Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Alright, despite giving a score of 9, allow me to make this perfectly clear, THIS SHOULD NOT BE WATCHED BY EVERYONE!!! There are three very crucial aspects to this show that form a fissure among the viewers. If you are able to tolerate or enjoy these aspects, watch this show. If you find these elements unbearable then you should definitely walk away because they are ubiquitous throughout the entirety of the 26 episodes. I: An over-powered protagonist. When I say over-powered I mean it in the most literal sense possible. This guy does not lose, ever. He's a genius with combat capabilities surpassing every other person we encounter within the show. This world practically made him a god. Someone tell Kira to take notes because becoming this guy is how you really conquer the world. You will never have to ponder who will emerge the victor, the contest was won as soon as our hero decided to make his appearance. If this aspect will bother you, DO NOT WATCH THIS SHOW!!! This never proved bothersome to me. I accepted the simple fact that this narrative would have a god in the driver's seat and just enjoyed watching the moments when the other characters realized the true power our protagonist held. II: Exposition heavy dialogue. The dialogue can be said to bore some people to tears with the snail-like pace it moves at. In this story it's not just that magic exists, no, there is a system to it. This system that is more akin to science than the traditional wizards and wands style. The specifics of this system of magic, it's integration into society, the social standing of those who can use magic, all of it is explored through the dialogue. A fight with magic will occur and the next 10 minutes will be a discussion of the fight. History, politics, and a magic that behaves as science are all explored in heavy detail. If that sounds monotonous, pass on this title. Personally, I found this fascinating. I loved that the author took time to craft a world filled with detail and societal nuances. III: Hints towards an incestuous relationship between the two main characters. With the main characters being an elder brother and sister who are very close, incestuous hints are littered throughout their interactions and thoughts. This never impacted my enjoyment in the slightest, it's a work of fiction, not myself. I can separate my own actions from that of the characters. Not to mention the simple fact that I could not think of any reason as to why incest is fundamentally wrong (potential genetic issues in offspring irrelevant, reproduction not mutually inclusive), but I digress. If you dislike seeing siblings with a relationship that seems to go beyond the standard definition of a sibling relationship, then do not click play on that first episode. For all of you who find yourselves unperturbed by the aforementioned elements then by all means, keep reading. Now, onto the standard format for reviewing on this site: Story: 8 This story is far from unique. Two new students showing up to a school and taking an ax to the beliefs and perceptions of the entire student body is nothing new. These siblings arrive and the foundations that everyone believed to be stable are shifted. That being said, I loved the execution of this concept in the world the author created. In my exposition portion I mentioned that this world has an incredible amount of detail to it. Said detail is exactly why I love the idea of shaking the roots society stands upon. The school has a very discriminate social standing that our main characters are able to shatter. Outside of the school itself we also have the governmental structure of Japan, foreign nations and terrorist groups, etc, etc. These components were all stacked together to build a world that felt real. The narrative of this show is arc-based. This shouldn't be surprising given that light novels serve as the source material. The arcs follow a logical sequence of time and progression, so a drastic disconnect between the episodes never seemed to exist. Art: 9 The animation was fantastic. Madhouse once again came through in extraordinary fashion. The movement was fluid which was especially noticeable in the combat scenes. The back-drops were pleasant and the color palette was rich without feeling exceedingly vibrant. The character designs are also something I found particularly nice. It's an absolute fact that most men are going to be larger than women. Greater height, broader shoulders, simple size and body mass. Yet all too often this fundamental truth is all but forgotten in the world of anime. But not in this series, no, the characters in this series are for the most part correctly proportioned. This also applies to females in the sense that they weren't erroneously sized in their bust. Not being a fan-service show that may seem to be normal, but even then this show felt real in regards to how the characters were built. The remainder of the character designs (faces, hair, etc, etc) were also pleasant. You won't find exceedingly wacky hair styles or colors. The majority of the main and supporting cast were fairly individualistic in design, but there are a few noticeable exceptions where two characters will appear to be carbon copies of one another. Oh, and a special note: Coolest school uniforms ever. The end. Sound: 7 There's not too much I can say in this department. The OST was good, but at the same time it wasn't particularly special. Featuring a lot of techno music each scene was complimented well. The voice acting was also solid. The respective actors managed to express the unique qualities of their characters. Their performances weren't too stand-out or deserving of excessive praise, but at the end of the day I could say they did a good job. Characters: 8 This score is probably pretty surprising. I mean, with an over-powered main character there's no way he could actually be a good character, right? Well, this is where I disagree with many people. I am not one to say that "over-powered" and "bad character" are mutually inclusive terms. They can be synonymous, sure, but no subjective thought could ever be set in stone. Tatsuya Shiba, or as I like to call him - Japan's lord and savior, is a 16 year old genius who comes across as very calm and apathetic. He possesses almost no magical affinity but still shows up at the magic high-school to study as an engineer. His combat capabilities aside, I think Tatsuya is a good character. He may come across as just a boring lump of clay with a sister-complex, but as we come to learn of his dry humor, logical manner of thinking, and direct mannerisms, my perception of him as a character was altered. He never undergoes any sort of development, but we do get insight into his past, learning why he is who he is, discovering why he holds his sister so close to his heart. His emotionless attitude becomes sympathetic, bordering on tragic. Then we have his sister, Miyuki Shiba. Her character can be summed up as this: "Onii-sama". (And get used to that name, you'll hear it a lot.) I kid, I kid, Miyuki harbors extreme love for her brother (so much so that it might as well he obsession), but she does have a few additional aspects that make up her personality. (The name still stands, though. Many, many times will "Onii-sama" grace your auditory glands). Miyuki is in part the ideal daughter. She's intelligent, capable, well-spoken, beautiful, her genetics and upbringing ensured she would be nothing but the best. She's also a girl who holds a great deal of resentment towards her family, simultaneously feeling extreme gratitude towards her brother. She has a massive brother complex and most of her actions are taken in an attempt to help her brother or make him proud of her. However, I do think that I am in the minority for finding Miyuki to be an interesting character. The large majority of those who watch this show find her to be bothersome and annoying. But fear not if you happen to be one of those who find…

The conception of "perfection" we previously had is going to change, because after watching Shiba Tatsuya (the protagonists show) in action, the word we used to describe the type of character which is sightly too powerful among his peers, overpowered, is going to be "Onii-sama" from now on. With Shiba Tatsuya, better known as Onii-sama, we reach a level of perfection never seen before in the anime industry, characters we reputed as OP, notable recent examples such as Kirigaya Kazuto (Sword Art Online) or Gilgamesh (Fate/Zero), are practically nothing next to our glorious Onii-sama, capable of turning the Impossible into something actually possible. > Is a problem an OP character as main then? To that question I reply: "not necessary", since an overpowered main character isn't a big iceberg enough to sink an entire ship, we have plot development and side characters after all; and overpowered isn't a synonymous of " Bad", sometimes is good to watch a main character that isn't completely a weakling, but problems comes when the plot's development is nothing more than a series of events made to emphasize the greatness of our main characters, plural, because Onii-sama didn't descended from Heaven alone, there is his sister, the main female protagonist, Shiba Miyuki, another example of absolute perfection, to accompany him in his journeys. > So this is an anime about these perfect couple of siblings and nothing more? We aren't that far to describe this show with that phrase up here, but actually there isn't a better phrase to describe this show neither, since the anime I'll now introduce you is going to be the anime with the most perfect main protagonist I've seen in my whole life, and as you've probably noted, the word 'perfect' isn't used with a positive tone in this review. I'll now claim that I haven't read the LN, this is going to be my judgement from what I've seen in this adaptation. This show is set on the year 2095 d.c, after the conclusion of the Third World War and the introduction of the Magic System, magician isn't a term anymore related to fairy tails, Science and Technology converged into what we now call Magic. Society developed itself around this new form of Science, and this lead the necessity to create new generations of youngsters capable of crafting this new kind of science, so Magic High Schools were born. This show follows a particular brother and sister, fresh enrolled in the First Magic High School (there are only 9 in the country) at the beginning of the first episode. "We're not the same" As everything that isn't "uniform" in the Society, it creates a fracture between the population, racism in few words, and Magic is not the exception. Some individuals are more capable of others, that is a fact, and so is also related to Magic. People who show an incredible magic ability form the Course 1 in the High School, and the others, less capable, form the Course 2. Somehow Onii-sama sucked at the enrollment test score and ended in the Course 2, the so called "Weed" course, meanwhile Miyuki ended in the Course 1, the "Bloom" course. How a perfect being such as Onii-sama ended in the course 2?, that will be explained through the show, something I'll not reveal, let's keep going. Funny fact that actually all Onii-sama's friends, course 2 people, are above the course 1 students in matters of skill combat and magic. This is the classic shounen pattern where all the protagonist's friends are better than everyone else and save the world, with the difference that only Onii-sama is able to save the day here, the rest aren't of any use actually. In this 26 episodes adaptation from the best-seller Light Novel, there are adapted three arcs, each of them, naturally, revolving around Onii-sama and his friends dealing with an unexpected conflict, unnaturally always is Onii-sama the center of everything that happens in this show, leading the viewers to ask themselves a such basic question as: > "If Onii-sama doesn't want his true identity being revealed, why does he keep trying everything to be in the spotlights every time?" Such a million dollar question sadly didnt get an answer, events just keep happening and Onii-sama always saving the day, in the most perfect possible way. And that just seem to be irony, since a characteristic of this show is that of explaining EVERYTHING, well...at least the things related to magic spells, magic sequences and effects. Practically a huge time was spent on explaining things that aren't real and somewhat irrelevant for the development of the story, time that surely could have been spend in a more useful and productive way. The cast of characters was surely wide, we have practically a character for every kind of stereotype. There's the glasses girl, the tomboy, the cute and moe girl, the silent girl, the tusndere, the Student Council President, the best protagonist's friend, the bad guy who didn't accept the protagonist but later he accepts him, the rival, ect ect ect. Actually none of them had an important role in this show, since its all about Onii-sama, but we're able to find something in common between them, possibly the only reason why the author decided to create side characters for this show, and that would be: "to praise Onii-sama and his sister". Actually that may sound like a joke but believe me when I tell you it isn't, every single side character in every single episode, when they aren't wasting time explaining Magic related things, that remaining time is spend on praising Onii-sama for x, y and z reason, a fact that I found overly above the ridiculous level. By the other side there's no need to spend a lot of words for our sibling protagonists, there's only a word capable of containing all their essences, 'Perfect'. Onii-sama is good at everything possible imaginable, every presented female character falls for him but he doesn't have eyes for any of them, because Onii-sama cares a lot about his sister, and that was stated several times through the show. Meanwhile Miyuki is his female counterpart, a beautiful young girl which excels in Magic and in everything she does, I'll just end here to write about them, since my writing skills are way too far of being perfect to describe this pair of siblings in the proper way. When it comes to Animation and Sound, at least, this anime isn't mediocre, animation is made by Madhouse, characteristic trademark of this studio is the high quality animation of its adaptations. The actions scenes were quite fluid and very well done, camera angles and sudden zoom ins and zoom outs were coordinated very well, as well as the OST fitting them, electric-rock oriented, we can't say its perfect as our protagonists but we can say its done quite well, above average for sure. OPs and EDs were quite nice, Rising Hope by LiSA was by far my favorite song from this show. At some point of this show I couldn't take seriously anything that was happening, too much perfection, events emphasized to show how great the Shiba siblings were, too much useless explanations, pathetic side characters, and a lot of details I didn't mention because they're spoilers, overall is a quite interesting anime that shows how would be to have a perfect MC gaining the praise for each side character presented, something completely original I must say, nothing that I've seen come close to what I've seen in this anime but this is not surely something I would feel to recommend to people.

