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

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Alternative Titles

Japanese: 魔法科高校の劣等生

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Information

Type: Light Novel

Volumes: 32

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Finished

Published: Jul 8, 2011 to Sep 10, 2020

Genres: Action, Romance, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Theme: School

Serialization: None

Authors: Satou, Tsutomu (Story), Ishida, Kana (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.21¹ (scored by 9,041 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #441²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #590

Members: 29,908

Favorites: 1,397

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Filtered Results: 8 / 11

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Jul 12, 2014

Obelisx

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

Okay so let me just put this in perspective for you guys who are kinda edging towards reading it, but not to sure.

This is an amazing light novel, hands down one of the best, it has comedy, combat, romance to some extent, action, drama, intelligent and mind blowing scenes as well as interesting characters.

If you enjoy a strong male lead in a world fulled of magic and mystery, then this book is definitely for you. It's set in a world where magic can be used in everyday lives, mostly for the use of combat, but only by a select skilled few. In this ... world, magic itself is practically a skill which can be trained and developed through time, but in order to implement this skill, technology or machines known as Cads must be used. Somewhat like the same concept as a wand but more complex.

This novel revolves around Tatsuya Shiba and his sister enrolling within a school where they train such abilities. Upon entrance, due to certain circumstances, he is seen as a failure whilst his sister as a prodigy. From there on, Tastuya begins to show his true ability.

What could the down side be about such an amazing novel you might ask? Well, its simple - This novel is a novel made to make you think. Now this phrase might be slightly broad so let me elaborate.

For those of you who have watched the anime and given it a low ranking , presumably because you don't know whats going on half of the time, that's because you don't know about the fundamentals and the incredible make up of this fantasy world. The way this book as well as how the anime is done is based off the fundamentals of the novel and you need to know what these are in order to watch the anime. Its complex and complicated at some points which in turn make the reader even more interested and intrigued by how much thought has gone into this novel

This novel is with out a doubt a masterpiece in my mind. But don't be fooled, it may be amazingly cool in its combat scenes which keep you turning the page, well thought out and unique, but its doesn't have simple to understand scenarious and basic writing scemes. Its a proper well thought out novel, and you have to have a well matured mind to read it.

Overall, i believe that if you enjoy combat orientated novels with well though out conundrums and scenarious, then give this book a try. I personally found it to be refreshing and incredible, the way the magic is used, how their lives are affected in the school, and the hardships they have to face. Plus the main character is a bad-ass which makes everything so much more interesting

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Feb 19, 2013

Darkazuyagami

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

This is my first review,but just one thing that i can say about this novel from beginning, "Amazing"! So,there is my little review about MKnR:

Story: 9/10
The story is great (from my point of view). The siblings with very strong bound,a lot of 'comedy' between the siblings act that make the others have a misunderstanding about their relationships. The progress of story is very interesting,when tatsuya have to keep secret about his identity and his true power. But still his true power will be revealed little by little with the progress of story. Another side that make this novel more interesting is his relationship with the ...

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Apr 26, 2021

EddyFiend

Recommended

I started off watching the first season of The Irregular at Magic High School and was absolutely blown away. Alternate universe? "Scientific magic"? Political themes dealing with the military and espionage? Unstoppable main character? The show had everything I wanted, and I craved for more.

I'm happy to tell others that enjoyed the series as much as I did that the light novel series is even better. This was my first entry into the world of light novels, and it was great.

Story:
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the series, Irregular does a great job at portraying the vast relationships in a world that takes place ...

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Apr 6, 2014

FormX

Recommended

Preliminary (11/? chp)

The anime is airing, so here's a review if you still aren't sure about this series. Note that it's a great and captivating series but the review does point out some negative aspects.

Story: 8/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall Rating Bias: +/- 1

Verdict:
I do recommend the series though, the world is worth discovering and the events that occur around the main character worth following. If you want a science fiction take on magic in a realistic setting, this is worth checking out.
Watching the anime will most likely relieve the technical explanations, setting descriptions and bring character depth.
...
If you are Caucasian or just not Chinese then you can pretty much ignore this first paragraph (rant). It's unfortunate but this series has an underlying bias, discriminate would be a bit too strong of a word, towards the Chinese. In every arc, the antagonists and/or their ultimate organization(s) are Chinese. This isn't the main problem, the issue is how they are portrayed. They and their actions are portrayed as dishonorable, villainous, aggressive, and unintelligent. Their magic and technology are archaic, incompetent, elementary and ineffective. Of the 3 named characters, one is sly, the other is arrogant, and the last one is supposed to be "the world's top 10 close combat magician" is a savage and has virtually no technique. Although there are other problems, this is the main reason for the lower rating accounted for in the rating bias.

