Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

[Ryllharu]

Alt Titles: Mahouka, The irregular at magic high school, Mahōka Kōkō no Rettōsei

http://oi62.tinypic.com/j9v5l5.jpg


Description:
The series revolves around a world where magic has become technologically systematized. Magic users have become known as “magic technicians,” and attend magic high schools and universities in order to nurture their skills. Depending on their skill, technicians are divided into two groups: the low achievers and the high achievers. Buoyed by her practical skills, Shiba Miyuki (Hayami Saori (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=creator&creatorid=2296)) arrives as the freshman group’s top student, while her brother Shiba Tatsuya (Nakamura Yuuichi (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=creator&creatorid=345)), who lacks the ability to use magic, is designated as a low achiever. This is the story of two siblings beginning the next stage of their lives.
[courtesy of Zephyr at RandomC]

AniDB (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=10182) | ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=15763) | MAL (http://myanimelist.net/anime/20785/Mahouka_Koukou_no_Rettousei)

Episodes: 26

Mahouka - 01: HorribleSubs (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=539684)




--------------------------------

Miyuki's oddly psychotic relationship with her brother was of course the highlight of this episode. Even before the kitchen scene, just the way she asked if he was dating the other two girls set off yandere flags left and right. Tatsuya is nice to her, but it was also good that he recognizes that her reactions to him are a bit...off.

It's also a bonus that Tatsuya's superiority has so far, less been defined by him being good at lots of things, but mostly being perceptive and analytical. It gives a concrete reason for why he comes off as a know it all to others.

I also like the idea that application of minimal magic, from either from not going all out or a lack of capability, can make up for it like if you strike in the right place or in the right time while an opponent it activating, as with Erika or the ninja monk (and either Tatsuya or the disciplinary committee girl).

One thing I couldn't quite figure out is why some of the girls have regular uniforms, and others have that lacy gauze with what is pretty easy to presume presume are their ability type added. Both reserve and elites had both varities. Boys uniforms have no such obvious distinction.


I don't know why the other elites keep harassing her, it's like they're douchebags trying to pick her up on the street (or beach, or chose your anime setting)...except it's boys and girls. I almost get why they'd be all irritated that she was hanging out with Weeds for lunch (they are elitist douchebags), but they get super offended that she's talking to her own brother, and getting pissed off that they'd go home together, which isn't an inconvenience for her or anything because they live in the same house.


Will definitely keep watching.

Disappointed shinta didn't make this thread first, making me work and all.

[David75]

I have a feeling Tatsuya is actually far superior in magical skills than everyone around that school, and the president seems to think the same.
It's like if he's in a kind of undercover mission where he needs to be a weed so that he flys under everyone's radar and or he gets some contacts he could not get with an elite undercover. It might also be that megane girl is in a similar situation for another party.

Regarding the brocon, my guess is that we'll learn Tatsuya ins't her blod relative.
I usually do not like the brocon theme, but for some reason it felt genuine/strong and deep and left me with wanting to know more.

I hope to be kept untentained with that show.

[Archangel]

Holy crap they skipped every single explanation of the various phenomenons in the episode, they're deliberately trying to be as cryptic as possible. And they're trying so hard to pass Tatsuya off as the silent cool type...

Maybe i'm being hasty and they'll come back later for the explanations but i wasn't a fan of this first episode

[Kraco]

Miyuki's oddly psychotic relationship with her brother was of course the highlight of this episode. Even before the kitchen scene, just the way she asked if he was dating the other two girls set off yandere flags left and right. Tatsuya is nice to her, but it was also good that he recognizes that her reactions to him are a bit...off.


Regarding the brocon, my guess is that we'll learn Tatsuya ins't her blod relative.
I usually do not like the brocon theme, but for some reason it felt genuine/strong and deep and left me with wanting to know more.


While I was looking forward to that relationship and also enjoyed what this episode presented, I'm also highly worried since it does look like Miyuki loves her brother in ways a sister should not. Perhaps she's not a blood sister, but I actually hope she is and Tatsuya will manage to keep his distance while still remaining a supportive and cool big brother. I'd like to watch them have a good non-incestous brother-sister relationship that would serve the story. But if it never gets worse than this, I think I'll enjoy their interaction just fine.

This looks like a promising show. The main character being strong right from the beginning is always good, and I don't mind if he has a reason he can't go around flaunting his power as it looks like he still won't be a fool who would let others walk over him because of that. Instead he does what he needs to do but prefers intelligent diplomacy and manipulation since he clearly has the wits and maturity for it, compared to some of the other characters we have seen.

[Xelbair]

Holy crap they skipped every single explanation of the various phenomenons in the episode, they're deliberately trying to be as cryptic as possible. And they're trying so hard to pass Tatsuya off as the silent cool type...

Maybe i'm being hasty and they'll come back later for the explanations but i wasn't a fan of this first episode

there were few 5min eps that explained all that stuff if i recall right.
special ep 1 (http://tracker.anime-index.org/download.php?id=fcec7b7f2aaed177ff0b4664e565f75582 b41e66&f=%5BDoki%5D+Mahouka+Koukou+no+Rettousei+-+Yoku+Wakaru+Mahouka+-+01+%281280x720+Hi10P+AAC%29+%5B25B7DC91%5D.mkv.to rrent)
special ep 2 (http://tracker.anime-index.org/download.php?id=17039cf60b4e024ab5d29e89883c7e79dc d5816e&f=%5BDoki%5D+Mahouka+Koukou+no+Rettousei+-+Yoku+Wakaru+Mahouka+-+02+%281280x720+Hi10p+AAC%29+%5BD347C66A%5D.mkv.to rrent)
special ep 3 (http://tracker.anime-index.org/download.php?id=e33e58a02b7c99581c4ec7fb824ad1bdab 3d851d&f=%5BDoki%5D+Mahouka+Koukou+no+Rettousei+-+Yoku+Wakaru+Mahouka+-+03+%281280x720+Hi10P+AAC%29+%5BFBF64470%5D.mkv.to rrent)

i haven't seen them tbh - I've just started 1st one and it seemed like explanation of the magic system.
As i have read the novels, i shall refrain from posting in this thread(as you hate ppl who draw any parallels between past events of animated series to the novel - because 'spoilers'... from past)

[shinta|hikari]

I was surprised they showed flashback scenes at the very beginning. I guess they wanted to hook viewers in by showing what is in store for the future.

[Kraco]

I was surprised they showed flashback scenes at the very beginning. I guess they wanted to hook viewers in by showing what is in store for the future.

How do flashbacks tell you anything about what's in store for the future? Flashbacks tell about the past.

[shinta|hikari]

Flashbacks of the past from the characters show what we are going to be seeing in the show in the future.

Their past, our future.

[Ryllharu]

Unless action taken in the present changes the future, using lessons from the past!


...I'll see myself out.


But seriously shinta, fewer "hints" please.

[shinta|hikari]

That wasn't really a hint, it was in the intro (not OP) of the episode, which evidently means that it will be part of the show.

I'm honestly trying to be as careful as I can.

EDIT:

Erika and Leo were really a good contrast to Tatsuya and Miyuki. The siblings actually look and act too mature for their age, while the other two act like grade schoolers.

The action looked really good so far, not just the animation, but also the direction. I hope they keep this up for 26 episodes.

The boob sway really distracted me. I hope we get less of that in the future.

[Kraco]

I'm still not sure what you were saying. Didn't the stuff in the intro happen before the present time in the show? I thought that's what the dude is hiding and that's why the sister loves him so much. So, how would it tell us anything about the future?

[shinta|hikari]

Not their future. Our (audience) future. It tells us what we will be seeing in the coming episodes, assuming those flashbacks are expanded on and explained.

[Ryllharu]

Like I said, hints. You're basically telling us we'll see more of exactly that scene. For all we anime-only viewers know knew, that could have been the last time the pair do something so extreme.

Let's try to avoid turning this into SAO Thread Redux, I'm liking this so far.

[shinta|hikari]

Got it. I'm just trying to advertise it a bit for people who might get turned off by the generic high school vibe the first episode had. I will avoid commenting on future events or speculation from other posters moving forward. There should be plenty to post on even if I exclude that anyway.

EDIT: Just watched the extras, and I believe they are a must watch in order to fully appreciate the world this story happens in. I like how they made extras like these instead of completely omitting details like in SAO.

[MasterOfMoogles]

The main character seems very much like a Gary Stu.

[Ryllharu]

Normally I would agree, and I may agree later.

However, what I see that keeps him away from being a Gary Stu is that his success at everything seems mostly due to his analytical prowess, like I mentioned in the first post. It's one skill that makes it look like he's good at everything else.

He quickly sizes up others and acts or counters accordingly. Like when he makes a mental note to keep his distance from the big-boob glasses girl, because she can figure him out.

[Kraco]

Episode 2 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=542242)







-- - - - - - - -- --





This feels like it could be the best show for me this season. There wasn't a single moment during this second episode I'd have found objectionable, let alone annoying. It simply worked well. Sure, some things are quite textbook, like the vice-president spurning Tatsuya, but to counter that I thought the (first) student council meeting otherwise was exceptionally good. I still don't quite get the relationship between Tatsuya and Miyuki, and thus it's hard to deduce why Tatsuya goes to such lengths to watch over her, instead of trying to make her more independent, especially considering he has tried to avoid drawing attention to himself. Honestly, Miyuki doesn't seem like a person who would break down the moment she would need to spend a day without his company. I guess he might have somewhat strong emotions, after all, despite his expressionlessness and general demeanor. Like I said before, I hope there won't be any incest plots in this story, but for now I enjoyed greatly his joke as well and how it affected everybody else in the room. When I watched him console Miyuki before the fight, I was kind of reminded of Byakuya and Rukia, that is, a lost case hoping his sister to become a wholesome and happy person.

The fight nicely amazed the whole student council and made them realise they are dealing with a badass, not just somebody they might be able to use.

[Archangel]

This feels like it could be the best show for me this season

Omg i know right the mc is just so dreamy and powerful!! /kraco the fangirl

Not to be repetitive but again they keep skipping any sort of explanation on how any of this stuff actually works, i'm assuming so they have more time to have Tatsuya be as kakooi as possible. I don't like the term but "tryhard" really seems to fit when describing the direction they're trying to take here, but i guess from Kraco's reaction it's working just as they wanted it to.

[shinta|hikari]

Do we still have the mini episodes that explain stuff?

[fireheart]

I still don't quite get the relationship between Tatsuya and Miyuki, and thus it's hard to deduce why Tatsuya goes to such lengths to watch over her, instead of trying to make her more independent, especially considering he has tried to avoid drawing attention to himself.

No idea but judging from the intro something really bad happened to Miyuki in the past so that might be the reason why Tatsuya looks after her so much.

I'm kinda curious about the things the intro seem to hint at, judging by the part with Erika and pieces of the story so far it seems there'll be some kind of conflict between the different courses and that they're going to battle each other out over the discrimination. Though it seems weird when there's a democratic system in place in the school, then again why is there such open discrimination despite this system.

Weirdest thing so far is that family doesn't seem to matter judging by how people react to the two siblings. Really who cares if you acknowledge her brother or not, it's not like it's going to change the fact that he is her brother and family, which should mean she belongs with him as family and not with a bunch of strangers. Yet the guy takes pride in his family name as if family means something... though I suppose it's overplayed for dramatic effect.

[shinta|hikari]

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~~~ <3<3<3

Tatsuya = Badassery.

It seems like Tatsuya only got pissed when the dude dissed Miyuki. He really deserved what he got. I hope we get an explanation as to what happened in the next episode.

[David75]

Tatsuya+Megane came to the conclusion that no one is an ordinary civilian in that school.
I thought I understood their country is at war.

Guess is Tatsuya for some reason already has plenty of real life battle time under his belt, explaining why he's so good at compensating his low magical abilities.
Also, when he complained how slow his magical power activated, it might be that he once had much better powers. And the reason he's like he is might be linked to his sister.

[Kraco]

Omg i know right the mc is just so dreamy and powerful!!

Not to be repetitive but again they keep skipping any sort of explanation on how any of this stuff actually works, i'm assuming so they have more time to have Tatsuya be as kakooi as possible.

I don't know about that. He shouldn't be so super dreamy or cool. How close he is to the sister should make him even a bit creepy. I hope the story won't force an overly obsessive harem on him.


No idea but judging from the intro something really bad happened to Miyuki in the past so that might be the reason why Tatsuya looks after her so much.

That's clear, and it works even more the other way around, but from my point of view that's all the more reason for him to try to rebuild her into an independent person, not somebody who's still dependent on her brother despite being old enough to be a high schooler. It should also bother him how forcefully grateful she is and obviously sorry only she's officially acknowledged.


Weirdest thing so far is that family doesn't seem to matter judging by how people react to the two siblings. Really who cares if you acknowledge her brother or not, it's not like it's going to change the fact that he is her brother and family, which should mean she belongs with him as family and not with a bunch of strangers.

Miyuki was the freshman representative and thus assured a seat in the student council. Elite, in other words. To maintain the discrimination, especially the elites among the Course 1 shouldn't stick to the Course 2 students. Needless to say, sycophantic people would like to be friends with the elites like Miyuki but definitely not a Weed like Tatsuya. If Miyuki and Tatsuya were more normal siblings without some grim history binding them together, I doubt they would exchange overly many words at the school grounds during a day. They would both have their own friends and circles.

[fireheart]

That's clear, and it works even more the other way around, but from my point of view that's all the more reason for him to try to rebuild her into an independent person, not somebody who's still dependent on her brother despite being old enough to be a high schooler. It should also bother him how forcefully grateful she is and obviously sorry only she's officially acknowledged

Yeah I agree but judging by the fact they seemed pretty young at the time it may have left him pretty scarred so that he feels compelled to protect her, though it doesn't seem to go with his current personality at all. It could be the reason for the flashback scenes in the first episode, still it's only guesswork based on normal anime troupes so who knows the show might go a different way.

Probably useless to think about but maybe Miyuki would be less clingy if everyone acknowledged Tatsuya instead. She obviously feel some kind of debt to her for all he's done and feel that people don't know his true worth hence she has to acknowledge him more, it may even be doubled because of their father who seems to dismiss him.


Miyuki was the freshman representative and thus assured a seat in the student council. Elite, in other words. To maintain the discrimination, especially the elites among the Course 1 shouldn't stick to the Course 2 students. Needless to say, sycophantic people would like to be friends with the elites like Miyuki but definitely not a Weed like Tatsuya. If Miyuki and Tatsuya were more normal siblings without some grim history binding them together, I doubt they would exchange overly many words at the school grounds during a day. They would both have their own friends and circles.

True but in those cases it seems the smarter thing to do is to ignore Tatsuya like the Vice President did at first instead of making a huge scene over it. Even if they were more normal siblings Miyuki would be pissed if someone acted that way towards her brother (I'm assuming because I would), so considering the crowd and going that far only serves to push most people away.

I get that they want to hang out with the elite but this show is making them look like they don't even have any common sense. If she already had plans they could have a) made plans to hang out a different time or b) ask if they can follow her to the train station like that other girl did, none of these option would rub her the wrong way and would allow them to ignore Tatsuya. It'd also lead to them having different friends which is probably why it didn't happen. In short pestering and coercing a person to hang out on the first day they met isn't a good way to get closer to someone and makes me think they lack common sense and the ability to think about the other person.

[Ryllharu]

Miyuki being about 30% pure crazy (maybe even a little yandere toward her brother) certainly adds to the dynamic. It felt like she would have been more than happy to murder the vice-president over insulting her brother. She wasn't paying attention to the secretary at all once he started protesting Tatsuya's appointment. Then you have her immediate attempt to get her brother into the Student Council in an effort to redeem the perceived slander he's taken by being in Course 2, her happy-then-crushed reaction over his joke confession, and the doe eyes she gives him whenever they interact.

I also thought it was hilarious that the girl who was more than happy to use what I can only guess was a lethal spell on the Weeds last episode was putty in his hands after he covered for her.

But ultimately, I think my two favorite characters are Erika and Mari.

Erika is oblivious to the fact that she's basically a Samurai Supreme. I can only guess the reason she is Course 2 is because she's so extremely specialized. The others seem to have realized that her activating her device and loading it full with magic (at a higher capacity than normally required) requires such immense skill and timing to the point that the "there's no civilians in this school" comment was made. Like Tatsuya, Erika acknowledges that other mages get overconfident in their powers, and someone like her (or the monk Tatsuya trained with) can easily put them down by closing the gap with an enhanced physical strike or countering their spell as it is being cast. Her personality isn't bad either, she not annoying and she's not too stupid.

Mari is great because she's a match for Tatsuya. She probably doesn't seem to have the extreme analysis Tatsuya does, but she obviously figured out what he had done the previous day, particularly lying for Honoka's sake about what spell she was about to use when she and the President countered it. From their expressions (President surprised and Mari suspicious), the two of them both knew he was lying. Following this, Mari was more than happy to smooth things over with Miyuki by taking him into the disciplinary council. The president took the opportunity and sealed the deal, obtaining Miyuki for herself, railroading Tatsuya into the disciplinary committee, and taking the first shot at the growing discrimination problem. That Mari and Mayumi recognize it as a problem is good enough, even better that they found the perfect patsy to take care of it for them. The two of them are a pretty nasty combo, but I think Mari takes the lead because she doesn't have the overly-nice fakery that the President has.


On the negative side: Miyuki, Mayumi (president), Mizuki (bakunyuu megane). Not too creative with names here, are we? We already had the Shibata (Mizuki), Chiba (Erika), and Shiba (Tatsuya/Miyuki) gag, so they're already over the last names too.