Set in 2095, magic is now a form of technology and science. After the 3rd world war, magic wielders were high in demand in the world to defend their individual countries from further chaos. Mahouka follows two siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba, who are enrolled in Fist High School. Based on enrolment test scores, the brother becomes a Weed, a presumed low-achieving magician, while his little sister becomes a Bloom, a presumed high-achiever in magic. However, there's more to these two siblings than as first thought. And school life at First High School will no longer be the same... And thus, the most anticipated, but highly controversial, anime of the spring season has reached its conclusion. Controversial in the fact that this series ranged from "Mahouka is the best anime ever!" to "Wow, this series is complete BS." So how did it truly turn out? Was it as good as the die-hard fans claim it was? What about the opinions of the critics who truly despise this series? I find that Mahouka truly fits in between the two; it's neither really good, nor really bad. It was nonetheless a somewhat enjoyable anime series that I didn't regret watching. 

Before I begin, I will say that there's a high chance that you may end up being in either of the aforementioned polarizing sides. To make things a bit easier, for those who really like and would only watch a huge action-packed series with an adventurous plot, non-stop fight scenes, and emotional characters like some shounens have, you probably want to stop reading this review and find another anime series. The relatively slow-paced Mahouka will actually bore you really fast, and would DEFINITELY not be for you. I probably weeded out a few of you, and you'll thank me for it. Now, I can't guarantee that this review will be spoiler free, but let's dwell a bit further into this series, shall we?

 Story Mahouka focuses on two main leads, who are the Shiba siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki. The series is split into three arcs, each having a specific school event attached to them (enrolment, a school competition, and a thesis competition). The general idea of Mahouka is that conflict arises, usually from a specialized group having ulterior motives for magic, preventing these school events from going as calm and smoothly as planned, and the students from First High School and other acquaintances will have to deal with them. Conflict doesn't happen immediately, however; everything is set up with loads of dialogue and explanations. Unfortunately, the huge amount of set up can turn stale for some viewers. The biggest problem about Mahouka is definitely its pacing. Some would find this series to be incredibly slow due to all the explanations and dialogue used to set up a conflict, especially as a shounen anime. This is highly prominent in the first arc. Later, the events in the story became extremely rushed, which happened most often in the second arc. Most magic was no longer explained in its entirety, and some prior background have been omitted at times. I ended up consulting light novel readers a few times of what I just witnessed. Regardless of your opinion on Mahouka, this is easily the biggest flaw. I like to turn that around and use it as a way to say that this series is unpredictable in nature because of this pacing. You don't know what will Mahouka bring the next episode, but even this can be a relatively frustrating process, especially considering that the plot had very good potential to be great. In all, the story was executed well to a certain extent, but it definitely could of been better. Viewers will have to acknowledge this imminent flaw should they decide to take the plunge to this series. However, each arc does have some pretty interesting perks in the story. There were very well thought out concepts for all the arcs, but the 3rd arc of the series (Episodes 18-26) was easily my favourite. Of course, I won't say what happens then, but for me, the final arc made the series a worthwhile watch. It might be frustrating to have to consult LN readers at times to know some background facts that Madhouse has omitted, as well as a lot of confusing bits here and there, but it's flushed out enough to at least give a small sense of satisfaction at the end to the typical anime watcher such as myself. 6/10 
Art No complaints here. The art style is very typical of shounen anime, and instances where the animation quality gets noticeably bad is extremely rare. Action scenes are fluid and flashy, while the character designs are very cool and slick. Honestly, those are some pretty badass school uniforms. There's nothing about the art and animation that really stands out compared to other series, but it gets the job done, and does the job well. I really give Madhouse credit for the great animation quality of this series. 8/10

 Sound Another one of the better points of this anime. Mahouka has a huge cast of characters (which will be explained later), and Madhouse pretty much recruited the best of the best to voice them. No character sounds awkward or out of place, as most match their individual character's personality very well. I mean, it's like a dream team of all-star seiyuus, including Yuichi Nakamura (Tatsuya), Saori Hayami (Miyuki), and Kana Hanazawa (Mayumi), just to name a few. A job well done to all the voice actors and actresses involved in this series. 
LiSA's “Rising Hope” is arguably one of, if not, THE best opening song of Spring Anime 2014, while GARDiNELiA's “grilletto” stands up as one of the better opening songs for Summer 2014. The ending themes are decent too, but sometimes, the ending scene of an episode does not transition well into the song, especially when suspense was attempted to be made. Mahouka's OST is good in general, and definitely sounds very shounen-like. A good plus side of the series. 9/10 

Characters Now, this is the second category that many individuals critic about Mahouka. The story focuses on Tatsuya Shiba and Miyuki Shiba, two characters that are, for some reason, really hated by a lot of people out there. Do the Shiba siblings make or break the series? For some, there is that chance. So I'll explain the pair to the best of my abilities, alongside the other characters of series, and note the places where some people hate about them. 
Tatsuya is enrolled into the First High School as a weed. This would mean that he's presumably weak in magic, right? Wrong. Rather, this guy is seriously overpowered. We definitely can question how on earth was he determined to be an inferior weed in the first place due to these placement tests. The problem some people have over Tatsuya is that he is claimed to be just another “Gary Stu”. He only seems to get more and more OP as the series progresses, making him pretty much the “perfect” protagonist. I personally don't think he's completely perfect; he comes at the cost that he rarely develops emotionally. Tatsuya in a sense doesn't feel human, which does make it difficult for him to fit with his classmates and live a perfectly normal school life with his little sister. His lack of human emotions is definitely a conflict that he must always go through, and is something that is explored throughout the series. Tatsuya's mysterious nature definitely creates some suspense in Mahouka. We know Tatsuya is great, but just HOW good he is? What skills will be pull off next? The enigma that is Tatsuya really makes viewers wonder just who the hell he really is. How many things he can pull of his sleeve is pretty damn incredible. Heck, his classmates don't really know who he really is as well later. Tatsuya is an enigmatic character, but whether this is an enjoyable trait is definitely up to the viewer. 
Miyuki is the other main character, who is perhaps as controversial as his older brother. Miyuki is your beautiful, smart and kind female character that many look up to. However, her personality and ideals in general, like Tatsuya, are very simple. Some may…