As a novel, or maybe as a translated novel, a huge problem are the explanations. There are long and complex explanations on magic and magic techniques every chapter, so it really interrupts the flow of anything. You would have to choose between focusing on reading the story or understanding the explanations, that is how bad it is. And of course the first chapters are chock full of these and if you can't get around them you won't for the rest of the novels because it uses jargon.
Watching the anime first would probably enable you to skip these boring explanations, and the setting (also female appearance) descriptions.

Character wise, there are only two worth mentioning: Tatsuya (main) and Miyuki (sister). There are friends and others that appear consistently but their character depth do not go much further beyond their descriptions (looking at you Erika, Leo and Mizuki). The anime and voice acting will probably bring more life to them.

Tatsuya is interesting, at least when you don't know much about him, because at first he is a mysterious underdog who likes to keep a low profile and has a few secrets, and you know it has to do with being secretly strong. This is a refreshing MC that I like. However, as it goes on you may get tired of his self deprecating attitude despite being OP and the fact that there will be no real romance in the novel.

Miyuki is the heroine, if there has to be one. You either love her or hate her depending on whether you like sibling love. Later on her unconditional love for her brother is explained, but even then she's a bro con from the start. Her struggle with her feelings, Tatsuya and Miyuki's relationship with their family and their peers are all interesting things to watch. She's responsible for most of what fan service there is.

Americans are later introduced but naturally the ones of importance are just blonde anime characters, not quite Americans. The strongest US magician becomes a transfer student and develops some feelings for Tatsuya due to of course losing and departs as a rival.

As for the plot itself and its development, it is decent for the first two arcs, since the setting, magic, combat, and characters are still being laid down and revealed at the same time. The content itself is also engrossing, showing the school life at a magic high school and a magic competition between schools. The two later arcs are relatively less interesting with one being a one sided slaughter and the other about hunting vampires/parasites, hence some flaws are more apparent.

Still, the series was hard to put down because the overall plot was the driving force independent of the arcs, namely discovering Tatsuya's many talents, the drama within the magician families, the future of Tatsuya and Miyuki, their relationship and the revelation of their powers and identities. The world the author creates is also intriguing; set in the future with modern times as the history, and bringing magic into the mix.

The flaws mentioned earlier, I'm not sure how to put it, but something that feels like bad politics and strange logic on the authors part. It probably won't bug you if you don't think about it. Examples, but you may find more:
Japan has of course remained independent, but the Asian Alliance has the China, Korea and other countries as one while Canada and Mexico have been assimilated to the United States.
Japanese magic techniques rule all.
A common trope where high school students take the limelight, but here they are also the forefront in purging terrorists, military engagement, investigating and resolving murder cases.
Magician families have become the new nobility, but there is still a stigma against magicians in general public.
Despite university level facilities at the high school and classrooms that no longer require teachers, there are still no magic instructors half the students enrolled.

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Apr 27, 2014

Duri1n

Recommended

Preliminary (12/? chp)

*First review. Please be lenient.

I first found out about this series because the anime is one of the most hyped anime of the Spring 2014 anime series being released. Having watched the first 3 episodes, the series was interesting enough to check out the original source material. And it is great!

This is a MIGHTY LOOOOOOOOONG review. There will be very very minor spoilers***, but those probably won't mean much for those who've not read the LNs. For those who want a mini review, here's one. A (very) detailed one is below:

Story - 8
+ Interesting and well developed world and magic system
+ Plot gets increasingly interesting ...

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Feb 28, 2013

Roronoa_Zoro_Fan

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

My First review also happens to be for the First Novel i ever read!

Story: 10/10
This is a great story for anyone who Enjoys shonen battle mangas. But in many ways, this story even has the potential to be a lot more popular than it already is. It is rare for any story to get overpowered done right but Mahouka does it perfectly. The novel takes a good look at the relationship between the weak and powerful, and it does well to create a world with a complete history. The explanations can get a little bit lengthy, but the complexity behind the magic theory adds ...

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Jul 22, 2014

gonzalogo3

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? chp)

This novel is simply amazing.... Who wouldn't love anything related to magic!?!? With the imagination one could set into the aspect of magic, this novel surely brings it to life, even though at times it may be quite difficult.

Story: 9
The story starts out as quite mediocre as we all know the typical "first day high" cliche, and maybe even the "troublemaker" right off the bat. But as soon as the introduction is over, it's smooth sailing all the way. This is basically about a guy, and his sister, as they demolish everything in the magic world that's thrown to them. It sounds

Art: 9
The art is ...

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Mar 25, 2018

WishIhadaName

Recommended

Preliminary (1/? chp)

This is my first review and english is not my first language, so it will be filled with grammatical errors and I really don't care, improving my english is one of the main reasons I'm on this site.

As someone who has read the Light Novel AND watched the anime of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, or simply Mahouka, I couldn't help but notice the enormous disparity in quality between the two...

You see, this IS a good story, the characters ARE interesting and most of their aspects and reasons are properly explained... at least when talking about the light novel (LN), because almost nothing that makes ...

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Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
The Irregular at Magic High School
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