[Kraco]

True but in those cases it seems the smarter thing to do is to ignore Tatsuya like the Vice President did at first instead of making a huge scene over it. Even if they were more normal siblings Miyuki would be pissed if someone acted that way towards her brother (I'm assuming because I would), so considering the crowd and going that far only serves to push most people away.


Very true. But then again, they weren't the most intelligent people to begin with, I guess. Sycophants, like I said in the previous post. They think they will become cooler themselves simply by hanging out with genuinely cool or talented people. Can't expect too much from such folks, so in that sense they were almost believable. After all, magical talent is the decisive factor in getting enrolled, intelligence and wisdom being of secondary importance. Theoretically there might be real stupid brutes with vast if simple magical abilities, depending on how the magic really works in that world. It was said they don't really even know themselves how the brain processes it.


Miyuki being about 30% pure crazy (maybe even a little yandere toward her brother) certainly adds to the dynamic. It felt like she would have been more than happy to murder the vice-president over insulting her brother. She wasn't paying attention to the secretary at all once he started protesting Tatsuya's appointment. Then you have her immediate attempt to get her brother into the Student Council in an effort to redeem the perceived slander he's taken by being in Course 2, her happy-then-crushed reaction over his joke confession, and the doe eyes she gives him whenever they interact.


Don't read too much into it. I'd say 90% of people would have been unable to concentrate on some lecture if their important family member was being insulted behind their back. In fact I'd say it would take a crazy person not to care. I'm also quite certain Miyuki had planned out her actions beforehand, that is, demand the student council to employ Tatsuya as well. I actually like it how she pushes forward to defend him whenever an opportunity presents itself, despite Tatsuya repeatedly trying to make her stop it. That gives her some activity and personality. She's not entirely under his control, no matter how much she obviously respects and loves him.

[shinta|hikari]

I think the discrimination against weeds is just that bad, since even the vice president of the student council was such an ass. He has to be capable enough if he was selected for his position, so even skilled people can be complete asshats.

[Kraco]

The vice-president's situation could be a bit more complex. He's Hattori Hanzo (of all things), so he might have lots of pressure to perform exceptionally well and get a position. Since he's obviously not a genius, he might have turned into a douche as a result of the expectations placed on him and the consequent heavy work and loss of personal freedom. On the other hand, we don't know how they were selected. Miyuki is simply being invited in. Maybe the vice-president isn't the loser of the presidential elections but instead they were elected as a pair.

[shinta|hikari]

Wasn't it mentioned that only the president is elected and that the other positions are selected? I'm not entirely sure though.

[KrayZ33]

Omg i know right the mc is just so dreamy and powerful!! /kraco the fangirl

Not to be repetitive but again they keep skipping any sort of explanation on how any of this stuff actually works, i'm assuming so they have more time to have Tatsuya be as kakooi as possible. I don't like the term but "tryhard" really seems to fit when describing the direction they're trying to take here, but i guess from Kraco's reaction it's working just as they wanted it to.

worked for Darker than Black too and I don't know how they are suppossed to explain "magic" in the first place.

so far we know that they use tools called CADs that have so called "sequences" (a.k.a. spells I guess) in them and they need Psyons to feed these sequences and just like chanting spells certain ones need longer than others.

so its not really "fantasy magic" but some kind of technology-magic mix-thingy
thats actually enough for 2 episodes in.

[Ryllharu]

[HorribleSubs] Mahouka - 03 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=545007)


Because it is just familial love when your sister knocks you out so she can mount you...

----------------



Based on episode 3, it's really not that much different from Index, only what is Esper there is magic here. Magic is calculated instead of cast by injecting those Psyons into the CADs (which do much of the processing for them). The caster really only has to set one or two values, and the CAD performs all the iterations and determines the solution, resulting in set particular effects.

But since Tatsuya is oh so smart, he can do most of the processing in his head, solving multivariable calculus in seconds. This allows him to set off waves that converge at a given point. He defeated Hattori by Constructive Wave Interference (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destructive_interference), doing the calculation in his head. I imagine the cutting sword technique is setting off a vibrating wave around the shinai with an exceptionally high frequency and oscillation.

Overall, it's a pretty smart way of doing things. This magic is rooted in actual physics, math, and science. The only technobabble is psyons.

Since Tatsuya has no emotions, he's basically an autistic savant.

[Kraco]

Epiusode 3 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=545007)






- - - - - - - - - - -






Another jolly ep as far as I'm concerned. The scientific magic is working quite nicely, all in all, and the theories and explanations are no worse than in Star Trek. It's also good not every single male of Course 1 will immediately hate Tatsuya, though plenty surely do. I found it a bit of a stretch the whole fricking club would attack a member of the disciplinary committee disregarding any consequences, but perhaps the foolish captain had only let in dudes similar to himself, that is, even bigger fools. I hope the female member of the other club Tatsuya is no doubt highly impressing won't become another one falling for him.

The most interesting scene was the private lab Tatsuya was working in and Miyuki visited. While I was theoretically displeased by the growing incest theme, I was, however, quite fascinated by how that scene ended. It seemed to me Miyuki attacked Tatsuya with considerable force and Tatsuya's body automatically restored itself, although I belive he might have lost the most recent memories. This very much gave me the impression Miyuki has not only done that before but thinks nothing much of it, which would bring me to the other question: Tatsuya's humanity. Is he a regular human or some artificial thing? He seems to be omniscient rather than omnipotent, which is somewhat strange for a mere high schooler. That Miyuki can so offhandedly damage him suggests, to me, that she doesn't view him as a human being although she still loves him. Perhaps Tatsuya was nearly killed and seriously wounded in the past, saving Miyuki no doubt, and he was restored as some scientific magic zombie who remembers stuff perfectly like a computer but can't output magic like a human magician.

[shinta|hikari]

That Miyuki brocon scene was more graphic than I had imagined it to be. It really emphasizes how abnormal their relationship is.

What magic did she use against Tatsuya? Was it the new non-lethal magic that she just had Tatsuya install? If so, he was basically used as a guinea pig.

I agree about the sheer stupidity of the club members. Being someone who practices martial arts, seeing how Tatsuya easily fended them off should have already given them the impression that they are unable to beat him. All of them even started using magic!? How pathetic must Mari's group be to allow people like this to just randomly use magic and attack other students, much less disciplinary committee members? If they did their job properly, students should be afraid of breaking the rules. It's like they don't even care.

[Ryllharu]

Mari is still the best character so far.

[exglitch67]

Is he a regular human or some artificial thing? He seems to be omniscient rather than omnipotent, which is somewhat strange for a mere high schooler. That Miyuki can so offhandedly damage him suggests, to me, that she doesn't view him as a human being although she still loves him. Perhaps Tatsuya was nearly killed and seriously wounded in the past, saving Miyuki no doubt, and he was restored as some scientific magic zombie who remembers stuff perfectly like a computer but can't output magic like a human magician.


I think I am going to have to agree that Tasuya is some type of artificial life form. I am not suggesting that he wasn't human at some point in the past, but I think Kraco is correct that he is now some type of "scientific zombie". I think that's as good as a description can be given for now since we don't know if he is a cyborg, AI/robot or other magic creation. The evidence that leads me to believe that he is artificial mostly comes from episode 3, but there have been subtle hints the whole series. In episode 1 Tasuya was concerned about the girl with the glasses observing him because she could possibly discover his "secret". When fighting the ninjutsu master the instructor mentions how if it was simply taijutsu he may not stand a chance. Also through out the initial episodes we have seen Tasuya's extremely proficient use of keyboards with super human dexterity. In episode 3 the girl with the red hair kicked Tatsuya in the leg but she hurt herself instead of hurting him. I feel like this evidence along with the points already covered pretty much suggests Tasuya no longer has a human body.

[Ryllharu]

Mahouka - 04 [HorribleSubs] (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=547795)



-----------------

Well...unfortunately this series peaked fast.

The whole Anti-Magic terrorist Equalists angle they develop in this episode is actually very disappointing. I think it has actually managed to cut my enthusiasm about subsequent episodes entirely. I find myself really not caring. They spent the last few minutes of the episode detailing that they will soon be facing off against...hypocrites. This sub-group of a fringe group (really, you can't make them fight the main group, you have them fight a group of sympathizers that are identified with...tricolor sweatbands? Lame.).

But they don't distinguish themselves by coming up with interesting techniques like the one Tatsuya appears to have invented, they just use magic like everyone else. So, what's the point here? If they're using magic too, just have Tatsuya and pals come into contact with regular violent students, or some "purist" faction that hates Course 2 students. If they're using magic anyway, what the hell is the distinguishing factor that is supposed to keep me interested or care? Instead of going through some convoluted bullshit, just have them fight elitists.

The nurse is obviously a spy for...WhoGivesAShit. It literally does not matter. There's no point in making it a twist if it is going to be telegraphed so obviously. Even if it isn't, and that's just some grand misdirection for disappointing fanservice, then it is even more pointless.

The only good things this episode were Mari freaking out about Tatsuya tricking her into revealing who her crush is, the student council girls seeing what a psychopath Miyuki is when she froze their lunches just from a joke, and Mizuki not getting they were joking about incest (or accurately seeing that Miyuki is most definitely not joking).



It's also the plot to the first season of The Legend of Korra, except they're hypocrites instead of having innovative fighting techniques and technology.

[Kraco]

At least we learned Miyuki and Tatsuya are from one of the ten important families. I guess that explains the flashback of the first ep. The ten families might have been those who did the most in the world war. Was he already fighting these Equalists back then? I guess in the end this setting is almost believable. Similar things have been abundant in fiction and reality over the years. Organizations that on paper are fighting for something worthwhile yet in truth are only advancing the leadership's personal agenda. If a world has magic not available to everybody, creating an elite, it's 100% certain many organizations supposedly trying to change things would be born. It also makes sense the organization would try to operate in that particular school since it's the most important one. Those brainwashed young make the best material.

This was the weakest ep so far, with only a few good scenes. The incest theme is also getting too prominent. The dude is so emotionsless (and thus asexual) that I guess he doesn't need anybody but his sister.

[Ryllharu]

I can understand why they'd be so afraid of becoming Yotsubas (http://bayimg.com/EaNgiaafN) again.


Pet peeve kinda thing: This episode is titled "Enrollment IV". They've been through the entrance ceremony, both are on student organization councils, they have a group of trusted friends they hang out with every day, and they've been at school at least a week, possibly two based on the dialogue this episode.

I think they're past enrollment.

Why have episode titles at all if they're misleading? Even meaningless titles would be a minor improvement.

[shinta|hikari]

That's because the episode titles follow the light novel titles. The first 2 books were Enrollment 1 and 2, so I guess the anime just followed that but since more episodes are required, they are now up to 4, maybe more.

I understand why you don't like it. I personally don't care though.

[fireheart]

Episode felt weird compared to the others, things seemed to go faster and jump around more than before giving the episode a more disjointed feel or it's just because they have to dump a bunch of information in one episode. The characters also come of as odd, Miyuki bragging without a care about Tatsuyas Cast Jamming that's so awesome it can change the balance of the whole world if people find out about it and then get all uneasy about other people learning what he can do... overall she's getting more annoying as the show goes on.

Don't really know much about the language but it feel like they have a pretty lame cover and that someone should at least suspect them to belong to one of the ten families. Anyway when they scrolled the name of those ten families each were numbered from one to ten. And just changing the four from yotsu to shi in their last name should at least garner one or two questions. Hmm considering the theme with four, that company Four Leaves Technology that made those guns Tatsuya uses probably belongs to Yotsuba, feels to much of a stress for it not to at this point.

[shinta|hikari]

The kanji is different, and for native Japanese, that is actually a big change.

That, and Tatsuya sucks at normal magic, so he isn't really a suspect for being a part of a top magician family. He is becoming famous for suppressing others without magic, after all. I guess he balances out Miyuki's overwhelming talent, making that look like an accident.

I agree about this episode being quite weak compared to the earlier ones. They just infodumped on us, something I usually dislike especially in VNs.

[Kraco]

It could be that people belonging to the ten families don't normally go to such lengths to hide their origins, maybe the contrary, so that could be throwing off suspicions.

[shinta|hikari]

Sounds right. It would be a waste to not capitalize on the popularity of a family name.

[David75]

Unless that name is too big of a negative weight... Like being traitor to the current regime, regardless if what they did was for the greater good.

Regarding Miyuki, I wonder something about her powers. They seem to manifest without a CAD, or at least those leaks happen when the CAD isn't active. She could also be an irregular in that aspect?
But it could be she's got a custom tuned CAD that has many failsafe's removed to react faster to her emotions and reflexes... but it becomes a danger when she's such a brocon deviant...

[Ryllharu]

I suspect she's just that strong. She's in many ways the compliment to Tatsuya. He has overwhelming analytical skills and precision control but poor magic power, while Miyuki has overwhelming raw power and apparently very poor control.

From what we've seen in the first scene of eps 1 and later in Tatsuya's lab, Miyuki's usual tactic appears to be just spamming an AoE centered on herself. She may or may not have wanted to make him pass out too, but overwhelmed him Nanoha 'friendship' beam style. Both lead me to believe she has no ability to focus her power, or manage it into any specific way, shape or form. It's either on, off, or leaking.

[fireheart]

The kanji is different, and for native Japanese, that is actually a big change.

That, and Tatsuya sucks at normal magic, so he isn't really a suspect for being a part of a top magician family. He is becoming famous for suppressing others without magic, after all. I guess he balances out Miyuki's overwhelming talent, making that look like an accident.

Don't really know enough as I mentioned, only know the characters for the number from playing Mahjong. Either way with the answers in our hands it still feels like a pretty lame cover name.

Sure Tatsuya may not be as universally talented as Miyuki but he's at the top of every written test, so if they still have the whole posting up grades thing he'll get more well known in another way. And Miyuki is in the top for the practical part, so they're dominating the two parts where you get graded. But yeah seeing as most generic students are lacking in common sense it might have never hit them to question anything. Even though what Kraco said makes a lot of sense it still feels weird because the ten families should know each other, but Jyumonji didn't seem to know anything about Tatsuya or he has a really good poker face.

[Ryllharu]

My suspicion on why the other numbered families don't recognize Tatsuya and Miyuki is because while those kids were growing up and training their powers, Tatsuya and Miyuki were actively being used during the war (shown at the beginning of episode 1).

[Kraco]

Episode 5 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=550381)





-- - - -- -- - - -- -





This didn't feel like much of an episode, though it had a few good parts, so as Tatsuya tricking the activists to open the door. The ending made me think, though, that they are reaching Afghanistan levels here when a high school is attacked with bombs, rpgs, and many men wielding automatic weapons. A bloody high school. I can't help but feel it's just a bit ridiculous (and only happens because the main characters are attending a high school).

At least the incest lessened a bit, even if Miyuki is still sticking to her dear onii-san so closely you'd think they shared a circulatory system.

[shinta|hikari]

Magic high school don't really count as normal high schools. I think it was mentioned before that no one in their school is a civilian.

[Kraco]

Yeah, I suppose cheap-ass terrorists would derive enjoyment from killing the offspring of important families, that's true. But as targets standing on their own, are there any others than Tatsuya (assuming the flashback of the beginning referred to having been deloyed to real combat already)? They are just students, not officials, businessmen, or politicians, though they would be all of those in the future, likely. But like I said, they are reaching quite a low level if a school is targeted (by someone else than a bullied schoolboy or a bitter alumni).

[Ryllharu]

I think the much bigger problem with this episode this week was how heavy-handed the exposition was. Earlier we didn't really get enough explanation of what was happening, and this week we got far too much. The first three minutes contain more dialogue than many other shows do in a half hour, and 100% of it was exposition.

Show, don't tell.

Major failure in storytelling this week.

[shinta|hikari]

Kokonoe was funny. He says that the information block on the Yotsuba siblings is ironclad, then says it is "as expected" of them right after.

[Kraco]

Episode 6 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=552952)





- - - - - - - - - -





Terrorists attacked a school with automatic weapons, rpgs, and offensive magic in order to break into the school library. I think I'm suppose to laugh at this point (but I'm not). While it's true an elite school would have cutting edge technology, in this case magic technology, obviously that technology would be related to education. As we saw, this school has no special defenses or measures against aggressive infiltration, let alone allout attacks, so there wouldn't be anything requiring special protection. From a terrorists' point of view anything stored there would be quite mediocre, but then again, these terrorists don't seem too bright so they might benefit from it.

Considering Tatsuya's plan to attack the terrorist base, the terrorists would be idiots if they are still sitting there after this attack - no matter what the result of the attack turned out to be. I'd very much prefer it if these folks only found booby traps waiting for them and no terrorists whatsoever. That would be realistic.

If this show was better, I'd actually expect this all to be a political move against the school or something, considering lots of attackers were students, but as this show seems to get worse with every episode, I reckon this was an honest terrorist attack with lofty (laughable) goals.

[fireheart]

this show seems to get worse with every episode, I reckon this was an honest terrorist attack with lofty (laughable) goals.

This, though I actually felt that getting current cutting edge magic research made some sense. For example since they've been observing Tatsuya maybe they figured his cast jamming magic would be among the research also most magic so far seem to be focused around combat so getting research on it could potentially benefit them. But frankly speaking it would have made more sense to break into the school at night when no ones there instead of investing all those resources because as Kraco says it doesn't look to be have the best security system in place.

Anyone read the light novels that can say if it gets better or if it's pretty much the same as what we've seen so far?

On to Miyuki, I'm surprised the room didn't freeze over when Mibu held onto Tatsuya.

[Ryllharu]

The biggest problem with this show is how dull it is getting.

There's basically zero tension.

