Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

[MFauli]

1820


Sistina attends a magical academy to hone her skills in the magical arts, hoping to solve the mystery of the enigmatic Sky Castle. After the retirement of her favorite teacher, the replacement, Glen, turns out to be a tardy, lazy, and seemingly incompetent bastard of an instructor. How is it that Glen was hand-picked by the best magician in the academy?!

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I kinda loved this first ep, lol. Imagine Subaru from ReZero growing up in the same fantasy world, becoming a teacher. That´s this anime´s main character :D The world also looks like it could be the same from ReZero.

The chemistry between the lazy teacher and his pupils, especially Sistina, is great. How he constantly provokes her, haha.

Only complaint: The outfit of the female pupils is ridiculous. Come one.

[Kraco]

Not having watched Rezero, I have no idea what Subaru is like, but this gave me slight Konosuba vibes as far as the teacher goes; he likes to avoid work, talks mightily, but things go comically bad for him. Of course that's pretty much the only similarity, but it was enough for the first ep, which was quite funny. However, I'm quite unsure if this can keep going like this. If something happens and the dude turns out to be a capable one, since he was hired by that super powerful witch obviously for some reason, then is the comedy all over and this will be a dime a dozen show?

[MFauli]

Not having watched Rezero ...

What is wroooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong with you?!

Complete thread derail!

[David75]

I'll have to wait for ep 2 to understand what they want to do with this show....

[neflight86]

From what I read, we haven't even gotten past to plot synopses yet, because of course the protagonist is imba in some way, shape, or form that has yet to be revealed.

[Ryllharu]

Only complaint: The outfit of the female pupils is ridiculous. Come one.
I had the same problem. They are completely fucking ridiculous. Allegedly, there is some reason for their stupidly skimpy outfits covered somewhere in the novels, but the anime didn't cover it.

I doubt any explanation will cover it.

edit:
Ugh. It is even dumber than I thought.

Certainly, the uniform and robe that Sistina and the rest usually wore had temperature and humidity control magic enveloping their bodiesー the black magic [Air Conditioning] was made as a permanent status effect: it would warm them in the winter and cool them in the summer. It was a very convenient item. Unlike men, women are recommended to be lightly dressed during their initial stage of mastering magic in order to develop a high affinity with the natural mana of the world. The uniform was their strongest ally.
 However, the students practically process magic materials by hand during alchemical experimentation and operate instruments. It was a class where they handle catalysts and reagents. Their clothes might be terribly stained depending on the contents of the experiment. There are cases in which the smell of the chemical sticks to the clothes at the end of the experiment.
 That is why all the girls in Sistina’s class goes to this changing room. They are now in the middle of putting on a hooded robe for experimentation.

It's just straight-up perv manufactured rationale for fan-service purposes.

[Kraco]

I recall paying attention to it in the beginning of the ep, but quickly forgot all about it. After so much anime and manga, ignoring such things is half-autonomous.

[MFauli]

I mean, I can enjoy the anime regardless. BUT: This one thing means I will NEVER recommend this anime to anybody who´s not also hardcore-anime fan. Just dumb.

[KrayZ33]

It's pretty funny tbh. Not sure if this can keep up long enough though.

[MFauli]

episode 2 is out
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Ok, I guess I misjudged this anime on the basis of its first episode. I looked up the exact genre on MAL, and indeed, "comedy" is not part of it.

There´s a lot of fun scenes, sure, but episode 2 showed that it´s a serious story after all. Surprisingly serious, actually, consider how rare attempted rape scenes are, and they usually don´t go that far. My dick hated that the bad guy got interrupted by Glenn, but oh well ;P

I loved how the episode really took its time to explain things. The magic lecture by Glenn was superb, I can totally see this being the case within the rules of that fantasy world. Showing those elite students that they´re not that much. Nice.

The villains attacking the school also had a reasonably evil, menacing aura to them. Ofc, Glenn would beat them, but they felt dangerous up until him showing up, taking no bullshit from those students. Aaand they successfully kidnapped the princess, so there´s that.

