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「入学編III」 (Nyuugaku-hen III)
“Enrollment Part III”
More was explained, Tatsuya showed more emotions, and some great fights were had. I’d call this a great episode, except for that one scene.
Unnecessarily Complicated
This episode started out with some much appreciated exposition, which isn’t a statement you’ll find people saying often. I’m becoming more familiar with the terminology of this series, so I’m starting to get a better understanding of what’s going on. I can’t help but think it’s unnecessarily complicated sometimes though, when in reality most of what they’re doing can be directly translated to traditional magical terms (mana (psions), spells, casting times (Spell Invocation Speed), wands/focus devices (CADs), chain casting (Loop Cast System), etc). Compared to No Game No Life and Sidonia, I feel like this show suffers from not having a fish out of water character, because everyone is tossing around these specialized terms when I have no idea what they mean! Equivocation: It would be easy to explain all of this in narration, which we don’t get in anime (or aren’t getting in this one) but would in written form like in, say, a light novel. The characters using all these terms also does a good job of making it clear how skilled and knowledgeable they are, instead of them explaining things that all of them rightfully should know. I just wish they could integrate all the information into the story without making the characters seem dumb, because right now what they’re doing is making me feel dumb.
To be honest though, I feel like this is 90% symptom of this having been the Tsutomu-sensei’s first novel. It probably needed more editing to smooth things out, but since it found success anyway (likely because the later volumes were stronger, from what I’ve been hearing from some of you), it didn’t end up scuttling the whole thing. I still get that feeling of frustration sometimes though, where I can’t quite grasp what the hell they’re talking about, and that’s unpleasant.
I feel like I’m going to regret this whole section later on if I don’t add one thing – I understand how hard this is. Describing a sophisticated magic system is difficult, especially when you haven’t had a lot of practice. Trust me Tsutomu-sensei, I totally understand.
When Tests Don’t Reflect Your True Abilities
I feel like most of us have experienced this frustration before, of when you know you know something, but the test results don’t bear that story out. For some of us that’s just the occasional test – you know the subject and thought your paper was good, and it turns out it was a stinker – while for others it’s systemic. Sometimes there are individuals so unique that the system doesn’t know what to make of them, and apparently Tatsuya is one of those.
It’s not that he’s not good, it’s that he’s good at weird things they don’t test for. They test for Spell Invocation Speed (casting speed), the scale of the Magic Sequence (I’m guessing power?), and Target Data Rewriting Strength (no fuckin’ clue), all of which he’s shite at. He can read spells as they’re being cast (super rare and difficult to do), kick people’s asses with pure martial arts, and that whole thing with how he chain casted spells. As near as I understood, loop casting should only allow you to chain cast the same spell, but he was able to do it with three different spells (determined by the oscillation of psion waves, i.e. the wavelengths of pure mana) by treating the oscillation as a variable of a single spell. So it’s like casting Fireball 1, Fireball 2, and Fireball 3, which would normally be three different spells, but he was able to cast Fireball 1 three times and then modify the power of two of them on the fly to give them the effect of a Fireball 2 and Fireball 3. I think I got that. Maybe sort of perhaps. See what I mean?
Here’s the thing – it’s clear that Tatsuya is good, and it’s clear that the system doesn’t know what to do with him, and whatever the details, I very much like that message. Tests are everything – they’re flawed measurements for something else, and when we confuse the test with what its testing, we get in trouble. The tests are supposed to test a magicians strength, just as scholastic tests are supposed to test a student’s intelligence and ability, but they don’t always do that though? There are high school dropouts who have started million dollar companies, and Tatsuya is at the bottom of the school but can kick ass up and down the halls. I think this is a great theme to see in anime, especially for test-crazed Japan. It’s good to be reminded that tests don’t always mean a lot, it’s what you can truly do when the shit hits the fan that matters.
Fortunately, some people don’t care, like Mayumi, Mari, and those disciplinary committee sempai, at least eventually. And bonus points go for Mari for realizing that the tests aren’t everything, and wanting to squelch people’s annoying senses of superiority or inferiority. Good! Those are mistakes that need to be stamped out.
Suddenly, Super Incest Time!?
The episode started off shaky, got better, and then dipped hard before ending strong. This was the dip. What the fuck was all of that!? Miyuki just takes off her clothes, stands there blushing, Tatsuya stares like a creeper, and then she goes full brocon and I think kills(?) him, forcing a restart? (Plus maybe a memory wipe? I’m not sure.) I get that they’re showing that Tatsuya has some sort of auto-repair function, but that entire scene was weird, uncomfortable, and felt like it came out of nowhere. Someone who has read the LNs is going to have to explain to me what was going on there, because that was weeeeird.
Tatsuya Really Does Have Emotions
Super incest time aside, I found myself liking Tatsuya more this time because I started to see more evidence of emotions. He was actually surprised when he heard about Morisaki Shun (Oohara Takashi) joining the disciplinary committee, and he even seemed hurt by his I-will-never-acknowledge-you crap. He was also definitely surprised during super incest time, and when he got a glimpse of Erika’s oppai, he was definitely surprised. Bonus points: Tatsuya actually admitted he saw and apologized rather than lying to her! That’s the proper thing to do, anime-gentlemen. Liars never prosper.
I feel like we have a bit of a Mikakunin de Shinkoukei situation going on here, where, like with Hakuya, Tatsuya starts to work better the more time we spend with him. I hope they keep showing us hints of emotion from him so I can actually care about the big lug as more than a vehicle for punishing self righteous assholes.
Tatsuya the Anti-Mage
Speaking of, combat time! To my eyes, Tatsuya’s combat style is a combination of three things: Shirou of Fate/stay Night, Batman, and any anti-mage you care to choose. He’s a stoic martial arts master with specialized preparations (that’s Batman), he’s not good at most things but he’s very good at certain specialized things (Shirou), and the things he happens to be good at appear to be shutting down magicians. Which I love! The idea of an anti-mage main character in amid a bunch of magicians is great, because he may be weaker than them in a lot of ways, but he’s specifically tooled and trained to kick their asses. From being able to cast with two CADs at once to making his opponent’s spells fizzle, and then laying on the martial arts mastery, I reeeeally enjoyed watching Tatsuya fight. That’s the kind of full-contact magic I like, and it means he should be very good at his disciplinary committee job.
Looking Ahead
I haven’t a clue what’s next, but it looks like the enrollment arc isn’t quite over yet, so there will be at least one more episode of settling in. As for whether I’m picking this up or not, to be honest I went into this episode thinking I was going to, and then super incest time appeared and I was like fuuuuuuck. But you know what? It’s still an interesting show to write about, so I guess I’ll trust you guys. Series picked up. B-but it’s not like I’m not doing this for you or anything!
That’s a lie. I’m totally doing this for you. Be grateful! Even if it ends up delaying my book longer (I’m so slow and baaaad ;_;), I’ll blog this for you guys. N-Not that I really care about you or anything. *tsuuun!*
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Explanations were had & Tatsuya showed more emotion, plus the combat was good! If not for super incest time… #mahouka 03
Random thoughts:
- I forgot to mention exactly how Tatsuya beat Hanzo: basically he used a shun-po to get behind him, pumped raw mana into him on three different wavelengths, and that disoriented Hanzo because of his magic-sense, which knocked him out.