We know Tatsuya and Miyuki will achieve complete victory in anything they do, and their friends are largely in the same boat now that we've found out Erika really is from the world's strongest swordsmanship family. She actually isn't oblivious to the fact that she's samurai supreme (http://forums.gotwoot.net/showthread.php/22881-Mahouka-Koukou-no-Rettousei?p=540997&viewfull=1#post540997) as I previously guessed. She's not only aware of it, she's not even humble about admitting it. I guess everyone will soon get to showcase their specialty. Makes you really wonder what the point of any of this is. Tatsuya will put and end to terrorists, rebuke his family, and make the school realize that specialists are just as good as Course 1 students. Whoop-de-do.
Even the conflict got resolved by the scenes at the end. "I didn't really want to fight her, I love her, and want her to shine like she used to." Give me a break.

Really, the only thing to look forward to is what Suzaku is doing in the OP.

The complete lack of tension or any meaningful conflict in anything is making it really boring. We know any conflicts will be resolved rapidly by Shiba, Shiba, Chiba and Co. as they arise, likely without difficulty or injury to anyone.


What is interesting is that the problems I have with this series should be the same problems I should have with No Game No Life, where the two sibling protagonists are equally superior in skill and overwhelming in their given field. But for some reason, it isn't boring like this show has become.

There's a sensation that for as good as Shiro/Sora are, they often win narrowly or through extraordinary preparation efforts and are frequently over their heads. For someone like Tatsuya who is supposed to be bad at magic and even basic spells are a significant effort for him, he sure makes things look easy. I saw no appreciable difference with his wall jumps and Miyuki pressing a single button and flying up.

[shinta|hikari]

I actually like it when the protagonist/s are OP. I'm tired of the usual "tension", where you know they will pull through somehow but always by the skin of their teeth, instead of actually functioning as they are specced. If you are powerful and smart, you should be powerful and smart, not sometimes be stupid or do random nonsensical things that will make you fail or risk defeat. There are far too many stories where the really strong and smart protagonists end up looking uncool just for the sake of it.

This is why I also liked Izayoi in Mondaiji, despite the odd headphone fashion. You always know that he will handle everything, if need be, or if he felt like it.

EDIT:
I cannot wait for Tatsuya to "demolish" the terrorists. I really like ruthless characters. He knows himself, and the enemy, now he will proceed to eliminate. Absolute confidence. I like.

@Kraco - Since this is a magic school, their best defense is their students, and that is exactly what happened. Why would you need special defenses if your entire student body (even the 2nd course ones, as shown by Leo and Erika) are lethal weapons?

The terrorists are undoubtedly stupid though. Why would you attack during school hours? Just wait til they go home before launching an attack.

EDIT2: Now that I have thought about it a little more, I guess it makes sense for the terrorists to attack during school hours. They (understandably) underestimated the students of the school. Most students never show their full potential (as indicated by Mari and the student council president) in the open, so even information gathering and interviews with the traitorous students would mislead them as to what they will face. They probably assumed they can get hostages and make things easier. Little did they know that Shibas and Chiba are there. I'm pretty sure even the dude Tatsuya shamed in a duel would be enough to eliminate these guys.

@Fireheart - I'm not sure what you mean about the future of the story. If you are asking if Tatsuya is going to keep being bad ass, then yes. If you are asking if there are no challenges for the main characters at all, then
SPOILER








no.

[Ryllharu]

This is why I also liked Izayoi in Mondaiji, despite the odd headphone fashion. You always know that he will handle everything, if need be, or if he felt like it.
Except due to the rules of Little Garden, there were many situations where Izayoi could lose, despite his brains and power. He often had to do something unconventional (like he did to tie with Kurousagi in Salamandra, or getting seen at all by the gorgon clan). That's where a least a little of the tension and surprise came from. You knew Izayoi would probably win, just not how. There were also plenty of people Izayoi could not beat outright (Shiroyasha, Kurousagi).

It's not the case here. Tatsuya will finish someone off in an efficient manner, then start talking about how he did it, then resolve the situation with another person involved without violence. Every time.

I'd be tempted to say that overpowered protagonists are beginning to bore me, but with NGNL airing, that's clearly not the case with how much I'm enjoying it. There's been something so formulaic and sterile about this series that I'm getting bored partway through episodes. It's Plot by Numbers. Everything is so expected. This episode far moreso than any other so far.

[Kraco]

@Kraco - Since this is a magic school, their best defense is their students, and that is exactly what happened. Why would you need special defenses if your entire student body (even the 2nd course ones, as shown by Leo and Erika) are lethal weapons?

No. The students are merely students there, no matter how powerful they might be. They have the regular disciplinary committee, whose job is, unsurprisingly, to quell potentially dangerous conflicts between students. That's it, as we saw in this episode. They had no preexisting plans of how to beat outside attackers (which I can't blame them for, since it's a school). They were able to fight back this time because they were attacked by mere tools (since 99% of terrorists are nothing but tools employed by the masterminds, who don't risk themselves). However, without big-boobies-teacher/Tatsuya the terrorists would have achieved their primary/secondary (who knows) goal of stealing whatever magnificient data a school library supposedly would have.


The terrorists are undoubtedly stupid though. Why would you attack during school hours? Just wait til they go home before launching an attack.

EDIT2: Now that I have thought about it a little more, I guess it makes sense for the terrorists to attack during school hours. They (understandably) underestimated the students of the school. Most students never show their full potential (as indicated by Mari and the student council president) in the open, so even information gathering and interviews with the traitorous students would mislead them as to what they will face. They probably assumed they can get hostages and make things easier.

Obviously they had two goals: Steal the info and disturb the school publicly. Otherwise they would have indeed come in the darkness of the night. Big-boobies called the attack a mere diversion, but unless the terrorists weren't only idiots but blistering idiots, she was wrong. It's clear the library had little to no security, so it shouldn't have been much of a problem to get in undetected with a bit of suitable skill. In fact they might have been able to pull it off in the middle of the day as well, considering students walking around a library would be normal. They could have just chosen a good moment to infiltrate that last room, granting them enough time to do what they needed before anybody noticed.

[Xelbair]

I am not sure - but terrorists weren't using magic if i recall right. only the anti-magic ring. Plus it was hinted that they are actually working for some other country to steal top secret research data ep or two ago.

I am disappointed with adaptation - next arc should be better. I expected eyecandy fights... yet fights are as short as possible and they prolong exposition to the worst parts of the series. All my hopes that it will deviate from source have been shattered.

[Kraco]

I am not sure - but terrorists weren't using magic if i recall right. only the anti-magic ring. Plus it was hinted that they are actually working for some other country to steal top secret research data ep or two ago.

Nah, they were using magic alright, for example at 4:20 (HS release) you see a very clear example. Don't forget some of them were even students of this same school; they wouldn't be students there in the first place if they couldn't use magic. It doesn't really matter if some were from another country since all the hostiles were saw here were foolish tools used by someone slightly more intelligent (hopefully).

[shinta|hikari]

I like the short fights. I'm tired of fights dragging out just for the sake of it. The efficiency is very refreshing. It feels like they are fighting to win, not fighting to fight.

[fireheart]

I'm not sure what you mean about the future of the story. If you are asking if Tatsuya is going to keep being bad ass, then yes. If you are asking if there are no challenges for the main characters at all, then

I meant overall story, not asking about any characters but as most mentioned so far this arc has been lackluster which is a shame because I felt the first couple of episodes were pretty good. Perhaps a better question is if this is a fair indicator of how the rest of the show is going to be and if it's an adaptation that you're satisfied with.

While we're at Tatsuya I gave this a chance since you talked about Kazuma from Kaze no Stigma but so far Tatsuya has been pretty boring and lacking in the parts that made Kazuma an amusing character. I wouldn't call Tatsuya badass though, his personality is too lacking to be badass. He's also only faced off against lvl -100 int pawns, the only exception would probably be the vice president but he was still a really low level threat (with no real indicator of how strong he was and he was underestimating Tatsuya). On the other hand Kazuma fought against the strongest spellcaster within the Kannagi within the first two episodes where both had a chance to show off some of their skills, it gave more of an indicator of how strong Kazuma was.


I like the short fights. I'm tired of fights dragging out just for the sake of it. The efficiency is very refreshing. It feels like they are fighting to win, not fighting to fight.

This on the other hand I liked

[shinta|hikari]

I meant overall story, not asking about any characters but as most mentioned so far this arc has been lackluster which is a shame because I felt the first couple of episodes were pretty good. Perhaps a better question is if this is a fair indicator of how the rest of the show is going to be and if it's an adaptation that you're satisfied with.


I cannot really say much to avoid spoilers but I guess you can expect more of the same formula, but in larger scales and different settings. It is a light novel after all, and like any (Mondaiji, Baccano, Durara) follow a certain pattern in exposition, climax and conclusion.

It certainly isn't a story with many twists. The mystery about their world and politics are slowly revealed as the story goes along, while the focus is still of course school related. I would say that the Enrollment arc is the weakest arc. It really is a story that gets better and darker as it goes. I just hope that the anime reaches far enough.

What you can look forward to is more information on why characters behave the way they do, and how vast the world of magic is, with many powerhouses all over the place.

Ryll's complaint is valid (except the HOW part, but I cannot elaborate), and is the usual criticism against this story. If you don't mind something like an OOOP protagonist, then keep on riding.

EDIT: About the Vice President, it was explicitly stated that he has never lost since he entered the school. I'm pretty sure that line was said just to indicate how strong he was.

[Kraco]

EDIT: About the Vice President, it was explicitly stated that he has never lost since he entered the school. I'm pretty sure that line was said just to indicate how strong he was.

Although being strong among students of a high school doesn't really mean all that much, unless a good chunk of the students had a history like Tatsuya and assuming the beginning of the first episode was of any indication of his past. Based on how the vice president was utterly arrogantly and naively looking down on Tatsuya, it's 100% certain he had no real combat experience outside of practice matches. Such people don't compare to battle scarred veterans, no matter how good stats they might have on paper. Tatsuya is further aided by his missing emotions since that ought to mean he wouldn't consider any particular fight insignificant purely based on feelings of superiority.

[Ryllharu]

I like the short fights. I'm tired of fights dragging out just for the sake of it. The efficiency is very refreshing. It feels like they are fighting to win, not fighting to fight.
They're not "short fights" when the entertaining part is over in 30 seconds and then we get a 3 minute lecture on the specifics of the quantum wave mechanics and oscillations of how they did it so quickly (Tatsuya just about every time) or their ancestral history of why they're so much better (Erika).

Show, don't tell dammit! Cornerstone of good fiction!

edit:
I want to like this show, but the sterility of it all is really cutting into my enjoyment.

[shinta|hikari]

@Kraco - Leo, a 2nd division student, was beating up the terrorists quite easily. I'm sure the Vice President is stronger than him. I think you are having trouble about students being able to fight better than veterans. But that's the thing, the people in that school are raised to be fighters. Part of their curriculum is combat. They likely train or fight outside of school as well, especially if you are a from a famous family. They are very far from what you would expect a normal student in RL or other fiction. Tatsuya may be a super special case, but all the students are special. Some of them are better than others (Erika), but that does not mean the weaker ones cannot fight off a gun toting mercenary. They are the elites after all, as said in the first episode.

@Ryll - The problem with what you are demanding from the show is that it cannot be done. Most of the magic will always happen back end, and the explanations (if we even get them) will always be after. They won't be chattering around explaining themselves during combat like the usual shounen series. Some moves may be flashy, but most will simply be effective, and that is what I like about the combat. It is practical.

[fireheart]

About the Vice President, it was explicitly stated that he has never lost since he entered the school. I'm pretty sure that line was said just to indicate how strong he was.

But that doesn't say anything about how strong he is because we don't know what kind of combat level the school has or how many fights he's gone through. Sure Leo stood up to terrorists but that's show afterwards and doesn't indicate anything at the time of Tatsuyas battle with the vice president and as Kraco says there's no indication of what kind of combat experiences they have. Back to Kaze no Stigma, you find out a lot about the Kannagi before Kazuma fights his dad giving a more proper idea of what kind of powerhouse he's facing.

And fighting off these terrorists doesn't say much either because they seem about as smart or even worse than the course 1 students we saw in the second episode and the only ones that are doing it efficiently are the main characters and their friends. Anyway I'll give it until the end of the next arc and see how it turns out.

[Kraco]

The story is getting so bad it's no wonder nobody bothers to make a post:
Episode 7 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=555327)





- - - - - - - - - -





I can't believe some episodes ago I was telling this might be the best show for me this season. Man, how mistaken I was. This story is as wasted as SAO if not more. The perfect example of that was how the idiotic terrorists were still camping at the factory, as opposed to what I was hoping for a couple of posts ago. This story's progress has been planned with a ruler: It couldn't be much more linear and predictable. So much wasted potential and animation budget...

[Ryllharu]

All the same problems that SAO has in terms of narrative and characters, plus it is boring as fuck to watch thanks to the, "we have to explain everything" presentation style. Mahouka's cast just fire off some nondescript magic then explain why their opponents' didn't work on them.

There's no tension in the story at all. You always know the Tatsuya/Miyuki/etc. will win with basically no effort. At least the characters in SAO have to fight hard and yell a lot to win (often by narrow margin) or employ a programmer's ghost to win.

At least Suzaku showed up at the end of the episode. It's hilarious he's voiced by Kirito's VA.

I sincerely doubt I'll be able to make it through 26 episodes. Such a waste of budget and timeslot indeed.

[shinta|hikari]

All I can say is that it gets better. Enrollment really is the most boring arc. Suzaku is being propped up as a formidable antagonist.

EDIT: I actually think they are skipping a ton of explanation, or leaving it to speculation, like how Tatsuya is able to sense enemies through walls and attack them from different rooms, and how he managed to destroy the guns instantly considering he has low magic ability.

[KrayZ33]

Show, don't tell dammit! Cornerstone of good fiction!


mind showing examples? Isn't it pretty common in anime to do it like they do it here?

- something happens that deals a heavy blow to someone
-"What..what happened? I see, he did **** while I was ***ing around. Damnit!"

the other way they do it is:

- something happens in a splitt-second
- character A and B talk with each other mentally while doing it, the scene takes 1-2 minutes instead of 1-2 seconds

I'm actually happy with how they do it in this show, because the fights turn out to be fluent that way and are not getting interrupted by chatter/explanations from bystanders.

[Buffalobiian]

Don't really know much about the language but it feel like they have a pretty lame cover and that someone should at least suspect them to belong to one of the ten families. Anyway when they scrolled the name of those ten families each were numbered from one to ten. And just changing the four from yotsu to shi in their last name should at least garner one or two questions. Hmm considering the theme with four, that company Four Leaves Technology that made those guns Tatsuya uses probably belongs to Yotsuba, feels to much of a stress for it not to at this point.

You mean the guns designed by the mysterious genius engineer who nobody knows the name or appearance of?


Kokonoe was funny. He says that the information block on the Yotsuba siblings is ironclad, then says it is "as expected" of them right after.

I don't think that means he broke the information block specifically, but perhaps as expected of someone like Tatsuya, rather than as expected of Yotsuba.


DIT: I actually think they are skipping a ton of explanation, or leaving it to speculation, like how Tatsuya is able to sense enemies through walls and attack them from different rooms, and how he managed to destroy the guns instantly considering he has low magic ability.

It better be, because that's my biggest complaint this episode. We've had explanations about ninjutsu and multivariable calculations, but wall-hacks should be part of a different skill-set all together.

Overall I'm liking this. There's no tension, which is true. If you're watching for tension then you'll be disappointed. If you're a bit like Miyuki and you want to watch Tatsuya overwhelm then you're in for some fun.

I'm a really big fan of the see-through uniforms. They combine the best of two worlds: figure-enhancing tight dresses and elegant gowns that flow with the wind.

Girl-wise, Watanabe Mari all the way.

Incest-wise, keep it up. If this is going to be a show where romance gets nowhere (for the most part), then at least let the reason be incest-taboo rather than a dumb-as-shit protagonist.

Talking about lacking common sense in the previous posts, did you guys really think that the first episode would mention some world war regarding magic and not go back to cover his history?

[ASL]_LiSA_-_Mahouka_Koukou_no_Reittousei_OP_-_Rising_Hope_[FLAC]_[w_Scans].rar (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=550869)
[ASL]_LiSA_-_Mahouka_Koukou_no_Reittousei_OP_-_Rising_Hope_[MP3]_[w_Scans].rar (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=550868)

[ASL]_ELISA_-_Mahouka_Koukou_no_Reittousei_ED_-_Millenario_[FLAC]_[w_Scans].rar (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=548658)
[ASL]_ELISA_-_Mahouka_Koukou_no_Reittousei_ED_-_Millenario_[MP3]_[w_Scans].rar (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=548657)

[shinta|hikari]

You mean the guns designed by the mysterious genius engineer who nobody knows the name or appearance of?

LOL.


I don't think that means he broke the information block specifically, but perhaps as expected of someone like Tatsuya, rather than as expected of Yotsuba.

I dunno, Tatsuya's reaction and Kokonoe's demeanor seem to show Kokonoe with the upper hand, which would not make sense if he gave up and gave reverence to Tatsuya's personal information control.

Tatsuya saved the dude frozen by Miyuki in her anger. He said that those terrorists (the stupid trash that they are) are not worth staining her hands for. Katsuto prevented the sword dude from killing a soldier as well. It seems odd because both potential killers easily mutilated their enemies without hesitation, which suggests battle experience. They also seemed ready to kill if they were not stopped. Which is it? Or is it because the situation was not serious enough to warrant it, and Tatsuya/Katsuto thought that way as well and halted their companions?