Personally, I hope this series keeps focusing on the serious parts, while using funny scenes to balance it a bit. And I hope we´ll get some epic battles between Glenn and the stronger enemy mages.

Definitely my personal biggest surprise of the season. I thought it´d be some little distraction, now I´m actively looking forward to it as much as I do for Shingeki and Hero. :>

[Kraco]

Yeah, I expected this show starting to slowly go downhill, either running out of comedy or becoming too run of the mill when the story gets serious. This second ep did surprise me positively. First of all, the reason why Glenn was so unmotivated and looked down on magic is actually super solid: He saw little value in the stiff, formulaic magic spells the students spent their time memorising. Secondly, this ep proved it doesn't need to rely on the comedy to stay interesting.

[shinta|hikari]

Hello Mx0, I missed you.

The attempted rape was too tame, and the girl gave in way too easily. Pathetic. As if begging will stop a murdering rapist from doing the deed. At least keep a shred of your pride. Bite your tongue off and drown in your own blood if it is that mortifying. Bleh.

The comedy was nice though.

So was he a soldier before? An assassin? He knew the imperial martial arts, so I'm leaning towards the former, especially with his clothes during the princess's flashback. I'm guessing he is a special agent, like 007.

[neflight86]

I was sorta disappointed in the reveal. Even though there is no way it could happen in the current anime environment, I was hoping MC would remain mostly useless, and perhaps provide moral or strategic support to his students, but instead we have "cool tough dude will save the day and make all the girlz fall for his strength #884".

Still entertaining, but my expectations have to be re-tuned.

[Kraco]

I was sorta disappointed in the reveal. Even though there is no way it could happen in the current anime environment, I was hoping MC would remain mostly useless, and perhaps provide moral or strategic support to his students, but instead we have "cool tough dude will save the day and make all the girlz fall for his strength #884".

Why exactly would that witch have recommended so adamantly a useless dude for the teacher's position? It was obvious he was highly capable but had some motivational or other such problems.

[MFauli]

Gotta agree with Kraco here (omg). It makes sense for Glenn to be a strong, capable mage.

I guess we´re all just disappointed that "that" scene was interrupted too early :P

[neflight86]

Why exactly would that witch have recommended so adamantly a useless dude for the teacher's position? It was obvious he was highly capable but had some motivational or other such problems.

You don't have to be a warrior/soldier/assassin to be able to teach. Specifically, I meant 'useless outside of his defined job role'. I was just hoping for a different setup and character dynamic is all. This isn't bad, I was just unreasonably wanting something different due to the premise matching my expectations for the first episode.

[Kraco]

That's indeed generally possible, but not in his case. We already saw inside his mind when he told magic is only good for killing and little else. While he was half trolling, or to put it more politely, half only pushing the students to defend their own opinion, it's still more than obvious a person saying such things has lost any youthful illusions a long time ago.

[Ryllharu]

The comedy gold in this eps was Glenn having a Magical Girl sequence as he activated his Trap Card.

As for Sisti being weak and breaking too early, that was the point of the rape-guy's speech. Girls like Sisti who are loud and brash (like anime tsuderes almost always are) are always weak on the inside, and girls who seem weaker-willed, like Rumia, are the ones who are actually as strong internally as the loud ones pretend to be.

I found it very refreshing that the series not only acknowledged the trope, they immediately called it out in only the second episode directly in the dialogue using a minor character. Skipping the bullshit entirely and just admitting the two female leads true personalities.

[KrayZ33]

After ep3. I'm pretty sure the comedy is going to be inconsistent, out of place and just not funny in the future... and the storytelling or story/sceneplay itself is probably made up by a 7 year old or something.

I mean, it doesn't even make fun of itself anymore, it's really 'trying'.
No Konosuba level of making fun of cliché, but actually cliché incarnate.

Dropped if the next episode or two are the same. Funnily enough, the show could've ended here, after 3 episodes, and I'd at least understand why they rushed through all the superhero tropes in a single episode.

[shinta|hikari]

You overestimate 7 year olds.

