Fia Ruud is the second daughter in a family of knights. When it’s time to choose her occupation, she quickly chooses the same profession as her brothers: knighthood. However, those same brothers are opposed to the idea because they judge her chances of surviving the rite of passage to be alarmingly low. On the other hand, her sister supports her decision; she gives Fia a healing potion in case of an emergency, which proves to be crucial for passing her rite of passage, and thanks to it, she manages to return home in one piece. However, a certain revelation during her trial changes everything about how she sees herself: She was a powerful saint in her previous life. But with this revelation come painful memories of her demise, with a lasting fear that she will be hunted down in this life too, as soon as her identity as a saint is revealed to the world. This dreadful burden chills her to the bone, but she sees a way forward. She aims to learn more about her abilities and gain powerful friends. Until then, Fia will try to keep a low profile, but that last part turns out to be trickier than anticipated.

I’m happy that this premiere came with two episodes, because after just one, I didn’t have enough for a good evaluation. Shion Wakayama’s excellent voice acting adds a lot of energy to Fia, which makes her a fun character to watch. The directing is on point as well, with an often lighthearted tone, while also pulling off the nightmarish visions of her past life. Technically, nothing particularly exciting has been going on yet, plot-wise, but the execution has been so solid that’s easy to be patient and watch it develop. In the meantime, it’s entertaining to watch her struggle to hide her secret identity. She’s using/exploiting her powers every chance she has, but it doesn’t feel as cheap as in some other fantasy anime with overpowered protagonists, because the “curse” that comes with her secret power balances it out. Some of the characters are trying their best to figure out how she’s managing to perform all these feats, but they can hardly be expected to guess correctly. Even if no one will catch on for a while, this series will probably be entertaining enough, but more conflict will only make it better. I will be keeping up with this anime, and if you can get over the basic-sounding synopsis, I think it’s worth a watch.

A Tale of the Secret Saint is streaming on Crunchyroll.