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「来訪者編Ⅹ」 (Raihou-sha-hen Ⅹ)
“Visitor Arc X”
I’ll be, I think I’m slightly impressed. No, not by Miyuki and the love of all things onii-sama (we all know where that little storyline is going), but everything else? Oh yeah, it’s a healthy slice of power fantasy pie. Everyone got a piece of the action this week, and you can bet the fun isn’t over yet.
After tearing a strip off of Mahouka for reinforcing secondary character failure with Tatsuya success, I have to give credit for the series actually letting that same cast have a chance to show what they’re made of. Make no mistake, Tatsuya still wound up carrying the day (albeit with Miyuki providing some tender sisterly assistance) and would’ve regardless of what the rest did, but we still got to enjoy the likes of Erika and Miikihiko actually holding their own without Tatsuya having to intervene on their behalf. This is the sort of thing I’d love Mahouka to show more of, because just as Maou Gakuin highlighted last season, you can have the Gary Stu do Gary Stu things while still giving his followers a chance to shine. Such writing helps build a socially equal yet noticeably distinct cast and provides a good wellspring for deriving ingenious means to limit the overbearing effects of your main man. You don’t always have to find a way to sideline the main man, but keeping the option open ensures the story takes longer to grow stale.
For the immediate future though, Mahouka is unlikely to lack for diversity thanks to American blondies with crises of confidence and parasites going military. Even without the movie spoiler of Lina entering the Tatsuya harem, this episode does a decent job of showing just what Lina will be doing in the near future thanks to Tatsuya picking at the scab. It’s unlikely to happen overnight (there’s one teeny little issue to handle first), but Tatsuya openly recognizing Lina’s disillusionment is enough to start her on the path of change. Likewise comes the parasites and just what the two recovered will wind up being used for. Given how Mahouka revealed the true enemy last week it’s not hard guessing we’ll see them factor into whatever strategy is made to keep magic socially friendly, but until then all bets are on. Will we see some further magic shenanigans this season? Best stay tuned to find out.
Well, right after we get to Miyuki further pushing the boundaries of just what it means to be a sister of course!
Preview
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Oh, I didn’t know Lina was already revealed in the movie. I never managed to watch it and has been languishing in my Netflix to watch list of hell. Which means, I probably might not watch it anytime soon. Still, this was a good “reintroduction” to Lina. It is quite clear she is a very confused girl and Tatsuya himself has admitted both of them are very similar having no choice but to live their lives as directed by others. I do wonder how they will wrap up this storyline as several parties are now pretty much involved in this, and i now count Lina as a separate one considering her “Crisis” here. Anyway, is the movie worth watching? Or should I wait for this arc to be finished before watching the movie.
The Movie timeline takes place a couple months after Season 2. I think the next episode will wrap things up for Visitor Arc, the last few remaining episodes will probably be a build up for the upcoming Arcs for upcoming Seasons. So maybe after the next episode you can watch the movie. The movie is basically just a side story (Vol 11.5 in the Novels) You can choose not to watch it if you don’t want to, but the entire thing is still Canonical. I personally enjoyed it though, I recommend you watch it if you are a fan of the series, you can read more about it here: https://mahouka.us/movie/
Second Raku, the movie is not an essential watch, but it does adapt actual source material and provides some further entertainment if you want to see more of Tatsuya and company. Kind of weird when it aired in comparison to this season, but it does build on what this season starts laying out.
Can’t say I really agree with that Tatsuya “carried the day”.
If it wasn’t for Mikihiko and Miyuki, he couldn’t have done anything to resolve this situation,. Simply said, Miyuki solved the situation with some Tatsuya’s guidance.
Which is also why it irritates me whenever Tatsuya is called a Gary Stu. He is OP, yes.
But he’s far from flawless and like this episode showed, once things require a different skill set, he really has to rely on others to get things done.
The comparison of, a nuke won’t really help you dealing with a hacker situation, comes to mind.
Mm only partially agree. I firmly believe Tatsuya would’ve won regardless of what everyone else did, his abilities are too damn strong for it to end any other way and this series has never tried to suggest otherwise. Would he have neutralized the parasites without killing them? Probably not, but I seriously doubt he couldn’t have killed them all and whatever form they inevitably took without too much effort.
As for the Gary Stu remarks yes he isn’t technically a Gary Stu (largely down to the romance aspects), however the term has grown so amorphous and ability-centric that it’s an efficient descriptor for these sorts of characters – everyone effectively knows what you’re talking about when used. It’s why I never really complain about the guy specifically and emphasize the series’ focus more; Tatsuya is not the problem, it’s how Tatsuya is used and treated which impacts more.