Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon - Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai

[Munsu]

http://i.imgur.com/u7d2t2e.jpg



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1LSQ4JZe2U


Plot Summary: People with magic powers are close to being wiped out. Just as the balance of power and military might had once shifted from swords to sorcery, it shifts once again to guns. Takeru Kusanagi goes to "AntiMagic Academy," a training facility for Inquisitors of Heretics who crack down on the dwindling threat posed by magic users. However, Takeru cannot use guns at all and can only fight with a sword. As a result, he is relegated to the 35th Test Platoon, the motley "small fry platoon" for poor students. One day, Ōka Ōtori, the ultra-elite pistol master who already has her qualifications for witch-hunts, joins the platoon.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=17157

Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon (Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai), hope this ends up being good, have been curious about it.

Here's episode 1 by Horriblesubs:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=742168

[Kraco]

This comment from AniDB is also what I immediately thought when reading the description:

"An anime about a genocide squad, lovely."

I am thinking of having a look at the series (this season doesn't have too many promising shows to begin with), but seriously, is that description accurate? It better be about young people being brainwashed by totalitarian governmental propaganda, but later beginning to question the profession they are seeking.

[shinta|hikari]

Asterisk v3.

[Buffalobiian]

Asterisk v3.

*sigh*.. I was even going to watch this too. I'll just watch v1 sometime then.

/goes back to counterstrike

[shinta|hikari]

Oh, it's still worth watching. The characters in this one are a lot more fun than Asterisk IMO, especially Ikaruga. It also helps that the MC's voice and design aren't as generic for shounen-battle stories.

You just gotta get past that boob scene and super fast courting.

[KrayZ33]

Boob grab scene was really out of place here imho. should've come later... eh, shouldn't be there at all.

This is pretty interesting on it's own, the issue with this is that there are 2 similiar shows airing already. At some point you can't help it but feel stuffed.
I don't think the animation was bad, the characters were okay too and the setting/story is interesting enough, but I simply can't like/enjoy it as much as I'd normaly do(?)

[Kraco]

Damn. One of the most annoying MC dudes of late. I might give this show a second episode, but I hope his personality changes dramatically. I wouldn't be able to bear watching this otherwise.

Also, isn't the dude a magician himself? I'll give the series a few extra points if it's really a hypocritical (that is, a realistic) story of "sorcery is bad and will be purged - unless it's the government officers using it".

[KrayZ33]

For me, the only part that felt annoying about MC was when he got snapped out of his "I'm just going to kill you now" attitude by that computer-chick.
There is basically no reason to hide the fact that he is probably seriously strong story wise either... I just don't get it.

He gave the order to snipe their heads off... it's not like he struggles to kill if he thinks he has to do just that.

[Kraco]

That was certainly one of his biggest flaws. The other was that he's supposed to be the captain yet he's full of hesitation and that sheepish attitude. He had no idea how to deal with the thugs and had to be saved by his underling, while he himself was hiding behind a desk. That's the lowest of the low behavior from a team captain. Another thing was the party. He shows zero ability to read the situation and judge the personality of others. Just prior they were talking about how Ootori is pushing herself to solve cases by herself - while the rest of the team apparently is lounging around doing nothing (we learned they are indeed doing nothing since they earlier lamented they have zero points, apparently awarded by successful missions). So, this dude thinks it's a brilliant idea to have a party during working hours to get closer to the only person in the team actually using working hours for work.

He's a bloody disgrace. If the murderous personality we did see for a brief moment was his normal one, this could be a jolly show.

[shinta|hikari]

He gave the order to snipe their heads off... it's not like he struggles to kill if he thinks he has to do just that.

I don't remember this. I do remember him scolding Usagi for shooting the targets' heads.

[KrayZ33]

Guess that was me thinking he actually knew what it means to shoot people with a sniper rifle when he says "start shooting shortly after we engage"

[shinta|hikari]

But snipers normally shoot the body for better accuracy, right?

[KrayZ33]

Does that matter though? That's a bit like saying "guns are safe as long as you don't hit the head"

[shinta|hikari]

Oh, I know. I was just correcting what you said about it being common sense to shoot the head for a sniper.

[Munsu]

That was certainly one of his biggest flaws. The other was that he's supposed to be the captain yet he's full of hesitation and that sheepish attitude. He had no idea how to deal with the thugs and had to be saved by his underling, while he himself was hiding behind a desk. That's the lowest of the low behavior from a team captain. Another thing was the party. He shows zero ability to read the situation and judge the personality of others. Just prior they were talking about how Ootori is pushing herself to solve cases by herself - while the rest of the team apparently is lounging around doing nothing (we learned they are indeed doing nothing since they earlier lamented they have zero points, apparently awarded by successful missions). So, this dude thinks it's a brilliant idea to have a party during working hours to get closer to the only person in the team actually using working hours for work.