What does it mean to be a good main character? Does it mean being weak and growing strong throughout the story? Or could it mean starting strong but learning how to overcome your weaknesses in order to continue growing? How about starting off absolutely perfect at everything other than noticing girls affection for you? Well, if you answered "no" to that last one, you should probably stay away from this show. If you answered "yes," let me show why I believe that is not the right way to create a protagonist. Shiba Tatsuya is a new high school freshman at a prestigious magic academy in near-future Japan. Magic is being studied like a science and used in order to gain an upper-hand in a long-lasting global conflict. Tatsuya and his twin sister Miyuki happen to be excellent at using magic. Despite that, due to some poorly explained reason, the absolutely-perfect-at-magic-in-every-way-ever-showed Tatsuya somehow ended up in the lower class at the school though Miyuki ended up in the upper class. Most of the students in the upper class look down on the other students as being inferior. Tatsuya soon breaks that boundary and forces his way (and is forced) into the student council by being absolutely perfect. Still, it will take more time than that to fully mend the broken relationship between the upper and lower students. That's just a bit of the stuff that happens at first in MKnR. The story is divided up into several arcs ranging from a few episodes to around ten episodes in length. I'll go over the characters first since that really is the biggest downside to the show. There are way too many them. This show throws characters at you left and right with minimal explanation given for most of them, and almost zero back-stories for anyone, even the main duo. There is nothing to connect to these characters with emotionally (unless you can relate to having a brother complex). They are bland, two-dimensional characters who serve almost no purpose other than to further the plot, though most don't even do that much. Most characters' designs are so similar that they are easily confused with one another and made even more forgettable. Now for the main duo, Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba. They are twins from a wealthy and powerful family that is shown on a couple occasions but left out of the picture for 99% of the show. Tatsuya and Miyuki are both flawless with the exceptions being that Miyuki has a brother complex she cannot admit, and Tatsuya is terrible at noticing he has about a handful of girls with a crush on him. Tatsuya seemed like an interesting character in the first episode to me. He was looked down upon due to the class he was put in despite actually being quite skilled. However, the main reason (as I have said and will say many times) is his utter lack of any flaws. He doesn't even seem human. Similarly overpowered genius protagonists like Yagami Light from Death Note and Shiro from No Game No Life are far better than him for that reason. Despite being extremely cunning and seeming to win in basically every situation, they have flaws that make them seem like actual people. They have greed, lust, jealousy, emotions, goals, etc. Tatsuya just goes through this story beating everyone in his path without showing hardly any emotion at all. Even in unimportant situations like just hanging out with friends, he is stoic and emotionless and bland. He always says exactly what he needs to say and executes plans without any hitches. I really don't see why any other characters are necessary in this story since it seems like he could have done everything himself. Miyuki is also similarly strong, but ends up playing a damsel in distress role on one or two occasions making her not quite as perfect. She tends to be rather emotionless as well unless she is flustered romantically or embarrassed. She and Tatsuya together are just some of the most boring main characters I've ever seen. The story is not much better. Given the huge character cast and boring main characters, the story tends to be slow paced and takes too long to explain things. 90% of MKnR is spent explaining. Almost every time an action scene occurs or a new magic is shown, the show stops and has the characters indirectly explain to the audience what happened even though I never really cared to know most of the time. There's no letting the viewer piece together events to figure out how things occurred. The information overload often makes you forget things as new info is poured into your brain faster than you can stop and think about anything that's been said. Plus most things that are explained are rather unimportant overall and make it hard to focus on the actual important information. The animation is shoddily done. Created by the same group in Madhouse who did the failure that was Mahou Sensou, the animation really brings down the company's famous name in the anime industry. The characters' faces are devoid of expression throughout the majority of the show and everyone's design is so similar with nearly the same facial structure given to all characters. The backgrounds are not very detailed and the foreground images are sometimes noticeably poorly drawn. On the other hand, the action sequences have good choreography and are well thought out. Most of them involve group battles that involve strategy between fighters. This is also where the animation tends to be the best. The soundtrack is mostly techno music with some rock music thrown in for some of the action scenes. The music does a good job of adding a nice calm, yet mysterious atmosphere to some of the scenes with explanations galore and makes them slightly better. There are many tracks that are used too often though, and many scenes are devoid of any music where some really should have been used. The second OP and ED are excellent despite the first ones not being anything out of the ordinary. This show flops on nearly all aspects. The gigantic character cast with no personality or development was truly the biggest hindrance. Tatsuya is just so flawless that there is absolutely no tension created because you can be sure that he'll wrap everything up easily and move on to the next problem. This show could have been much better which is the most frustrating part. It had potential and an interesting premise but wasted it all on pointless or bad characters, poor animation, and an ending that politely asks for a second season without really offering anything worthy of receiving it.

"Onii-sama", these words are the very heights of the human spirit, they are the essence of a male soul. It is the light that will guide a man during his darkest hour. Make your imouto recite these holy words exactly 167 times over the span of 10 hours and you will be granted what your heart truly desires, my child. Mahouka is like solidifying the shit your dog left on your mattress with liquid nitrogen then dipping it into gold and expecting people to buy it just because it's shiny. And well, people buy it. Apparently. ...Well, actually, that's not quite the case. Mahouka should have been just another forgettable fighting magic school themed story adapted from a novel, except for some inexplicable reason, it gets popular. Mahouka is really just boring op-magic-imouto-harem garbage that adopts a not-quite-so-distasteful complexity within it's written dialog. About the only positive thing that I can really say in it's defense is that it somehow manages not to be torture. — Ah, yes! This is proof that the otaku culture is truly a bliss! Every damn magic spell is accompanied by long winded explanations and technobabble. None of which is used for world building, characterization, or whatever else that it could possibly be used for. Zip, zero, nada. The "intelligence" in the script is just there for the author to stroke himself — or I should say Tatsuya Stuba's dick, technically?— Perhaps it's actually an abstract form of fanservice, it follows this sort of mentality of "the more complicated the vocabulary the more depth the character has", uguu! It's similar to the intelligence-fetihization of a loli in the whatever plethora of lolicon tittles I couldn't be bothered to mention. Hey, I would even go as far as to say that the whole series was built around this technobabble. I mean, if you're going for needless complexity in such volumes, why not go all the way and write a pseudo-political thriller a la Code Geass instead? We already have Spinzaku here, and Tatsuya is pretty much scumbag Jesus anyway. At least that would have been more eventful than all of the nothing that happens in the twenty-six episode run of this anime. Something else I should mention, they try to incorporate this idea of discrimination but they don't do anything with it. They had actually tried to justify the puerility of these teenagers pretending to be mature just to rather quickly brush it off with an empty speech. Funny because, this whole issue of "labels" could have stopped Mahouka's script from further plunging itself down the drain. The script is actually pretty terrible whenever you aren't being bombarded by technobabble. It's either harem garbage, hue hue not-really-incest heh heh heh heh, or indirectly stroking Tatsuya's dick. The action scenes can also reach irksome levels, almost as bad as what you see in hollywood movies. The Incompetence displayed by the terrorists can be described as simply sad. You would think that being equipped with sub-machine guns and RPGs one could be able to at the very least kill one person in a considerably populated school. "There's no one who can possibly defeat my brother." - Miyuki. Repeat the above piece of dialog thirty-or-so times with slightly different variations and you can begin to see the quality of writing in Mahouka, if you haven't already. Also, yup, what Tatsuya has isn't just any piece of armor, what he has is reinforced plot armor that's heavier and thicker than a whales hide. Suffering several bone fractures, damaged organs and massive hemorrhaging? Not a problem, he'll just magically restore himself back to perfect health. Getting shot through the heart? Barely so much as tips him off balance a bit. Catching bullets with his bare hands? You betcha~ — There's absolutely no tension when a character is this powerful. And that isn't even the worst of it, the biggest offender of all happens in the last episode. It speaks for itself really. No, better still is his ability to make girls drop their panties faster than you can say "bullshit". He does this in his usual inhumanly calm demeanor without so much as lifting a finger. No, he doesn't even flirt with the girls, the reason for this being because imouto pussy is best pussy. Just about every female subconsciously gravitates towards him and instinctively want to have his babies because they just know that he has superior mating capabilities. No, wait, wait, wait, wait!! Tatsuya is a deconstruction of the Gary Stu archetype as he's actually a pathetic fatass okatu in a show that's actually a clever self parody.— Just an instance of Mahouka's brilliant comedy, when a high-school girl whose been hiding behind a tree gets her position compromised, she escapes her pursuers in the most dramatic way possible: by getting on a cheap looking scooter that actually takes off with two jet engines. You just have to see it for yourself, I'm clearly not writing it down correctly.— Tatsuya may not look like a fatass with an imouto fetish... but that's because you're already under his spell, see? Yeah, it's a spell of his that affects all your senses so you can't tell. When Miyuki asks if she looks weird in the new apron she bought for him to see her in, he replies with "You look lovely. So much so that I want to secretly display you in a glass case just for me." See? This is proof that he's a fatass basement dweller. It simply won't do you any good to deny facts. Oh, wait, how could I forget? Whenever these two say anything incestuous it's just a joke. Final verdict: 0/10 Nowhere near racist enough, needs more propaganda.

I just found out about this website... It's pretty neat. I'm going to try writing a review on here for an anime I really enjoyed: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. So, for the story part of this anime, I have to say that it's really cool. First half of the show takes place in a Magic School, where people learn magic. But not like wizardry magic, but a futuristic technology that allows people to use magic. There's a lot of dialogue that may annoy people, but I personally found the dialogue really interesting. There's a school magic competition, and multiple magic schools compete in it. Pretty fun to watch. The second half gets even better. It's about another organization trying to sabotage the Magic High competition, and it goes even further than that. The ass-kicking that goes on in the 2nd half was the best. The art and the music are the best parts of the show. The art was perfect HD-level beauty. The opening and ending songs to the show are one of my favorites ever. The characters of the show, oh man. This was spectacular, there are so many great characters. But I'll start with my favorite anime character ever, Shiba Tatsuya, the main character. He is so overpowered and badass, it was a beaut to see. Furthermore, my name is Tatsuya! We have the connection! But really, all the characters were awesome, except for Shiba Miyuki, whose love for her older brother was sort of disturbing. I enjoyed this anime so much, and I'm guessing that this is where I recommend this anime to people. I definitely recommend this anime to anyone that likes magic and badass main characters, and can sit through some dialogue that I know a lot of people will dislike.