- Also, on Hanzo – good to see that he apologized to Miyuki after Tatsuya whooped his ass. That makes him less of a two-dimensional character, which is nice.
- Azusa-chan is so kawaii when she’s being all magic nerdy!
- By the way, this is how I feel all the time. And it is awesome ^^
- I feel like nine disciplinary committee members aren’t enough for this job, considering there was sort of a case of attempted murder this episode. I’m surprised there aren’t bodies being tossed out the front gates every week.
- Kirihara is the least interesting Sugita Tomokazu character I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t know, he just doesn’t do small-minded antagonist to me. His voice is too awesome for that!
- Disclaimer: Please do not post spoilers in the comments. If you want to talk about something that’s going to happen later, make sure to both enclose it in spoiler tags and identify (without spoiling) what it’s about beforehand, so other readers know whether to click on it or not. Also, if I ask any questions in posts, assume they’re hypothetical unless specifically noted otherwise. I don’t want to be spoiled, I just think out loud sometimes. Thank you for your understanding.
- Also, please note that I’ll be somewhat more lax on my usual post-things-as-super-fast-as-possible policy. Saturdays are still bad days for me to be blogging, so the earliest my post will come out is late Saturday night, and if I’m busy I’ll push it back to Sunday night or Monday. Basically, expect a post by Sunday night, and you’ll occasionally get it earlier or later. Thanks once again for your understanding.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Thinking about Looney Tunes; The safest risk; I’ll allow it; and Useful lies.
Full-length images: 13, 17, 23, 28, 31.
Preview
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Glad you’re picking this up to blog. =D
Yeah, the clothing thing is a bit “Wait what?” but it’s there for a reason. Maintenance.
Anyway, good episode. =D
CADs are supposed to be calibrated to their user to be effective, the more they are tuned the better. Normally this is done with a machine, from what I understood akin to an eye test just, for your magics. Tatsuya fine tunes his sister’s CAD by observing her directly making it super fine tuned, hence super incest time.
Also that whole scene with miyuki never made sense in the LN either, she came off as a little cruel by hurting him and not caring about making him “restart”.
It was most likely a plot device used the author to show some of tatsuya’s powers.
I’m kind of unhappy with how they’re portraying Miyuki at the moment. She’s supposed to be a stronger character but right now she just seems like a standard yandere imouto when she’s more than that.
Very true, that. I can’t believe they even cut her critical internal monologue after the scene.
I added a link to the LN and manga in a note below, for those who want to know.
well, to fix a point, CADs need to be calibrated for the person using it like you said. however, Tatsuya does not nor did not do the scan by eye. you see Miyuki being scanned the next scene. the anime spent a little too much time with them standing there making it even more awkward than needed…
the reason why she stripped is to lessen the amount of interference when scanning. the numbers are more accurate with less clothes in the way. as for what Miyuki did later, it’s a glimpse of Tatsuya’s magic but going into details would be spoilers =P still a weird scene since even if she knew Tatsuya would be ok, her “prank” would be going overboard (we don’t really know what she did specifically but it’s probably something she’d never do to anyone else without expecting harm)
@Synic someone probably already mentioned it in a previous episode and they’re likely going to mention it later on but Show Spoiler ▼
Hmm, not with his eyes but I assumed he Show Spoiler ▼
All well, it’s been a while. Guess I remembered wrong.
ah ok. thanks for that clarification. i must have forgotten -.-”
Most of my confusion comes from the Eidos behind using an oscillation type spell that would create a “blade”. What exactly would be oscillating in this case? i suppose if you could make the particles move it would almost be like a chainsaw at the microscopic level. But i think i’m over complicating this. I’m trying to relate them to examples i can visualize.
Speed/Weight – Haste(time manipulation?) / Gravity (manipulate forces?)
Movement/Oscillation – ??? Would this be like Speed? / ??? Apparently a sword….
Converge/Dispersal – Focusing energies to a single point? / Explosions…?
Absorb/Release – Healing yourself? / Healing others?
pyckles provided a link down below to further help with the explanations.
Speed: changing the velocity (faster/slower)
Weight: changing the inertial mass (lighter/heavier)
Movement: moving something from one position to another
Oscillation: vibrating. for Sonic Blade, the anime left it out. it basically made the shinai vibrate at very high frequencies, which improves the cutting power, which is an idea used in a lot of anime
Converge: bringing things together (slightly different nuance than movement if you can accept that)
Dispersal: bringing things apart. we saw example of this with Miyuki cleaning her clothes and Tatsuya’s
Absorb: absorbs stuff. not sure of any better way to describe it. an example is making a metal “absorb” oxygen, making it rust.
Release: discharge. lightning is probably the easiest thing.
Classifications of Magic
Modern Magic Examples
Example of Speed Type Magic:
Ep 1, Miyuki on her roller blades when She and Tatsuya were going to Kokonoe-sensei
Example of Weight/Mass Type Magic:
None yet.
Example of Movement Type Magic:
Ep 2, When Hattori was planning to knock out Tatsuya during their duel.
Example of Oscillation/Vibration Type Magic:
Ep 3, Kirihara’s Sonic Blade Magic against Mibu.
Example of Converge Type Magic:
OP song, Leo using his Panzer magic with his black gauntlets.
Example of Disperse Type Magic:
Ep 1, When Miyuki was cleaning Tatsuya’s clothes after Kokonoe and Tatsuya’s fight.
Example of Absorb Type Magic:
None yet.
Example of Release Type Magic:
OP song, a certain guy(Mikihiko) doing lightning attack, Thunder Child magic or probably the Modern magic version of it.
I also think she took the opportunity to test the CAD tweak immediatly (casting speed), and Tatsuya is a excellent target to it 😛
Speed: IS NOT change in velocity. Velocity = speed as a vector…
In a ‘magic’ sense, it would be magic that increases the maximum velocity.
Weight: changing inertial mass? lol… Weight is subjecting a mass in a constant gravitational field.
In a ‘magic’ sense, it would be magic that increases the effect of gravity on an object.
Oscillation: It’s not just vibrating. It’s the fluctuation of a system in an equilibrium.
In a ‘magic’ sense (as shown by the sonic blade), it is most likely used in this sense to better cut or destroy things.
It’s not difficult to do a search through google.
Like others have said, just underwear was more a more accurate calibration. Tatsuya staring was given too much time, though. It was meant to show his complete lack of interest in Miyuki’s half-naked body, but instead it went the opposite way. Then she laid the smack-down on him because he showed so little interest, so basically she got pissed because he isn’t a siscon despite how much he might spoil his little sister. This incest is all one-sided.
Tatsuya doesn’t lose any memories when he heals himself, that was just his way of asking “what did I do now?” They say somewhere that they used to mess around like this more often. Pretty extreme form of rough-housing O.o
To be fair to Miyuki…
Show Spoiler ▼
Naah.. She was never a string character. She’s a bit broken in the head, though.
Makes sense (sorta), and thanks. Honestly it seems like another incident of the original author being immature/unedited when he wrote those scenes. I get what he was trying to do, but it derailed Miyuki’s character in a weird, oddly cruel way.
Like I said, I can relate. This shit is hard. S’why I trust my editors so much.
A possible, but very ungenerous interpretation about Miyuki’s actions, is that she was reminding literally Tatsuya who he was serving, and was an attempt to convey that Miyuki was perfectly capable of being cruel, if she wished to. But of course, like you said, it’s very clumsily done, and the adaptation failed to make it better, and arguably made it worse by axing out her internal thoughts.