I am wondering about what kind of ethics these high schoolers with deadly weapons possess.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought that the frozen guys escaped death because of the non-lethal tuning that Tatsuya did on her CAD a while ago.

[Kraco]

I am wondering about what kind of ethics these high schoolers with deadly weapons possess.

It was only those two: A loose cannon whose (very strong) magic only has an on/off switch and whenever her brother is involved, it only has an on state. The other is a swinging happy swordsman. Miyuki aside, since she needs no explanations, I think the dude simply prepped himself, pumped himself up, for this raid and was thus pulling no punches when the enemy was ready to kill as well. Perhaps a bit of bloodlust. I guess he's a real swordsman.

[shinta|hikari]

Tatsuya shot one last time even after all enemies were neutralized, then Miyuki thanks him when she sees the frozen dude alive. The last shot must have been used to save that dude.

Katsuto was extremely calm in the situation though. He looks like he has more than enough battle experience, since he dealt with bullets like they were nothing and even had the leeway to stop the swordsman from excessive violence.

[Buffalobiian]

Tatsuya shot one last time even after all enemies were neutralized, then Miyuki thanks him when she sees the frozen dude alive. The last shot must have been used to save that dude.

Interesting. I thought he shot to capture some extra guy whom he hid from the police, and I assumed we'd get an explanation for it next episode (like what normally happens).

[shinta|hikari]

That's what I thought too, until the scene with the frozen dude getting dragged out on a stretcher. The shooting scene was also delivered quite differently from the other shots, as if to show it was special.

[Kraco]

Episode 8 (1080p) - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=557858)




- - - - --- --





Considering mankind's ancient dream of flying it seems beyond exceedingly unlikely that nobody had devised a method to do it before this high schooler did it in his basement on his free time. After all, the internal combustion engine was barely invented when the Wrights were already building their shaky plane. And of course people had been reaching the air with various methods even earlier. So, now we are supposed to believe that despite how advanced magic looks in the world of this show, nobody had seriously tried to solve flying? The only example we got were some half-assed folks (I refuse to call the researchers) who didn't get even the basics of the theory correct. Yeah, right. It feels like the author doesn't bother spending 5 seconds evaluating just how plausible his ideas are or rather are not.

[fireheart]

Mmmm so if I've understood it correctly flying magic wasn't possible because of interference, similar to when they were talking about it not being possible to use two CADs at the same time or rather you can't cast more than one magic at the time because the first one interfere with the second one. That kinda makes magic feel pretty limited if you can't switch magic on the go, or rather it's not very good at adapting to sudden changes in the situation unless you can override the first magic which seems to be up to ten times.

So what I don't get is if flying only requires a set of magic like acceleration etc this should be possible if you keep casting the same thing over and over but change some of the finer points like how much. I mean Tatsuya did cast three of the same magic at different strengths with the loop system without any interference hence I don't get why there is any interference in the first place.

And flying so won't make hitting balls of light easier if everyone else have to jump.

[Buffalobiian]

So what I don't get is if flying only requires a set of magic like acceleration etc this should be possible if you keep casting the same thing over and over but change some of the finer points like how much. I mean Tatsuya did cast three of the same magic at different strengths with the loop system without any interference hence I don't get why there is any interference in the first place.

Loop casting is used to cast the same spell (more or less) repeatedly. We've only seen Tatsuya use it at x3, so unless we see it go beyond x10, it may still subject to the 10x limit.

I wasn't going to watch the material that explained magic, but now I might since the technicalities still seem to be blurry.


And flying so won't make hitting balls of light easier if everyone else have to jump.

Flying won't make hitting airborne balls easier? That must be a typo right?

[shinta|hikari]

From the explanation, it seems that casting magic continuously in short intervals leaves too much interference that after 10 casts, it will interfere the succeeding casts. To do flying magic that is sustainable for long periods, that issue had to be solved.

A high schooler solved a mystery that baffled the world's researchers forever. Tatsuya is a genius among geniuses.

[Kraco]

High altitutude flying should have been done all the time even under this show's conditions. When you are flying high enough, you could just use impulses far enough apart to never reach the limit of 10. Might make the flight not too graceful, but who cares? Closer to the ground and with a need to fly like Miyuki did, with lots of adjustments, it's a different thing. But naturally nobody had thought about that before our super hyper uber genius high schooler did. I wonder what the hell all the other magicians are doing all around the world. Apparently nobody else but Tatsuya is developing anything at all.

[fireheart]

Loop casting is used to cast the same spell (more or less) repeatedly. We've only seen Tatsuya use it at x3, so unless we see it go beyond x10, it may still subject to the 10x limit.

I didn't mean the ten cast limit with that, what I meant was when he kept casting the same spell it didn't cause any interference, that's why I think that flying should be possible. Of course thinking about it some more Tatsuya might have just cast them in order of strength but the way I understood it, the way to avoid interference is for the second spell to overwrites the first spell.


Flying won't make hitting airborne balls easier? That must be a typo right?

I was sarcastic, keep forgetting that it doesn't come out in the same way in text.



Checking the episode again they never said that flying isn't possible just that general-purpose flying couldn't be realized. So I'm guessing there are people that can use magic to fly already just that the majority of magicians can't fly using the same method for some reason. But if there's already people that can fly they should have a solid base to research in order to make some sort of flying magic that every magician can use.

[David75]

Well, we've seen his sister fly to a platform before. I guess she was able to do that because she's good at finely tuned spells and that "high and precise" jump was within the 10 spells limits.
But it really felt like flying.

[shinta|hikari]

Flying magic is probably done by others, but not by anyone. That is the point of Tatsuya's invention. Anyone can fly (multi direction and speed at will for a long duration) now, even without ancient knowledge or bloodline skills.

They can levitate and move objects for crying out loud.

[Kraco]

Episode 9 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=560140)





- - - - - -- - -



I've been wondering of late if this show isn't actually bad per se, maybe it's actually really clever. I found myself highly amused during many scenes of this episode, due to finding it so ridiculous. Who's to say that wasn't intentional? Maybe this has been written so that simple-minded people will find this totally awesome and more discerning audience will find this amusing to no end when ludicrous things are presented with a straight face. Maybe this is all by design like the hidden adult humour in animated family films.

The Yotsuba family seems really intelligent in trying to alienate a super hyper mega giga genius like Tatsuya. I don't think the family will remain long one of the numbered, important families with such self-destructive politics. Although if Miyuki becomes the next family head, I guess her walking dildo, Tatsuya, will remain safely within the family's influence as well.

[Buffalobiian]

I've been wondering of late if this show isn't actually bad per se, maybe it's actually really clever. I found myself highly amused during many scenes of this episode, due to finding it so ridiculous. Who's to say that wasn't intentional? Maybe this has been written so that simple-minded people will find this totally awesome and more discerning audience will find this amusing to no end when ludicrous things are presented with a straight face. Maybe this is all by design like the hidden adult humour in animated family films.

There wasn't much "awesomeness" in this episode given the lack of fights, but I usually find this show both amusing and cool at times... could you elaborate more on which scenes you're actually talking about?

Personally, my favourite scene this episode was where Miyuki was so eager to friendzone the other two girls.

[Kraco]

There wasn't much "awesomeness" in this episode given the lack of fights, but I usually find this show both amusing and cool at times... could you elaborate more on which scenes you're actually talking about?

All the scenes where Tatsuya is depicted as a grander being than the second coming of Christ. Nobody else knows or can do shit, unless they possess some skill just so that Tatsuya can humbly point it out and maybe even explain to the person themselves as they all know their own skills worse than Tatsuya, or using their own skill carelessly will create a situation that Tatsuya needs to suddenly appear to solve.

Plenty of such scenes in this episode, just like in every episode so far. They are well past the point where I'd get annoyed by them anymore. Instead watching this show feels like reading Baron Munchausen's exploits.

[Ryllharu]

Indeed.

"Oh, you're so dreamy, and it totally hasn't been obvious from the second episode that you are the legendary weapon designer, but also a master tuner, a super ninja, a genius at schoolwork, an excellent mediator, better than anti-terrorist police at their job, and even an expert cook!~♥~ Any shortcomings you might have...though I really can't think of any -♥-♥-♥-..are covered by your extreme intellect and undeniable skill. "

This is every girl in the entire show, and most of the boys.

I like badass main characters, but they have to be arrogant about it. When someone is emotionless and matter-of-fact that they are perfect at literally every thing they do or try, they come off insufferable. When they're assholes about how good they are, you look forward to enemies fighting them. Those types get pissed when they get shown up at something. They lose control, they start to slip up, it adds tension or uncertainty. Tatsuya's success is just a presumed outcome of any conflict of any kind. It makes the show boring.

His dry humor is his only saving grace.

The fake teacher who is actually an investigator (and of course she's a ninja too...) is just like Tatsuya, only she has some emotions. She comes off so fucking smug about everything she says, and it makes interactions between the two of them exponentially worse.

Honestly, the only thing I liked about this episode was Mizuki and Mayumi.

Mizuki is clearly lying about the extent of her abilities. Her eyes react before she even looks in the general direction of the classroom where he was practicing. It felt like she slipped up revealing that she could see colors in his magic at all. I'm not really sure why she's a Course 2 student. She seems like the type who should be doing what Tatsuya can do, since she can actually discern the subtle differences in magic through a feat similar to synesthesia. An ability without the conceit that Tatsuya has to have of being a super genius with a brain rivaling most super computer clusters, plotting out the effects and interaction in his head. Which makes less sense, because he really doesn't have an idea what kind of power output his opponent will be using to counter it appropriately. Mizuki actually can.

And Mayumi with the reveal from Suzune that Mayumi is trying to seduce Tatsuya using her magical ability. It's probably something she uses on a lot of people. Starts to make you wonder if she is in her position honorably. Moreover, she was slightly bummed about her seduction failing.

[Buffalobiian]

When someone is emotionless and matter-of-fact that they are perfect at literally every thing they do or try, they come off insufferable.

Funny when you say that, since in this episode he stated he doesn't have a heart to hate (?anymore). That goes along with the theory about how he's some sort of robot.


Mizuki is clearly lying about the extent of her abilities. Her eyes react before she even looks in the general direction of the classroom where he was practicing. It felt like she slipped up revealing that she could see colors in his magic at all. I'm not really sure why she's a Course 2 student. She seems like the type who should be doing what Tatsuya can do, since she can actually discern the subtle differences in magic through a feat similar to synesthesia. An ability without the conceit that Tatsuya has to have of being a super genius with a brain rivaling most super computer clusters, plotting out the effects and interaction in his head. Which makes less sense, because he really doesn't have an idea what kind of power output his opponent will be using to counter it appropriately. Mizuki actually can.

Course 1 is all about using magic. Speed, scale and strength essentially. If Mizuki is a master of perceiving magic but can't do much beyond that then she's in Course 2 for the same reason Tatsuya is (though he's got the polyvariable processing power that she doesn't).

As for beating Tatsuya as his own tasks, she might only take the lead an Anti-Spirit combat. Tatsuya can read activation sequences (and guess at the end partway perhaps) on the fly so he can take people out immediately via jamming or otherwise. Given that spirit magic relies on summoning however (which may or may not share the same activation spells), Mizuki's eyes would reveal more information than Tatsuya can gather.


And Mayumi with the reveal from Suzune that Mayumi is trying to seduce Tatsuya using her magical ability. It's probably something she uses on a lot of people. Starts to make you wonder if she is in her position honorably. Moreover, she was slightly bummed about her seduction failing.

I thought that was a joke.

[Dark Dragon]

This show is really boring to watch.

I don't really have an in-depth analysis as to why i don't like it.

I had trouble reading through the light novel volumes because of how boring the story is so i'd figure to give the anime a shot to see if that would be improved upon. So far, it really hasn't done anything that would warrant further viewing. I usually am a fan of the overpowered main character archetype, but Tatsuya does absolutely nothing to improve the story.

I'll probably give this one or two more episodes, but unless there's a sudden drastic improvement in the story i really can't see myself sticking with this for the full 26 episodes.

[shinta|hikari]

I actually think him being emotionless is a gigantic flaw. He said in this episode that his mother was the cause of his current personality, and that he has lost his emotions. He does not even defend himself until Miyuki steps in in any situation. He is indeed robotic, but that does not make him perfect. Since he is actually being criticized for it by the audience and characters, that makes him broken, at least at being human. If he had a refreshing and naturally nice personality on top of all his skills, then I would call him perfect.

Also, most of the characters are actually better than Tatsuya at something. Magicians are specialists. Miyuki can do a crap ton of things he can never do, and so can Katsuto (barriers), Mizuki (seeing spirit colors), etc. Saying that the rest of the characters are useless can wait until we actually see them in action. Erika, Leo, Katsuto and Kendo dude have already showed their prowess, in a much flashier fashion than Tatsuya ever has.

I do agree that there is no tension when it comes to Tatsuya's scenes. He is just too OP for that to exist. It is more of "how he will overcome the situation" instead of "if".

The seduction scene was a joke.

[Ryllharu]

I thought that was a joke.
The seduction scene was a joke.

Then that means this series is so fucking dull that I end up having to make up stories to make it interesting. That could have been a clever facet to her personality. Instead we can assume that everything in the series can be taken exactly at face value. How boring.


I'll probably give this one or two more episodes, but unless there's a sudden drastic improvement in the story i really can't see myself sticking with this for the full 26 episodes.And I can't see how a series this shitty has so many novels and deserves 26 episodes. What an absolute waste of Madhouse's talent. That this series gets 26 and their own other series NGNL is only 12 is a travesty.

Between Photokano, Mahou Sensou, and now this, Madhouse really has fallen quite far in recent seasons.

[Dark Dragon]

Madhouse is still doing great work with consistently quality.

I honestly don't know why this series got so popular, but apparently it's selling really well and that's pretty much the only thing that's going to matter when it comes to anime length.

A quick search brought up these sales number (http://forums.lndb.info/showthread.php?tid=54) from the end of last year. Mahouka was getting double the sales that NGNL was getting.

[shinta|hikari]

Putting aside all bias, I think I can answer that.

Anime popularity:
1) The art quality is high, and there are a lot of cute girls.
2) The protagonist is OP but hiding his powers, which is a very popular trope.
3) The fights are animated well.

If you are asking about the light novel:
1) The protagonist is OP but hiding his powers, which is a very popular trope.
2) There is a lot of exposition on the world and powers, which otaku seem to like because less developed LNs have little of that.
3) Incest.
4) It isn't as blatant with fanservice as other shounen light novels.
5) The illustrator draws good art.

NGNL is great but it is directed more towards hardcore anime fans. Half of the jokes or references you will not get if you only watch mainstream anime, like SnK, Fate, etc. The fanservice is also pretty extreme, and that turns off a lot of people. Also, the Mahouka story is more serious, while NGNL is a lot more comedic. Looking at the list in the link, the more serious stories sell more.

[Ryllharu]

Mahouka - 10 [HS] (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=562382)


I guess power corrupts.

---------------

It's more than a little disturbing in the fact that the students ensure that the driver of the crashing SUV is dead by attacking it to save themselves, when they had more than enough ability to stop it more gently. You can excuse the first three for having an abrupt panicked reaction. But the other three (including the uber-genius Tatsuya), make sure the driver is dead, except Miyuki would probably would have saved him if the other guy didn't smash it into a magic concrete wall.

Good Acceptable details:
- Yes, it was a suicide attack.
- Younger student and hotheads act too hastily.
- Additional lives were saved by swift action.

Bad Oversights:
- These are the best students the school has, since they're going on a competition trip.
- Tatsuya stops the magic buildup. Miyuki puts the fire out. Other guy (who we know has more control than that) simply smashes it.
- None of the students except Tatsuya knew it was a suicide attack during the act.
- The hasty students feel bad because they are embarrassed for acting hastily, not that they helped murder someone.
- No one on the bus is concerned that Tatsuya and the police are looking at a clearly a totaled vehicle and dead body within. Even Mari is only concerned about who cleaned up the stacked magic spells so the other two could act "safely".


It's also not so much that the main characters don't care someone just died, but that NONE of the students are even phased a little bit. Tatsuya and Miyuki not caring is fine. More than fine, I'd be pissed if she was upset. We know they're both capable of murder, and both have probably done so. Even the sword guy is fine, same deal. It's all the other girls and the clearly sheltered boys. None of the participants seemed phased that they turned what might have been just a really bad accident into a certain casualty.

It seems a lot more like all of the students get the same insight that only Tatsuya (or Mizuki) would have the ability to notice, and instantly all recognize it as a suicide attack and don't feel guilty in the least. Or they all instantly knew the driver was already dead, which is just as damning.

It's really bad writing.

[Buffalobiian]

What made you think Tatsuya ensured the driver died? He simply cancelled the shitstorm that was on the car so that other people could do what they thought was appropriate. I also do not remember Juumonji doing anything other than making magic walls.

And as for worrying about the driver, once emergency services show up it's in their hands.

And as you've said many times, they're students. Let the teachers handle all this.

[Ryllharu]

Uh, that driver is dead.

Spinning out and flipping over things (even having the vehicle catch on fire) is survivable. I've personally seen plenty over the side of the highway, stunned family looking on as their SUV becomes a burnt husk. Being brought from speed to dead stop in under a second is what does the killing.

Tatsuya cleared the mess the other three made so that Jumanji and Miyuki could act. Miyuki acted in such a way that she could have helped save the driver, but crashing into the equivalent of a concrete wall instead of slowly stopping him (which we know he can do) is all Jumanji's fault. Tatsuya is certainly better than that. He invented flight just last episode ffs. He's the master of controlled simple actions like slowing down a sliding car.