The Irregular at the magical school........Frankly the title alone was a bit misleading, since the main character-in this case Tatsuya was more like a overly protective brother to Miyuki. Whether it is an anime, light novel or manga, we can't deny that this anime is a combination with bits and pieces from "Harry Potter" and James Bond sagas, and frankly, the series' combination of Sci-fi with magic wasn't bad except that it lacks one thing........and yes, it lacks a formidable antagonist, also there is the geo-political thing added to this anime where it indirectly concerns Japan's current conflict with China. But enough of that as I present my ratings for this anime: Story: Fair 6. Ok, high rating is for the anime's story plot where from the first arc involves the conflict between the Blooms and the weeds, where I like the part that them "Blooms" got owned by a weed in Tatsuya, however, as the first arc ends the second arc wasn't a bit exciting because the main character become one of the blooms and all of the sudden the conflict between the weeds and the blooms were forgotten. Another thing about the story plot was the fact that it has that geopolitical theme that was present on the last two arc where it indirectly concerns Japan's current conflict with China as I've mentioned, as if writer Tsutomu Satō was trying to put his nationalist thought into it in which in my opinion is unbecoming of the latter. Ok, so I do enjoy this anime's action-combine with magic and sci-fi, however I just couldn't fathom the fact that in this series where magic is turn into rocket science, which is not bad except that more emphasis was given to most of the blooms and little for them weeds, which is the reason why this part should be fair enough co'z it ain't that good but ain't that bad either. Art: Pathetic 1. Ok, so my question is what's up with the granny dress that them First High schools were wearing? Now, this is probably the only anime where there isn't much moe in it, where the schools girls wear what can be describe as nun- attire and the boys who wears nerdish coat, generally speaking I just don't like the school attire that the characters wore. Sound: Good 7. Basically, the score is for the closing theme in the last arc and the 1st opening theme that I like. Character: Poor 3. Whether it is an anime, light novel or manga, on thing is for sure.....that everything was put on the siblings and they are not other than Tatsuya and Miyuki, frankly the two obviously have an incest relationship and there is no denying it. I gave this part a poor score since at first, Tatsuya being able to owned them blooms was exciting, however he becomes a disappointment when he becomes one of the blooms despite of being a weed, though, for him to be this top dog isn't bad, but, he lacks one thing and yes he lacks a formidable opponent and I'm talking about an antagonist who has the capability to kick him hard and make him suffer, unfortunately his portrayal as an protagonist who is the best was seemingly a one side affair where it gets boring when he can kick his enemy's ass like hot knife to butter. It isn't just limited to him where it also includes the entire student council as well who also have their share of being able to defeated an enemy in a snap that also adds to the boring stuff, however the only consultation here is Miyuki whose allure and sweetness keeps ones boredom of this anime at bay. Enjoyment: Decent 4. Despite of the predictability that the protagonist can defeat the antagonist in a snap, it was still enjoyable enough to finish it up to the last episode, but only barely.l Overall: Poor 3. IMO, writer Tsutomu Satō should have not put any geopolitical theme in this series, also, since the latter didn't put his main character in such hard predicament and by making him have such godlike abilities really proves to be a drag which is why this anime deserves a poor score. Another reason why this anime (including the manga and the LN) should have a 3 was the fact that the title alone as I've mention was misleading, since how the heck can the main character (Tatsuya) be an irregular when he is suppose to be high school student and not someone working a part-time job in some cafe or restaurant, also it wasn't clear as how writer Tsutomu Sato defines 'Irregular" in his work title,which is one more reason why I gave this anime a low score.

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (translated as The Irregular at Magic High School) isn’t entirely what I see as irregular. Nothing too irrational happens throughout the course of the show and the majority of the cast doesn’t have that “it” factor. Rather, Mahouka does have something we won’t see regularly because of there is magic at high school, or more specifically the Private Magic University Affiliated High School. It’s here where we meet the main characters and siblings - Tatsuya Shiba and his sister Miyuki Shiba. And with their enrollment sets forth this story at an irregular high school where regular things happen and sometimes does not. Adapted from the light novel of the same name written by Tsutomu Sato, the series takes place in a more advanced future in the year of 2095. In this world, magic exists as a sort of technology for both utility and weapons of war. Essentially, the series depicts the setup of the prequel with the aftermath of a world war. And now, magic reigns as dominant source of power. In fact, its concept is held so high in regard that students are separated into classes based on their scores, performances, and skills based on their magic. But hey, it’s a school so students still attend it regularly but with magic as an additional element. Yet, Mahouka has an irrational pacing when adapting its story. By irrational, I don’t mean it as inconsistency but rather by execution. It doesn’t fully come to life when it tells the story and unfortunately lacks a bite to take in what people may expect. The first episode doesn’t blast off well. It lacks any sort of wow factor and feels lifeless at hand. Instead, what you get is a mass amount of info dumping regarding the setting and some basic concepts of the series. Rather than telling though, the series explains it in packages. This first arc (known as the Enrollment Part 1 adapted from volume 1 of the light novel) is more like a genre mashup with an overly emphasis that almost forces the viewers to understand every piece of the premise. And to do it that way, they also introduce the majority of the main characters. Besides the Shiba siblings, a host of other characters including ones from the student council make their debut. We don’t know much about them besides their position, some bits of their personality, and in essence a weak general perspective of how we might be interested in them. Then, there’s the weak world building in the first arc with a mass amount of exposition of the mechanics involving the series’ generics. While generic is fine, the show fails to deliver this with comedy. It could have been humorous or at least tried with some attempt at jokes. Even fan service could’ve helped here in some respect. Instead, what you get is pseudo-incest undertones between the siblings. Actually, looking at it from a more perspective angle, it’s often Miyuki that takes the initiative to please her “oniisama”. I wouldn’t say the show is about a cast of characters learning magic. In fact, the series’ story arcs adapt them and give each character some sort of role. However on many occasions, their roles chokes up the plot with their gimmicks. Besides Miyuki’s borderline obsession with her beloved brother, she literally has little to no personality. We don’t learn much about her past either as characterization is fairly weak throughout the entire series. And since the show doesn’t adapt a specific volume from the light novel, we don’t see much else about her from a personal perspective. Regardless, the siblings’ relationship is polarizing as they lack chemistry. Their personalities aren’t compatible and it’s hard to relate to them by any term of realism. In fact, a viewer could easily dictate the duo as a couple. It’s indirectly implied that Miyuki does have forbidden feelings for her brother. Not to mention the fact, many characters makes jokes about their couple-like status. And when that happens, Miyuki’s cliché denial and Tatsuya’s indifference obliterates any sort of humor from itself. As for Tatusya though, he has a strict personality with sometimes an authoritative tone when he speaks to others. His commanding presence feels unwelcoming on occasions and can be seen as a man of few words. The way he behaves around others suggests that he lacks an ability to feel strong emotions towards others. (this is in fact true as revealed) However, all of these factors aren’t what’s noticeable about Tatsuya. What Tatsuya brings into the show is in fact his overpowered abilities and skills as a student. Despite failing a practical exam and his inability to use unconventional magic, he has several traits that makes him stand out on a technical basis. The show reveals this during certain situations that becomes obvious as he shows more and more of his skills. Unfortunately, his lack of characterization makes Tatsuya as more of a stale character. There’s little development or focus on him as a person rather than his roles during each arc. In retrospect, Tatsuya is a character that some people might admire for his abilities but hard to appreciate or understand. Based on a light novel, there’s a certain incentive to adapt everything that fans will be eager to see. As a light novel reader, I can only say that it barely reaches moderate levels when it comes to adaptation. It does adapt some of its main concepts well but fails to reach entertainment levels. The prominent “Nine Schools Competition Arc” (NSC) stretches over 10 episodes and introduces many new concepts and characters. While it explores the concepts in their world quite well by actually showing on occasions, it doesn’t do well when it comes with more of its dynamic moments. Most of the games feels relatively fast with the basics and predictable outcomes. Only certain characters stand out despite their already established reputations. Of course, Miyuki and Tatsuya are key players. Other characters that earned a spotlight includes Erika Chiba, Mizuki Shibata, Shizuku Kitayama, and Katsuto Jyumonji. However, their spotlights doesn’t last enough and some are easily forgettable. In essence, their lack of characterization makes them look flat and 1-dimesional with little hope of development. At the same time, don’t forget competition. When it comes to competition, Tatsuya is the epitome of power that only seems to rivaled by a member of another school by the name of Masaki Ichijo. Unfortunately, it’s hard to appreciate their rivalry since the buildup is weak with poorly constructed tropes such as Masaki’s crush on Tatusya’s sister. (no, it’s not even a love triangle since none of the three has any sort of chemistry). It’s just probably best to take it to face value with what the competition as to offer when it focuses on the games themselves. The positive is that there are various games that are offered with interesting concepts during this NSC arc. Not only that but there is also bits of outside jeopardy that becomes intertwined with events of this arc in which viewers might be interested. Similarly, the final arc of the series also has more mature themes with a serious feeling. This should be taken for granted though since the show does take itself seriously. There’s little room for jokes whether it tries die-hardly or not on most occasions. One thing to praise Mahouka is perhaps the amount of mechanics are explored. The basis of the CAD (Casting Assistant Device) is presented with great depth throughout the course of the show in various ways. The Nine School Competitions Arc focuses more on its show’s mechanics with new forms of magic such as flight. At its core, Mahouka deals fairly well with its technical aspects. The info dump answers many of the series’ questions whether it relates to spells, classification of magic, Japanese change in culture, and various political topics. There is also a distinctive form of rivalry when it comes to the “blooms” and “weeds. The blooms are the top 50% of the class while the weeds makes up the latter h…