Dat Miyuki! DAYUUMMMMMM! Erika so cute, I like how he’s so oped with that one skill and on top of knowing ninjutsu. Is there anything that man can’t do?! Still DAT Miyuki…I have to wonder though..did Miyuki killed him with that shot?
What is the difference between Kendo and Kenjutsu, they were both wielding bamboo sticks.
Also A-chan was so cute just trying to reach for Tatsuya gun. Really it’s the other character that shines the most. Heck Watanabe looked pretty cute too. ARt style is nice.
Kendo is kendo that uses the normal rules. Kenjutsu is kendo plus magic.
Scary isn’t it? It was never mentioned if Miyuki killed him then but for Tats to have to ‘restart’ (as you guys would call it, the proper name will come later in the story) he took significant damage, enough to cripple/kill him if it kicked in automatically. So yea, she is quite scary in her own ways…
Miyuki didn’t kill him, but knocked him out with the same method that he used to knock out Hattori. Tatsuya’s auto-repair sequence kicks in whenever his body is incapacitated enough to affect his battle ability. So if any of his bones break, internal organs damaged, or his consciousness is affected, the ability will kick in.
How long was he actually unconscious? Was it only a few secs or hrs? Seemed longer to me.
He was unconscious for less than a second. Miyuki said good morning just to mess with him.
You now just realized that the Mahouka could’ve been an alternate take on the Deus Ex universe (specifically Human Revolution), giving Tatsuya an actual personality, amongst other improvements.
Edited transcript of the cinematic trailer:
Show Spoiler ▼
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq5KWLqUewc
(Still one of the greatest trailers of all time)
Thanks for the link. Than was one heck of a trailer.
LN readers say the 1st 3 episodes cover all of LN 1, but is merely Part 1 of the Enrollment arc. Part 2 is covered in LN 2 and will continue next week.
Really good one anime I would say.
The two MC (Miyuki and Tatsuya) just somehow remind me of Kyousuke and Ayase in Oreimo.
Now kyousuke is a REAL onii-san now,haha.
Oreimo should have taken a page out of Muv Luv, and have Kyousuke wake up in a dystopia. At it’s very worse, Mahouka is still Oreimo meets dystopia, at it’s very best, it shouldn’t even be compared to that story.
The anime’s character designs are being handled by the actual illustrator for Mahouka’s LNs, Ishida Kana. The only other show to get this treatment, I hear, was Oreimo’s Kanzaki Hiro.
Love the techno Iwasaki Taku OST.
Anti-Mage? I didn’t know Veigar was in this story…
I actually really enjoyed the SUPER long explanation. The parts about Loop Casting in particular i understood completely, but the rug was pulled out from under me during Miyuki’s….calibration.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
I was so confused yet so attentive to what was going on. :p
A few questions though…how many different “types” of spells are there? Shiba was watching the activation of “Sonic Blade” and determined it to be of an Oscillation Type.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
Are these types suited for CQC or can these spells be used in different applications? If there’s a specific chapter in the LN, i seriously would not mind at all just jumping in because i am fascinated by all these rules.
I want more….. Every episode has been just leaving me with this void that can’t be filled however many times i rewatch the episode. One gripe though…Is there going to be something that actually gives Shiba a hard time? Or Someone (other than his ninjutsu sensei)? I feel like the episodes so far have all been a huge amount of information with a tiny bit of well animated action which makes you so angry when the ED plays…
@Stilts
I’m glad you’re picking up the show. When i first started reading posts on RC i found myself reading a majority of your posts without even realizing it. I guess we have similar tastes in shows. I agree with a lot of the points you make and it has greatly increased the amount of enjoyment i get from watching (and now discussing) a show. I’m looking forward to another great season!
Here’s the wiki page for the types of magic. From a cursory glance the page itself contains no major spoilers but view it, and it’s sub-pages, at your own risk.
Thank you so much! This helps a lot.
Veigar isn’t an anti-mage, he’s the Tiny Master of Evil!
(Also one of the first two champs I bought. Nothing like getting a stun, slamming that Q + meteor on their head, and melting them with an ult if they’re AP >:D)
And np! Glad to hear you’re enjoying my posts. Also glad to hear we have similar tastes, because that apparently means you have AWESOME taste 😀
Well in Dota we have real Anti-mage dayummm fukireta intensified
I respect that the author went to a great deal of trouble to create an intricate setting, I just don’t care about the details.
As long as the explanations don’t get in the way, we’re still cool. But I’m probably going to keep tuning out the explanations. It’s the same reason I never learned Baronh or Klingon. Yes, I like those fictional settings, but I’m not going to turn it into some self-study program in Stuff That Isn’t Real.
As a wise woman on the Interwebs once said, “Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
Other than that, I’m enjoying the series. Yay, made it to episode three!
Stilts, I want to marry this post, I really do! You managed to perfectly conveyed everything I felt after watching the episode. All the confusion about how magic works, relief that Tatsuya is starting to show more emotions and uncomfortableness with THAT scene (the 1st commenter said it has something to do with maintenance, my question is was it necessary for Miyuki to show up in her brother’s room wearing just robe & underwear /sigh).
After 3 episodes, I can honestly say that I’m more interested in the supporting casts rather than the MCs. The fight scenes were pretty good but hopefully we’ll not be getting episode after episode of how Tatsuya is unbeatable since that will get boring rather quickly.
I explained the part of the calibrations but to be clear, that wasn’t his room. that was the lab underneath their house, specifically used for CAD calibration and Psion measurement (what they were scanning for)
Oooo, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification but I felt that this just shows that the lack of exposition is going to alienate non-LN reader in the long run.
Thank you kindly! For a writer, there’s nothing better than hearing our writing has resonated with someone. I’ll keep doing my best! \o/
As for that scene, even with the reasoning, it was too weird. She could have gone “Hey, turn around”, or at least moved right next to the machine she was going to lay in and let him look if he wanted to, not just shrugged off her robe and…*shudder* Weird scene. A very weird scene.
I entirely agree with you that the scene was a wasted opportunity. I only picked up the LN after the first 2 episodes and by cutting out the internal monologues of esp Miyuki the entire scene really makes no sense unless you have read the LN. So far i think the exclusion of the internal monologues from some scenes is what brings this down since it is the monologues that actually explain so much.
There’s no doubt the scene itself was sort of weird. In the novel it’s stated that the tunings are pretty much a weekly occurrence so there wouldn’t be a point to being overly conscious about it every single time. However, this doesn’t excuse the scene for almost seeming like they’re getting ready for an adult video shoot in the anime and manga.
In the novel, even though the Miyuki removing her robe was pictured, I kind of got the feeling that it was the author driving home the point to the reader that Miyuki is physically attractive. This, accompanied by the author’s descriptions, essentially points out that no one should be able to be completely composed, yet Tatsuya literally gives no f*cks. No expression, no uncomfortableness, nothing. (And no, I’m not implying that he should be sexually attracted to her. Seeing anyone naked should be able to get someone to feel at least some emotion. Which emotion is highly dependent on the people involved.) He’s literally like a machine.
The ensuing scene is just kind of weird and doesn’t really match her characterization throughout the series though.
