Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Episode 8 Discussion

Ckan said:
I am immersed in this world. Something in it has touched me deeply in a way that cannot be explained. I cannot tear myself away from the depth of story and eye-widening action that takes place each episode. I cannot but cry at the moving exploits of our heroes and the injustices which have been inflicted.
When our protagonist strikes, my heart flutters. When he speaks, I cannot breath. His jokes crack my ribs; his worries fill me with dread, and his displeasure makes my bladder so loose.

Someone save me from Mahouka.

darkreaperix said:
Now I don't know if it's the subbers fault or the one writing the adaption,but I agree that adding the words Finally,would have indicated that Tatsuya has been working on Flying type magic for a sometimeand not in a sinlge day.

I think the hate on Tatsuya as a character comes from there are rare MC's like him and that most anime/LN's are populated by pathetic male MC's that are poor students and/or dense idiots that gets extremely nervous when they see a girl in her underwear.And that many of them are pathetic in fights.

The only thing I hate about Mahouka and Tatsuya is I can't enjoy old series that I was into before like Strike the Blood,Date a Live and other anime that has wimpy or idiotic MC's anymore.

AquaWateria said:
Strike the Blood, this is not your fight sempai fuckin Yukina every time.

darkreaperix said:
Now I don't know if it's the subbers fault or the one writing the adaption,but I agree that adding the words Finally,would have indicated that Tatsuya has been working on Flying type magic for a sometimeand not in a sinlge day.

nina4life said:
Be it as it may, the point stands that in these 8 episodes Tatsuya has basically invented 2 things which were previously considered impossible or highly improbable.

People who complain about Tatsuya, myself included, do it because he is just too perfect COMPARED to everyone else.
I love, absolutely ADORE characters like Tatsuya, which are strong, smart and actually do shit instead of whining all the time.
But when the main character is strong, smart and decisive and everyone else is a retard it's hard to enjoy it. And that is, so far at least, this show.
Everyone else is having hard time doing anything and Tatsuya is perfect at everything.

But Tatsuya being basically god in human form is smallest issue I have with this show.
That is, however, a discussion for some other time :)

darkreaperix said:
I think the hate on Tatsuya as a character comes from there are rare MC's like him and that most anime/LN's are populated by pathetic male MC's that are poor students and/or dense idiots that gets extremely nervous when they see a girl in her underwear.And that many of them are pathetic in fights.

The only thing I hate about Mahouka and Tatsuya is I can't enjoy old series that I was into before like Strike the Blood,Date a Live and other anime that has wimpy or idiotic MC's anymore.

Takuan_Soho said:

Hummn, perhaps if you extended your animation viewing to more than just harem shows (Date A Life, Strike the Blood) perhaps you would see that there are better male characters out there who aren't super solder, magician, ninja, designer, engineer, scientist, special agent, able to block all magic (to date), able to solve all magical questions (to date), and seems to have the ability to resurrect all by the age of 16 type of characters.

While I agree that the "finally" would have been a nice touch (and not it wasn't there), I think the point above about how Tatsuya being smarter than the author is very true. Some explanation of how is vital at these moments, explain the insight, even if it is technobabble as to why Tatsuya figured it out. Otherwise this show risks becoming the equivalent of Yu-Gi-Oh (whom I guess is another Darkreaperix strong male character) where the enemy has him pinned and Yu-Gi-Oh just HAPPENS (even though the card had never been mentioned before) to have the one card that allows him to turn the table and win.

Without some effort then it doesn't matter how strong the enemies are, because:
Enemy of the Week: "Hah, I have neutralized your soldier, magician, ninja, dematerializing magic, resurrection, flying, soccer playing, cast jamming powers, so prepare to die as I stick you with a pointy object."

Tatsuya: "Oh my bad, all physical attacks don't work on me. And I can shoot lasers out of my eyes."

Enemy of the Week: "When did you discover that?"

Tatsuya: "Oh, while you were talking, it is really easy when you think about it, can't imagine why no one has in the 100 years of magical research."

