「来訪者編Ⅶ」 (Raihou-sha-hen Ⅶ)
“Visitor Arc VII”

Thought we were done with the Miyuki-isms did ya? Ok, maybe somewhat if new up and coming Honoka stock is anything to go by (remember: buy now and sell fast before that bubble bursts!), but seriously, they aren’t going anywhere. And neither is Tatsuya, because if you haven’t learned by this point everything circles back to him—and with added emphasis at every opportunity.

While Mahouka wasn’t really hiding what Lina would be getting up to this week, the show still made a decent attempt at muddying the waters of harem building. Yes, Lina was always going to remain trapped in Tatsuya’s magical gravity well (movie canon doesn’t lie), but getting to that point with parasites on the loose? Hard seeing what ties that red string together, particularly after parasite goes bashful. Leave it to American intelligence to provide the out though, as by forcing Lina to do the impossible they pry open the door to critical thinking and let her dwell on just what she wants. I might roll my eyes at the usual magic shenanigans practiced by God’s one and only, but having Lina damn near one-shot him and go through some reasonable crises of confidence? Now that’s development I can get behind.

Otherwise where Mahouka goes from here, well, it’s up to your imagination. With Honoka having imprinted her deepest, darkest desires on one parasite enough so to let Tatsuya assume control, it’s a fairly even bet we’ll be seeing more extradimensional fun and games shortly considering the remaining ones out and about. As for Lina she’ll probably try again for Tatsuya (that realization on Tatsuya’s strength gives the game away), but honestly, I don’t expect this game of catch (and release) to last for much longer given how thoroughly her support was torn up both root and limb. Not to mention that aforementioned mental dissonance. With yet more players in the form of Section Three coming out the woodwork rest assured this arc’s climax is fast approaching, and with it some further opportunities for Tatsuya to reinforce what makes him the best.

Well, at least to Miyuki, because you know full well there’s no escaping the location where her mind is rapidly heading towards.

 

Preview

22 Comments

      1. She picked the wrong guy to fall head over heels for. He was pretty cold in the way he handled that — but not really harsh. However, I suspect that if for some reason it comes up for discussion with her, he can plausibly say that he was too focused on something else to pay attention to her role in the parasite’s possession efforts, and then ask her if he missed anything important and sort of leaving it up in the air. He does that a lot (and does it fairly well).

        Miyuki is probably glad that the parasite wasn’t modelling her when it possessed the robot (and did Honoka’s projection of her feelings affect Miyuki as well?). Now I’m kind of wondering if and how he will make use of the new Pixie.

        Mockman
    1. Oh yeah, Lina is far from any blame in this case given how ridiculous Tatsuya is. It would be interesting seeing her take him on if she had a full understanding of his strengths and weaknesses though because I’d imagine that would be a fairly even duel.

  1. I can’t remember much from the first season and I have no plan of rewatching it, but was Lina’s deduction of Tatsuya’s powers close or near to reality? I do remember Tatsuya’s powers were very destructive in the first season but that’s all I can remember about it, and I can’t specifically remember anything about illusions or it it was very vague and was not recalled again in this season. Perhaps, if there’s one complaint I can levy on this season, is that it can be unforgiving for first time viewers, or for returning viewers who barely remember the first season. I would have thought a thorough unravelling of Tatsuya’s backstory would happen but alas it would not be. Still, I enjoyed this episode.

    MMX3
    1. Tatsuya’s backstory happens during the skipped over novel between season 1 and 2, and i doubt it’ll get a anime adaptation.

      To be honest it is pretty dark story if you think about it a little. Not that the world doesn’t have dark under tones to it if you pay attention.

      Outside of regrowth (his OP healing magic), his Elemental Sight (His special vision) and Decomposition (his OP killing? magic), Tatsuya has no real affinity for any other magics.

      Miyuki on the other hand is good at Mental Interference Magic which includes but is not limited to Illusions.

      Tegual
      1. So,apart from being unkillable(and raising the dead), impossible to hide from, and capable of destroying anything and everything up to nuke level Tatsuya really does not have anything going for him.

        Magewolf
        1. Being objective here. Tatsuya is very killable.

          As we can see from this episode, had Lina carried on the pressure and continued to attack Tatsuya, without giving him the time to properly react and regenerate his arm, it is easier to take him down.

          Dude
          1. As Dude says, Lina came within a few inches of permanently ending Tatsuya’s existence. If you can catch him unaware and attack with an aim to kill (Lina was clearly hesitant and hoped for a surrender), there’s nothing which so far says Tatsuya will survive the encounter.

          2. To be fair, to permanently kill Tatsuya, you need to essentially completely destroy him (Eidos and all) within 0.28 Seconds (essentially, if his Eidos is still around for that long, he WILL regenerate) according to the Novels. Lina would need to vaporize him instantly (which her Strategic Magic can do).

