extremely intriguing. The layer of magic intermixed with a very realistic setting is very interesting to say the least.
The show does a good job of not doing an exposition dump and allowing us to learn about the world through our main characters. Its a perfect example of "Show don't tell"
2: It was quite entertaining.
I found myself rooting for our Protag Mal, and while Alina has all the ingredients to be a Mary Sue: Godlike Powers and an infallible character unable to do wrong with a spicy love triangle added to it.
I am pleasantly surprised she isn't one. She is imperfect, she has her flaws, she has outbursts, she makes mistakes with consequences and most of all: She has a personality that helps you understand that she is a person who exists outside her powers and the plot, heck the 1st 3 eps have her made as a powerless normal girl trying to survive.
An Excellent take which alot of shows and movies run into a problem with when dealing with a strong female lead. >looking at you star wars
3: I would recommend this being a History nut, a Magic Enthusiast and generally because the writing and characters are solid and the entire series is an amazing adaption.
I would legit love to go read the OG source material for this.
4: There is an overarching plot and a rising set of stakes that escalate as the plot goes on.
Plus the frequent callback to past events makes this series worthwhile to rewatch. Some of the conspiracies were there from the start and some of the odd actions are re-contexualized which makes reveals and plot twists more natural as opposed to forced retcons.
5:
Not a masterpiece
There were moments in the show, small albeit, that I felt were forced or contrived. While the whole thing makes sense and its all stable overall, those small small things put you off.
By far the biggest gripe I have with the show is the acting of Amita Suman, the actress of Anej.
While I understand I cannot demand perfection but continuously I felt a disconnect between what the character is described as versus the actor acting her out down to the delivery of the lines.
Anej is an assassin who is religious and has a code to not kill, yet she is trained in the assassin arts.
This duality plays deep into her character and sets up for the obvious situation where her belief is tested against what she holds dear.
Sadly it did not feel genuine, a good parallel to draw is Batman. Batman does not kill, yet he was trained by Ra's Al Ghul as an assassin plus he has plenty of firepower to make it happen. Yet Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy nails his character by a geniune show throw his constant brooding nature as well as hesitation when it comes to killing. Down to the fact that while Batman can snap a thugs neck in a heartbeat, instead he resorts to fracturing their arms and knocking their teeth in. He can't kill them but anything short of it is fair game.
Her Anej has a strong belief on not killing and is a trained assassin. Don't get me wrong, her character is written very well. It's my chagrin that the actress playing her doesn't make the cut.
Amita Suman in every combat situation makes it look like she is hitting to kill, like a Knife jab to the throat.
Yet luckily the enemy never seems to die.
It makes me wonder if her opponent was ever any less competent, they would get stabbed in the throat by her accidently and Anej would have inadvertently killed someone despite their belief of not doing so.
Now you can argue that heat of moment situation or that Anej is inexperienced and I can't expect her to be Batman but then Garret from the Thief series is another perfect example.
Garret says that Killing is the mark of an amateur yet he resorts to killing when there is no other choice. It is not a perfect doctrine yet he strives his best to explore all other available options.
Black jack knock outs, blinding, sneaking etc. Only as a last resort does he resort to actually killing the target since he is a master thief.
Therefore it is not a stretch to ask that Anej who's core tenants in life demand her not to kill would not show any modicum of restraint against others.
Other that that, the delivery of her lines feel too rapid. Like the time she is mourning over her parents fate, she blurts out lines like she is on the clock yet you would expect some level of silence and softness while speaking when they are mourning or digesting a situation.
I am sure she will get better in future, but her acting so far has damaged the adaption of Anej.
Therefore, reasons like this render me unable to call this show a Masterpiece.
Shadow and Bone thus is docked at 4.5/5
Which is a pretty decent score all things considered, 5 is what I consider Perfection so its just shy of perfection. Everything above 5 is awarded as a Hall of Fame award so there is that.
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