Takuan_Soho said:


Hummn, perhaps if you extended your animation viewing to more than just harem shows (Date A Life, Strike the Blood) perhaps you would see that there are better male characters out there who aren't super solder, magician, ninja, designer, engineer, scientist, special agent, able to block all magic (to date), able to solve all magical questions (to date), and seems to have the ability to resurrect all by the age of 16 type of characters.

While I agree that the "finally" would have been a nice touch (and not it wasn't there), I think the point above about how Tatsuya being smarter than the author is very true. Some explanation of how is vital at these moments, explain the insight, even if it is technobabble as to why Tatsuya figured it out. Otherwise this show risks becoming the equivalent of Yu-Gi-Oh (whom I guess is another Darkreaperix strong male character) where the enemy has him pinned and Yu-Gi-Oh just HAPPENS (even though the card had never been mentioned before) to have the one card that allows him to turn the table and win.

Without some effort then it doesn't matter how strong the enemies are, because:
Enemy of the Week: "Hah, I have neutralized your soldier, magician, ninja, dematerializing magic, resurrection, flying, soccer playing, cast jamming powers, so prepare to die as I stick you with a pointy object."

Tatsuya: "Oh my bad, all physical attacks don't work on me. And I can shoot lasers out of my eyes."

Enemy of the Week: "When did you discover that?"

Tatsuya: "Oh, while you were talking, it is really easy when you think about it, can't imagine why no one has in the 100 years of magical research."

darkreaperix said:
Your overestimating Tatsuya though he can't do everything ,like what I pointed out he sucks at magic that course 1 students can do without even trying.

darkreaperix said:
BTW should I keep on watching NGLG?I got disturbed by that kiss/exchanging oxygen? last ep.

AquaWateria said:
When did he shoot lasers out of his eyes, he basically used his CAD's to do that c'mon dude.

AquaWateria said:
You need to understand that Tatsuya is already strong in the beginning for a reason,

AquaWateria said:
in that little by little it's revealed on why/how he got to be this strong through his circumstances.

AquaWateria said:
Just like how you enjoy Sora in No Game No Life, I enjoy Tatsuya from Mahouka in which both are op in their own designated worlds.

Takuan_Soho said:
Yes they have said that, but they have done nothing to show us that this default really matters. Right now regular magic appears as useful as playing the kazoo compared to what Tatsuya can do. Had they a scene where he is forced to fight using "normal magic" and gets his butt handed to him would go a long way towards making this show more interesting.

As for overestimating him. Where? He hasn't even been pressed in a fight yet.

Takuan_Soho said:

Give Tatsuya some time, he figures out long sought for, nigh near impossible magics, before breakfast.

Takuan_Soho said:

I never fault people's enjoyment, I do question the logic, plotting, pacing, and storytelling of the animation because the logic, plotting, pacing, character development and storytelling have all been lacking here in my opinion.

Dragon_Slayer_X said:
At least you admitted this isn't for you. You should probably marathon this in your spare time as Mahouka isn't action-centered anime. Not every anime is for everyone to watch and we all have different taste right?

darkreaperix said:
Marathon it,it's a bit slow waiting for eps per week,but you could find the story interesting by watching the season in 1 sitting.

I dropped Cap Earth by ep 5,just got bored with it,maybe I'll marathon it after it's season ends.

JeddyVII said:
Well,I could marathon but I feel I should say something: Marathoning won't fix the main problem (to me) of this show,the characters.As long as the characters are entertaining to watch,it shouldn't matter how it's paced,how interesting the story is or how much action there is.I don't know if marathon will help my viewing experiences seeing how the characters won't change whether I'm watching one episode a week or 10 in one sitting.

Deiger1111 said:
Ah, I knew the hidden badass was waiting for me. Are there more hidden badass moments to come, LN readers? Something a little more exciting to keep my eyes open next time, maybe?