(yes, I am misspelling his name on purpose)

[fireheart]

Thought the most interesting part was the knowledge that you can lose your magic, didn't think you could lose it. Also that was one weird speech.

I'm guessing most magician is connected to the military in some way or at the very least every school considering they're staying at a military facility which can to some extent explain nobody caring about the driver dying.

[Buffalobiian]

crashing into the equivalent of a concrete wall instead of slowly stopping him (which we know he can do) is all Jumanji's fault.

Again, have you ever seen him stop something slowly?

[Kraco]

Can't anything in this show happen without Tatsuya being involved? I'm getting bloody sick of it. Was he patrolling outside the bath so that nobody would sneak in to look at Miyuki, or something? It's like he can do shadow clone to be able to be everywhere at once to save everybody's day.

[David75]

Can't anything in this show happen without Tatsuya being involved? I'm getting bloody sick of it. Was he patrolling outside the bath so that nobody would sneak in to look at Miyuki, or something? It's like he can do shadow clone to be able to be everywhere at once to save everybody's day.

He seems to have fairly precise and long range full 3D radar sensing that even works through matter.
I would not be that suprised if his range greater than the surface occupied by the facility there.
So he had some time to come to the right place the moment the thieves appered on his radar.

The other option is that he was observing the guy with his spirits manipulation and was able to extrapolate his thoughts from the way his powers shifted when he felt the thieves...

[deathnightwc3]

Can anyone explain to me why, during the banquet, he was wearing a class 1 uniform? I thought he didn't care about that sort of thing.

[Buffalobiian]

Can anyone explain to me why, during the banquet, he was wearing a class 1 uniform? I thought he didn't care about that sort of thing.

It's either an animation error, or the school did it so that it doesn't stir up a commotion amongst other schools etc.

As for Tatsuya being on the case, he got warned by his military superior and was also attacked as recently as that afternoon. Given his perceptiveness, intelligence and resourcefulness you would totally expect him to find these guys.

[Ryllharu]

He also had the Class 1 emblem during the Representative Ceremony the last episode on his special jacket. It's probably safe to assume it was intentional.

[shinta|hikari]

I liked Erika's comment about Tatsuya. She actually likes him being cold, which is quite interesting, because in anime, being cold is almost always a negative thing, especially without the dere follow up.

She basically liked the fact that Tatsuya didn't give a damn about her, and that shows just how twisted these magicians and their upbringing are.

[Buffalobiian]

I liked Erika's comment about Tatsuya. She actually likes him being cold, which is quite interesting, because in anime, being cold is almost always a negative thing, especially without the dere follow up.

She basically liked the fact that Tatsuya didn't give a damn about her, and that shows just how twisted these magicians and their upbringing are.

I wish my apparently coldness would be appreciated that way.

I am told that I need to empathise and respond to emotions more during client interactions, but it feels so damn patronising sometimes.

[Kraco]

As for Tatsuya being on the case, he got warned by his military superior and was also attacked as recently as that afternoon. Given his perceptiveness, intelligence and resourcefulness you would totally expect him to find these guys.

Yeah, I'm not actually wondering how he could be there, but rather why he needed to be there. Would it totally break this show if somebody else could just once solve a minor case without Tatsuya being involved? Like maybe Tatsuya could arrive afterwards, if absolutely necessary, and the other person could just report that something suspicious was going on but he took care of it. Then Tatsuya could again enlighten us with his omniscience, explaining what exactly was going on.

I was also wondering about Tatsuya's uniform. I guess the tolerance for having a Course 2 magician in the crew only goes so far... Tatsuya personally probably prefers this way as he doesn't really care about the whole courses thing, but looking like Course 1 would attract less attention to him during this sports meeting.

[lelouch]

Looks like Kururugi Suzaku decided to have another go at high school.

[deathnightwc3]

I read the manga till it got to this episode. They did skip over the explanation about it, it was mentioned in the manga. Though it wasn't translated so I can only guess what it was about. I hope we get an explanation, since they took the first couple episodes to tell us that it was considered a big deal to wear class 1 school uniform.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Looks like Kururugi Suzaku decided to have another go at high school.

I'm glad someone else thought this guy looked way too much like Suzaku.

[Kraco]

I'm glad someone else thought this guy looked way too much like Suzaku.

Someone else? There was somebody who didn't? Too bad Tatsuya isn't more like Lelouch. Miyuki could also use some C.C. qualities instead of being 100% pure distilled brocon.

[lelouch]

Someone else? There was somebody who didn't? Too bad Tatsuya isn't more like Lelouch. Miyuki could also use some C.C. qualities instead of being 100% pure distilled brocon.

Those two changes are exactly what would bring this show from a B to an A.

----

Edit: yeah ryll you're right, more like d+ to b

[Ryllharu]

I think you mean from a D+ to a B.

[KrayZ33]

Too bad Tatsuya isn't more like Lelouch

A Lelouch is just as bad as a Suzaku

A C.C. is fine though
however the show is Kuudere enough without her and you can't make bad shows better by making them look like some other bad show, you sillies

[deathnightwc3]

Episode 11 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=564631)

I felt like this episode, like the last one, was pretty meh. I'm hoping we get to see some action before too long. Though it was nice to see how skilled some of the council members are.

[Kraco]

Though it was nice to see how skilled some of the council members are.

It's just fricking stupid the others from Tatsuya's school were so overpowering as well (the girls anyway, since the guys would need to fight Suzaku v2 and lose). How did the opponents even get to attend this sports meeting if they suck so much? Maybe the author can't really write close calls and is thus saving all of his creativity for the inevitable Tatsuya vs Suzaku clone fight. Like the speed shooting: 100 vs 30. Come on. The opponent had no business being there. They were even made to fall on their knees in humiliation after losing.

I just realised that since this is a two-cour show, the next season will have two shows to watch only to enjoy badmouthing them.

[deathnightwc3]

They should of showed some of their members losing to balance it out since, like you said, they seem way too overpowered. I'm going to assume that since we saw them win all their matches that they showed us, we'll see them lose in the next one.

[Ryllharu]

How did Miyuki even know that Mayumi's [arbitrarily german] technique was "faster than last years"? Obviously the military is there, but it looks like it is mostly students in the stands. Is this even televised?

The incredibly dull explanations about Mari's techniques was completely worthless and unnecessary. I would understand the other competitions, they're practical applications. Mari is on a surf board. I can't think of a single thing where that would be useful outside that event itself. The explanation about Kanon's abilities was completely half-assed, Mayumi's non-existent (admittedly, I don't think it merited it), but we get a 3 minute exposition about every move Mari makes for her commanding lead...
There were plenty of other things that could have used a 30 explanation (how the tournament works, is it televised, the overall scoring, how any of the games are played, etc.), but no, we get that shit instead.

I find it also interesting to note that we still have no fucking clue what type of magic Mayumi uses.

@Kraco: I assume the schools are ranked. 1st being the most prestigious, 2nd and 3rd and so on down the line. All the good students are at the 1st school. Perhaps the Weeds at 1st would be Course One students anywhere else.

The dumbest part this episode was the fake drama about them wondering if they'll win overall. The stats are pretty clear, they lead by double as it stands (170 - 80). Why are they even worried?!

[lelouch]

A Lelouch is just as bad as a Suzaku

A C.C. is fine though
however the show is Kuudere enough without her and you can't make bad shows better by making them look like some other bad show, you sillies

I'm guilty of just wanting another Code Geass series to emerge.

My guess is Tatsuya will have to step out from his engineering role and compete to save the day for FHS.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm guilty of just wanting another Code Geass series to emerge.

My guess is Tatsuya will have to step out from his engineering role and compete to save the day for FHS.

It sounded like he'd demolish the Male Pillar Breaking if he just used one of this military class spells.


The incredibly dull explanations about Mari's techniques was completely worthless and unnecessary. I would understand the other competitions, they're practical applications. Mari is on a surf board. I can't think of a single thing where that would be useful outside that event itself. The explanation about Kanon's abilities was completely half-assed, Mayumi's non-existent (admittedly, I don't think it merited it), but we get a 3 minute exposition about every move Mari makes for her commanding lead..

Well I suppose thing there is to tell is Mari's strength is in multi-casting as opposed to single-spell ownage that is easily seen with the others. I see this as a sports competition of sorts so surfing really isn't a problem for me.

By comparison, not knowing how Mayumi's magic works is nothing compared to not knowing how Tatsuya gets to use wallhacks.

[Kraco]

@Kraco: I assume the schools are ranked. 1st being the most prestigious, 2nd and 3rd and so on down the line. All the good students are at the 1st school. Perhaps the Weeds at 1st would be Course One students anywhere else.


And so they organize this event to make the students of the other schools, especially those below the first two (since I'd initially assume Suzaku goes to the second. Maybe it was even told, but I don't remember), to feel even more miserable? I don't really see how the student council president, who doesn't seem like an evil person based on her behavior in earlier eps, would enjoy competing against people as weak as her opponents were. She should feel embarrassed afterwards. It was like a pro going all out against an amateur or an adult against a child.

But I suppose if Suzaku makes a dark horse of some lower school, it could shake the system a bit. As hard as it would be to cheer somebody looking like him, I still hope he will make the 1st school suffer as much as possible. Maybe he even has a few friends who can do the same!

[Ryllharu]

I see this as a sports competition of sorts so surfing really isn't a problem for me.
That's the problem. It most definitely is not a sports competition, hasn't been portrayed that way, and most of the other events have clear military applications.

These are military schools. Spies from other nations watching this (and I'm sure they are) are meant to get a feel on how strong Japan is, and how strong they will be in the near future.

[Kraco]

It's still a sports competition. There are no military contests worth mentioning (unless you count wars as such). They are competing with their skills, agility, strength, and stamina. If that's not a sports competition, I don't know what is. Clearly this is not a lan party where dudes like Tatsuya would be sitting in front of computer terminals competing in who can reprogram devices the fastest. Instead we have people competing very much physically (and mentally in a very physically taxing way) and the support working to make sure the equipment is in perfect shape, just like in winter olympics.

[Ryllharu]

The Olympics (except maybe the biathlon and Modern pentathlon) don't have events simulating rapidly firing at a normally overwhelming number of targets, smashing/defending building supports or other targets before your opponent can do the same, Miyuki's event of slashing at mid-air targets (seen in eps 8) and...surfboard race.

One of those events is out of place.

[Kraco]

Come on, you aren't that stiff. The first (modern) olympics didn't have all the sports they have these days, either, and had others not present now. I imagine 50 years from now something might have changed as well. Obviously these mages have the kind of activity that suit mages. They aren't normal athletes so it would be stupid to make them compete (only) in the kind of events familiar to us. Also, olympics have lots of shooting sports. In the first place I mentioned winter olympics only to demonstrate how big sport events have the athletes themselves and then the background support personnel, because that's exactly what we have here as well.

The surfboard race isn't out of place at all in my opinion. Even if the events in general were reflecting some skills of military potential, it's still not so weird, especially in a place like Japan with lots of water. Especially when nobody but Tatsuya ever invested two thoughts in flying. Grab a piece of whatever and cross water at high speed. Seems handy.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 12 480p (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=566792)

------------------------------









Flustered Mari.. <3

The Active Air Mine was so overpowering, I can see how it's anticlimatic. I guess some would argue the same about this show.

The funniest thing here is watching Tatsuya's "harem" develop with Miyuki's approval.

On a less positive note though... noticing broken ribs then telling paramedics what to do? Does battle experience play into this? Or does his X-ray vision extend to clothes/bodies as well? Wonder if Miyuki knows about this :P

[Kraco]

On a less positive note though... noticing broken ribs then telling paramedics what to do? Does battle experience play into this? Or does his X-ray vision extend to clothes/bodies as well? Wonder if Miyuki knows about this :P

I don't think he really needed to tell paramedics, that is, professionals, anything, but I suppose it's possible he arrived first and being so full of himself he naturally instructed them. Just like the advices everybody.

Pretty funny it's once again all up to Tatsuya to undercover foul play. The organizers and the hired professionals monitoring the events are doing nothing, as expected. The only one who can do anything is Tatsuya. While he's also checking everybody's equipment and even building them totally new ones. I wonder if anybody even asked the accelerating surfer girl what happened and checked her CAD. You'd think that would be the first thing to do, considering she didn't die and the device probably didn't get destroyed.

I have to say I don't remember when I last time saw as unexciting competition arc in any anime.

[Ryllharu]

The hoops the author jumps through to fabricate even the semblance of a plot for this episode is astounding. He's basically fabricating tension (by the loosest definition) so Tatsuya can solve it immediately. Worse, he calls in specialists in their fields to confirm things he already knows...

How is this series popular?! There is no tension, no conflict that can't be optimally resolved by Tatsuya, and the sub-plots are ridiculous and strain plausibility.

[lelouch]

It's times like these when I wonder, considering all of the shit anime that comes out each season, how hard is it exactly to get your storyboard animated? I seriously think if we brainstormed here on GW on a storyline for an anime, it would be better than most of the shit that comes out each season lately.

[Kraco]

It's times like these when I wonder, considering all of the shit anime that comes out each season, how hard is it exactly to get your storyboard animated? I seriously think if we brainstormed here on GW on a storyline for an anime, it would be better than most of the shit that comes out each season lately.

Mahouka is based on a popular series of light novels, like great many other anime. The studio is betting on the existing fanbase to be interested in the anime and, on the other hand, an anime is always a big boost for the LN sales. It's either that or a manga or a game (VN included) adaptation. Sometimes the studios try to be artistically more ambitious and animate an original story. But those are usually written, I believe, by established names in the industry. Animating foreign material is quite rare, all in all, even if you count old titles like the World Masterpiece Theater, which was a long series of foreign book adaptations.

If you have read any LN translations, you know they are very much worth the word "light". At first I didn't quite understand why in "Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou" the main dude was wondering if he could read the real novels the bookworm main girl was recommending, but then I thought back to the shitty writing LNs are so proud of and how uncomplicated most manga and anime plots are, and it all made sense. If the studios tried to animate anything decent, a big bulk of the otaku audience couldn't understand what's going on, even with all the fricking recaps and flashbacks. These folks aren't looking for a plot.

[lelouch]

If the studios tried to animate anything decent, a big bulk of the otaku audience couldn't understand what's going on, even with all the fricking recaps and flashbacks. These folks aren't looking for a plot.

Not necessarily true. Look at the success of series like Shin Sekai Yori, Code Geass, Death Note, etc... All have very complicated plots.

[shinta|hikari]

Shin Sekai was based off an award winning novel (not light), Death Note was based off a popular manga, and Code Geass was an original that luckily people liked.

Some light novels are popular and already have a large fanbase, therefore guaranteeing sales, and also increases the sales of the LN after the anime comes out. Kraco is saying that LNs have sub par plots despite selling well, and honestly most of them do.

But then we have Fate Zero.

Also, a story plot can only be so complex. Execution is what matters. If you are still being surprised or entertained by plot developments or twists at this point, you have not encountered enough fiction.

[KrayZ33]

How is this series popular?! There is no tension, no conflict that can't be optimally resolved by Tatsuya, and the sub-plots are ridiculous and strain plausibility.

arn't most LN made for kids...

the primary (!) audience are middle and high schoolers right? yes of course there are older people reading that stuff but thats not the target audience
its hard to guess for me what a middle schooler wants to read, in fact I'm suprised that they'd bother to read anything at all
so of course the novels are written so they can be easily understood and of course there arn't to many/deep plot twists, because thats not necessarily what a kid/young adult wants to read.

it wants a cool/funny character, a harem so it can self insert and stuff.
its probably why certain series sell well, even though we think they are ridiculous inferior to other shows/LNs

I can't really get to like this show myself, I watched it for some badass moments because the first episode looked interesting but my interest dropped pretty fast when that oni-sama bullshit kept going on and on

meh, what can I say, a kid's show meant for kids is probably not designed to fit my expectations
for this show it's like watching spongebob, I'm wating for the jokes kids won't understand
like this one 1680
even though this show has pretty much zero of that if you get what I mean... well my 2 cents

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 13 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=569082)

-----------------------












It's pretty funny watching these matches. Even if I don't understand all the magic, the stuff Tatsuya comes up with (be it strategies or magic) are so effective you'd want to call it cheating.

From what I gather, Tatsuya is powerful enough to dispose of his aunt but he must be in school to make connections so that he's got the peer support for when he does overrule the Yotsuba family.

[Kraco]

I thought Suzaku knew Tatsuya already from shared history, being his eternal rival or even an enemy of some manner, but now it looks like he wasn't even aware of Tatsuya's existence before this sports event. I'm kind of disappointed, no matter how though Suzaku turns out to be. Because, if we are honest, for Tatsuya this whole championship is nothing but pastime and child's play. In other words, it would create a pretty meaningless sense of rivalry between them. So, we are left with the aunt as the ultimate opponent, and we have never even seen her nor any of her direct actions, save for Tatsuya's ambiguous situation.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 14 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=571585)


-----------------------------------
















Well finally! After all the buildup to the inevitable fact that Tatsuya will compete, he finally does. Prince and Prodigy may work well as a team, but Tatsuya can take them on himself since he excels in both their fields. That basically means First School has an extra player to use if the others are matched evenly.

I also need to see Miyuki just own the Mirage Bat contest.

[lelouch]

What kind of scumbag tournament is this? Did Tatsuya really just take on two team members who aren't even on the team? Is there no registration process? Are the officials doing nothing about a clearly cheated scenario? What kind of fuckface crime ring bets on HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS? Do they not have college or professional in Japan?

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, dropped.

I can only bother to watch one shitty, undeservedly popular, overhyped LN adaptation per season, and SAO is a masterpiece compared to this garbage.