The main thing about the attack is that it literally doesn’t do any harm to the target. It was a psion surge (much the same as what Tatsuya did to Hattori, just in one big one rather than 3 smaller ones converging) and achieves much the same effect as drinking far too much alchohol (obviously without the internal repercussions and what not). Using the word “wasted” wasn’t just them picking a trendy term (though they could have used something like inebriated or intoxicated). My Japanese is ridiculously limited, but yotta is quite literally drunk in English I believe. So Tatsuya stating “Yottan desu yo” (probably got that wrong) is him stating he was in a state of drunkenness or something like that. Like I said, I’m probably wrong.
The whole CAD tuning was for the reason of allowing her to do something like that after all.
The state of unconsciousness also wasn’t even for more than a second. Obviously it’s difficult to get that across in animated form.
Hopefully that actually added something in addition to the droves of people explaining everything as well. ^_^;
I’m with you in that I like the secondary characters more than the siblings. It just seems that Tatsuya and Miyuki’s friendships with everyone is being put on the back burner or just cut out. The scene with Erika was longer in the LN and you got a better sense of her character with how she thinks. Here there was little development.
I understand that not everything from the LN can be included, but I feel the various friendships are important.
Yay… Stilts is picking this up. Time to party!. Thank you very much bro. You’re an awesome, great guy. And a great post. XD
*bows* Danke ^^
Danke? German?
Are you writing your book in English or German? 😉
Ahaha! It’s in English, I assure you. I know very little of most other languages, and certainly not enough to write a competent book (whether I can write a competent one in English is still up in the air), so I’ll stick to the one I know a frankly ridiculous amount about ^^
If you don’t mind me asking Stilts. What kind of book are you writing?
@Swarz
It’s a fantasy adventure about three friends who–oh wait, I wasn’t going to give away too much until I finish editing it ^^ I should get back to work on that…
Should be out later this year though, barring my sucking more than expected. Look forward to it! I’m really excited about finishing it so you all can read it 😀
Nice!. A fantasy-adventure. The genre I like the most (Well, epic fantasy to be specific). Will be looking forward to then. 😀
Wish you all the best with your book.
Don’t worry its not a spoiler it’s just the scene with tatsuya and miyuki because they cut some part in it read this chapter in this link
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Mahouka_Koukou_no_Rettousei:Volume_1_Chapter_4
Yeah, that helps explain things better. Basically, his body autorestarts whenever he loses consciousness. It’s his own built in magic apparently. He is never unconscious for more than a second. I had thought that was the case, but wasn’t sure. They didn’t really animate that segment very well, if that’s what they were going for.
Show Spoiler ▼
I do like what they are doing so far though. I just think that this is a difficult story to convert to anime. Fingers crossed.
The only way I can see the anime being able to do what you propose, is to basically take that opening scene, and make it an entire introductory episode or two – basically, adapt Volume 8 first, then Volume 1. If that’s the case, the hints of incest would be seen for what it is in hindsight – the dynamics between two very troubled individuals.
This episode rushed things even more than the first episode. It covered at least two and half chapters from the first volume of the novel, though it skipped quite a bit of stuff and shorten many scenes. Which is good, as it doesn’t drag things out (doesn’t get chance of becoming boring), but also bad, as some things get confusing without better explanation. The anime has now reached the plot at the end of the first volume of the novel (which is more or less the halfway point of the first arc).
As for “super incest time”… well, it’s a tiny bit better explained in the novel (though still confusing), but it’s not one of the better written scenes in the novel in my opinion. I’d say wait for later episodes to make things clearer… I think they will reach that part before this anime ends :p.
I guess this calls for an explanation of super-incest time, as Stilts calls it. No spoilers about future content, but spoilers for LN content up to this point.
Show Spoiler ▼
Thanks for the explanation. I read that part too but I was still a little puzzled with what Miyuki did. So she hit Tatsuya with a physical attack type of spell? I took it literally that she hit Tatsuya with a memory wiping kind of spell and that effects of it was the same as what Tatsuya did to Hattori.
You are partially correct. It was a psion surge similar to what Tatsuya used against Hattori. There wasn’t any memory wiping aspect or anything to it, though–it just made him black out. Different from what Tatsuya used, though–his was more to disorient whereas… Hrm. Think of Miyuki’s as sheer overwhelming power is the best way I can describe it. Another way to put it would be this: it took Tatsuya three waves or ‘surges’ to cause Hattori to black out, Miyuki just crushed Tatsuya with sheer power.
Thanks again. That scene made more sense now. If that’s the case then Miyuki really did go too far with her “prank.” Well in the first place, they’re close siblings so Miyuki would know how much punishment Tatsuya can take.
I don’t really know if it counts as an explanation for it, but the psion wave motions generally undergo alterations as the person’s body grows. I always just assumed that near-nakedness led to a more accurate scan due to that being tied to human growth.
Or it was just there for a rare fanservice scene. Pretty sure it’s main purpose was to show how detached Tatsuya is from his emotions that seeing his sister near naked does absolutely nothing to him.
I would hope his naked sister doesn’t do anything for him -_-
If the gender of the two siblings was reversed, I really doubt Mahouka would be watchable, or even get an anime to begin with.
@Stilts
Generally you’d tell your sister to go put on clothes or something though, wouldn’t you? I kind of figured it would make someone feel uncomfortable and, consequently, embarrassed.
Wouldn’t know myself though, don’t have one.
@Admenthus. *Shivers*
@Kuntzy
Yeah, I’d assume it would be “Put some damn clothes on” or an instant turn-the-hell-around kind of situation, depending on the context. Just staring was weeeird
So basically it was the newly calibrated CAD with the same oscillation type of spell that Tatsuya used against Hatori right? But as you said in Miyuki’s case, she didnt need to bother doing multivariables and doing 3 oscillation waves as her sheer overwhelming power alone was enough to knock out Tatsuya.
Now here’s my thoughts about the scene on why Miyuki knocked out Tatsuya, to add with the fact that you mentioned that she was jealous, and that I think this scene was used by the author to show some of Tatsuya’s powers like self-repair right? I mean, Hatori was knocked out for a while by Tatsuya and seeing as Miyuki using the same spell with her greater powers would mean Tatsuya being knocked out for a more prolonged time, but because of Tatsuya’s self-repair powers it seems as if he just got knocked out of the chair and fell onto the ground, without being unconscious. So does this mean that Tatsuya is generally immune to being knocked out or injured? Seeing as he does have this self-repair and backup powers.
So from what we know in the anime so far is that Tatsuya:
– From the prologue, has some sort of nuclear bomb-like power to destroy 6 battleships
– Taijutsu
– Ninjutsu
– Loop-casting multivariable spells
– Tuning CADs and using double CADs
– Skilled in spell deployment analysis and accurately predicting what type of spells will be used
– Cancels out magics before they are deployed
– Has some sort of self-repair and backup powers (does this mean he is pretty much immortal?)
Not to ignore your questions, but having the answers would likely lead to less enjoyment of things developing. So, you won’t get them from me (I generally try to avoid future content spoilers, even tagged). What I will say is don’t overestimate Tatsuya. His true talent lies in his intelligence and his ability to put a rather-limited set of magical talents to exceptional use. Despite the way many of us LN readers talk, Tatsuya is by no means a god–at best he’s a walking time bomb.
Azusa is love. CUTE IS JUSTICE!!!