Dragon_Slayer_X said:

Dude you guys are just saying this bullshit just for the sake of it. Even in anime perspective, given how he explained the problem in the Student Council Room, it was obvious that he was studying/researching it for some time. He was updated with th event and also knew the problems. But so many people ignore that just for the sake of complaining.



There fixed it for you. Your opinion isn't fact and you are actually contracting yourself. Remember how you called the LN readers masochists earlier? Stop being a hypocrite and go back to watching NGNL. I couldn't enjoy it, got annoyed by it but hey, i am not wasting my time complaining about it.

Z4k said:

What does NGNL have to do with how terrible this show is?

Dragon_Slayer_X said:
There fixed it for you. Your opinion isn't fact and you are actually contracting yourself. Remember how you called the LN readers masochists earlier? Stop being a hypocrite and go back to watching NGNL. I couldn't enjoy it, got annoyed by it but hey, i am not wasting my time complaining about it.

Takuan_Soho said:


I didn't call the LN readers masochists, I said that people who said that the first 3 novels sucked, but who continued to read the series, could be masochists. I am pretty sure that I made this distinction every time, you can check that on this thread I certainly did:
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1185353&show=80

And even after that I said "this is a rant :-)" In particular I am ranting against certain fans who either say that people complaining lack patience (3 novels/8 episodes is more than being patient for a show that has given nothing to first time viewers) or who are missing all sorts of great information in the animation that as far as I can tell only exists in their heads.

So if you read the novels and enjoyed them I am not criticizing you. Furthermore I have gone out of my way on nearly every post to emphasize that I think the problem is with the adaption, not the novels.

As for this being my opinion. Again let me ask you, what is it about Tatsuya that you liked in the novels, and are they here in the adaption. Miyuki is another one. Do you think that either character is even average? Again take away the novels, base your opinion on only what has been shown because I don't think one can make a credible argument supporting that.

On the sale's prediction thread this animation in the last month it has dropped from 10K down to 5.7K, that is pretty objective evidence that this show has been horrific. One more month like this and it might even drop below 3K.

Takuan_Soho said:


I didn't call the LN readers masochists, I said that people who said that the first 3 novels sucked, but who continued to read the series, could be masochists. I am pretty sure that I made this distinction every time, you can check that on this thread I certainly did:
http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1185353&show=80

And even after that I said "this is a rant :-)" In particular I am ranting against certain fans who either say that people complaining lack patience (3 novels/8 episodes is more than being patient for a show that has given nothing to first time viewers) or who are missing all sorts of great information in the animation that as far as I can tell only exists in their heads.

So if you read the novels and enjoyed them I am not criticizing you. Furthermore I have gone out of my way on nearly every post to emphasize that I think the problem is with the adaption, not the novels.

As for this being my opinion. Again let me ask you, what is it about Tatsuya that you liked in the novels, and are they here in the adaption. Miyuki is another one. Do you think that either character is even average? Again take away the novels, base your opinion on only what has been shown because I don't think one can make a credible argument supporting that.

On the sale's prediction thread this animation in the last month it has dropped from 10K down to 5.7K, that is pretty objective evidence that this show has been horrific. One more month like this and it might even drop below 3K.

AquaWateria said:
I'll give you Miyuki so far but for Tatsuya I like his humbleness without being arrogant about his OPness. I also like his twisted humor, calm and intelligent personality. And the fact that his whole past is shrouded through mystery with the military and Yostuba clan keeps me interested just by watching the anime. So point proven. Anyways as for sales like I said many times will likely increase due to MadHouse finally gonna adapt all the competitions in this arc. Which many side characters are gonna shine in.

IceBurn said:
Keep telling yourself that, doesnt change the fact thats is under performing and the sales are dropping every day. People expected it to sell as much as SAO, when in reality it wont even sell a quarter of it.

IceBurn said:
Keep telling yourself that, doesnt change the fact thats is under performing and the sales are dropping every day. People expected it to sell as much as SAO, when in reality it wont even sell a quarter of it.

Dragon_Slayer_X said:


Yes, yes you can keep telling that to yourself as well. You can't see the future either.