Do you like boredom? Do you like agony? Do you fancy the sensation of feeling like your soul is being pruned from your lifeless, withered husk of a body? If so, then boy do I have the anime for you! It’s called: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. I repeat, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. In just 26 episodes, you’ll feel like you were quarantined in your room for a year as all life ceases to shine from your eyes! Call now at 1-800-XXX-XXXX or text “KILL ME” to this number! What does one go about describing Mahouka? Is it bad decorum to just go “generic OP MC with lifeless harem, wish fulfillment bad” and call it a day? Perhaps, as wish fulfillment isn’t inherently a bad thing. People often come to entertainment mediums to escape, sometimes self-insert into fun stories with likable, memorable protagonists who are about as cool as the scenarios they tackle. They might identify with the characters or be so fascinated by the culture and worldbuilding on display that they wish they were there themselves. Harem shows and isekai are often born out of this idea, even the better ones such as Tenchi Muyo or That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. That begs the question: what about Mahouka, or Irregular at Magic High School, is so bad that it ends up becoming the antithesis of fun? Well, obviously, your mileage may vary as sometimes people just wanna watch an overpowered badass do overpowered badass things while getting surrounded by beautiful girls. It’s a classic high school power fantasy. The problem with Mahouka is multi-layered but can best be described as “everything working in tandem to make the experience as lifeless as humanly possible”. A show doesn’t need to be deep or emotionally compelling to be entertaining, but it does need a soul. Mahouka does not have a soul. It is devoid of tension, bereft of spectacle, missing even a trace of genuine emotion or humanity. It’s not “just some generic LN high school battle anime”. Chivalry of a Failed Knight is what one would call “just some generic LN high school battle anime”, but it feels like people actually cared about presenting it in a fun, enticing way beyond just looking at the “otaku-pandering checklist”. Mahouka no Koukou Rettousei is just dead and broken. Fossils have more of a pulse than this show. One does need to start somewhere in order to get into why, so let’s look at the protagonist. Tatsuya Shiba is a lobotomized God. He is about as infallible as protagonists can get. He’s every generic LN protagonist you can think of, but worse. The only “flaw” they decided to give him was that he can’t pass some stupid magic block aptitude test when he is literally invincible and perfect at just about everything otherwise. The dude’s a better hacker than Kirito from Sword Art Online. He knows just about every single combat system under the sun --we'll get to that-- and can pretty much cheese every fight he has with someone outside of a sparring match with his master. The man has nigh-instant regeneration powers, and it’s actually worse than it sounds because of reasons explained in the finale which further elevate OJesus-sama way past the point of Gary Stu status, which he had already achieved in the first half of the show. GodSuya is so good at magitech that not only has he been responsible for the bulk of his society’s and military’s technological and magical development under the pseudonym Taurus Silver since he was 7, but he’s able to look at scientists’ constant failed tests regarding flight magic, and both create and refine the system in an afternoon! This happens offscreen, and isn’t even the most audacious thing about how holy or infallible he is. The second half of the show somehow one-ups this arguably twice, and it all borders on self-parody. All of this would be at least somewhat palatable if GodSuya had a fun, vibrant personality to make the viewers root for him. Unfortunately, we live in a cruel, heartless world where all of his emotions except for love for his sister --which is a state of being, not an emotion-- have been sealed off. We don’t get to see what’s inside his head, either. He’s just this almost exclusively stoic badass who’s slightly off on jovial social cues. There’s no other way the audience gets to see his personality in action or really learn what makes him tick. There’s no internal struggle, there’s no interesting personality quirk, there’s just about nothing here. What you see is what you get, and there’s hardly much of a view to take in. When the only sense of flavor your protagonist has is “bitch better cover up” and “huh, my sister is in love with me, oh well, also she should really calm down” something has gone incredibly wrong. He honestly might be one of the worst characters...ever, straight-up. Speaking of Miyuki, she’s just as insufferable for completely different reasons. She’s a pokemon, not a person. Half of her dialogue is just her screeching “onii-sama” because “I want to fuck my brother” is basically the only noteworthy thing about her aside from her looks and constant apologizing. She is so ungodly annoying, which makes it all the more deflating that she’s the only relevant character even remotely as capable as GodSuya since she effortlessly trounces all of her opponents as well. She also marks the start of his harem as early as the weird shoujo climax-esque first scene of the series premiere. Other non-harem shows such as Irresponsible Captain Tylor and arguably Code Geass had harems for their main characters, but each girl who fell in love with their respective protagonists each had their own vibrant, distinct, well-defined, and explored personalities. This show does not; what a surprise. Mayumi, Erika, and even some random chick who hacks the school just to get GodSuya to notice him are also participants and while they have their own personality quirks and Erika has her own unrelated subplot, none of them are very likable, interesting, or anything other than bland and dull. In addition to being bland, some of these characters are unreasonably douchey. Erika’s a dick to her brother for the sake of her subplot, while Hanzo, a member of the student council, really hates GodSuya. Anyone who disagrees with GodSuya is inherently wrong, but in this case, he’s wrong because he’s a bigoted asshole “bloom” aka an upperclass “I have better magic stats” guy while GodSuya is a “weed”, someone who sucked at the block pushing test. That is the general hierarchy of the school and the only real attempt at any thematic confrontation in the anime, or rather, the first arc since that largely goes away by the second half. This is what defines Hanzo for a large chunk of the series and while he does improve, he’s still barely even a character. There’s a large ensemble cast but almost none of the characters matter or have anything interesting to say about them. They’re just sorta...there, at best, with almost no relevance outside of specific moments in the first and third arcs, such as Kirihara. The cast is just that devoid of life, and as a result, there is almost no sense of chemistry in the show. When the best thing that can be said is “hey, some of them are cute and have maybe a few slightly chuckle-worthy interactions” like Kyouko, there’s a real problem here. You probably don’t even know who half of these people are, even if you’ve seen the show. Be honest. It doesn’t help that the plots are about as weak as the one-dimensional villains instigating them. Some manipulator who turns out to be a little bitch once GodSuya reaches him, plants the seeds for the proletariat “weeds” to lobby up to make demands of and attempt to uphieve the hierarchy established and cruelly enforced by the bourgeoisie “blooms”, only for them to be painted as the bad guys on blanket terms because they were a little too rough and some terrorists ruined everything. Corporate guys do corporate money-grubbing things in the 2nd arc, and it’s up to Tatsuya to assassinate them following a “battle of the s…

Ah Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (hereafter Mahouka). I'm going to start off this review by saying this is the worst anime ever created - this is THE worst anime ever created. Don't worry though, while the review will be largely negative, I'll hopefully be able to convey why I think this is the case with as little bias as possible. Mahouka's story follows Tatsuya Shiba and his sister Miyuki. They're in their first year of First High, which is the top school in the country for magicians. This is it. There isn't really much of a story, but rather several story arcs which don't really connect in any way. This lack of overarching story isn't technically an issue. Some of my favourite shows also lack an overarching story - Lupin III, SoreMachi and so on. The problem with Mahouka is that none of the story arcs really contribute to anything. They kinda just tell a story (albeit very slowly) and finish. The first story arc was introduced us to discriminatory practices within the school. It was just extremely silly considering all students that go to First High are the top 1% in Japan, yet the top half discriminates against the bottom half. They don't provide much characterisation beyond what we know already about the characters nor do they end with anything that'd help us learn more about the world our characters inhabit. Which leads me to the characters. In a word: boring. In a few more: none of them really develop. Again, not developing characters is totally fine, but in this case, your characters need to be interesting. Unfortunately none of Mahouka's characters are particularly compelling. Tatsuya is a Gary Stu - he's the strongest character in the show by far and puts no effort into achieving anything. He's the smartest and strongest character in the show. If another character dares to achieve something in world of Mahouka, they will attribute their success to Tatsuya helping them out as seen about a dozen times in the second story arc when some girls in the school win some sporting events. Even in shows like No Game No Life or Sword Art Online, the Gary Stu still looks like he has to put effort into achieving their goals - Tatsuya never breaks a sweat, even against enemies that are hyped up to be extremely powerful. To be fair, Tatsuya is so perfect that he was pretty fun to watch in the first episode - his ability to flirt with girls and his overall charming personality. But this got old fast and it was never really as good as how it was done in episode 1. The rest of the characters are just there to tell us how awesome Tatsuya is. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. Every single episode has at least one mention of how good Tatsuya is at something. The character who does this the most is his sister Miyuki, who I should mention, is in love with him. Therefore I don't believe any of the other characters are really worth mentioning. There's a whole heap of them, but none of them are really distinguishable from each other. Which leads us to the visual side of things. The character designs are rather generic. I think Tatsuya looks kinda cool despite that, but the rest of the characters look like they could've been lifted from any other magic school show. The art isn't too bad, but there's nothing very standout about it. Animation is where we have problems. This show is made by Studio Madhouse who are well known for their great animation. We're given glimpses of this animation quality early on in the show with some decent fight choreography in episode 1. It's disappointing then, that this all goes downhill. The animation has no personality in it. For example, when we're shown the school bus driving down the road, there are no other cars on the road. It's just an empty road. Or when our characters are out on the streets, there are no people hanging around. There is very little action in the show, but even when there is, it has very little animation, but rather is an amalgamation of still shots, flashes, close ups and looped animation. The animation gets progressively worse as the show goes on. Even the cinematography is rather weak. In a dialogue heavy show, cinematography is somewhat important so we don't get bored. The new iteration of Fate/Stay Night understands this to some extent, but Mahouka doesn't. The majority of the show is thus a head talking to the camera. Still with me? So let's get to why this is the worst show ever created despite already looking pretty bad with the above. The show is all talking. Now now, talking again is not inherently a bad thing. If the characters are talking about interesting things (like philosophy, or details about the world), or giving us background information to set things up for later, that's totally fine (in most cases). However, the characters in this show talk non-stop about magic. When magic is cast, one of the characters needs to explain how the magic works in full detail. This can take anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes or even longer, depending on how complicated the magic being used is. This is incredibly poor storytelling. Not only does our knowledge of how this magic works not important to the story, it's incredibly boring to sit through a mini lecture on things that don't really exist. Boring is one thing, but if it doesn't contribute to anything later on, what is the point of telling us how the magic works? If the explanation for why Tatsuya can run super fast is because he can strengthen his legs with magic, I'm sure no one would complain - that's a satisfying enough explanation. However, an explanation the show gives us would include talking about the absolute fundamentals of what Tatsuya does - creating psion waves which are the basic forms of magical energy and shifting them to the feet where waves of energy are released upon the foot's contact with the ground at a 45 degree angle - I'm sure you understand by now. The explanations are just too long and unnecessary, especially when they're not crucial for our enjoyment of the show. Despite wanting to be taken seriously, the show can't help but have it's fair share of generic high school hijinks. Mahouka is a harem. None of the male characters get any significant screen time except for Tatsuya, and all other female characters are either in love, or appear to be in love with Tatsuya. As a result, you get silly little moments like walking into a girl changing clothes, girls being embarrassed when they themselves wear skimpy outfits (skimpy used in the loosest sense of the word), inability to convey feelings and so on and so forth. These moments aren't even done as well as other series that have them. If you're looking for fanservice, you're not even going to get that, unless you think close ups clothed boobs are better than close ups half naked ones. One interesting point does derive from this however and that is some of Miyuki and Tatsuya's flirting. I personally found some of it pretty funny because of how sarcastic the flirting was. Apart from this, all other attempts at humour fall so short, it never passes the starting line. As a general rule, I would urge everyone to stay away from this show. I've seen my fair share of bad anime and Mahouka takes the cake. Why then did I finish the show? It was a morbid curiosity with how bad an anime really can be. This is the sort of show that isn't so bad it's funny. This is the sort of show that is so bad it's boring. If you have 26 episodes worth of time to waste, I'd recommend giving this a shot. If you'd rather not waste that time, I'd give another anime a go because Mahouka is not satisfying in any way whatsoever.