He's a bloody disgrace. If the murderous personality we did see for a brief moment was his normal one, this could be a jolly show.

I think you're taking it a bit too seriously, or overboard with the hate? I don't think there was anything particularly wrong or noteworthy about the main character to make a fuzz one way or another.

And also you got a completely wrong impression about the main character, particularly about his hesitation. First of all, they're students, so let's keep that in context... as students that are in the last in their class.

Secondly, hesitation and hiding behind a desk? He was always the first to jump into action and his role in all throughout the mission was to act as the decoy while the better more advanced inquisitor got into position to ambush them, plus to say nothing of the bad intel he was working with.

Hiding behind the desk? Well, there was this huge ass robot that came out of nowhere machine gunning it... and you're going to hold against him that he took cover momentarily? And the subordinate saved his beans? Well, she is the most experienced there, and decided to go solo instead of working with the team BECAUSE since she's been actually in the field in higher missions she knew how to deal with it, to say nothing that she also asked her captain to take cover... her instructions. I mean, aren't subordinates usually there to protect their captain as well? That's the usual. So not sure why you're nitpicking on this particular aspects.

We also don't know what's the system, responsibilities, of this platoon yet and the role of the Academy. But oh well, guess we'll know more in the coming episodes. I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that I got the impression that they were going on a mission that they shouldn't have been involved in the first place, something higher than what their current level should allow or some such. I'd welcome correction on this regard, though I'll try to double check later.

Anyways, I don't think there was anything actually noteworthy of any character so far. I personally thought the first episode was a disappointment though, kinda tired of the the whole "you perv!" scenes shtick and overall quite bland.

[shinta|hikari]

You've been away too long if you think this level of nitpicking is worthy of note.

[Munsu]

You've been away too long if you think this level of nitpicking is worthy of note.

LOL, yeah I guess so. Nitpicking about the nitpicking :P

[shinta|hikari]

No, you're comments are spot on, but I just wanted to inform you that you're going against the wave.

[Kraco]

Sure, he wasn't hesititating to go through the door, but when it turned out he wasn't facing some lonely lowly witch but a bunch of ruffians, he instantly turned into apologising jelly. After badmouthing he did turn into what he should have been from the beginning (since according to the series description their business is the eradication of magicians), but mysteriously some mental issue reverted him instantly back before he could do anything. I don't know what's so cool about a captain who gets himself killed without resistance if not saved by underlings. He did have some good sides as well, though, like preventing Ootori from needlessly killing suspects in revenge. But he really needs to shape up himself and the whole team.

It's useless to say "they are just students". If they feel like they are just students and not ready for action, then they have to stick to classrooms and training. They don't take deadly missions out there. If they do, then they better be ready for the consequences.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I was pretty disappointed with this show.
I felt like the characters and setting weren't completely horrible, but they couldn't put together a cohesive storyboard or something.

Like, that cut where she enters the room with a hurt arm, then suddenly we're in the middle of a mission? Huh?

The girl explaining how she hates witches in that scenario also felt very heavy-handed with exposition.

Overall, I'd just say it felt sloppy. A common theme with a lot of shows this season.

[Munsu]

Sure, he wasn't hesititating to go through the door, but when it turned out he wasn't facing some lonely lowly witch but a bunch of ruffians, he instantly turned into apologising jelly. After badmouthing he did turn into what he should have been from the beginning (since according to the series description their business is the eradication of magicians), but mysteriously some mental issue reverted him instantly back before he could do anything. I don't know what's so cool about a captain who gets himself killed without resistance if not saved by underlings. He did have some good sides as well, though, like preventing Ootori from needlessly killing suspects in revenge. But he really needs to shape up himself and the whole team.

It's useless to say "they are just students". If they feel like they are just students and not ready for action, then they have to stick to classrooms and training. They don't take deadly missions out there. If they do, then they better be ready for the consequences.

1. Once he saw he was outnumbered, he was in "buying time mode"... waiting for an opportunity. And once again, decoy... He was good enough to defend himself against bullets even while he was in his "normal mode", so your "captain who gets killed without resistance" is misplaced. At no point was it mentioned he was cool though, I simply think your hate for this particular character seems quite overboard for reasons I can't fathom, particularly compared with the abundance of shitty MCs out there. So that you have this strong reaction for this one is mind-boggling.

Anyways, this is such a common circumstance in whatever medium in which a character enters a room full of more baddies than expected that's it's not worth the nitpicking here about his behavior. I'm pretty sure Van the Stampede would've done the same... I think he did actually.

2. He didn't revert back because of mental issues, an external source (Ikaruga) used it to bring him back to his senses, to ground him. This to say that it wasn't because of an intrinsic weakness that he didn't go through with it, but someone from his team brought him back before he could go berserk. For some reason that would've been bad, and that's not ON the main character, that's ON the circumstances that would prevent the main character going berserk being a positive thing. We don't know what those are yet.

