I'm going to be honest here. I have no idea why this anime gets as many gripes as it does. I get that it excludes a lot from the light novel. I get that because of this the pacing is too slow and sporadic for the average shounen viewer. But some of the complaints I've seen just make me shake my head. I personally genuinely enjoyed this anime, and I will explain why.
Story - 7
While it has plenty of potential, I have no issues saying for those that read the light novel there are plenty of parts omitted to make way for the excellent last
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arc in the anime. This can leave the viewer occasionally questioning various aspects of the show, I personally was able to grasp or understand well enough what happened, but I don't expect everyone to. In fact, I didn't even know that much had been removed from the show until I looked up the reviews for it. I checked what arcs were removed and read the summaries, and I really couldn't care less that they were removed. God forbid they don't insert the beach episode.
Furthermore, I was kept interested nearly every episode. Even though the first arc is slow and contains lots of talking, I wanted to know more. More about the characters, more about our lord and savior Tatsuya Shiba (We'll get into that later) , more about magic, more about the world itself, more about the societal struggles faced in the show, more about everything.
Simply put, for those that cannot stand sitting still and having to learn more about the world of the show, you just have to watch more explosions and action, and the protagonist getting up wiping blood from his mouth, spouting some line repeated over and over in the show related to friendship then barely beating his smug enemy with a massive OP move out of nowhere, this anime isn't for you.
Also, there are no filler episodes where the plot frustratingly just stops, the plot is always advancing, regardless of pace. Which I find fantastic.
Art - 8
The art isn't extremely stand out in the field of anime, however it is done fairly well, and I like the character designs well enough. Certainly, the art quality far exceeds shows like Naruto, where when I quit watching the characters seem to be made of play doh wearing clothes, vaguely resembling people.
Sound - 9
My man, Iwasaki Taku. I love his work. The composer for this soundtrack was also behind other anime soundtracks such as Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency, Soul Eater, and Gurren Lagann.
The soundtrack is extremely unique, containing Indian music, electro, jazz, funk, songs in French, and a ballroom dance song that contains some of the best English I have ever heard sung by a Japanese person in Vespertine Bloom.
Characters - 8
This is where most of the controversy happens. A lot of people accustomed to specific plot types and character arcs find the different directions the story takes unlikable. We'll start with the biggest topic.
God- er, I mean, Tastuya Shiba, is possibly one of the most badass characters in anime as of late, yet seems to get a lot of hate. This completely baffles me. He is not at all the typical anime protagonist, nor is he a "Gary Stu". The anime doesn't try to make him some relatable everyman learning about how the world works and being dragged blindly through the story along with the viewer, nor does he showcase any other tired and worn out protagonist cliches. He is, refreshingly, a totally competent, logical, dignified, polite, socially adept, and obviously a hilariously broken individual the anime doesn't really try to downplay or hide.
It seems a lot of people just wanted another anime where the same boring cycle of "most powerful bad guy yet shows up, wins for 95% of the arc, but then through BS gets defeated by the protagonist just barely." Rinse and repeat. No, Tatsuya ignores that by just being awesome. And his OPness isn't from the writers just being lazy, there are very obvious plot reasons that will likely get thoroughly expanded upon if a season 2 comes out.
One thing some viewers didn't seem to wrap their minds around was the results Tatsuya had in his practical skills test at the very beginning of the anime. "Why are they so low, this is just some lazy way to pretend that the main character is flawed." I respond by saying not at all. It has nothing to do with making Tatsuya seem flawed. Instead, it is to further establish on the idea that the society they live in is flawed and uses narrow-minded tests to measure ability and competency, resulting in genuinely talented people being regarded as average or less. Sound familiar? Tatsuya, due to plot reasons, is extremely unbalanced when it comes to his abilities with magic. He is completely unable to use some forms of magic, and is extremely proficient in his own unique abilities. So it is completely believable that he couldn't perform well in a test such as that.
Finally, moving onto another character, Tatsuya's younger sister Miyuki is probably one of my bigger issues with the show. She is completely infatuated with her "Onii-sama", to where it seems to dominate her character. There are implied reasons for this, and we will get an explanation for it in season 2 of the show. Aside from that, she just seems polite and mild-mannered despite her absurd amount of magical power.
The rest of the cast is decent and has some interesting foundations for development in the next season , aside from maybe Mizuki at the moment, the shy glasses character, but that is more likely just because I am worn out on that character stereotype. Some mentionable side characters for me are Erika, Mikhiko, and of course, Mayumi. Mayumi, in particular, is a character I like. She is logical, intelligent, and an excellent leader. It is nice to see an intelligent female anime character that isn't also just monotone and matter of fact to communicate how smart her character is.
Enjoyment - 9
I feel I have spoken enough on most aspects of the show, and it is clear I enjoyed the experience greatly. If one isn't wanting cookie cutter stories and characters (once again, aside from Mizuki), then I think enjoyment can be had a plenty watching this show.
Overall- 8
I encourage those that watched it and disliked the OPness of the main character to re-evaluate the plot elements in the show and try to deviate their mindset from typical shounen archetypal stories and characters. I legitimately like this show, and think it is worth watching for those not wanting just explosions, maybe some story as well.
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Sep 5, 2015
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
(Anime)
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I'm going to be honest here. I have no idea why this anime gets as many gripes as it does. I get that it excludes a lot from the light novel. I get that because of this the pacing is too slow and sporadic for the average shounen viewer. But some of the complaints I've seen just make me shake my head. I personally genuinely enjoyed this anime, and I will explain why.
Story - 7 While it has plenty of potential, I have no issues saying for those that read the light novel there are plenty of parts omitted to make way for the excellent last ... |
