Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

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]

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

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Miki, Kazuma Producer

Kimura, Yasutaka Producer

Hashimoto, Kentarou Producer

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

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 24, 2024

robert_barlow

Mixed Feelings

Mahouka is a baffling creature. I think it does a few things quite well - it has a really fun magical high school premise, with a strong running theme, and vaguely science-flavored magic. In many ways it was ahead of its time. Nowadays shows with a premise like that are dime-a-dozen, and it gets some credit for getting there first. I think Mahouka is generally competent in terms of pacing and execution. I can sense that it doesn't linger as long on worldbuilding details or exposition as the novels must have.

Is Mahouka good, then? No. Watchable, sure, but most people won't find the message of ... the show very agreeable. Tatsuya, our main character, is the strongest, bestest mage alive. Even though people think he's underpowered (an "irregular") secretly he's... well, you get the picture. Mahouka is another prestige entry in the genre of fiction where a character who is the victim of social darwinist, spartan society overcomes oppression by secretly having been better than everyone else the whole time. Instead of a refutation of the system, Tatsuya is the most complicit out of any character in the show.

Mahouka is also bizarrely nationalistic for a show set in distant alternate future. The selling point according to light novel readers is that it's actually covert military fiction, but I don't think that's the redeeming factor they hoped it would be. Enemies are one-dimensional. When a casualty happens on the protagonist's side, it's a tragedy. When Tatsuya causes a casualty on the enemy side, it's a statistic. There's a real Starship Troopers moment towards the end that I won't spoil. Suffice to say, when this anime does it, it doesn't mean it satirically.

Watch this one for its cultural relevance, and because it can be funny. Maybe stay away if you're looking for something clever, rational, or aimed at adult audiences.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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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 ... guess? Do you want a cookie? The relationship between the brother and sister is also just unnecessary. Like no. Nothing really makes up for it. The magic system is cool but the MC makes it irrelevant. The animation is subpar and so is the music. If you like watching seal clubbing this is the anime for you. But there is no important character growth, no challenge, no anything other than a stomp by the MC. And the Imperial Japanese vibes it gives are meh.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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