Pop Quiz: What happens when you take a giant sturdy, steel block and throw rocks at it to try and move it? It won't move right? The rocks will all crumble, right? And doing it repeatedly will get frustratingly boring, right? Well that experience would still be more thrilling than watching 26 episodes of The Irregular at Magic High School. Based on the light novel series of the same name, and animated by Studio Madhouse, Irregular at Magic High School, also known as Mahouka is what happens when a writer completely gives up making an interesting story or cast and instead tries to make their main character, Tatsuya Shiba in the case, be on top of things in every situation imaginable. Since so many of Mahouka's problems exist because of this character, and his existence massively drags down any interesting elements the show might have going for it, let's talk about Tatsuya first. Tatsuya AKA Onii Sama AKA Jesus kun mk 3 times infinity, is completely overpowered in every way possible. The show literally says that: "there's nobody can surpass you in either studies or martial arts" in the very first episode. But it gets worse. He never loses any fight, never shows any signs of emotional weakness, can weaponize magic to be able to fly before anyone else, has a countermeasure for his opponents moves before they even attack, can take a sniper wound head on and heal instantly, can destroy a magic raven just by looking at it, invade people's psyche, can catch and dissolve multiple bullets shot directly at him, develop new technology for their society in secret/make flawless weapons for everyone at his school, has a radar to see where any person comes from, never misses with his weapon, takes down a terrorist organization from the inside singlehandedly, BRINGS PEOPLE BACK FROM THE DEAD, and most painfully, gets nearly every single one of the many girls in the series, including his sister, to never stop talking about him or even falling for him because of how "cool" he is. The worst part (no, the worst part is a HORRIBLE plot point that comes out of nowhere in the last three episodes, but the second worst part) is that the show's way of justifying all of this overpoweredness is by saying he does SLIGHTLY worse at moving a heavy block across the floor with his mind than anyone else. This "weakness" is only brought up in a vain attempt to convince the audience that God Almighty is not overpowered, and it's never mentioned past this or used as an obstacle in any fight he enters. What Mahouka doesn't get is that intelligent audiences won't think a character who always wins is "cool". A character is admired for trying, and then eventually succeeding with more effort. Pixar's first rule of storytelling is "You admire a character for trying more than their successes", so in turn, a character who always succeeds gives you no reason to admire them or be invested in their growth. Some of anime's most beloved protagonists like Guts from Berserk, Simon from Gurren Lagann, Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist or Lelouch from Code Geass are ones who don't always succeed, and have to learn to overcome their physical and emotional flaws to grow as people. Nothing of the sort happens with Tatsuya, he starts at Square Infinity and his feats keep growing from there. Now, having an overpowered protagonist doesn't immediately make a show terrible. A writer could use their overpowered character as a joke and build the show around their strength (One Punch Man), you could make your character fun to watch personality wise (Sora from No Game No Life or Alucard from Hellsing) or have an interesting side cast to make up for the overpowered protagonist (again, Hellsing). But they don't take advantage. Mahouka is solemnly serious the whole show, Tatsuya has a dull expression on his face at all times and never truly emotes, and as I'll get into later, other characters have less character than the rocks thrown at the steel block and are made obsolete in the story. When it comes to the story itself, it's suprisingly pretty shallow. In 2095, a sizable portion of the human population has died off, but those remaining learned how to use magic as technology and made schools that have competitions with it. Trite. Enter Tatsuya and his sister Miyuki. Because Tatsuya failed that square inch block test I mentioned earlier, he's put in the lower of the school's two classes, and the early parts of the series are all about Tatsuya being seen as the underdog just for being in the lower class because of that BS test method. There's only one other major character in the lower class, and she's taken out of the plot far too quickly. Tatsuya is far stronger than anyone in their world, let alone the upper class, so it gets really annoying. Other elements of the story include various terrorist attacks, and a high school competition, and while some ideas for the competitions are creative like Magic Bat and the Surf Races, they aren't fun story wise because Tatsuya's overpoweredness transfers to everyone on his team at "First High School". Wow. What creativity there in the naming. One of the dumbest scenes in the show (and that says a lot) involves one girl in First High School crying her eyes out for losing in the finals of an event, which might've worked if it was against another school, but it's against the girl's own teammate! She has no reason to cry because their school wins anyway! One interesting thing the show does attempt to do is create its very own magic system with lots of types and intricacies, but they also fail because their system of blending magic with technology is incredibly confusing or it's only used to justify Tatsuya winning a fight through technobabble and info dumping. It's unimportant and important in the same story which never works. Something like RWBY, where the characters have two magic powers a piece and their own technology makes it much more clear and practical. Aura for defense, Semblance for a unique power. Mahouka doesn't need such a complex and confusing magic system to make the fights interesting, and no matter how easy the system might've been, it doesn't matter because how strong Tatsuya and his team are compared to everyone else. Nothing is interesting in the story beyond that. Even the various side character subplots brought to fill up the runtime mean nothing in terms of relevance or even development for most of them. How could you make a cool idea about military grade magic weapons into a cliche high school not-harem Jesus fantasy?! It's lazy, cheap, incredibly full of itself, frustrating and boring, and no amount of polished looking techno animation can save it. Speaking of the animation, it's not bad, but really doesn't have much to work with. By Studio Madhouse, all of the character designs have a nice polish to them and unique faces with well inserted lips, and the character animation is fairly smooth and consistent. Even some of the technical explanations have very Tron-esque backgrounds that fit the style of the show well. But at the same time, it feels wasted on being given so little to work with. The backgrounds are, for the most part, very unoriginal and standard with little to distinguish them from other future city series, the choreography can occasionally be very flat (in one case literally being two characters walking at each other to shoot each other with guns really slowly), some character designs don't fit for their gender or feel unoriginal, and the flat directing leaves a lot of times where characters are positioned in rooms at very basic angles. Overall, the animation is good, but held back by the source material's lack of anything interesting to animate. Even Guilty Crown, bad as it was story wise, at least had some creative designs and ways to use their animation. The sound is a similar story. Rising Hope is a solid OP, but it can't hold a candle to LiSA's other song Crossing Field. The first ED and second OP aren't very memorable…

Mahouka is the worst anime I've ever watched. I finished it just to be able to say this with no doubts. The story... well there's no story. There's Tatsuya killing everyone and being flattered by his blind followers. If there's any plot there, you just don't care. The slow pace and flat characters make you forget that there's somethign actually happening. The art was the only reason I started to watch this bomb, it looked good... But in the end it wasn't. Repetitive school uniforms, all the students have the same faces, there's little to no facial expressions in any character, the scenery looks always the same place. There's also a lot of fanservice boobs. The music is some horrible random electronic pop everytime. OPs and EDs completely forgettable. The voices are emotionless and drowsy. The characters are the worst thing I've ever seen in a work of fiction. There's the Mary Sue & Gary Stu couple of perfect protagonists who don't suffer anything bad in the whole series, to the point I wanted to throw a brick on the screen. Or maybe an entire wall of bricks. The others students are a bunch of clones of one another. No importance, little to no personal traits and personality, no backstory, no desires. The only thing they do is to flatter and love Tatsuya onii-sama just because he breathes. The women are the worse: they're all in love with Tatsuya for no reason. And they show it by rubbing their boobs on him. Miyuki is a ridiculously flat and conservative younger sister whose only function is to repeat 'oniiiiii-samaaa' infinitely and then blush. And there's the incest thing, ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Also, Mahouka has a very conservative morality, especially for its women, what is ridiculous when you see their boobs popping on the screen. That's just sexism. There's no enjoyment. The pace is so slow you can skip 3 or 4 episodes and see that you haven't lost anything important (as if there was something important in Mahouka at all). The whole series could be made in a movie. It would be less painful. 5 anime episodes would be enough to tell the whole thing. I. Am. Not. Kidding. The fights are just random pop playing in the background, extremely boring explanations on magic execution and some guys flying when Tatsuya sneezes at them. When you get to episode 8 or 9 and see this for the 54th time, congratulations! You've seen all of Mahouka. No point getting to the end, that's it. Mahouka wins a lot of trophies: Is the worst anime I've ever watched. Tatsuya is the worst character I've ever seen, and his sister is the second in the list. The soundtrack is also in my list of the most boring ones. See? It's a very prized anime! C'mon, lose your time and watch it!

Well, the one and only reason i watched this anime because i am crazy for strong main protagonists, i took some measures and before watching it checked the MC's profile on wiki. He had some special ability (hidden power). Everything looks good at the start of the anime but the story didn't seemed to progressed at all. 26 episodes seems too much as there is not much explanation on the character's background unless there is another season. The most important thing is not sure whether you guys have noticed or not but the guy and his sister are way too strong, for the first time i am feeling mercy for their enemies. There was not a single time when the guy ever gets beaten or revealed his full strength. Still both siblings are too overpowered. I think the guy is not needed after all, his sister is more than enough to deal with all the enemies. This anime had potential if the story was more of a dramatic. The art is superb. Even if i ignore all other things in this anime, still something feels very weird. From my point of view this anime was a waste of my time. 5/10 (Only for good art)