[Buffalobiian]

What kind of scumbag tournament is this? Did Tatsuya really just take on two team members who aren't even on the team? Is there no registration process? Are the officials doing nothing about a clearly cheated scenario? What kind of fuckface crime ring bets on HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS? Do they not have college or professional in Japan?

Said officials are currently shitting themselves because their competition has been compromised and they don't know by what. Basically anything goes now while they try to be "fair" to the team that got sabotaged.

I don't know if highschool sports is as high profile as the others in Japan.

The Nine Schools Competition is basically a mini-Olympics right now.

[lelouch]

and SAO is a masterpiece compared to this garbage.

SAO is a masterpiece, period, in terms of emotion-grabbing high-quality visual entertainment.


Said officials are currently shitting themselves because their competition has been compromised and they don't know by what. Basically anything goes now while they try to be "fair" to the team that got sabotaged.

I don't know if highschool sports is as high profile as the others in Japan.

The Nine Schools Competition is basically a mini-Olympics right now.

Yeah..fuck this show.

[Ryllharu]

SAO is a masterpiece, period, in terms of emotion-grabbing high-quality visual entertainment.
You need to watch more than like...six series. You don't even have to have watch anything outside of 2011 to know how wrong you are.

[lelouch]

You need to watch more than like...six series. You don't even have to have watch anything outside of 2011 to know how wrong you are.

I've seen close to 60... What do you recommend?

[shinta|hikari]

Ryll is right. You need to watch a bit more to be able to have a fair grasp of what is out there.

That said, I do not think SAO is bad, nor is this show. People just have a tendency to bash on things they do not like, and exaggerate as if it was the worst ever or something. SAO or this really is not, and my words at least have some weight having seen 1300+ anime titles, including the horrible ones.

[lelouch]

Ryll is right. You need to watch a bit more to be able to have a fair grasp of what is out there.

That said, I do not think SAO is bad, nor is this show. People just have a tendency to bash on things they do not like, and exaggerate as if it was the worst ever or something. SAO or this really is not, and my words at least have some weight having seen 1300+ anime titles, including the horrible ones.

1300+? I didn't know there were more than 100 good titles that existed. Do you watch literally everything that came out in the past decade? I don't watch stuff like Fruits Basket or that "slice of life" shit... I also don't watch "anime comedies", because I don't find japanese humor to be funny..

Mind PMing me your favorite 30 that are similar to Gundam Seed / SAO / AoT / Code Geass / Death Note / Shin Sekai Yori?

[shinta|hikari]

1300+? I didn't know there were more than 100 good titles that existed. Do you watch literally everything that came out in the past decade?

2 decades, but not much yaoi/shounen ai, or kid oriented shows (whatever-mon, authentic magical girl shows). I have to admit I have been missing more in the past few years since I started reading VNs in Japanese. VNs are (absolutely worthy) time sinks.


Mind PMing me your favorite 30 that are similar to Gundam Seed / SAO / AoT / Code Geass / Death Note / Shin Sekai Yori?

Click my sig. Just skip through the ones not in your genre preference. The ones up to Very Good should be at least worth trying.

[Kraco]

Episode 15 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=574206)




- - - - - - - - - -




If the Third School won the match, even if barely, I would reevaluate this show (well, not really, but in spirit). In any case this episode felt a bit better with the dangerous opponent looming on the horizon. I guess Tatsuya will still beat them just by being Tatsuya, and to be honest Suzaku won't ever make the most exciting opponent (since it's impossible to take him seriously, especially after the over the top blatant I'm invincible and can beat the opposing team all alone scene). Forgetting the inconsequential action, the sole meaningful scene of the episode must have been Miyuki calling somebody else a brocon. Looks like this show can laugh at itself, after all.

Saturday truly is the best day of the anime week: First SAO, then Mahouka. Nothing can go wrong with these two shows airing back to back!

[KrayZ33]

ep 15 was refreshing, the matches so far were decent enough, sure thing, they steamrolled them, but it felt like they were playing paintball / a PvP game... it was cool to watch. The one thing I liked in particular was when they opened the monolith from 1 level above where it was actually located and the guy defending it barged in trying to defend it.

The 2 girls being happy about them winning was cute too.

[lelouch]

I feel like they rushed the battles. They could have easily dragged each one out for maybe half an episode to an episode, instilling the same gravitas we felt in the chuunin exams. They'll probably save it for the final match, but there's no reason they couldn't have made the earlier matches more exciting given the potential. This combat challenge is certainly more exciting than speed shooting or pillars break.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 16 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=577164), Episode 17 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=580148)

-----------------------------------------









Miyuki's episode rocked. Her happy face and ignorance with the whole dodgy thing really gives you a sense of danger that isn't there when Tatsuya's on the line instead. Tatsuya getting angry's just icing on the cake (and even if he's just as competent angry or not), it gives a sense of gravity towards the whole issue.

Tatsuya's got his auto-heal, but until the episode finished I thought Miyuki could have been sniped out of the air. As for his feelings for Miyuki being the only 'natural' thing left, right now it could be interpreted as either Tatsuya referring to himself having undergone psychological conditioning or physical modification.

The incest really invites some wonderful interactions that are rarely seen in anime. You have the more lovey-dovey ones in Shoujo, but for for a close bond without the bickering that comes with the usual hothead and/or tsundere girl (Erika/Leon) this is quite the treat.

No Head Dragon has some pretty stupid betting going on though. They're the bank. Just do what banks usually do and put low rates on the obvious winners. Instead they must have thought they'd earn some extra cash by increasing the rates on First High then actively interfering with the results. If you're not smart enough to do that and get away with it, then it sucks to be you.

[Kraco]

No Head Dragon has some pretty stupid betting going on though. They're the bank. Just do what banks usually do and put low rates on the obvious winners. Instead they must have thought they'd earn some extra cash by increasing the rates on First High then actively interfering with the results. If you're not smart enough to do that and get away with it, then it sucks to be you.

No, I don't think they were stupid at all. If all the bets (in the case they were worried about) had to be placed before the games began, then based on history the default ratios must have been against betting for First School. This means that if a shady mafia unit placed all of its money on something else, those ratios would return high profits should First School lose. Let's not forget No Head Dragon would have likely succeeded without anybody having any proof whatsoever if Tatsuya hadn't been there. It's kind of difficult to prepare for an anonymous super hyper mega ultra genius among your opponents.

[lelouch]

It's kind of difficult to prepare for an anonymous super hyper mega ultra genius among your opponents.

Queue @Ryll to denounce Tatsuya as just lucky, not a genius at all.

I overall enjoyed this episode, especially the brief scene where the modified human guy tries to make his first assassination and gets owned. I really have a problem with all the incest shit though. Who writes this, and WHY? I just don't understand the point. It's not cool or fun to watch, it's gross and weird.

[Buffalobiian]

Who writes this, and WHY? I just don't understand the point. It's not cool or fun to watch, it's gross and weird.

It's very cool and fun to watch. It's awesome and it works.

The point is that you get a never-ending harem, but at the same time you get the full-blown clingy relationship. Neither terminates because the harem can't beat the sister, while the sister is invalid. You get the never-ending best of both worlds.

And really, if you get along with your sister then isn't she like the best childhood friend you could ever have? Characters get all flustered about sharing a roof with the other sex, so anime logic is that if they live like this they'd totally fuck.

[Kraco]

In the beginning I was hoping they were just close due to past events, then I hoped the incest wouldn't progress any further, but now I don't care anymore. I actually find funny the scenes where they get all mushy with each other, and one of their friends cracks a joke about it.

Besides, Tatsuya is broken as a human. Maybe not as broken as the Generator assassin, but not too far away, and I got the feeling he was made that way on purpose, likely by the family itself. Although there's also the possibility he was dying and it was the only way to save him (if that's the case, then it was to save Miyuki, no doubt). It seems like he can only feel anything for Miyuki, so I find it kind of sympathetic she's trying to grant him all kinds of feelings. It would be better if she wasn't so willing and eager to commit incest, but would be doing it nonetheless for Tatsuya's sake, to keep him a bit more human. In fact that would have been a novel element in fiction for me, I think.

[Buffalobiian]

The beginning of this show made it sound like Tatsuya went to war in her stead or something like that. That's how I interpreted it anyway.. as if somehow his fighting allowed her to live (and he ended up sacrificing much of himself in the process).

[Ryllharu]

How the fuck are people still watching this show.
I don't think nine words could sum up my thoughts so easily.

[KrayZ33]

Ep -16+ is why. Kept up with it for scenes like that, wasn't disappointed - liked it. Tatsuya wasn't the only one that got to shine during these fights, I enjoyed watching that.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 18 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=582909)


----------------------------------












lol @ Juumonji saying "Saegusa, she'll do".

[Kraco]

lol @ Juumonji saying "Saegusa, she'll do".

It was a pretty accurate judgement, wasn't it? But of course he could have named any girl not already in a relationship, since they are all falling for Tatsuya...

[Buffalobiian]

It was a pretty accurate judgement, wasn't it? But of course he could have named any girl not already in a relationship, since they are all falling for Tatsuya...

It just happens that she likes him, so I wouldn't even call it "judgement". He would have compared single-status, age, social rank etc but neither Tatsuya's nor Saegusa's preferences were considered at all. That made it all the funnier.

[shinta|hikari]

Just to point out what might have been dropped in translation.

When they were making the analogy between Tatsuya and weapons, it was supposed to be strategic nuclear missile. I'm not sure if strategic missiles are always nuclear though.

[Buffalobiian]

Just to point out what might have been dropped in translation.

When they were making the analogy between Tatsuya and weapons, it was supposed to be strategic nuclear missile. I'm not sure if strategic missiles are always nuclear though.

They don't have to be, but usually are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercontinental_ballistic_missile

[lelouch]

Wait wtf did I miss something? Where was the battle between Tatsuya and Suzaku? Did I like skip an episode?

[shinta|hikari]

What do you think..?

[lelouch]

I don't know I can't find the episode! Which one was it? And what the hell when did Jumanji get on the monolith code team? Was this also in that episode?

[shinta|hikari]

No one posted the episode with the battle (17). Google it.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't know I can't find the episode! Which one was it? And what the hell when did Jumanji get on the monolith code team? Was this also in that episode?

There's the rookie monolith team, and the other monolith team. Tatsuya's one was the rookie team.

[lelouch]

No one posted the episode with the battle (17). Google it.


Uhmm... no that's Miyuki's mirage bat battle?

[shinta|hikari]

Then 16? Seriously, it does not take much to find an episode you missed. Going through the trouble of posting here versus googling it, the choice is obvious.

[lelouch]

Then 16? Seriously, it does not take much to find an episode you missed. Going through the trouble of posting here versus googling it, the choice is obvious.

*** it was a reasonable question especially considering I didn't realize I skipped it and this show being weird. I didn't know if the monolith code that was playing in the background during Tatsuya's army meeting was like the match.


*** - uncivil remarks removed. Buff.

[Kraco]

No episode was skipped in this thread (at least of late), but nobody just talked about the fight (ep 16). What's there to talk about? Just another episode of Tatsuya beating an opponent while using 20% of his real power, at max, as the latest episode so nicely demonstrated. I suppose there was a little good in there as well since his carefully selected team mates actually performed well and believably. Suzaku, however, acted just as stupidly as expected. He wasn't using his real power either, but unlike Tatsuya, he didn't try to make up for the handicap by being smart. Surprise surprise. I suppose Tatsuya was actually truly smart by purposefully struggling so much for the benefit of fooling the audience. There are already lots of suspicious people, so a little theatrics were in order, instead of one-shotting Suzaku with his weaker hand and eyes closed.

[shinta|hikari]

Get your dick out of your ass bro it was a reasonable question especially considering I didn't realize I skipped it and this show being weird. I didn't know if the monolith code that was playing in the background during Tatsuya's army meeting was like the match.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a jerk. I am just tired of people asking for stuff they can get another way much easier. I didn't mean nor want to attack you in particular. It is just a pet peeve of mine.

That said, I did say my complaints in a civilized fashion, so "Get your dick out of your ass" is sort of an exaggerated reply.

@Kraco - Can Tatsuya one shot Ichijo? Didn't he say (in a monologue) before that he was not sure if he could definitely win even if they were in real combat, which I assume has no limiters?

[Buffalobiian]

Ichijo also had a delayed response since he was shocked that he had killed Tatsuya with his attack. What it comes down to is that Ichijo is still green.

[Kraco]

@Kraco - Can Tatsuya one shot Ichijo? Didn't he say (in a monologue) before that he was not sure if he could definitely win even if they were in real combat, which I assume has no limiters?

True, possibly not since lethal force, or even force that grievously wounds, would be banned in the competition, naturally. In a lethal fight I'm sure he could have one-shotted Suzaku, provided Suzaku is always that stupidly single-mindedly trusting in his own power and invinsibility, but it's likely Tatsuya would have been hard-pressed to one-shot him with absolute certainty no lasting damage would be done. Such a thing would be quite challenging, after all.

If he was wondering if he could win in a real fight, it was nothing but modesty.

[fireheart]

I don't believe for a second that Tatsuya can't one-shot Suzaku, if the comparison with weapons are correct and Tatsuya is at the level of a strategic nuclear missile there's no reason he can't. Also how do you not get one-shotted by wall hax with sniping capabilities, dispersing substances at molecular level, cheat cast, near instant regeneration, cast jamming, super engineer/spell inventing genius, ninja + whatever Material Burst is? I mean just Flash Cast and Tatuya is broken OP, able to remember any spell and then cast it without using a CAD or a sequence?

[lelouch]

I just hope Season 2 isn't another orgyfest of how Tatsuya is just more OP than every character in the series combined. Would be nice to see him go all out and have some suspense.

[Buffalobiian]

Tatsuya was unsure about taking out Ichijou because they were on an open field. If he was sneaking around that would have been another story.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I just hope Season 2 isn't another orgyfest of how Tatsuya is just more OP than every character in the series combined. Would be nice to see him go all out and have some suspense.
Really? That is the whole point of this show, isn't it?
At this point, I just want to see even more of how ridiculously overpowered he is.

[Kraco]

Considering he has lost all feelings save for those for his sister, the only way to build suspense would be Miyuki getting kidnapped or threatened in some serious manner. Otherwise Tatsuya remains robotic and doesn't care about anything, his own life probably included, which isn't good for suspense. Still, this story doesn't seem to bother itself with such things, either by choice or by the author's inability, so I guess it goes down MasterOfMoogles's route: It's an arc after arc Tatsuya owning everybody without even trying. Or if he's trying, it's trying to hide a bit of his power while beating everybody and their cousins for good measure.

[Buffalobiian]

He is already capable of taking down the Yostubas, who are the strongest family of magicians. There's not a lot left in Japan that he can't handle with force.

And as for Miyuki, this episode suggested that she gives him a powerup if anything.

Tatsuya is cautious. If he doesn't have a way to beat someone, he will by the time he meets them. If not, he doesn't meet them.

[Kraco]

He is already capable of taking down the Yostubas, who are the strongest family of magicians. There's not a lot left in Japan that he can't handle with force.

That's assuming a lot. The Yotsuba should know exactly how strong Tatsuya is and if he has any weaknesses (Miyuki included, but it's unlikely they would do anything to her, considering she's a Yotsuba as well). However, as long as the Yotsuba don't give Miyuki too much reason to rebel, everything will go smoothly for the family. After all, Tatsuya is devoid of feelings, which means he won't feel ambition, regret, envy, greed, or anything that would make him a danger, as long as Miyuki is relatively content.


And as for Miyuki, this episode suggested that she gives him a powerup if anything.

No, she simply gives him motivation when normally he has none. Well, I guess that's actually a powerup, yeah.


Tatsuya is cautious. If he doesn't have a way to beat someone, he will by the time he meets them. If not, he doesn't meet them.

That's why Miyuki is his weakness. I suspect the mafia would have used Miyuki against him had they realised their enemy was more or less one dude. But they never realised it until the last moment, and then it was too late already as Tatsuya left no witnesses, at least none that he knew of. It ought to be pretty dangerous to normally operate calmly, cautiously, and logically, like a robot, but then suddenly be left at the mercy of emotions if Miyuki got involved. He should operate then worse than a normal human who always has to deal with emotions. But this story being what it is, I kind of doubt Tatsuya would ever need to face dire circumstances.

[Buffalobiian]

That's assuming a lot. The Yotsuba should know exactly how strong Tatsuya is and if he has any weaknesses (Miyuki included, but it's unlikely they would do anything to her, considering she's a Yotsuba as well). However, as long as the Yotsuba don't give Miyuki too much reason to rebel, everything will go smoothly for the family. After all, Tatsuya is devoid of feelings, which means he won't feel ambition, regret, envy, greed, or anything that would make him a danger, as long as Miyuki is relatively content.

Tatsuya has already stated that he has no trouble taking out their aunt and the rest of the resisting Yotsuba. The only reason he hasn't done so already is because he won't be able to rule over them nor gain the acceptance of the other families with his current standing.

Miyuki herself also supports her brother's revolt because she believes they've mistreated him.

[Kraco]

Tatsuya has already stated that he has no trouble taking out their aunt and the rest of the resisting Yotsuba. The only reason he hasn't done so already is because he won't be able to rule over them nor gain the acceptance of the other families with his current standing.