In fact you might say that the flaw in him is the one that makes him lose control, not what reverted him.

3. I'm honestly questioning the premise of "eradication of magicians", at least from the purview of the students. We got Kusanagi seeming to scold the sniper for head shots, we have Ikaruga stopping him from killing the mobsters, we once again have Kusanagi stopping Ootori from killing the murderers at the end, explicitly stating that she would lose her inquisitor status. So this brings us back to #2 on why Kusanagi didn't go through with the massacre as it was.

4. It's not useless to mention that they're students, it's important to understand that they aren't perfect soldiers and will be prone to mistakes, that everything wouldn't and shouldn't go all smoothly.

Anyways, I'm not trying to make sell you on him being a good character (I'm of the opinion that there hasn't been anything noteworthy one way or another), but that I think your dislike to the exponent you've brought to this discussion seems highly misplaced... particularly when the series is trying, and to my opinion unsuccessfully, to mix some humor and lightheartedness to the serious aspects of it.

[Munsu]

Here's episode 2:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=745014



I'm not enjoying this series much, quite disappointed in it. Not feeling it. Might give it a few more episodes, but honestly not caring for it right now.

[MasterOfMoogles]

This episode was a little more interesting, but the show is still kind of bad.

[Munsu]

This episode was a little more interesting, but the show is still kind of bad.

I kinda dislike the mecha angle this show is taking... was hoping for a series of actual magic vs. weapons, but this is turning into something else. But that's just the last straw of things, I'm just not finding anything in the story that's compelling... not that they've tried to do much story wise.

[KrayZ33]

I like his armor, CGI ruined it a bit but it was cool looking.

[neflight86]

Also not too hot for this one. Many plot threads introduced this episode, but none of them very interesting. Its been a looooong time since I watched a lengthy 'contract forming' scene without my eyes drooping.

[Kraco]

I'm dropping this. Might have as well done it after the first ep, but this second one convinced me. I dislike the main character, who is of the type speaking grandly yet failing to finish what he started (in his social interactions, not fights). He's missing something essential and obvious in his social skills. Only the fact he's associating with other weirdos allows him to pull through.

It might seem like a wothless detail, but I was also annoyed by Lapis's activation line for her hallmark magic. Those lines worked very nicely in Shana because the atmosphere, or lore, was heavily build around such things, but here it came out of nowhere and sounded exactly like it was shamelessly copied from elsewhere. Actually I also didn't care for how the necromancer summoned an ancient hero, who was a technologized copy of Saber. Such more or less direct references can be nice when they are used in other quality shows, but when they are used in a shitty show like this, they are insulting.

[Munsu]

Here's episode 3:
http://nyaa.se/?page=download&tid=747477







And I think I'm going to follow suit with Kraco and drop this. I really tried to find something to keep me watching, but honestly I don't care about anything that's going on, and don't care about any of the characters. So for now, it looks like I'll be moving on.

[shinta|hikari]

I'll keep watching for DFC.

[Munsu]

I'll keep watching for DFC.

Well, feel free to let me know if anything else stands out in future episodes to make it worth my time. :)

[shinta|hikari]

There probably won't. I've read a good chunk of the novels. It's harem action all the way.

[Munsu]

There probably won't. I've read a good chunk of the novels. It's harem action all the way.

If that really was my problem with it, I'd stomach it. I just don't care about anything that's going on or the characters. Everything is just dull and boring.

[shinta|hikari]

Oh in that case, there might be something in store for you. It gets a bit more serious later on with stronger enemies.

[Munsu]

Oh in that case, there might be something in store for you. It gets a bit more serious later on with stronger enemies.

Alright, we'll see how I feel next week. But will probably stop watching for now and marathon some later depending on how feedback has been later on.

[KrayZ33]

This is definitely the worst out of the 3 shows.
The source material might not be as bad as this adaptation but this is truly boring.
The "School"-Director character archtype is really annoying: "Look, I smile and chill even though my subjects get killed left and right, but it's all according to my plan... I'm such a scheming bastard hehehe, feel my mysterious aura."
I can't stand that.

The necromancing Necromancer was the only cool thing so far... not because the character itself was portrayed well/interesting, but because Necromancers are cool in general and they didn't hesitate to make him actually DO some necromancer stuff.

Lol'ed at the robots, made for killing witches/magic users, getting "mindcontrolled" by said users.
Lol'ed at classmates that have some history with MC dying but no one really gave a shit about them. One of them even got thrown at MC as an Undead. Felt as if they skipped through 90% of the backlash that occured after the incident.

No one cared about how the Necromancer managed to infiltrate their base or what happened to that other squad.