I’ve been waiting so long to see that scene animated, you don’t even know 😀
Someone who has read the LNs is going to have to explain to me what was going on there, because that was weeeeird.
To clarify a bit. While an eye test is a decent way of describing it the way the LNs presented the idea of tuning a CAD for a specific person is do to every single magician having a different psion wave signature. The wave signature (not sure the exact wording to call it) can vary day to day, week to week, dependning on the individual’s state. I.e. Someone stress out or overworked will have their psion wave signature (im just gonna go with that phrase for now) will be different than if they had a normal week and were not stress or worked out.
There were a few examples of this in the LNs that we haven’t reached yet, but if you want a concrete example, so only read for a mild spoiler:
Show Spoiler ▼
As for the Miyuki scene, yeah, to me, when I read that initially I thought it was odd, but honestly what its suppose to help reiterate is that while Miyuki has potential bro-con feelings towards Tatsuya, Tatsuya doesn’t see her as a woman. Plus it also introduced the reader (in this case viewer) to one of Tatsuya’s “auto-repair” function.
Mild Spoilers for that auto-repair function (i.e. the name and what it does since I believe it was described here during the LN)
Show Spoiler ▼
In the case of that scene, Miyuki simply gave a concussion to Tatsuya.
As for the terms:
Spell Invocation Speed (casting speed) – Yes basically its just how fast a magician can activate his or her spell.
Magic Sequence – The Magic Sequence is basically the blueprint of the magic being used. Compared to say a building’s blueprints. In order to build that building you need to know the blueprint design. Its analogous to a Magic Spell since in order to use that magic one must know its Magic Sequence. Think of it as a blueprint
Target Data Rewriting Strength – This is where its fuzzy, for me, to define do to understanding the point of how its used. But essentially Its the.. I might be confusing this with Interference Strength.. I’ll let someone else handle this explanation 😛
CADs Remember, though I’m not sure if its been stated. CAD stands for Casting Assistance Device, basically a modern wand of sorts.
As for the Enrollment Arc, this only just finsihed off the first Volume. Enrollment Arc lasts 2 LNs, so we’ll be getting into the second half of the arc next week.
The pacing was alright, I did wish they delved a bit more into the explanations, but ehh, overall can’t complain too much. The novel presented two Morals Committee members a bit better. While they were shocked that Tatsuya was a Course 2 student the way they were presented was that they couldn’t care less. All they cared was that he could handle himself. (i.e. they supported Mari’s ideal of forsaking the idea of Course 1 being superior to Course 2)
to add on, for Target Data Rewriting Strength, I think it’s something along the lines of resistance to being affected by magic. things tend to not like being changed and eventually revert back if the magic is not continuously active. if your strength isn’t strong enough, the magic doesn’t do anything at all. ie. something’s moving at extremely high velocity would require more Rewriting strength or else the velocity won’t be changed at all.
Yeah I was thinking that same thing. So I’m just used to that LN term of calling it ‘Interference Strength’. I couldn’t remember if the two were different. Esepcially since Interference Strength was used in the way you describe, and the term ‘ Target Data Rewriting Strength’ got me confused 😛
Regarding terms, my interpretion is like this
Spell Invocation Speed -Casting speed
Scale of the Magic Sequence – Difficult to explain but I think it’s like what’s maximum level of spell you can cast like in many games that have tier spell, low talent can only cast fire-1 but talented one can cast up to fire-5 (Also it can be different between each school of magic, some might be talent in only few schools ot a universal ones)
Phenomena rewriting ability – It’s more like efficiency multiplier (Int stat) when using same magic, those with this higher ability is stronger.
For MC speciality.
Interference strength- like said earlier. It’s hit/miss game, it your interference is higher than resistance then magic will active, if not, no effect. Like when two people casting magic on same object, only one with higher strength will be used.
Multi-variable quantitative processing speed
Calculation scale
-I see them as another face of allowing casting more Complex,(Not difficult magic) It’s like TEC type character, allow more variation from the same spell.
And one last unmention value
Psion Count (Max MP).
**Main advantage of CAD is reduce MP consumption and casting speed
I thought it was:
Spell Invocation Speed Spell casting time.
Magic Sequence Scale and complexity of the spell. Think fireball vs… spinning fireball?
Target Data Rewriting Strength Strength of the spell. Think fire vs firaga.
I would say “scale of magic sequence” is how large an area or object a magician can affect.
As for target rewrite strength, some explanation is needed:
Most magic (systemic magic) is done by modifying the physical properties (weight, speed, concentration, etc.) of objects via a separate “information dimension” that overlaps the physical world. Target rewrite strength would be the amount of change that can be applied to these physical properties.
I want to say it’s separate from, but related to, interference strength, which would be how resistant a spell’s effect is to another spell acting on the same property.
So what I’m getting is that this is all confusing to people who have actually read the LN, which means it’s needlessly complicated. I’m going to think of it as something like casting speed, spell level, and spell penetration respectively, but it doesn’t really matter. While a lot of stuff seem to make a certain kind of sense, this one is apparently wonky ><
It could be said like that. I don’t think anime will give more information about it anyway.
In short, due to invention of CAD, casting speed has been improved significantly, and it become like Western cowboy duel where who shot first very likely to win. so only 3 main traits are main focus of people.
Rather than spell penetration i would say it is how effectively apply your magic to the world and objects, which is why Tatsuya is so dissatisfied in episode 2 with the self training when moving the cars along the track. Otherwise, yes.
OOPS… continuing from above:
That sums what Interference Strength mean.
So magic penetration kind of works. All that means is how much a spell can get past a target’s resistance, so the higher penetration, the more it can overwrite. It’s wrong because it’s approaching what happens in a back-asswards way, but it’s a wrong that aids in understanding, for me at least.
So magic penetration kind of works. All that means is how much a spell can get past a target’s resistance, so the higher penetration, the more it can overwrite. It’s wrong because it’s approaching what happens in a back-asswards way, but it’s a wrong that aids in understanding, for me at least.
@Stilts: MMORPG type analogies don’t mesh all that well with the MKnR magic system. There’s several ways to prevent spell casting in MKnR. The first is to disrupt the procedure using Counter Magic such as sending a burst of compressed psions (think “psion bullet”) during the spell casting sequence. That’s what Mayumi does to Honoka back in EP 01. NON Spoiler Details from LN:
Show Spoiler ▼
Another type of counter magic is called “cast jamming”. That’s what Tatsuya does in this episode by dual wielding CADs. I’ll forgo an explanation since the anime may cover that next episode.
It can be used as a Spell Penetration when using it as an offensive spell or as an MDef if you’re using it as a barrier type magic.
There is a hell of a lot that’s getting left out. pickles has already pointed out that CADs require calibration and maintenance as people aren’t always the same day to day. Maintenance is normally done on equipment and with highly trained personnel. Even small to mid-sized companies can’t afford the equipment for personal use, but Tatsuya and his sister have a system in their basement and it’s a high end one at that. That’s made very clear at this point in the LN so no spoiler.
The maintenance scene is different in the LN and it’s made very obvious that Tatsuya is totally clinical in reaction to his undressed sister while she is very embarrassed by what is a weekly ritual.
Here is what is a major piece of information following the maintenance scene about how Miyuki feels about him that wasn’t included in the anime. This is her thinking about him the next day:
Show Spoiler ▼
And that is only part of what she thought about. I left some other parts out because I’m not even sure if they’re going to include them in the anime.
