The "Steeplechase" name of the arc comes from a new event introduced in this year's competition. It sounds innocuous but because of the involvement of the military and magician society, it becomes a high stakes political maneuver that could upset the delicate balance of public perception of magicians. Especially since as revealed in the last arc, an agent of a hostile foreign power is involved.
The Nine School Competition is an important event for the magic high schools in this story. It was arguably the most important storyline of the first season of the anime. It was also the focus of the "Honor Student" spin-off that focused on the main female character, Miyuki.
This arc also continues elements from other previous arcs like the parasites from the "Visitor Arc" being weaponized. The heightened security and military involvement are also consequences of the Competition that immediately precedes this one.
To follow this story, a minimal investment of watching the first two anime seasons will be needed, otherwise, the reader is going to miss a lot of the intended story beats without the backstory.
I found this arc more enjoyable than "Double Seven" which preceded this one. For one thing, the mangaka adapting this from the light novel wisely went with the bare minimum involvement for the Saegusa twins and the Shippou boy, brats who were irritating enough to sap the joy of reading the Double Seven Arc manga.
However, I think giving Tatsuya a larger role in the background as part of the engineering and support team gave the character some growth opportunity beyond the deux ex machina role he seems to slip into when the plot needs his overpowered abilities.
There is still no official English translation for this series, so I still recommend following this as an anime as I do. I think season 3, which started airing April 5, 2024 for thirteen episodes, could still fit this in.