            One of the Redeeming themes of this series is that it shows that the Price to become this OP is incredibly dark, terrible, and honestly, just not Worth it. We do lose a lot of Tatsuya’s inner dialogue from the Novel which paints all these events, his interactions with others, and his outlook as much Darker than is conveyed in the Anime. Essentially, the Yotsuba prayed for a Magic Demigod, and the story runs with the whole “Be Careful What you Wish…you just might get it” motif.

            Lastly, Tatsuya is theoretically capable of Destroying the Entire Galaxy. There is no Upper Limit to what his Material Burst can convert to energy. The Only Requirement is that he perceive his target as Conceptual a Single Object (like, say, a Planet). All Third Eye does is allow him to use Material Burst at Ultra Long Distances keeping him safe from Counter Attack and out of the Blast Zone of his Own Attack. Part of what the Yotsuba did was to insure he didn’t destroy the Planet due to a Tantrum as a child.

            Yeah, the world of Maohouka is really, really f’ed up.

            Mr.. Scitches
          3. I think that this ‘price’ is actually the source of the story’s glaring weakness. It’s used to justify much of the silliness and also the near-endless exposition which plague the show.

            This was best exemplified late last season (ep.25) when he effortlessly saved Kirihara and Isori and then flew off. Little did we know how he suffered for all of us in restoring those two (and cleaning their uniforms) but fortunately, Miyuki explained it all to us on the ride back so that we could be suitably awed. Note, she should have been wearing her miko outfit when she summoned him.

            I will say though that this season has been better on both fronts than the first season.

            Mockman
        2. Just to clarify, Tatsuya cannot bring back the dead, His ReGrowth cannot restore the victim’s soul. He can only restore the Physical Body(Including the Information Bodies read from the Eidos) The Author has confirmed this before. His ReGrowth ability Can indeed restore anything from Living organisms to mere objects or machines, but cannot restore spiritual entities, especially the Soul/Spirit of beings.

          Raku
  2. “I might roll my eyes at the usual magic shenanigans practiced by God’s one and only, but having Lina damn near one-shot him and go through some reasonable crises of confidence? Now that’s development I can get behind.”

    And now we find Tatsuya’s weakness, Being one-shot and Lina carrying something which Tatsuya can’t analyze fast enough to stop.

    It is a shame that the anime focus’ so much on Tatsuya.

    Tegual
      1. I disagree.

        The appeal of Mahouka the anime to me is that it actually gave room for the other characters to breathe.

        Like Ainz, whenever he takes action, we know he gets stuff done, and cans of whoopass will be opened, but others orbiting him are given that room and space to breathe.

        Dude
        1. Hmm have to agree to disagree I think. IMO the issue with Mahouka is that it doesn’t give its secondary cast enough room to breathe. Just take the episode earlier this season when the parasites were first confronted, Erika and Mikihiko probably could’ve handled them, but then comes Tatsuya to effortlessly steal their thunder and make them look like chumps. Overlord never had this issue as Ainz was clearly dominant, but he was more than willing to take the backseat from time to time and let the Guardians shine; Tatsuya never does that, if there is so much as an opportunity for him to get involved and show off he’ll take it and firmly rub your face in it.

          1. My own take on this is that the show oscillates between those two poles. Too often, Tatsuya does step on others’ toes, not just in combat situations (since he’s omnipotent) but also in information situations (since he’s omniscient), for example, in the first season someone like Mizuki would come to him having seen something no one else could see, and his response would invariably be, “Thank you for confirming what I had already determined.” The second season does less of that, and characters like Honoka and Mizuki have had the type of moments which never occurred in season one. Note that I’m not sure whether that’s because he’s maturing or because the show’s creators are.

            However, there have been opportunities for others to strut their stuff. The trio of Miki, Leo and Erika captured, interrogated (and let escape) Jirou Marshall while Tatsuya hung out in the cafe. While he participated in the second hospital scrap with Lu Gonghu, it was mostly Mari’s show — and he was completely absent from their ultimate rematch with him. Miyuki nabbed Chen completely on her own to end the on-land festivities. And while he had the slow motion highlight moment in overcoming Curious George during the Monolith final, his teammates actually acquired the victory.

            That all said, while he has often walked over everyone (a serious weakness of the story), the show has otherwise treated a lot of characters well. In addition to the siblings, there are probably at least nine students who are important and well-fleshed out. For me, this latter part is one of the show’s strengths (and a reason why I kinda like the show despite its myriad failings).

            Mockman
  3. Since the start of this season, I have to say Lina became my favorite female character in the series in a flash. Balancing between being someone who is able to defeat Miyuki in her “normal” state and go toe to toe with Magical Jesus AND being an adorable goofball off working hours? Now that’s what I like to see. Having her be voiced by Hikasa Yoko is a nice bonus as well.

    DarkHeartedAlchemist

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