[Kraco]

This teacher apparently had a Shirou complex when he was younger, but as opposed to Shirou, he actually listened to Archer and gave up. At least until it got personal.

But yeah, this wasn't overly impressive. Forgetting the simple plot, the humour is getting scarce as well, precisely like I feared. It's not like I'd have wanted to watch an incompetent MC for too long, but most of the comedy was based on that. Now he's not only strong with an even stronger history, but he's also teaching enthusiastically, as opposed to trying to avoid all responsibility and work.

I'll still give this more chances, though.

[MFauli]

I have to agree with the negative sentinment about ep3. It was bullshit deus-ex-machina after bullshit deus-ex-machina. When Glenn used that super magic, draining himself, all pale, then standing up like nothing happened. When Glenn had been stabbed deeply by several blades ... then removes those blades and keeps on moving like nothing happened. When he reaches the tower and writes and writes and writes, using his own blood. OF COURSE; he´d lose consciousness at the very end. And then the girl for ... REASONS, was able to pass the magic barrier with her arm.

All that was presented so amateur-ish. :/

It´s not like the same plot couldn´t have happened. But with a couple simple changes in dramaturgy, it all would have been so much better. For example:
After being stabbed in all his limbs, have his arms hang down, unable to move. At the same time have him shake from simply standing. And when he counterattacked the enemy, have Glenn attack by using his mouth/teeth, as that´s the only part of his body he realistically still could use for an attack.

Oh well. I probably won´t drop it, I like Glenn and Sistina is hot. But it´s looking like a lot of potential is being wasted here.

[Kraco]

Episode 4




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Surprisingly, this was actually a pretty funny episode. Glenn is showing the Konosuba kind of duality once again, showing first pompous behavior, then backpedaling when learning the real facts. It seems like they can derive still more humour out of the students' tragically false image of this teacher.

The count was bloody nasty. "Let's fire him" was very much in order.

[MFauli]

Nah, come on. The count was just honest, and who wouldn´t do "things" to such a hot girl ;>

Anyway, nice episode. The pacing was very hight, which made it entertaining. It´s also clear to me by now, though, that this will end up being just an okay anime. There´s a lot of wasted potential with the setting, but oh well.

[Kraco]

Nah, come on. The count was just honest, and who wouldn´t do "things" to such a hot girl ;>


He was a hilarious character and the episode needed him, I'm not arguing against that, but he was still suitably nasty that the principal's simple line was comedy gold.

[Kraco]

Episode 6



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I wonder why any mage would go through the trouble of creating such a ridiculous cursed necklace. And as if that wasn't enough, the infiltrator had to reveal herself just in order to tell the folks the necklace was such and such. If they only wanted one student dead, there would have been a million easier ways during that grand festival. This necklace might have made a bit more sense if they had needed the queen to be under control for a lenghtier period of time to further some deeper agenda, by making her give diverse orders, replace officials, and other such things.

But of course for the good guys it's jolly news the enemies aren't too bright.

Re=l was a funny girl. I hope she pays the show another visit.

[MFauli]

The whole plot with the cursed necklace felt super contrieved. Glad it´s over.

The show is still enjoyable, but, again, so much wasted potential. I hope the anime at least ends with Glenn and Sistina officially becoming a couple.

[Kraco]

Episode 7



- - - - -



This show could afford to build the story more and placate type B fans a bit less. It's kind of ironic to say it, but I would have preferred Re=l to get less development. She was funny as a character lacking common sense, less funny as a yandere.

[MFauli]

How old is Riel supposed to be, anyway? She´s at the military, but she looks no older than the students, lol.

Also disappointed that Glenn didn´t try to sneak to the girls´ rooms together with the boys ;D

[Kraco]

Glenn wouldn't have needed to sneak anywhere. He's a teacher, he can simply walk there openly if he wants. Instead he gave them a lesson: Plan the operation more carefully if you want to succeed.

