Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Movie: Hoshi wo Yobu Shoujo

it's a pretty mediocre story and this is coming from a person who is in deep love with the light novels this movie is just a fan service for mahouka fan showcasing their favourite characters in action. this contains spoilers.


The story:

The worse thing about the movie is the story, the story is bland, I didn't feel attached to kokoa at all, only sympathetic which is natural giving she was subject to inhumane scientific research, but other than that, she's pretty bland (I'll give her a break since she was imprisoned since birth), still she's a bad character. She's a plot device at best, to make ... the story progresses, I expected she would have a bigger role in the story but she never even interacted with Tatsuya who is the main progtag.

The story felt rushed and forced, it felt it only had one plot point, no subplots, no emotional moments apart from the ending when kokoa smiled at Tatsuya, no memorable moments either.


the animation:

the animation is very good, the action scene were well animated, the new studio did a good job, probably because a lot of people who worked on season 1 of the anime, also worked for this movie.

music

I love mahouka music/ost in general, they are great.


over all
I wanted to give this a 6, but since I'm a huge fan of mahouka, I'll raise it to 7.

This movie isn't bad, but it doesn't make any sense that it was released before the second season, since it features characters that will only appear in the second season. so their "scare" events and presentations detract from the pace of the film. Anyway. Other than that, his story has several pacing problems, time cuts in scenes, geographic continuity cuts. Otherwise, it follows the same logic as the original series. An overpowered protagonist who, in the case of this film, has his infinite powers limited by script convenience so that the plot becomes (very slightly) exciting. And that. The animation does not disappoint.

Note 5 ... if seen before the second season. And score 6 if seen after the second season of the anime.

***There are spoilers hinted at in this review***

To preface this review know this, I love the TV series. It gets crapped on for reasons that usually deserve distaste (OP, know-it-all MC that happens to have a sister and a plethora of other females all lining up to take him). However, the TV series crafted a lot of really enjoyable experiences with its tight-knit cast and interesting plot scenarios.

With that out of the way, lets talk about this film.

This film is, in my honest opinion, a complete waste of time to watch unless you are the up-most die-hard of a fan. The film accomplishes a ... super long, drawn-out objective after meandering on for tens of minutes with the most dull conversation scenes.

But first, lets talk aesthetics. I always liked the visual style of the TV series. I've seen people comment on how it looks “too clean and crisp”. This is a valid criticism; if you make something that hits both of these marks, it can look foreign and void of personality. I however do not hold this train of thought for Magic Highschool. For me, the series has a very distinctive look and feel to its world. It has a clear vision of how advanced the world is compared to our own, the color pallet is for the most part a set of cool colors, and pretty much every character looks unique.

The film holds these values in-check which is a good thing. You can come off of the TV series and watch this film and it will fall almost perfectly in place visual wise. What will not mesh well however is the pretty abhorrent CG used in the film. CG characters and CG objects really clash with the other visuals on-screen especially when it is a moving object. Tanks in motion look fucking awful in almost every incident. Thankfully, the rest of the visual elements pick up the slack and make this film look good. It lacks that extra movie flair but is a step up from the TV series (which was already a pretty high bar in my opinion).

The sound design is something that also (for the most part) stays consistent from the TV series. The sounds of guns, objects clashing, magic spells going off, and other things in the forefront of the action sounds right at home. The voice actors are...well they are what they were in the TV series (which means they were passable). It's not that the actors did a meh job; it's just that the TV series and the film doesn't fully utilize the great cast. They kind of are just there doing their lines. The music is a mixed bag. There are a couple really cool themes. However, there are enough songs that sound either out of place or just really meh that it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Now we can finally talk about the meat of this film; the...”plot”. On first inspection you might find that the plot lies between Honoka's breasts. Nope, the plot is introduced as a sort of “Scientists going rouge” thing but it doesn't really go anywhere. The main...”Villian” is a scientist that...you know what? I still have no idea what the fuck he wanted. He just spouts out these cryptic lines all the time that don't mean anything other than “I don't care; just do what I said”. The last time we see him he is (what I am assuming) just knocked out. What happens to him? The film doesn't care.

What does the film care about? Fan service. Yes I do mean sexualized fanservice but also fanservice in the way of “Hey viewer! Remember this character? Yeah there she is for 10 minutes! Look how fucking cute/hott she looks in that bathing suit! Ok now say good bye to them because the plot doesn't need them.” The TV series did a great job keeping characters relevant for the entirety of its running. The film however throws them in because...the studio is worried you will forget about them? Seriously only Tatsuya, Miyuki, Erika, and Leonhart really matter in this film. Everyone else plays a super sideline role.

So things happen, Tatsuya saves some kids, the sideliners fight some “American” bad guys, then Tatsuya stops a falling thing from space. That's...pretty much the meat of the film. The first 40 minutes are wasted on meaningless fanservice shots sprinkled with some plot. This film was seriously a letdown. I was hoping it would provide us with some more badass moments but in the end it is all show and no go. There were no real set-piece moments, no real interesting methodical ideas or plot devices, no character development...nothing. Just an hour and a half wasted.

This film joins No Game No Life Zero in the “film that wasted potential” bin. Please do not waste your time on this thing. Unless you absolutely need to see the characters do something new, stay clear of this mess of a film.

Enjoyment: 3.2/10

Overall: 2.5/10

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Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer