Solid episode.

Nothing mindblowing, but as a fan it was good enough to make me feel satisfied. Content wise it was very faithful to the source material and didn't skip anything, except for the prologue. There's no real issue skipping it since it's quite confusing and doesn't represent the series at all. Starting with chapter 1 is much better option. Plus, prologue content can be included later as a flashback. The pacing went better than expected and in general all the characters demostrated to be super precious and wholesome, the storyboard was good when it comes to their mundane scenes.

Alas, the action scene wasn't as interesting and there the direction wasn't that good, just... average? Well, it doesn't matter at all. The real first challenge will be next episode duel.

Also, I'd like to say there are several enviromental good details which build up future events, along others which make it more magical like the self-intruductions using the maps or the speech using the glasses (it made those scenes more dynamic), and I'm grateful for the care. I might be skeptival about the director, but I know I can trust the scripter since he worked in Alderamin on the Sky and did an excellent job there.