Mari is love…
’nuff said for me, lol.
Dunno why, but I just really like her. Sort of like how most people went to Haruka in Amagami, I found myself more drawn to Hibiki, the seeming “side kick”.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
With a smile like that, I’d be surprised if a beauty like Mari doesn’t have any fans. Among the entire female cast, I’m also a bit drawn towards Mari because she has that cool beauty aura on her. She’s obviously gorgeous, but she’s also tough. Not to mention that slightly embarrassed reaction she displayed when being called Big Sis by her subordinates was pretty cute.
Mari has a lot of female fans (at least in their school) LOL.
If you don’t mind, I’ll arrange them in order of preference…. Most preferred being at the top….
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2009.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2030.jpg https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2005.jpg
@cruiser2710
Agreed! =D
The Mari fanbase is surprisingly large and the Mayumi fanbase surprisingly small. It’s curious to note that it’s the reverse among LN readers, and it makes me wonder whether it’s because Mayumi is being short-changed of scenes here.
Told you you’d give in Stilts, it was just a matter of time 😛
To be the canary in the coal mine, what we have seen here has me concerned in a couple areas. Firstly the world building. It seems Mahouka is being targeted more towards those already familiar with the series rather than newcomers/anime-only viewers. The info dumps are incredible and can leave one very confused, especially considering they are supposedly condensing a lot of the source material. It’s not a major problem, but it would be nice to get some understanding from the show itself rather than having to turn to secondary material (or fellow commenters) as it moves forward.
Secondly is Tatsuya’s Gary Stu vibes. He has a skill set not directly tested which is very powerful and so far not possessed by anyone else. He receives state of the art CADs from a well-known engineer he knows personally (or at least that’s what I got before the scene jumped) and martial arts training from another equally famous master (which coincidentally differs from the other forms mentioned at the school). Then there is the matter of incest here which needs no mention. Hard to deny Tatsuya is OP as f*ck right now. What I’m hoping for is that he has some form of weakness that adds a sense of realism to him, a challenge which shows he is fallible. Considering the mass of hints flying about I’m guessing that this will eventually happen though (hopefully).
Doubt aside this still has my interest. Even with the total confusion at points it’s still a pretty fun ride so far.
Shush yooooooooou!!
Agreed on the first part, it does seem like they’re leaving too much out and depending on most of their audience being LN readers. Not so much on the second part – as I’ve said many times, calling Tatsuya a Gary Stu at this point is premature. He’s not showing Gary Stu tendencies even if he’s very good. If he were good at everything, sure, but he’s not. If he blew past every challenge placed in front of him, it’s possible, but he hasn’t had many challenges yet. Give it time, then we’ll see.
Show Spoiler ▼
I’m pretty sure you, Pancake and probably the rest, will start to enjoy it more after the Enrollment Arc (probably it’ll reach up to 8-9 EPs according to pacing). Why? Because it’ll be a nation wide competition against other schools (Nine School Competition Arc) with MAGIC!!! Hopefully, it’ll explain a bit of Miyuki’s feelings towards Tatsuya.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I’m not calling him a Gary Stu. I’m already on record too stating it how wrong it would be to label Tatsuya one at this stage. My concern is how much he is being set up as a Gary Stu at this point because we have only seen his strengths so far and none of his weaknesses.
I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt though, we haven’t yet entered the main plot/serious arc of the show nor have had Tatsuya’s past elaborated upon (as many are trying ever so hard to prevent spoiling :P).
Well, though we haven’t seen it explicitly (they did screw up a scene that was in the LN as an example), it’s been stated that he barely made it into the school based on his practical scores and only his written test scores were high enough to get him in.
@Pancakes
Oh, okay. I misunderstood. Good man!
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
Oh yes, I’m definitely following this show now. :p
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
Did Miyuki just go Yandere Ayase on Tatsuya for a while there?
“Onii-sama! I show you my body and you won’t even flinch an eyebrow! Eat this!” XD
Now we know why Hayami Saori is fit to voice her.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2017.jpg
Seems to be incomplete. I remembered it panned from bottom to top
She moved her arms, making it hard to get the rest of the pic without some serious photoshop wizardry (basically, redrawing part of her body). I’ll leave that up to someone else.
Miyuki goes yandere quite often. Look forward to it 😉
Damn Tatsuya kicking ass and taking names…literally lol
This guy is on his path to become a mage nightmare.
Seeing mostly-naked Miyuki doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me.
I am surprised at how detailed this series is. The internal logic of the magitech is sound. Though the technobabble reaches Trek levels at times.
Also dang, Tatsuya acts like a Human robot at times. This is way beyond dense protagonist levels, can’t you see the imouto wants you so bad?
Miyuki has been annoying and I couldn’t care less if she went the incest route. Seriously Japan, get your priorities fixed and rid of disgusting incests from ruining good shows like these, and keep them only in your hentais and “kissXsis” -like shows that only covers lusts and invaluable relationships that don’t happen IRL (as they are not believable nor relatable to a MAJORITY of people). I find committing 5-8 minutes of viewers focus on them are a complete waste of time and insulting.
Instead do share us more of your great intellect, ideas, culture, plot and storytelling, Japan pls.
Btw to those who are disagreeing with me, try and imaging doing your own brother and sister. That’s how I would take it. HF
Nicely said.
The incest is plot-relevant, later turns out to make an absurd amount of sense, and is used to hammer in a point and reinforce a theme.
Glad to see at least a few people aren’t drinking the proverbial Kool-aid esp re: the inclusion of incestuous under(over?)tones. The author went into great lengths to justify it at every step of the way so the incest pandering doesn’t come off as lazy and sleazy as it would’ve been if he didn’t bother to justify it. I ask the fans of this series, “Does the circumstances that lead to Miyuki’s incestuous feelings change the fact that those feelings exist?” In other words, it’s the duck test, with no stock placed into how that duck came to be. It’s incest no matter how you slice it.
And for you Maggotron,
You’re going to have to move out of anime for a while to find some fine quality writing from Japan. My recommendations for you include the video game, NieR and the Muv-Luv visual novel series (Mahouka author can learn something from Yoshimune Kouki). Did I mention NieR? I hope I mentioned NieR. Play NieR.
@Solace
I just want to confirm what I’m arguing against first, but essentially you’re saying that Tsutomu-sensei didn’t create a basis for Miyuki’s feelings and that she harbors incestuous feelings for Tatsuya just because?
@Kuntzy
What’s there to argue against when this is whole thing is laid bare for everyone to see? I’m saying the whole elaborate setup for how she came to love her brother is just the means to an end. So in essence, there’s not so much a basis as there is a justification (he started with “I want to write about an incestuous relationship,” the next step being “how do I justify it?”), but the justification is almost inconsequential to a more discerning reader because the guy is writing about a taboo subject in a novel series that doesn’t have the right tone set for it. I’d rather see the brother-sister duo act in the same vein of Mustang and Hawkeye.
@Solace
I can actually give you an example of a way he didn’t start with “I want to write incest” right now actually.
Show Spoiler ▼
Needless to say, most of what was in that spoiler was simply conjecture. It might be true, it might not. However, the theory is no less plausible than your assumptions simply because we aren’t in the author’s head. It’s pretty darn arrogant of you to post your opinions as absolute fact.