Yeah, and he's only certain he can do it because he's a fricking high schooler. Besides, that reason is as good as any preventing him from doing it. It also shows he lacks emotions that he states he could slaughter his own family yet doesn't do it because he couldn't control the clan afterwards. It's also quite possible the country would see him, and Miyuki, dead, if he toppled Yotsuba. Would he destroy Japan next, then? It's anything but an easy situation, and appropriately his mind of a robot will hold him back. Perhaps Miyuki would like to see especially his situation made better, but there's no easy way to do it. But there would be easy ways to make the situation even worse. Only in a very naive story someone too powerful is gladly suffered by the surroundings. Tatsuya's mere existence would make him no end of enemies if he made his real power known by destroying Yotsuba. And there's no way he could protect Miyuki from everything if enough enemies appeared.

[shinta|hikari]

This will all depend on Miyuki. I think that Maya believes she can be controlled, but she does not know the extent of the brocon that she has. I think Miyuki is willing to sacrifice everyone in the world including herself for Tatsuya and vice versa.

Siblings or not, it is a very abnormal relationship.

I don't think Tatsuya will rebel anytime soon. IIRC, he mentioned that he wanted to go through high school with Miyuki so she can experience it. It would be hard to do that if he had to hide himself and kill the Yotsuba one by one. I'm pretty sure he will not survive if they gang up on him. The Yotsuba would not be feared by that old dude if they weren't worth their salt.

Also, is he really totally emotionless? There were a lot of scenes that implied otherwise. Sure, he only feels very strongly when Miyuki is involved, but that does not mean he does not feel irked, pleased, or melancholic, albeit in a far lesser extent than normal humans.

[lelouch]

Only in this show can a high school kid blow a hole through an expensive hotel and murder all of its inhabitants on domestic soil and have authorities be totally cool with it.

[Kraco]

Also, is he really totally emotionless? There were a lot of scenes that implied otherwise. Sure, he only feels very strongly when Miyuki is involved, but that does not mean he does not feel irked, pleased, or melancholic, albeit in a far lesser extent than normal humans.

Impossible to say. Like you said yourself, he wants to give Miyuki a relatively normal high school life. Keeping that in mind, anything that could endanger that rather broad concept could invoke his feelings since Miyuki would be affected. He's living with her and sticking to her, and vice versa, so he ought to be experiencing emotions plentifully enough. Even during this tournament he probably wanted Miyuki to experience winning as a team member so he was motivated to help the other students as well.

[shinta|hikari]

He seems to personally dislike troublesome stuff, and only takes them on when Miyuki urges him to. I'm thinking that is an obvious sign of his own feelings and motivation.

He also likes getting the upper hand in conversations, which hints at pride, even when Miyuki is not in the room.

His choice of including Leo and Mikihiko in the team probably is due to bias. He could have worked just as well with others, but chose them.

@lelouch - He calculated that his actions are in line with the military's goals, so he was not only tolerated but even thanked for it.

[KrayZ33]

Only in this show can a high school kid blow a hole through an expensive hotel and murder all of its inhabitants on domestic soil and have authorities be totally cool with it.

What exactly lead to the assumption that said authorities didn't want this to happen?

[lelouch]

What exactly lead to the assumption that said authorities didn't want this to happen?

It's clear that they did, but the logistics of it all is blatantly unrealistic and poor writing. Surely there are other parties other than the Japanese NSA including other agencies who weren't informed of the operation. Who is going to reimburse the hotel for the massive damage, both physical and reputational? What about family members who just had their family member murdered without any trial? Unlikely local police was involved in the operation. How about the inhabitants of the adjacent rooms? Surely they weren't pleased by all of this commotion. I would have expected a more covert operation than "Blast the fucking hotel wall".

[shinta|hikari]

It just means that whoever Tatsuya is working for is powerful enough to deal with the clean up.

Funny enough, since Tatsuya can see and shoot through walls anyway, he could have done it without damaging anything. He could have gotten the information without showing himself, after all.

Another interesting thing is that since the dudes got disintegrated, no one can ever prove they were killed lol.

[Buffalobiian]

. Who is going to reimburse the hotel for the massive damage

Massive damage as in the sprinkler going off? Not much else happened otherwise. Maybe the table lost a leg.

I sure don't think the British government send out cheques every time James Bond blows up something.


His choice of including Leo and Mikihiko in the team probably is due to bias. He could have worked just as well with others, but chose them.

I do believe what Tatsuya said. Plus, trust is a big one there when working as a team. I don't think many of the other competitors would be willingly accept Tatsuya's plans given his weed status.


Yeah, and he's only certain he can do it because he's a fricking high schooler.

Yeah, he's only certain because they're the strongest fraction in Japan's ruling magicians and his arch-enemy currently. And this "highschool kid" is a national asset trained in war, has the destructive potential of an ICBM and a genius inventor as well as technical advisor for the Japanese military.

"Highschool kid" is the least of his identities.

[shinta|hikari]

I do believe what Tatsuya said. Plus, trust is a big one there when working as a team. I don't think many of the other competitors would be willingly accept Tatsuya's plans given his weed status.


The thing is, Tatsuya could have dealt with the entire opposing team by himself if he wanted to. The last part when he was bleeding from his ear? Why would that even happen if he could fix broken ribs and a ton of other damaged parts in an instant? The other members were extras, period. And he chose the extras from his favored pool.

Tatsuya isn't a robot, even if he himself wishes to view himself as such. His actions and decisions so far contradict such a conclusion.

[Buffalobiian]

The thing is, Tatsuya could have dealt with the entire opposing team by himself if he wanted to. The last part when he was bleeding from his ear? Why would that even happen if he could fix broken ribs and a ton of other damaged parts in an instant? The other members were extras, period. And he chose the extras from his favored pool.


He could have, yes, but he didn't want to. That's why having a trusting team helps because he can be assured that they'd at least carry out the orders he planned. If his team consisted of others who thought they knew better, things could have gone awry and Tatsuya would have been forced to reveal more superhuman abilities to save the match (as opposed to executing this planned show accordingly).

I agree that he voluntarily left his ear unhealed to prove that he was injured. At the same time, I do believe that he normally keeps his auto-heal spell on auto so that it only kicks in when extensive damage is done.

... which makes you think, exactly how much damage did Miyuki do to him when she floored him last time for "infidelity"?

[Kraco]

I fully agree with Bill. He chose partners he could count on acting according to his plan, more or less, and thus he was able to lessen his own part. All the more reason if he's compared to an ICBM; had he killed somebody due to having to do everything by himself, they would have lost by default. In the beginning of the show he wanted to avoid attention, wisely so, but to serve Miyuki's interests, since she's so adamant about Tatsuya getting recognition, he accepted various responsibities. It's natural he still tries to follow that path as much as he can, while not avoiding his obligations, and it involves a bit of acting here and there as well. Obviously he doesn't trust anybody else too much, though, considering he's almost always there when trouble appears, to secure Miyuki's jolly high school days.

And I don't care if he's a national treasure. All the more reason there must be a thousand plans of how to take him out if he ever gives a reason to suspect his loyalty or integrity. There's no way he would know all of those plans and were ready for them. Well, actually I guess he could be in a shitty story...

[shinta|hikari]

... which makes you think, exactly how much damage did Miyuki do to him when she floored him last time for "infidelity"?

Enough to hinder him in combat, so maybe broken bones or ruptured organs.

[exglitch67]

I agree that he voluntarily left his ear unhealed to prove that he was injured. At the same time, I do believe that he normally keeps his auto-heal spell on auto so that it only kicks in when extensive damage is done.

... which makes you think, exactly how much damage did Miyuki do to him when she floored him last time for "infidelity"?

I disagree that he voluntarily left his ear unhealed. In my opinion that was the first instance of weakness we have seen fromTatsuya. His self regeneration spell activated before he did his flash cast thing, so the ear drum was the result of damage taken after he had healed himself. Its probably fair to assume that there must be some kind of cool down on the self regeneration protocol, meaning Tatsuya cant just go around healing himself whenever he takes damage. So the spell probably does take a catastrophic even to activate. I think that Tatsuya being tired after the battle with Ichijo was not an act and was the result of either healing his damage or producing the flash cast. I agree that if it was a real battle both Tatsuya and Ichijo would of done things differently.

[lelouch]

Massive damage as in the sprinkler going off? Not much else happened otherwise. Maybe the table lost a leg.


Pretty sure he blew a giant hole through the wall.

[Buffalobiian]

Pretty sure he blew a giant hole through the wall.

What hole? He keep sniping demon light through a window.

[shinta|hikari]

That wasn't a window. Tatsuya opened up a hole in the wall.

[KrayZ33]

It's clear that they did, but the logistics of it all is blatantly unrealistic and poor writing. Surely there are other parties other than the Japanese NSA including other agencies who weren't informed of the operation. Who is going to reimburse the hotel for the massive damage, both physical and reputational? What about family members who just had their family member murdered without any trial? Unlikely local police was involved in the operation.

they even said that "Internal Affairs and Public Safety were more satisfied than expected"
that does indeed include every single security service I can think of. So by the time something went into motion, someone from high up is already in on what happened.
Family members are not really relevant, they can't even know about what happened. They might suspect them to be dead, yet there are no bodies and its most likely not that uncommon for people to disappear in a criminal organization like that.
The hotel might demand compensations? Not going to happen, I'd be suprised if the owner was not involved with (or is) "No Head Dragon" it's a chinese themed Hotel in which a chinese themed criminal organization frequently meets to discuss their dirty deeds. It's probably going to be razed after this. Who knows what amount (and what kind) of money flowed through their hands.

I know I'm pulling this out of my sleeve, since the aftermath was explained in a rather minimalistic fashion, but let's be fair here, it's really not any different from what we see in movies or read about in books.
Someone with influence is able to cover it up. Bam! That should be enough and given how corrupt this and even the real world is... its actually somewhat likely



How about the inhabitants of the adjacent rooms? Surely they weren't pleased by all of this commotion. I would have expected a more covert operation than "Blast the fucking hotel wall".

I would've expected him to use his sniper rifle for shots like that...
"Range?"
"~1,5km"
"Nah, pistole is enough"

[shinta|hikari]

It's because he doesn't aim with the gun. He aims with his haxx Elemental Sight. I think his CAD can be the shape of a lollipop or a pony and it would still work.

[Kraco]

I reckon his CAD has the shape of a big gun because it excites Miyuki.

[shinta|hikari]

I reckon his CAD has the shape of a big gun because it excites Miyuki.
...........

I think his CAD can be the shape of a lollipop or a pony and it would still work.

[Xelbair]

EP Oniisamas
01 --- 26
02 --- 5
03 --- 6
04 --- 17
05 --- 3
06 --- 12
07 --- 14
08 --- 5
09 --- 4
10 --- 6
11 --- 8
12 --- 4
13 --- 6
14 --- 1
15 --- 3
16 --- 4
17 --- 12
18 --- 3

that is a chart of how many Oniisamas' happened in each episode.

[shinta|hikari]

14 almost became the combo breaker.

[Buffalobiian]

How about the inhabitants of the adjacent rooms? Surely they weren't pleased by all of this commotion. I would have expected a more covert operation than "Blast the fucking hotel wall".

Partly why I misidentified the hole in the wall as a window was because it wasn't "blasted", but erased. The wall simply disappeared much like the rest of the dudes in that room.

[Kraco]

Episode 19 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=585832)






- - - --- -



Flying has been mankind's dream as long as mankind has had dreams, but nobody bothered to develop the magic for it before Tatsuya did it on his spare time. I'd assume nuclear fusion was a multi-billion international project even in the Mahouka world because they would need cheap energy just as much as we do. Yet, by the time this arc is over, Tatsuya will have solved that as well on his spare time, when thousands of (magical) scientists with their huge budget failed.

The Japanese soil must be pushing up fascinating mushrooms and the author of this story is tasting all of them.

[Buffalobiian]

Flying has been mankind's dream as long as mankind has had dreams, but nobody bothered to develop the magic for it before Tatsuya did it on his spare time.

At least one author misunderstood the theory of flight magic according to Tatsuya. If it's a prominent review that's been peer-evaluated and no one's spoken up about how it's wrong, you can assume that no one in the field really had a good grasp of the concept besides Tatsuya.

Fusion itself seems to a development that had been locked down for some time, and was only able to make any progress once gravity-control was made a reality.

I suppose the only way to kill Tatsuya would be with a headshot if he's able to replicate spells in an instant. Even bloodloss doesn't kick in fast enough to reach his brain before auto-heal does its job.

[shinta|hikari]

I think it is obvious from this episode why Tatsuya is able to do all these ground breaking things. The step mom implied it, and his achievements so far, particularly how he achieved them, provide the evidence.

His cheat-level elemental sight seems like the root of his abilities. He can see the breakdown of everything, be it matter or magical sequences. If he is the only one with that ability, it would be easy to see how he can one up even those who have spent their lives studying certain fields.

Just imagine having two people race at fixing a software bug, with one side seeing only the UI, and the other having access to the code.

Also, I think the view that Tatsuya is too perfect is invalid. He did not pop out random abilities out of nowhere. He was originally that strong. Imagine placing SSJ4 Goku in the dragon ball world when Goku was a kid. That is what happened when Tatsuya attended high school. This episode explicitly stated that he belongs at a much higher level, but he is staying there for Miyuki.

Characters like Tatsuya appear in a lot of stories. They are the "super powerful idol" archetype. It just so happened that he is the main character. That isn't even that uncommon, like Kenshin. Kenshin also made all the right decisions, outsmarted and outfought everyone, until he met people of the same caliber (mostly old buddies). It just so happened that Tatsuya has not met those people, who definitely exist, yet.

[Kraco]

At least one author misunderstood the theory of flight magic according to Tatsuya. If it's a prominent review that's been peer-evaluated and no one's spoken up about how it's wrong, you can assume that no one in the field really had a good grasp of the concept besides Tatsuya.

If you look at how airplanes were developed, that theory doesn't hold water. They were developed everywhere, following their own paths, even if some basic things ended up the same. But then again, if you look at birds or insects, they also share a lot of flying related details among their groups. It simply take some basic things to fly, but otherwise different inventers did what they wanted. Peer-evaluation is also concept fitting for science and relatively modern engineering in companies (or institutions). It doesn't apply to the kinds of brilliant visionaries airplane design relied on for a long time during its early development. Just like Tatsuya doesn't need anybody to evaluate his inventions.

If gravity control had been needed for fusion, then it would have been developed already, even without a single high schooler. Unless we are supposed to be believe that the world never had a single decent magician before Tatsuya was born, and thus there was nobody around to invent anything worth mentioning. Ironically enough this very episode proves that wrong with the relic even Tatsuya is unsure he could replicate because it's so complicated craftsmanship, meaning brilliant magicians capable of creating such things existed already in the ancient past.

Shinta's theory seems like something that would obviously greatly benefit a lone inventer, but multi-million research teams would be able to deal with it sufficiently.

[shinta|hikari]

Shinta's theory seems like something that would obviously greatly benefit a lone inventer, but multi-million research teams would be able to deal with it sufficiently.

How can you know that? There is literally no way to relate it to the real world. We have no magic. There is no one in the world with a singular skill like Tatsuya does. You can complain how convenient it is for him to have that singular skill, but he is the main character, and they usually have something like that.

Even if you have millions of researchers that focused on flight (which you don't, because that would skew job distribution), they can't solve a problem that is supposedly unsolvable given their limited perspective.

[David75]

You mean it's like solving a mathematical problem that has been unsolved for years or centuries?
It's probably like that yeah.
It's the caliber of someone like Newton on calculus, or Schröedinger, Einstein etc... People whose discoveries or contribution clearly change the game for Humanity.

[Kraco]

Even if you have millions of researchers that focused on flight (which you don't, because that would skew job distribution), they can't solve a problem that is supposedly unsolvable given their limited perspective.

No it wouldn't skew anything. People have wanted to fly from the ancient times, that much is clear. And you can bet that if we didn't have airplanes right now, because nobody had invented them (unimaginable, but for the sake of the argument, let's try to imagine it), then you can bet there indeed would be millions of people on Earth trying to think how we could fly. And a week from now we would be flying as airplanes are so simple an uneducated person can build a perfectly working one from regular junk at his backyard. It's utterly unimaginable that in a world of magic and a population in billions a million people wouldn't be giving some thought to the matter. A good portion of them would then be serious people, and again a good portion of those would actually be paid good money and have high resources. Flying kicks ass, after all.

When Tatsuya explained it, the explanation didn't even sound complicated. There's absolutely no reason why one would then need some mysterious tenth sense to figure it out like you claim. We already know the magical nuclear fusion would require something an ancient civilization already produced in the form of those relics (go figure why savages could construct them and the modern world can't), so even that doesn't need Tatsuya and his eleventh extra sense.

This story's writing simply has this unbelievable stupidity on a universal scale that's supposed to make Tatsuya look really cool and smart. And perhaps some 13 years old would buy it.

[exglitch67]

If gravity control had been needed for fusion, then it would have been developed already, even without a single high schooler. Unless we are supposed to be believe that the world never had a single decent magician before Tatsuya was born, and thus there was nobody around to invent anything worth mentioning. Ironically enough this very episode proves that wrong with the relic even Tatsuya is unsure he could replicate because it's so complicated craftsmanship, meaning brilliant magicians capable of creating such things existed already in the ancient past.

One distinction that I think is important is that Magician != Magic Engineer.

Additionally, Cardinal George was also credited with major magic engineering advancement and he is also in high school.

It is also possible they are in an age of a "Magic Renaissance" where magic engineering has previously taken a back seat to magic activation speed and power output, but now is being recognized for its importance and contribution, thus is getting more focus. And as David pointed out, its possible Tatsuya is a "1 in a billion" kind of guy.

Edit for above post: While the relic may be the key to sustainable fusion, we also don't know what the relics intended purpose is/was. Just because it is the key to fusion doesn't mean the people who created it ever thought of the application.