It seems to me Glenn also started pretty young in the military, not that he would yet be old as it is. Maybe Re=l is a bit older than the students, but not so much she couldn't infiltrate. It's also possible she's of the same age and she joined the armed forced due to special circumstances and because she's gifted enough without going to academies (as far as the military requirements go). In the first place I feel like these students are already too old for what they are doing to really become super special elites. A much younger kid could have been taught more advanced magic already under direct tutelage of some archmage. Add some spartan combat training and experience to that and you would get a mage totally incomparable to these students living a generally peaceful school life.

[shinta|hikari]

If you do all that, you get Mahouka.

[Kraco]

Episode 8



- - - - - - -



Either this will serve an amazing plot twist or this is really terrible story writing. Considering how much I wanted to punch my screen during this episode, I can't help but fear it's the latter.

There's not really anything worth discussing about this episode. I'll just keep waiting for the plot twist, that is, that this was all just a grand plan to get a person into the enemy stronghold they haven't been able to pinpoint. Maybe the Rumia they snatched isn't Rumia at all but the witch using impersonating magic.

[MFauli]

Had to laugh out loud when that guytold Shironeko "Don´t worry, he´s still breathing".

I was like "why?" Glenn had his chest pierced by a thick, giant blade. He should be dead, lol.

Such bad writing ...

[shinta|hikari]

@Kraco - But your scenario would be the most cliche ending to this arc.

I actually like how this is going, well, except for how Glenn is still somehow alive. Maybe he has passive physical reinforcement. It'd be really novel if that loli really did betray them, and when Glenn comes back to rescue Rumia, he becomes a cold assassin and kills her without hesitation.

I don't want any "magical mind control" bullshit. The loli was clearly sane when she stabbed him, therefore she deserves to die. No forgiveness, no survival, no idealistic speeches. Just death. A brutal, painful, prolonged death fitting for a traitor.

...Who am I kidding? This isn't Dungeon Defense. Sigh.

Read Dungeon Defense if you wanna be cleansed from this generic LN filth.

[Kraco]

@Kraco - But your scenario would be the most cliche ending to this arc.


I don't think so. It would be the second most cliche scenario. Unfortunately the most cliche one would still be that every single (good) character genuinely behaved like an idiot in this episode and the villains needed to do practically nothing to make things go their way. That is, there was no guile whatsoever and everything happened exactly as we saw it happen with no deeper thoughts put into it. Glenn will wake up, mysteriously follow the villains to their base, defeat everybody, save Rumia, and finally Re=l will open her eyes and become bff with the main girls for real.

[Munsu]

Caught up to episode 11, and it's been an alright watch. There's something entertaining about it even while being troped-up and clichéd to the max. So, a general "meh", but good enough to sit back and watch without much thought to it.

One more episode to go, which would make this "journey" much of a waste since it probably won't get us anywhere.

Nothing spectacular here, but it filled a need of a palate cleanser for me.

[Kraco]

Yeah, this is certainly a 100% textbook show that relied purely on the decent characters to stay afloat. There isn't much of a story to talk about, and all plots have been painfully predictable. If somebody seems like villain, they are the bad guy, if someone looks like they will betray others, they will turn traitorous, if it looks like one side will win a fight, they will be victorious, if someone seems likely to be taken hostage, they will be captured, ad infinitum.

[Kraco]

Episode 12 Final


- - - --



Quite a lousy last episode. The bad pacing and generally icky feeling atmosphere and execution started already in the previous ep, but culminated here. The main problems were Glenn simply disappearing, making the students suffer for no particular reason and the villain's bizarre and meaningless plan. If he only wanted to fight Glenn, what possible point was there to spend so much time teaching at the school and force a marriage with Sisti. He was wasting his time for no purpose whatsoever. He could have achieved that in a couple of days by kidnapping Sisti/Rumia and making Glenn fight that way. It all ended gloriously with Glenn letting the murderous enemy escape in the best idiotic shoune fashion. Of course assisting Sisti who ran out of breath (how absolutely terrifying!) was more important than stopping a mass murderer.

[MFauli]

Random finale for a random series. And Glenn and Shironeko didn´t even properly kiss at the end, fail.