@Kuntzy
That theory I just read up on in detail via a Google search doesn’t refute the trying-to-sell-incest angle as whatever religious tale Mahouka might be based on, the couple is not related. It probably really did start with “I want to write an incestuous relationship,” if that is the only thing not similar/completely different. And that whole thing you have up there? Let’s just say the author did base his characters on those from a religious tale for the sake of argument. Again, part of an elaborate setup to sell his brand of sexual depravity; a simple justification. He just hides it very well from the less discerning readers.
@Solace:
Let’s keep in mind here that this type of “relationship” requires two participants. Even the anime clearly shows that Tatsuya has ZERO/NO interest whatsoever in that type of relationship with Miyuki. A ONE-SIDED crush IMO does not an “incest” or any other type of “romantic relationship” make. In short, IMO MKnR =/= Oreimo, KissxSis, et.al.
In terms of Miyuki, all I will say is that I would prefer that her overtures were toned down – LN and anime especially. As for the rest, I suspect we have a different viewpoint of the spoiler “circumstances” you refer to above.
For the record, I do NOT want this aspect of the story to intensify. TBH, before the series ends (about 1/2 way there), I would like to see Tatsuya end up with someone OTHER than Miyuki and Miyuki fine with that.
@Solace
Like I said, you have absolutely no way of proving you’re right.
Please get over yourself.
The fact it’s so tightly based on the story is obviously not a coincidence. You likely haven’t even read the novel going by quite a bit of your replies and there’s nothing worse than arguing about something you yourself know nothing about.
If I had to say what you remind me of, you’re like a kid who just got out of high school with the top grades and decides to start arguing with people who are already well through university/college. (It’s simply a metaphor, I’m not saying in any way I’m smarter than you. You don’t seem to be very far in the novel (if you’ve even read it at all) and most of the people you’re arguing with are through 12 volumes.)
Not to mention a lot of what you say even contradicts itself and doesn’t even really form a solid argument. (Essentially it amounts to “you’re wrong because I said so.”)
Have fun trolling because that’s all this seems like to me.
I think I’m doing a decent job at keeping up with what’s being explained at various times. The incest scene made me uncomfortable as hell but I think it did that to everybody. The lack of exposition makes the series move faster, which I appreciate
“To my eyes, Tatsuya’s combat style is a combination of three things: Shirou of Fate/stay Night, Batman, and any anti-mage you care to choose.”
I choose the Spellbreaker unit from Warcraft III! I don’t know if Tatsuya can swap around positive and negative buffs but mages and spells couldn’t touch those guys 😛
Sudden urge…to play Warcraft III again…rising!!
(Totally not going to happen though. I still haven’t gotten to play Planetary Annihilation even though I backed it. Not enough time for RTS’s anymore ;_;)
You should always find time to play Warcraft III again! Pinnacle of 00’s rts mechanics and storytelling in rts games imo!
Fun fact, in Vol 12
Show Spoiler ▼
Slightly better than previous episode, if only because there’s a lot more actions and plot actually moving forward. Aside from that, the show still suffers a lot from bloated, convoluted narrative. The first 5 minutes or so got me scratched my head several times. Amidst all the expositions that each characters relentlessly spout off, only less than 20% that i could digest, the rest just sounded like total gibberish that i ignored completely. Not like it’s gonna be relevant for the rest of the show anyway.
Ahh, incest. Initially i’d thought that Miyuki was simply harboring sibling love towards Tatsuya, but her attitudes shown here totally cements the fact that she indeed wants Tatsuya’s baby. The scene when she hugged him in undergarment totally creeped the heck out of me. But whatever, no need to care about that since anime usually use it for cheap gimmick anyway, if the trends and tendencies of 90% LN adaptations out there are to be believed.
Tatsuya oh Tatsuya~ Why’re you so painfully bland and indifferent towards every single damn thing (even at the sight of underwear~) while still being competent at every single damn thing~ Just to look cool, maybe? I’m tired of wimpy LN protagonist, but this kind of lead isn’t what i could identify at all. Might as well treat him as plot device like Eren from Shingeki if the side characters turn out to be more interesting than he is.
Ah finally, the kendo scene rolled in. No more nonsense. Sure, it’s yet another straightforward “I’m better than you” attitude frequently shown in the series. But the way the dude casually cheated and tried to seriously harming the kendo girl was pretty amusing, even better that Tomokazu Sugita is the one voicing him.
3 episode rule accomplished. So far i consider it a pretty mediocre show since nothing much happening that would actually interest me. But whatever, i’ll just see what they’re gonna pull for the next eps. Hopefully it’s not Tatsuya being a white knight and save the day. That’s way too predictable.
Regarding the 9-member disciplinary committee; for most of the school year, the only students allowed to have their personal CADs with them on campus are the disciplinary committee and the student council. Everyone else checks them in (kinda like a coat check) and picks them up before leaving. Magicians can cast without their CAD, but any troublemakers would generally be at a disadvantage without one. The exception is this week, when clubs are actively recruiting the freshmen to become members. The school allows the clubs to use magic as a way to recruit members, so they allow possession of CADs to essentially anyone who asks for permission. For one week, 9 students (with student council assistance) might have a hard time, but for the rest of the year, they can handle business.
By the way, Stilts, I can agree with you that that is how I feel all the time. Unfortunately for me, I don’t think we’re thinking of the same character in that screencap.
*pats SK on the head* Nyahaha, it’s okay. It takes all types, right? ; )
Believe me Stilts, Kirihara-sempai is a good guy. He was just totally pissed at Mibu for a certain reason. If you rewatch the scene during his conversation with Mibu, this happened:
>In this school, it’s normal to insult a Course 2 student(Weed) by a Course 1 student(Bloom). Kendou Group is filled with Course 2 and Kenjutsu Group is filled with Course 1. Naturally, some of the Course 1 student went over board.
>This resulted to Kendou Group(Mibu’s) strucking first against Kenjutsu Group (Kirihara’s)
>Both representative (Mibu and Kirihara) came to settle the dispute via Kendou.
>THIS WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE FIGHT SCENE IN THE ANIME!.
Kirihara did a downward swing while Mibu did a thrusting attack. Kirihara was supposed to hit first but he hesitated and changed the trajectory of his swing (because there was a reason!!!!!), which resulted on Mibu’s thrust critically hitting Kirihara’s shoulder.
>Kirihara got pissed at Mibu (because there was a reason!!!!!) and initiated his Oscillation Type Magic Sonic Blade.
>Tatsuya interrupted the fight via his Magic Jammer skill and capture Kirihara.
>Kenjutsu Group tried to assault Tatsuya but remember he’s experience on multiple versus one in his training with Kokonoe Yakumo.
The reasoning:
Show Spoiler ▼
I haven’t a clue what’s next, but it looks like the enrollment arc isn’t quite over yet, so there will be at least one more episode of settling in.
In terms of LN to anime progression, Volume 1 has been fully adapted…
But the enrollment arc continues until Volume 2 as well..
so with the current pacing, I’d estimate the conclusion around Ep06 or Ep07..
Oh don’t worry, its not all in the high school, there’ll be actual Show Spoiler ▼
To my eyes, Tatsuya’s combat style is a combination of three things: Shirou of Fate/stay Night, Batman, and any anti-mage you care to choose
Would it be odd if the first name that came to mind for anti-mage is Kiritsugu Emiya?