[Kraco]

Edit for above post: While the relic may be the key to sustainable fusion, we also don't know what the relics intended purpose is/was. Just because it is the key to fusion doesn't mean the people who created it ever thought of the application.

Well, yeah, nuclear fusion requires modern science. The relic is ancient, so if it really is what Tatsuya and others think it is, then it was probably used for something far simpler, like maintaining a perimeter or whatever the people of the past could think of.

[shinta|hikari]

When Tatsuya explained it, the explanation didn't even sound complicated. There's absolutely no reason why one would then need some mysterious tenth sense to figure it out like you claim.

This is just your assumption. How would you know how complicated the process was before he came to such conclusions? I don't. You don't.



This story's writing simply has this unbelievable stupidity on a universal scale that's supposed to make Tatsuya look really cool and smart. And perhaps some 13 years old would buy it.

You repeat this in almost every post making it appear more as bias than a proper evaluation.

It seems that nothing anyone can say can make any explanation in this show believable to you, so I will just let it go.

[Kraco]

It seems that nothing anyone can say can make any explanation in this show believable to you, so I will just let it go.

Sure you can let it go. But let me just remind you that the things I was complaining about were merely two individual details, one of which is merely a possibility: The flying and, possibly, the fusion. I won't be complaining about the relic because it's obvious it has been sitting in some vault for decades, everybody thinking it's impossible to replicate and figure out - because nobody decent ever tried.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I love the MC in this show.
"I don't really want to help you, but this magatama thing will totally help me rock the school science fair, so okay."

I felt really bad for that sniper. The dude snipes the MC in the heart from super far away, only for him to immediately regenerate and snipe him back with his magic pistol. Poor guy.

From what I understand, they already have fusion (or at least Tatsuya does), but you just need a magician to run it at all times. He wants to create a way for it to run without actually needing a magician to run it.

[Buffalobiian]

I love the MC in this show.
"I don't really want to help you, but this magatama thing will totally help me rock the school science fair, so okay."

I felt really bad for that sniper. The dude snipes the MC in the heart from super far away, only for him to immediately regenerate and snipe him back with his magic pistol. Poor guy.

From what I understand, they already have fusion (or at least Tatsuya does), but you just need a magician to run it at all times. He wants to create a way for it to run without actually needing a magician to run it.

They do not have sustainable fusion as technology.

The success of continuous gravity control enabled the prospect of sustainable fusion - but said gravity control meant the 24/7 requirement of a magician playing a cog in that machine. Tatsuya is trying to overcome this.

You're right in that they have fusion in the bag now, just that they haven't actually built anything or put it into use.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 20 (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=588517)

------------------------------





Only in anime and by Tatsuya could you play Mayumi like that and have it all work out. Well done.

Other than that, not only is the Thesis competition the academic counterpart of the Nine Schools Competition, the arc feels more or less the same as well. Switch out gangsters for radicals (both of the stereotypical Chinese type) and we've got Competition Arc v2.

The girl who got away puts a more personal spin on this though, so I'm interested to see where she's coming from.

[shinta|hikari]

The Mayumi moment shows that Tatsuya does indeed have emotions. Subdued, but they exist. He had no other motivation to tease her there aside from his own enjoyment.

[Kraco]

The Mayumi moment shows that Tatsuya does indeed have emotions. Subdued, but they exist. He had no other motivation to tease her there aside from his own enjoyment.

Not necessarily. He did absolutely nothing before Mayumi asked if he's not doing anything despite the opportunity. He immediately cracked that joke fitting for James Bond. I'd say it could be perfectly formulated by his intelligence, aided by his knowledge of human psychology. After all, even Terminator knew human psychology, why not Tatsuya? If he doesn't want to go around giving an impression of a robot, he needs to fake emotions every now and then. Preferably leaving very lasting impressions like this one, so that he doesn't need to bother with them all the time.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree with Kraco on this one. The comment seemed to be the most "appropriate" to make given the circumstance. I can't imagine Tatsuya actually enjoying saying such words, unlike say Yagami Kazuma.

[shinta|hikari]

But an emotionless person would NOT joke.

The very idea of making a joke right there is from emotion. He felt mischievous and did so. There was absolutely no necessity to do that. A totally emotionless creature would only do necessary things. What is "appropriate" to say is dependent on personality, which is rooted in emotions. Teasing Mayumi, and increasing her love points, is something that even contradicts his supposed existent affection for Miyuki. She would probably freeze the whole school if she ever learned about that joke.

His effort at making the gravity control system function without a magician is also a sign of his emotions. Why would he be so fixated on making a system that does not require a magician to be constantly part of it, going so far as saying that it is meaningless if the magician is treated like a tool? I think he is doing it because he feels sympathy for magicians being treated as tools/weapons like he has.

You guys are taking what he said about being emotionless too literally. How can he even function like that? I think he cannot feel strong emotions outside of things involving Miyuki, not that he does not feel anything at all. Too much is being dismissed just because of one comment. He acts very cold, but not completely robotic. He wants to do things like complete flying and fusion magic as personal research. Why the hell does he even need to do that barring personal curiosity and ambition?

Of course all that can rationalized to some sort of cover story, or theories about him needing to increase wealth/influence. But would it not be more logical to take the simplest reason as him simply wanting to?

One can also argue that his minute feelings are starting to surface more because of his interaction with "friends". He probably did not attend school (was there ever a mention of a middle school? I am not sure.) until now, so he never had a chance to exercise his emotions on other people outside of Miyuki, who he intensely cares about.

[Kraco]

How do you know what is pure emotion and what is pure intelligence? Our only source to study is human, that is, ourselves, with no other intelligent species around and no AI yet having reached self-awareness. Obviously Tatsuya is a human, so his brain, with all the evolutionary baggage, is probably incapacle of ridding itself of all emotions, since emotions are actually much older than higher intelligence. So, yeah, he probably does have emotions, but they might be below the threshold most would require to speak of emotions. So, he could be called an emotionless human. That doesn't mean he would just want to sit on a bench and die of dehydration because it would be the easiest way out for a person with no emotions and thus no motivation. Human brain, while conscious, is built to process something all the time, even if it's useless shit like an episode of Mahouka. That's why gurus need years to learn to empty their minds. It's the same for Tatsuya, with the exception he's actually a genius, so his clock rate is higher than normal. He can't help but research stuff.

Additionally, Miyuki greatly enjoys having such a genius, omnipotent onii-sama, so Tatsuya has no choice but to do stuff on his spare time that would make multi-billion, international research projects weep in envy. Possibly even that joke is something that in Tatsuya's mind is needed for the kind of image Miyuki wants him to have.

[shinta|hikari]

Additionally, Miyuki greatly enjoys having such a genius, omnipotent onii-sama, so Tatsuya has no choice but to do stuff on his spare time that would make multi-billion, international research projects weep in envy. Possibly even that joke is something that in Tatsuya's mind is needed for the kind of image Miyuki wants him to have.

Miyuki enjoys anything that Tatsuya does well. He does not have to be a billionaire. If he were a great cook, then Miyuki would sing praises and be proud of him for it. The last line you said doesn't even make sense. Miyuki would never want a Tatsuya like that.

The rest of your post basically said what I did. He does have emotions (excluding Miyuki's case), just extremely minute. I never said he was the most sympathetic person, just not a robot.

[Kraco]

The last line you said doesn't even make sense. Miyuki would never want a Tatsuya like that.


It makes perfect sense, in a human sense. Because humans oft don't realise the consequences of their wishes. Fiction of full of stories of people being granted a wish by some deity or spirit, yet when they wish for one thing, they end up with something else due to their limited understanding. The same goes for dealing with AIs. Miyuki wishes for a highly competent and cool brother, who would also flirt around with her, for example when Sayuri paid a visit and numerous other times. However, she wouldn't anticipate that Tatsuya would then crack jokes like this with other women as well, having such a (faked) personality.

[shinta|hikari]

That's pushing it too much. Overreading.

Miyuki wants a brother that will flirt with her. The jealous Miyuki would hate Tatsuya flirting with others. They both know that, but Tatsuya did it anyway.

[Buffalobiian]

The very idea of making a joke right there is from emotion. He felt mischievous and did so. There was absolutely no necessity to do that. A totally emotionless creature would only do necessary things. What is "appropriate" to say is dependent on personality, which is rooted in emotions. Teasing Mayumi, and increasing her love points, is something that even contradicts his supposed existent affection for Miyuki. She would probably freeze the whole school if she ever learned about that joke.

My understanding of the scene was that Mayumi essentially said "Sorry I'm unattractive". Tatsuya could have either denied that, ignored that, or agreed to that. Ignoring or agreeing would be suboptimal in keeping a healthy relationship going. Tatsuya decided to respond in a way that:

1) confirms her attractiveness
2) gives a reason for why he's not hitting on her
3) embarrasses her so much that she won't pursue the issue in the near future.

I'd say that's pretty good for efficiency and appropriateness. Mayumi knows better than to tell Miyuki what happened in that room.

I don't think the thought "Let's tease Mayumi for shits and giggles" crossed Tatsuya's mind.

[shinta|hikari]

Or he could have just said that she was attractive without joking about gobbling her up?

That was the simplest solution. Number 3 is an obvious gamble. It is hard to predict how anyone would react after an almost sexual harassment line like that.

Shits and giggles weren't his reason. Tatsuya has always seemed irked at teasing, so he only decided to get back at her. His pride also plays a role.

You also have to consider how inefficient it would be if Mayumi took it seriously and went for him. It would also be lethal because of Miyuki's rage. Only Tatsuya can revive from death after all.

[Kraco]

Or he could have just said that she was attractive without joking about gobbling her up?

No impact at all. Thus, it wouldn't really serve any purpose. It would be just another platitude, which is something Tatsuya doesn't really sport.


That was the simplest solution. Number 3 is an obvious gamble. It is hard to predict how anyone would react after an almost sexual harassment line like that.

Uhh... We are talking about Tatsuya here. I'm sure he can predict human behavior as well on individual level as Asimov's Foundation on a larger scale. He knew with sufficient certainty that Mayumi would be highly flattered, even if embarrassed. Besides, saying such lines isn't a gamble in the first place if you are Tatsuya (or James Bond).


You also have to consider how inefficient it would be if Mayumi took it seriously and went for him. It would also be lethal because of Miyuki's rage. Only Tatsuya can revive from death after all.

He hardly considers that a real danger. He has helped so many girls already and thus has such a large fan club. To a certain degree Miyuki enjoys her onii-sama being everybody's idol. It only becomes a problem if she thinks something concrete is happening or happened (another girl gets more attention than she from Tatsuya or gets ahead of her with Tatsuya). Don't forget that impaired emotions also means Tatsuya doesn't know fear or worry either.

[shinta|hikari]

It's funny how so many complicated rationalizations are being made when the simplest solution is that Tatsuya has minute emotions.

[Xelbair]

I still prefer my version/outlook on mahouka - with Tatsuya bedridden in vegetative state due to lobotomy performed by his mother, which traumatized Miyuki, and as a form of self-healing/treatement she is writing the stories(or having delusions) about her brother being a god on earth(as we were clearly shown in show Tatsuya is immortal, and knows everything all around him, and he can perform miracles(casting magic instantly)).

[Kraco]

Episode 21 - HS (http://www.nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=591501)




-- -- - - - -- -




This show is doing something correctly, with all those pairs forming. Of course some girls are still dreaming of Tatsuya in vain, but fortunately not all of them. Based on the expressions of the other dudes in the gym, I guess Mikihiko and Leo ought to count themselves lucky. At least they both managed to get some service.

That's more or less everything that seemed to happen in this episode. I didn't even remember who the heck Hirakawa was supposed to be. I had to google it to make some sense out of the spy girl's case.

[David75]

It's true that sometimes in anime you get flashbacks for the most trivial details, but they still expect you to remember what happened to a secondary character that got even less screen time than the one involved in an accident in a 20s subplot 4 or more eps ago...
Both characters you've never heard of again since then, as they are secondary characters.

[Buffalobiian]

This show is doing something correctly

Nods approvingly at Erika fanservice (with ponytail). Her and Leo are pretty much perfect.

[Buffalobiian]

HS - Episode 22 (http://rg.to/file/7a9d1d8e7b2858672bc28ddeefaaefb9/[HorribleSubs]_Mahouka_-_22_[720p].mkv.html)

-------------------------------









Lu Gonghu didn't turn out to be as much of a bigshot as I thought he was, but that might just be the author trying to show how powerful our protagonists are. He seems pretty damn strong, but isn't much of a thinker. The fight scenes were pretty fun to watch. I actually miss the lengthy Tatsuya explanations about what happened during each step of the battle.

edit: okay, a lot of credit did go to Mari's boyfriend for pre-injuring Lu. I suppose he was desperate to eliminate the hacker to the point where he rushed in despite being clearly disadvantaged. Those sword moves are pretty tricky.

Chiyoda refusing Tatsuya's request because it would be "too much work" was a pretty bitchy move.

Nevertheless, this episode displayed both of the best things going for this show: Ass-kicking, and incest.

[shinta|hikari]

Lu wasn't disadvantaged. He was up against three high schoolers. The only problem was the fact that a strategic class magician is mixed in among those children.

If Tatsuya didn't defend Mayumi, the two girls would have died. Mari was completely caught off guard by the disappearing rush, and if Mayumi were defeated (most likely), Mari would not have the support to defeat the dude.

Then again, if Tatsuya were alone and freed from restraints due to lack of observation, it would have ended in a single pull of a trigger.

[Buffalobiian]

Lu wasn't disadvantaged. He was up against three high schoolers. The only problem was the fact that a strategic class magician is mixed in among those children.

He was disadvantaged in that a single attack was enough to re-open his wound. We all know Tatsuya is OP, so I was deliberately not counting his real ability into this current fight but rather judging it based on what they did. In the end though, I can't argue that it was thanks to Tatsuya that Lu was stopped in his tracks.

[Kraco]

I can't really blame anybody for underestimating Tatsuya as nobody should be that overpowered. We can't really even have a decent fight in this story, of Tatsuya vs an equal, as they would need to fight on some remote, unpopulated island in the middle of an ocean. Otherwise they would kill millions of outsiders.

[David75]

As a temporary measure, I put Kickass torrent Horriblesubs list here:
http://kickass.to/usearch/horriblesubs/?field=time_add&sorder=desc

It's less cumbersome than the DDL sites.

[shinta|hikari]

We can't really even have a decent fight in this story, of Tatsuya vs an equal, as they would need to fight on some remote, unpopulated island in the middle of an ocean. Otherwise they would kill millions of outsiders.

Or not? You really just need to blow his head off. I would imagine his self restore is based on his brain because it is implied that he is restoring from a saved template.

Given what he has shown us so far, Tatsuya is absurdly powerful offensively, but defensively his main asset is self healing. He does not have a decent barrier, and relies on canceling the moves of the opponents before they are executed. Ichijou managed to easily overpower him when he got serious.

The reason most opponents are unable to stand a chance against Tatsuya is because no one knows what the hell he is capable of. If they did, they would snipe him in the head from afar. His heart was hit just fine.

Magicians don't need to nuke the area to kill. Just a single blow to the head is enough, and there are millions of ways to accomplish that. If the fights so far have shown us anything, it is that this isn't Dragon Ball. You don't get up from a beating and defeat enemies using willpower. It is all specs, tactics, and execution.

[Kraco]

Though I don't deny I would enjoy seeing Tatsuya's head blown off, preferably right in front of poor Miyuki's eyes, it still wouldn't qualify for a decent fight. A decent fight would last for a plausible time (in fiction terms), not being so short it would be meaningless, nor so long it would get boring. Neither side would be able to gain a clear upper hand before the end, when one side would finally win in a satisfying manner.

[Buffalobiian]

I would enjoy seeing Tatsuya's head blown off, preferably right in front of poor Miyuki's eyes

I don't even know how to respond to this. You need to see a doctor.

[Kraco]

I don't even know how to respond to this. You need to see a doctor.

No, I can't.

Doctor: "So, what's ailing you?"
I: "When I'm watching Mahouka..."
Doctor, interrupting: "I could recommend a couple of clinics in Switzerland that specialize in euthanasia."

[Xelbair]

1) Tatsuya self healing was shown to be nearly instantaneous so i'm sure that he would keep regenerating while something penetrates his skull - it is not like his brain whole would be destroyed at the same time
2) he has weird radar-like thingy which can detect people through walls, and read spells while they are being cast(which takes fraction of second) - he could easily detect the bullet. then obliterate it.
3) it was shown this ep that he can cast spells instantaneously - or tell me what was that weird cloud that physically hurt body of Lu Ghongu.

all factors combined - Tatsuya is jesus. he cannot be killed by any means and can defeat anything.

[shinta|hikari]

He was sniped through the heart once...

Why do you even need to destroy the whole brain? Just damaging it enough for his auto heal to not be usable is enough. The brain is sensitive. A normal bullet should do. A high powered sniper rifle will probably obliterate his head anyway.

[Munsu]

HS - Episode 22 (http://rg.to/file/7a9d1d8e7b2858672bc28ddeefaaefb9/[HorribleSubs]_Mahouka_-_22_[720p].mkv.html)

-------------------------------

Nevertheless, this episode displayed both of the best things going for this show: Ass-kicking, and incest.

Honestly, I've never been too much into the incest storylines... though incest-themed porn is hot. That said, there's something about incest in Japanese animation that they seem to always make the sister of interest the most annoying character in the series.

I don't know, I really don't like Miyuki... part of me wants to see her killed off for a more awesome sister to show up randomly.

[shinta|hikari]

How far in are you? This has nothing to do with the Miyuki hate. She will stay that way forever, so you will hate her forever.