Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (The Irregular at Magic High School)

In the dawn of the 21st century, magic, long thought to be folklore and fairy tales, has become a systematized technology and is taught as a technical skill. In First High School, the institution for magicians, students are segregated into two groups based on their entrance exam scores: "Blooms," those who receive high scores, are assigned to the First Course, while "Weeds" are reserve students assigned to the Second Course.

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei follows the siblings, Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba, who are enrolled in First High School. Upon taking the exam, the prodigious Miyuki is placed in the First Course, while Tatsuya is relegated to the Second Course. Though his practical test scores and status as a "Weed" show him to be magically inept, he possesses extraordinary technical knowledge, physical combat capabilities, and unique magic techniques—making Tatsuya the irregular at a magical high school.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

The anime closely follows the events of the first seven light novels (excluding the fifth novel: Summer Holiday Arc + 1). There are three video game adaptations of the series.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Other:	Yoku Wakaru Mahouka!, Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 10-shuunen Kinen PV
Sequel:	Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen
Spin-off:	Mahouka Koukou no Yuutousei
Prequel:	Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Tsuioku-hen

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Shiba, Tatsuya

Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi
Japanese

Shiba, Miyuki

Main

Hayami, Saori
Japanese

Saegusa, Mayumi

Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Chiba, Erika

Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi
Japanese

Kitayama, Shizuku

Supporting

Tatsumi, Yuiko
Japanese

Mitsui, Honoka

Supporting

Amamiya, Sora
Japanese

Ichijou, Masaki

Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu
Japanese

Shibata, Mizuki

Supporting

Satou, Satomi
Japanese

Watanabe, Mari

Supporting

Inoue, Marina
Japanese

Yoshida, Mikihiko

Supporting

Tamaru, Atsushi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Kananiwa, Kozue

Producer

Miki, Kazuma

Producer

Kimura, Yasutaka

Producer

Hashimoto, Kentarou

Producer

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Opening Theme

	1: "Rising Hope" by LiSA (eps 2-3, 5-13)
	2: "grilletto" by GARNiDELiA (eps 14-26)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Rising Hope" by LiSA (eps 1)
	2: "Millenario (ミレナリオ)" by ELISA (eps 2-13, 18)
	3: "Mirror" by Rei Yasuda (eps 14-17, 19-26)

Reviews

Oct 21, 2023

ScionOfCyan

Recommended

Most human beings can be bucketed as good “people analyzers” or good “thing/idea analyzers.” You can think of the former as a feminine trait and the latter as masculine. I don’t mean that the buckets are exclusive to gender: I am a male “person analyzer.”  

When an intelligent “person analyzer” is in charge of producing an anime, that anime generally excels in realistic behavior in its characters. It tends to avoid over-exaggeration or caricature to get a point across. Viewers often have to intuit or figure out what somebody is thinking or feeling from context clues of body language. This is because realistic behavior doesn’t spell ... a person’s inner self straight out: that’s not how people act. We all wear personae and masks that change from situation to situation. Anime that lean towards “person analysis” and less towards “idea analysis” are generally slice of life or similar genres. Two examples of popular, good anime that fit this category are Clannad and Anohana.  

When an intelligent “idea analyzer” is in charge of producing an anime, the anime will excel in the quality and strength of the ideas ‘behind’ the story. However, “idea analyzers” tend to be less adept at “person analysis” since these skills don’t have much overlap. Since such a creator (usually male) isn’t equipped to portray ideas through realistic behavioral details or dialogue he will often have a character say the idea straight out. A good example occurs early in Attack on Titan when a military official bawls in public that his mission was a failure and made him feel hopeless. AoT is a classic “ideas” story: Isayama wants us to know what the official is thinking so the official just blurts it out. While this communicates an important concept for the story there is no way in a million years a senior military official would act in this manner in public. This makes the scene an excellent illustration of “strong idea analysis” combined with “weak person analysis” in an early episode of a show most of you are familiar with. Well-known good “ideas” anime include Gurren Lagann and Code Geass.

  Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei is the only show I have watched that does both the “ideas analysis” side and the “person analysis” (realistic behavior) side at an A+ level. This is highly unusual; the mastermind(s) in charge of a creation tends to be more specialized. As such MKnR gets my highest recommendation and my strongest review out of any show I have watched so far.  

MKnR has a lot of intrigue, hidden information, and uncertainty embedded in its plot so I will completely avoid further depth in this review. MKnR is exceptionally spoilable and unlike most anime, the spoilable details matter a lot. For those of you who have watched this anime and want more explanation, feel free to pester me on MAL. I may write specific blog posts about MKnR as a result.

Update: I have written one blog post that goes into "person analysis" in greater detail. Most readers who have not yet watched the show should avoid reading the post. You can read the post here: https://myanimelist.net/blog.php?eid=901378

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Apr 16, 2024

ecktt

Mixed Feelings

TLDR: They made a lesser version of "A certain Magical Index"

It is with great regret that I say; I have watched every bit of this series to date. Why regret? Because I've watched a better version of it. Our MC, Touma...I mean Tatsuya, attends the first magic high school. His sister, who has incestuous thoughts about him, is a top-class magic user, while he sucks at it, and so is deemed an irregular. (Who else do I know that sucks at magic yet attends a magic school, never mind, it will come back to me.) Except for when the plot calls for magic, and ...

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Apr 2, 2024

kimonovastaya

Not Recommended

This anime is something else. The plot isn't great. The premise of the story isn't really a problem. The MC that does get bullied doesn't even care about the bullying and it doesn't effect him in anyway. Moreover, the only problem the MC has is that he cant be in multiple places at once. He is too broken. It's not like One-Punch Man where its actually funny and somewhat unique. The MC in this one is too powerful for there to be any relevance. There isn't any challenge. It's like watching a professional soccer player play against a bunch of 3 year olds. Congrats I ...

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'Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei' Gets Second Season in 2020

A second anime season of Tsutomu Satou's Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (The Irregular at Magic High School) light novel series was announced at the Dengeki Bunko ...read more

Oct 6, 2019 4:48 AM by Vindstot | Discuss (107 comments)

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Recent Forum Discussion

Poll: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Sep 27, 2014	457 replies	by ExSant0 »» Apr 19, 2:43 PM
Poll: Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - May 3, 2014	308 replies	by taifd77 »» Apr 6, 8:00 AM
Romance Tag? akihiko132 - Dec 8, 2020	4 replies	by fqdnl »» Apr 3, 6:27 PM
Poll: Shipping For Tatsuya X ....... Ricky16 - Sep 1, 2023	28 replies	by AGiantWeeb »» Mar 24, 6:34 AM
Question for LN readers Artorias94 - Feb 19	4 replies	by StarZone1 »» Feb 20, 4:26 AM

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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

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Shiba, Tatsuya

Shiba, Miyuki

Saegusa, Mayumi

Chiba, Erika

Kitayama, Shizuku

Mitsui, Honoka

Ichijou, Masaki

Shibata, Mizuki

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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Episode Videos

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

Related Anime

Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Reviews

Interest Stacks

Recommendations

Recent News

Recent Forum Discussion

Recent Featured Articles

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Visit MALxJapan
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