Mehouker Review: MINDSET: Light novels are a shift media, as they mass produce the same tasteless product for the mass appeal, as we anime critics just sit there, and are forced with casual opinions into the face. SYNOPSIS: 21XX it is the magical century, a century in which magic has been advanced into extreme levels of power has become the Earths main source of power, research, finances, health (etc.) and because its a Light Novel Adaptation, highchools. We centre around two siblings, Tetsuya and Miyuki in a near incest relationship who are dealing with such current affairs, trying to adapt to the changes of there world and have Your typical high school light novel adaptation “Fun”. REVIEW: Lets start of with one of the most obnoxiously large crowds of cloned opinions in the Anime Comunity, “Tetsuya” he is this amazing magician who can utterly achieve anything without looking like a downfall, and is the one most OP character in the series. My problem? The show tries to have mysterious situations, foreshadowings and plot holes to keep You invested from the bigger picture in which is trying to build tension, but Tetsuya is so OP and so omnicient, and always looks like he too barely to no effort takes so much away of the tension and what the Anime is trying to pull. At least the writers were clearly having fun with how OP Sora was in No Game No Life, or how the JoJo's did it with style, and how Loenghram had a very sensitive emotional double-edge and not just being one of the smartest fleet admiral in history. But in Tetsuya's case, he is near to emotionless and drops all sense of tension, mystery because he is so OP that he can almost do anything like its the back of his hand! Every time the writers finally decided to give the probability of Tetsy losing a battle, its like the writers all of sudden pull out plot armor out of there buttocks! (as if he isn't OP enough, even the director had to make him more OP to milk the fans) Like how Tetsuya gotten shot from the chest by a sniper, he turns back time when before he was shot and it clearly looked like Tetsuya was dead since the bullet shot through he's heart! Tetsuya even lack the character appeal of having barely to know personality as a pseudo three dimensional character, being this completely empty persona and whose only existent emotion was he's sister. If there was anything that I truly hate between the differences of a lightnovel and an Anime, its when they use there conventions WAY too often, we have the quiet girl, the tsundere, the tomboy, the kind spirit, the cool president, used about a 100 times in an Anime, and a 1000 times in a Light Novel. There are a few male characters, but pffft who care about them? Its not like they have there very own fan club or fan base! All what the audience truly cares about is this pseudo three dimensional character beating all competition as the most predictable outcome ever. No need for such horror to be placed under the plot if such character has powers on par with an alternative and superior being! The plot is just being pretensous by having all of these small details of how the powers work, and a very super in-depth explanation about them to somehow make them look cooler since this is magic and science being combined and jazz, though it may sound cool on paper it can become rather tiresome for a while as the explanations start to feel more boring, more confusing and convoluted as it feels more like a boring science lesson that seems to draaag. Even if You somehow managed to like it, You may still feel the fact that You may have forgotten of such knowledge and when they revisit other pieces of science, it can become even more confusing as they leave plot holes feel unanswered, like whats with the CAD? Whats with these psion waves? And why the hell is pushing ever became so flipping complicated?! I see it, then forget it. By this point, I don't even care about the show since it was so horrible to begin with, I don't care if Tatsuya dies permanently, I don't care if there school gets destroyed and I definitely do not care if Miyuki gets raped by main villain. Ever since Death Note, it became a true demonstration on what Mad House can really do with there computers. And Mahouka seems no different, though time for this kind of Animation no longer feels as impact full or as strong as it is back then. It feels like an upgraded version of Your regular animation which I commend around a 5 or a 6 for, it has better lighting, shading, models, backgrounds, colour schemes, action scenes etc. Character designs feel pretty generic, but its super easy to tell who is which. The only gripe I can give for such a style, would be that it feels a little too reliant on its CGI to make quality backgrounds, and it can sometimes feel rather artificial at times. There were moments when it really stood out, like how they made ice to be so threatening, and cool at close ups. Though moments like these are far from between, the budget feels very consistent! There's nothing too special about the music, all what I really remember was a nice piece of dubstep whenever Tatsuya does something super cool. The first opening gets me super hype every time, (despite the show being so bad) and screw the second Opening! First and second ED were pretty boring for the most part, so just skip it actually. LEGACY: This is like every Light Novel Adaptation, the only difference is the occasional emotionless OP protagonist to spice things up, when in reality its failing. If You ask any similar Anime or light novel for Mahouka, then its every single 21st century Light Novels that have ever been made. SCORES: 3/10- For mass cloned characters, and badly written protagonist 2.5/10- Uses basic techniques, but explanations become far too convoluted and tension? There is no tension. 7.510- Mad House is simply MAGICAL. 6.5/10- Above average with an awesome first Opening. FINALE: 3.5/10

Hmmm.. I don't know if is should really say this but thus so far all reviews are being negative in this anime. It frustrates me and saddens me, for I personally enjoy this anime.. Please keep an open mind. This story is fantasy and the protagonist are uniquely strong but so what.. And for what I like in this anime.. is because -this story is a fantasy but the setting is realistic and the events are reality -the main characters are unique in their own way -the siblings are strong but they are not undefeatable if you truly understand the story you will surely get it -strong sense of duty and responsible -wonderful sibling love and friendship I dislike the manga the characters are ruined and please read the light novel if you like the anime it might suit on your taste.. thank you for reading

As my opinion, this anime is a masterpiece,I don't want to admit it myself, but I going to say , it is. Mahouka koukou no rettousei is magic, school,action,thriller, and kinda psychological, all of them in the future 2095, that makes magic a sci-fi,It's my way to see it. story:I'm not about not spoiling so I will only say this much-->it's the story about a guy, shiba tatsuya who joined a the first high school,he has been placed in the"noob" categorie, he is actually very, and I repeat, VERY smart and strong. and I would say, It talks a lot about terrorism. art: not much to say about this-->the art is just amazing,characters are very well made, the behind scene is realistic(anime version ofcourse),all the spell,power,action are well made,I can't complain about anything from the art. character:I very like this kind of character,the main character, he is very strong but quiet, he sounds like nothing matter but he is actually very dangerous,not good at magic, but very good at martial art,if you like "over power" character, you might like this show. Enjoyment:how can I explain it.... I'm not sure If I really liked it or if I just watched it because I had to. I got in the story a lot of time ,but when i thought about it , it was recurring,how ever. Overall:like I said, I have to admit it was a masterpiece even If I don't want to admit it,we can rarely see an anime with good action,psychological and getting thriller in all those way, a romance come in along the story, all these with a good art and sound,maybe doesn't like "overpower" character, but I do like them, that's why I made my point, It is a 10/10 overall. Message me for any other anime's reviews. ~lejopara

I felt compelled to write this review as a counterpoint to all the negative reviews this anime receives. First off, it is a hard anime to understand at first as it gets very science-y explaining how all the magic works and you get lost in the technical terms a bit. Bare with it. The biggest thing I couldn't figure out at first was what the CAD they kept referring to was so if you haven't seen it: a CAD is a Casting Assistance Device. Basically the devices they use to cast the magic. They can be anything from a cellphone looking device to a gun to watch to a baton or sword. I can say I enjoyed my second watching more than my first. Now, I love this anime and it is easily in my top 5 of all time. It does a little bit of everything, from sci-fi to action to school days and even a bit of romance and it does all of these things quite well. I have re-watched it completely 7 or 8 times and every time I pick up on something I missed the first time. It's that deep. The main character Tatsuya hits all the right notes for me. He is not naive. He is not emotional. He is not a lovable kind-hearted child who still thinks the world is like disney movies and only can make morally correct choices. If you like that feel free to watch almost literally any other anime because that trope has been done to death and I find it either annoying or frustrating now. I like the progression that builds up to the final arc and slowly reveals just how underestimated Tatsuya is. While they spend a good deal of time on introducing characters and developing relationships in the beginning, they never overdo the romances or the humor like most anime do. nothing comes off forced, it's all very natural. When it gets into the action in the later episodes it's very gritty and real. This anime is not afraid to show graphic violence and death and nobody cries about it after. I could keep rambling about what I enjoy about this show but suffice to say there is a lot to like about it. Some of its flaws would have to be its initial complication, but after so many viewings it wound up being something else I liked. The main issue with it for me though is that the other characters are never really developed. At the end of my first viewing I kind of couldn't remember who was who especially because a lot of them look the same. As there is quite a lot of them, it's only the first season and everybody wears the same uniform it's forgivable. The lack of development also makes it hard to care about them much but I have to say it's refreshing how it doesn't force your hand so to speak, as most anime do. They never drag you through a filler episode for some 'B' character's background story. Also it ends just as it's getting awesome. And it's weird that you never see any faculty at the school. That's really all I have. The main arguments against it seem to be that it is slow or has a weak plot and that the main character is extremely overpowered. I can't agree with any of these statements and if people saying them had really paid attention to the show they would see it actually addresses these concerns. The ending arc, which is where all the action is, actually begins building up in the first arc. It's done in a way that's very easy to miss if you aren't actively thinking about it. Something you might dismiss as meaningless conversation or vague inner thoughts will usually make a lot more sense later on, or even the second time around. Suffice to say, the show alludes to more than it actually projects or reveals. As for the main character, he is very powerful yes, but they also state that there are about 50+ others on his level and each country or alliance has at least a few people equally or more powerful. The only people you have to compare him with the whole time are basically other first year high school students who had led somewhat normal lives where it is explained numerous times both mains had a very different upbringing. This isn't a dragon ball z thing where it's just gotten ridiculous (and everybody loves dbz). Almost everything tatsuya can do his peers are capable of as well just not at their age and experience level, with a few exceptions both ways. I'll conclude by conceding maybe this show is not for everybody, as is the case with almost everything but its flaws are greatly exaggerated. It requires you to actively think about whats happening and make connections yourself. It is not like every other anime where characters are so easily definable. It doesn't paint an easy black and white picture of it's world and society therein. There is no accelerated love story or childish panty humor. In a way it's just as enjoyable for what it's not. I give MKNR a 10/10