AquaWateria said:


Keep telling yourself that it won't increase and I for one have reasonable expectations in that it won't sell as much as SAO. And if it does by golly that's great. I expect the sales to be good not ground breaking which you believe some people expect which isn't the case.

IceBurn said:
No, but thanks to amazon rankings, and using numerous data for similar cases over the past years, i can take a really good guess. It will not reach 10k on release, but you can keep yourself in denial.

Enough with the jokes man.

AquaWateria said:
You keep on imposing your judgement in that it's impossible for it to sell well or even great.So the jokes on you for believing it won't sell well when it's not even done airing.

IceBurn said:
Jokes on you since you believe that 6-7k numbers arent good sales. There are tons of anime who sales have predicted while it was airing. Fact is madhouse intended for this to be big, the evidence is in the series budget. But you can keep going on with this back and forth- it will sell -this- or wont sell as much as -this- and ill throw my arbitrary numbers since im bored. No one knows if the sales will increase, we do know almost half of the people that were buying it wont be for the time being.

IceBurn said:
Jokes on you since you believe that 6-7k numbers arent good sales. It just won sell as well as other anime that had similar hype and that were all released in spring. There are tons of anime who sales have been predicted while it was airing. Fact is madhouse intended for this to be big, the evidence is in the series budget. But you can keep going on with this back and forth- it will sell -this- or wont sell as much as -this- and ill throw my arbitrary numbers since im bored. No one knows if the sales will increase, we do know almost half of the people that were buying it wont be for the time being.

Dragon_Slayer_X said:


Your guesses are ultimately guesses, just like the rest of us. Stop trying to force your opinion that it won't sell well later on. Because like i said, you can't see the future either. So let's move on from this loop discussion shall we or do you want to show off your "superiority complex" even more?

AquaWateria said:


Yeah let's just end this argument as it won't get us anywhere. Will just have to wait and see :)

AquaWateria said:
Yeah let's just end this argument as it won't get us anywhere. Will just have to wait and
see :)

darkreaperix said:
@ Iceburn

It isn't even released yet and your already expecting it to fail?Heck even if only 10% of Mahouka LN readers buy the BDs/DVDs that will still be good numbers.

IceBurn said:
Like mines, your guesses are ultimatly guesses as well, unlike you guys though i have data to support mines as well instead of 'but it'll sell more later on' My superiority complex? I dont see it, but i guess having a different view point(unpopular to boot) and facts to back it up instead of wishful thinking is what it counts for nowadays.

Dragon_Slayer_X said:


Pardon me, but the only data you have is that BD sales are dropping currently. You absolutely have no data to prove that it won't get better later on. That's you guess which you are trying to force here.

IceBurn said:
Like mines, your guesses are ultimatly guesses as well, unlike you guys though i have data to support mines as well instead of 'but it'll sell more later on' My superiority complex? I dont see it, but i guess having a different view point(unpopular to boot) and facts to back it up instead of wishful thinking is what it counts for nowadays.

July 23rd bro, be there Ill raze the mahouka threads for fun(jk) or avoid the website complelty out of shame.

Takuan_Soho said:


I have a tangential discussion/argument that I have been meaning to ask: from a strictly stylistic/technical viewpoint, what do people think of the art of this show?

I have argued before that art on its own can conquer story because animation itself is a visual medium. So my question is, just viewing the art for itself what does one think?

Personally I would put the art of the show at around a 5, maybe a stretched 6 (on a true 1-10 scale), not bad, but at the same time not good.

What I have liked is how some of the magic has been shown, movement has been a little bit above average.

The color palette has been very neutral, nothing really stands out, now that could be in keeping with the theme of the show, but consequentially nothing has "popped". Backgrounds have been pretty sterile as well.

What I would rank below average are the characters. They have been drawn pretty flat and their facial features have been pretty bleached. By flat I would point to how the clothing looks on people, and by facial features being bleached we only have the barest emotions shown on face. Smiles are just mouths drawn as a half circle up, annoyance half circle down.

Other opinions?