Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden ‒ Episodes 1-3
Technically an isekai by way of reincarnation, Nia Liston begins with an all-powerful hero waking up in the body of a sickly young girl after lamenting that they were too strong to die in glorious combat during their past life. Weakened, but still in possession of all of their knowledge and supernatural abilities from their past life, this reincarnated hero decides to live on as the titular Nia Liston, with the intention of finding worthy adversaries in this world and repaying her new parents for giving her this opportunity. With her folks having heavily invested in newly developed magivision (a combination of “magic” and “television”), she becomes a child actor to further popularize this new technology, while also beating down any unsavory types on the fringes of her new life.
I find myself drawn to Nia Liston for two key reasons: the first is KONAMI animation's (I guess they're fully an entertainment company again?) commitment to the bit and how it depicts how much of a little freak Genesis-level talent usually is. The fight scenes in Nia Liston are set to be some of the best of this season, with the anime compensating for the character's small stature and short limbs through acrobatic antics, à la Yoda in the Star Wars prequels. While the CGI gets a little rough in episode three, there's more than enough spectacle on display to make up for these rough edges. The novelty of seeing a little rich girl twirling around and beating the shit out of grown men still brings a smile to my face as I write this.
While I'm still not sure where Nia Liston is going to land in terms of its overall themes, I love the subtitle implication in these episodes that you have to be a sociopath to become a successful child actor, or that the profession transforms the children who fill it into people with fundamentally different worldviews and morals. With how quickly the characters around her accept Nia's propensity for violence and adult intelligence, I get the sense this story is only going to encourage and examine her very unique existence. Especially with some magic system at the core of this low-fantasy world, it feels like anything could happen next, and I only hope that some more concrete thematic depth starts backing up this catching violence and bizarre character writing
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While Lucas DeRuyter had a fairly normal childhood (though people always seem surprised when he describes it to them with any amount of detail), his adulthood has been filled with the thrilling exploits of an anime writer and entertainment critic. To keep up with his adventures, new and old, you can follow his Bluesky account. You'll also hear from him regularly in ANN's This Week in Anime column, and can see him process what definitely aren't alienating childhood experiences by checking out his portfolio.
Nia Liston: The Merciless Maiden is currently streaming on HIDIVE.
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