Isekai protagonists being OP and worshiped by NPC's isn't anything new. In-fact, we enjoy watching Isekai shoes because of the OP power fantasy coming true in front of our eyes. But it's how the OPMC character is written, can make or break the show. It's necessary to introduce the character to his skills, along with the viewers, so together we get into the groove of things. We see the MC learn to control his abilities, use them in OP manner and wow himself and us, the viewers. MC grows, getting stronger, more sure of himself and his skills over time. It's all fun. It's also necessary to not write a smug, douche or cucked OPMC character, because those are the worst traits you could possibly have for an Isekai character. "In Another World With My Smartphone" is a good example of a shit, OP, cucked character, while "The Irregular at Magic High School" is a good example of a smug, douchey character. TATSUYA SHIBA --- ----------------------- He can do no wrong. Has a incestuous relationship with his "sister", and every girl wants to fall on his dick the moment he enters the room. Just like any other Japanese male, he is not only epitome of manliness but strong, smart and worshiped like a demigod by the lesser races around the world. I repeat, this is not a mere human being, this is a god and we should be honored to witness his adventures. MIYUKI SHIBA --- --------------------- Representing the side of the underage love interest (Japan), is the "sister", aka, the "Fuck-Doll". That's her entire personality. She spends the entire anime swooning, worshiping and defending her poor brother (burdened by the burden of awesomeness). POINTLESS MAGIC DRIBBLE (PMD) --- ----------------------------------------------- Like in that shitty Smartphone anime, this show also has its own unique magic system. By "unique", I mean that they throw a bunch of words at the viewer trying to sound smart. No one is sitting around remembering this shit. If you've ever played JRPG's and witnessed the art of pointlessly complicating basic RPG mechanics with random new words, then this is the anime for you. At the heart of the magic system in this anime, the OPMC is basically using shit like magic cancellation and flight (basic magic spells), but using random dribble of words to make it sound smarter. I can't stress this enough. It's trying so hard to sound smart, it sounds beyond fucking stupid and at one point, I started laughing hearing them discuss OSCILLATION THEORIES FROM TEH FUTURE to describe like.. moving.. It's so fucking stupid. ART / MUSIC / SOUNDS --- --------------------------------- I don't have complaints with the art. In-fact, art was the first thing that made me wanna watch the show, premise second. I REALLY wanted to watch this anime for a long time, and I regret every second of it. But the art did not disappoint. It isn't mind-blowing, but it's just fine. Music.. I guess it is nice. But random music playing in the background of OPMC doing and saying generic RPG shit became comical and ruined any entertainment I could have squeezed out of the music. Every time that guy does something "cool" (in the mind of the director), the fucking background track starts playing like we're seeing something ground-breaking, something that we will discuss for eons after witnessing this anime. The "sounds" department. Like, ambience and more, this anime falls flat like every other anime or cartoon show. Can't blame them. Livening up a world isn't something anyone focuses on, not even in games. So meh. THE END --- --------------- I watched this series twice. Why? First time, I was super excited, watched this like a year ago and ended up giving this 4/10. But sometimes, I decide to re-watch some shows I give lower ratings, just in-case I missed something others were enjoying. This helped me change the Overlord series rating (all 1/10 initially) to varied ratings based on the quality of the seasons (the new season was actually way better for Overlord). After rewatching "The Irregular at Magic High School", I changed my rating from 4/10 to 1/10. And I'm rating this after watching everything, from season 1 to 2, including movies. Hope that helped.

I've probably said this some time before, but I'll say it again. I hate light novel adaptations. Not all of them however. Some of them in fact, have proven to be great in fact such as Baccano, Spice and Wolf and the Monogatari franchise but the vast majority are near enough the exact same god damn thing. Some boring as hell high school character who is a beta male joins a new school and instantly gains a harem and becomes the number one fighter. Rinse and repeat every season. These shows are vapid, boring and appeal to the lowest common denominator and yet, still become massively popular. When I saw this show announced a few years back and noticed who were making this anime, I had some hope. Maybe Madhouse can make a light novel adaptation great? Unfortunately my hope dropped as quickly as when Grandma fell down the stairs. The Irregular at Magic High School aired in the exact same season as another masterpiece; Black Bullet, which should give you some indication into the quality we're talking about here. The narrative of this wonderful work of fiction centres around the 'God' type of Light Novel guy in a world in which magic has become a technical skill. These main characters are the ones who are the most badass guys around, keep a cool and calm composure and can do literally ANYTHING that the plot demands them to do. The most famous Light Novel guy of this archetype is my good o' buddy Kirito from SAO and Tatsuya, from this show, is NO different. He can seemingly do anything and everything while also remaining insanely strong and overpowered to the point that no one in this can actually lift a finger to him. It's like if you were in a Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament and your first opponent were Yugi; you're royally screwed. As a result, none of the fights have any tension what-so-ever since our Light Novel God never loses and even in the few situations where it appears he might be on the edge of losing, he will pull some random power-up out of his ass and end up winning with the power of 'plot armour magic'. It's incredibly hard to attach yourself onto him or to feel any narrative stakes in the show when they're so clearly trying to aim just for that since Light Novel God has no personality to speak of. He is an emotionless robot with no personality and always has the same deadpan expression. He feels lifeless; dull. It's understandable to think he behaves in this fashion due to his upbringing and the such but the character hardly ever experiences any sense of levity or hints at an actual human underneath his veil of a badass guy. Aside from the fact that he wants to do the birds and the bees with his sister. Yup! This is another troupe of Light Novel God's archetype. They ALWAYS have a little sister or cousin that is madly in love with him to the point of them very heavily hinting at them wanting sexual intercourse with their sibling. Light Novel God's imoutoto is also perhaps the most annoying character in this show and that's saying a lot. She is constantly defending her brother from all criticism of others, while not allowing any girl aside from herself to get near him (Yuno Gasi, much?). The show presents any character who so much as slightly dislikes Light Novel God to be an evil asshole! As if anyone who dares not to like him must suffer from the fate of falling down Grandma's stairs. She is presented as the perfect girlfriend only making her waifu bait for body pillows and masturbation purposes. Her character goes nowhere and remains as Light Novel Guy's perfect waifu, only to add onto his list of already perfect qualities. This is lazy writing 101. Why should the audience feel that Light Novel God is anything less than perfect? Why should he have faults which would make him feel more real? Oh, I know why! Because he is now easier to self-insert for all of the damn basement dwellers. Light Novel God is a guy who is always morally correct, always the one teaching others life lessons and has a sad and 'totally not forced' back-story in a pathetic attempt to make the audience feel sorry for this guy. After Light Novel God and Imouto-whore attend their new school, they're split into two different classes depending on their skill level and despite Light Novel God being the most overpowered character this side of Dragon Ball Zeee, he is placed in the 'weeds' class while imouto-whore is placed in the 'Blooms' class. The anime attempts to try and shove down our throats the theme surrounding the discrimination of wizards between the higher class and lower classes but like everything else in this show, goes nowhere in the slightest. It's a sad attempt to make the people attending the school with Light Novel God to believe he is weak and pathetic for him only to contradict this every episode by showcasing his insane talent. Why the hell he was placed in the lower class, I have no clue. The main idea of this theme was so that the audience can sympathise with the character and feel excited when he proves himself but it becomes so pointless as he has every power under the Sun so his victory never feels earned. The story goes nowhere and all of the terrorist attacks, evil organisations and tournament arcs are so forgetful as there are no interesting characters in the slightest. Every other side character is constantly sucking the dick of Light Novel God for his awesome talent and the fact that he is a nice guy. None of the side characters get hardly any screen time and the show feels like it's constantly going around in circles with no direction or plot progression. Light Novel God's attachment to this story is as strong as my attachment to a Twix bar. It's hard to care about what is going on without any characters to feel invested in especially when everything in this show is dull to the eye. That's another thing with this show. It's not remotely interesting visually either. The animation is pretty standard and there are no errors or moments of quality drops it's just that the entire production is so visually dull with boring colours, framing and shot composition that it's hard to stay awake and watching this show feels like a chore, even more so with how little the plot actually progresses half the time. It has a good budget, it's just all of it is boring. The exposition in this show is on par with the crap in Black Bullet. They throw around so much techno mumble jumble that it's hard to make sense of what is going on. Light Novel God goes into these long and unbroken narrations into the intricacies of a magic technique which go on for so god damn long it becomes so tedious to watch and makes me want to fall asleep. And these exposition scenes can go on for upwards to ten minutes sometimes! Damn! Show, don't tell! I understand explaining stuff is important but Jesus! Every fight is essentially only two minutes in length followed by a bunch of twats talking for half an hour about what just happened. This makes sense in text form, as time slows down when you're reading but the adaptation is a far different story. This still doesn't make the light novel good; please don't think that...it's still awful. In conclusion, Mahouka is a poor wish fulfilment piece of garbage and these shows need to die out. The theme exploration is a joke, the characters are overshadowed by Light Novel God, the plot has no sense of direction and it wasn't even entertainingly bad. It's dull, static and does nothing right. It's crappy fantasy empowerment for basement dwellers.

Story: (7/10) Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei is about a brother and sister duo that attend a magic academy in their first year, in the year 2095 magic is common and interwoven with science and used in everyday life. The series is split into smaller arcs within the 26 episodes with the first couple of episodes focused on introducing the characters, then moving on to an inter school magic competition and then finally developing a bit at the end using the characters to start on a deeper plot with a small scale war. The ending of the anime suggests that there is more seasons planned after this one as it introduces more characters that are essential to the backstory and development of the main characters. Characters: (7/10) The characters are introduced slowly in the first 2/3 of the series and the relationships of the supporting characters are only developed a little bit however it is very heartwarming to see some of the characters warm up to one another, I think the wide cast is introduced well enough that we can enjoy watching all their small antics. There is actually no character development for the main character at all, however as the ending suggests, if more seasons are made for this anime, I think there will be much more interesting development for the two main characters. Sound: (7/10) The opening and ending themes didn't strike too special, however it wasn't bad. The music during the anime reminds me a bit of games where if the battle theme starts up, you know stuff is about to get serious and it pumps you up, over all good soundtrack. Art: (9/10) The animation was very beautiful and I spent a lot of time watching the characters eyes and the gradients that were used in the art. The Magic sequences and seals were very well drawn. The art style definitely draws you in. Enjoyment: (9/10) I managed to watch the entire thing and it didn't feel tedious at all, I actually wish it was longer so that more of the story could be revealed, this needs a second season definitely and they have set the story up in the first season for a second season. There is not much comedy in this however and much of it is just really well drawn action scenes, sometimes it's refreshing to see an overpowered character smash through everything. Overall: (8/10) I think there is a lot of potential for the company to make more of this series and continue from the ending, and I'm sure they will. I enjoyed it and didn't find much that I didn't enjoy about it. The lack of character development in the story and the overpowered main character I think will be balanced out later on with more story and a second season, however for now it does drag down the series a bit that Tatsuya does not seem to have any weaknesses or development at all this brings down my overall score a little.