He and Tatsuya usually don’t fight with conventional methods, and both choose whichever methods that gives the least risk to themselves..
Eg Tatsuya temporarily nullifies a person’s magic casting ability,
while Kiritsugu blows up an entire dangerous building instead of infiltrating it.
Apparently Aniplex made an English version of the Mahouka website,
so here’s some terms you guys can check out as well..
Updates might be irregular, I suppose :p (http://tinyurl.com/mahoukakeywords)
Emiya Kiritsugu is technically an anti-mage, but not the one I would first go towards. He and Tatsuya are alike in that they use skills outside of the magic system they’re involved in – Tatsuya’s martial arts and Kiritsugu’s almost everything – but Kititsugu differs in that almost everything he does is “conventional” (explosives, guns, etc), whereas Tatsuya still uses magic, it just seems to be tuned to defeating magicians. A little different, but an interesting thought : )
Emiya Kiritsugu – Definitely feels like him a bit somewhere. They both definitely give out this cold and cool aura. But yea Kiritsugu doesn’t seem to use magic. Does he even use magic now thinking back.
INCEST TIME!!! ITADAKIMASUUU~!!! -not!
Wowww…Miyuki is freaky but i must admit, i cant help but to see how far would she go for her uncontrollable feelings for Tatsuya! This i gotta see! Tatsuya’s apology seeing Erika’s oppai is a true act of gents! Glad to know he’s not easily wavered, especially during the ultimate test given by Miyuki.
That aside, gosh i love how detail everyone is in Mahouka. Even the side characters are drawn perfectly, they are all gorgeous! The last anime i watched that paid attention to their characters were Kyoukai Horizon and KyoAni’s. 23 minutes is not enough!
He din’t see really her breast (just the clevage), the anime don’t explain it but, the moral code in Mahouka is very different, where a girl feel shame with just a little of skin show. Maybe they address it late, I hope.
“As near as I understood, loop casting should only allow you to chain cast the same spell, but he was able to do it with three different spells (determined by the oscillation of psion waves, i.e. the wavelengths of pure mana) by treating the oscillation as a variable of a single spell. So it’s like casting Fireball 1, Fireball 2, and Fireball 3, which would normally be three different spells, but he was able to cast Fireball 1 three times and then modify the power of two of them on the fly to give them the effect of a Fireball 2 and Fireball 3. I think I got that. Maybe sort of perhaps. See what I mean?”
I haven’t read the LN, but the way I saw it, it was like he fired three different sine/cosine waves consecutively, each with a different equation. However, each of those waves intersect at a certain point and that point was Hanzo. Tatsuya was able to calculate that and that’s what made it so amazing, similar to his ability to read spell sequences instantly.
The exposition/info dump is a bit heavy at times, but I feel like I can keep up. I actually prefer it like this than having a stupid character stand there and get lectured the whole time. Not saying its done exceptionally well here, because there are series that have done better, but I prefer this method than having a fish out of water character.
Also, I liked how this episode highlighted Erika as a martial artist during the kendo scene. I look foward to seeing what shes got in the future!
I prefer this method to an obnoxious fish out of water character, but it can also be done well, like in No Game No Life or Sidonia. Or they could just drop in flagrant exposition, like in Log Horizon. Either one would be fine with me, and an improvement.
That is indeed what Tatsuya did. Using Stilts’ fireball example, Tatsuya isn’t capable of casting fireball 2 or 3, since his magic level isn’t high enough, and his fireball 1 isn’t enough to defeat Hattori. A more traditionally powerful magician using this strategy, like Mayumi or Miyuki, could probably get by with using one wave (fireball 3) to KO Hattori. However, since he is using oscillations, he can use resonance to combine 3 weak waves to create 1 powerful wave at Hattori’s location, in essence having three fireball 1 spells synergize to mimic the effect of fireball 3. Their shock was mostly that he could calculate 3 different wavelengths to resonate on Hattori so quickly, as even a slight miscalculation would drastically alter the strength of the combined waveform at a particular location.
Stilts: I’ll try to answer your questions without spoiling, but still put it in spoiler brackets for those who don’t want to get affirmation.
Show Spoiler ▼
They cut a critical Miyuki-monologue out of the episode, which flabbergasted me. I thought that they would include it, since it would start to indicate that Miyuki isn’t merely a shallow brocon. The LN version is of course best explaining it . Alternatively, there’s a shorter version in the manga . If you feel that you want to gain a new perspective on Miyuki, follow these links.
I would also like to add that Miyuki and Tatsuya haven’t always lived together. So Yosuga no Sora.
So you actually did pick it up, huh Stilts? I’m actually pretty surprised to be honest. It never seemed like you were singing the show’s praises during any of the posts. I guess it just interested you enough to want to listen to everyone saying that it really does get better? Your masochistic tendencies are fearsome indeed.
Just watching the episode, it didn’t feel rushed at all even though they skipped quite a bit. Mayumi once again gets the shaft, but the thing that surprised me most was that they took out a scene for Miyuki the morning after the calibration. I’m pretty sure this means they’ll probably be doing that one story in vol. 5 since it tackles the same subject as Miyuki’s internal monologue in that scene in a much more complete manner.
Anyways, tired as heck right now so I’ll probably come back to this later and add stuff when I can actually use my brain. (Wait… do I ever?)
Ahaha, well the funny thing is that it’s actually easier to write about a show like this than it is something I’m wildly enjoying like No Game No Life. It’s uncomfortable to constantly sing praises, but when I can come in here and give the neutral middle ground, it’s interesting. Plus yeah, I’m a maso and hoping everyone who says it gets awesome is right ^^
Imagine how difficult it is for Guardian Enzo to blog HxH then 😛
Nyahaha, well there are other rewards in writing about a show you’re crazy about, even if the words don’t always flow quite so easily ; ) Plus, sometimes they do.
YES! Stilts is picking this up!
I haven’t read the original source material, but I plan to only after this is all over (similar to what I did with DxD season 1).
I have to agree with you here stilts, that one scene was freaking awkward as hell. It really messed up her character for me.
Serious question, though: Just why is it that anime/japanese culture seem to be so obsessed with incest?
I don’t know, but I wonder as well. ^D^
Oh yeah, I remember that post. It was a great read! ^_^
It’s probably just a cultural thing. Yes, the Japanese have just as much of an incest taboo as everyone else in the world, but their lore and history pretty much guarantees that they’d end up having a more romantic view of it than other people. There was a time when brothers and sisters married, the word “imouto” has a rather fascinating history, there are quite a number of legends surrounding married siblings gods(including their origin myth), and other legends of lovers being reborn as siblings in the next life. Heck, if the Kojiki is to be believed, their most romantic(yet tragic) story was about a crown prince who fell from grace because he fell in love with his full sister. He later tried to rebel against his younger brother, lost, and eventually committed suicide with his sister.
Tha anime played up that scene. Miyuki placing her hand over Tatsuya’s was anime only material. Not sure why the anime is adding little things like this, but I wish it would stop. *sigh* Can’t say more due to spoilers – especially if you plan to read the LN (which I recommend if you like the anime overall).
I plan to read it, but only after the season’s over. Is the an one-cur or two-cur show?
@bakakubi: FYI – 2 cour/26 episodes.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2003%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
Hontou ni?
Stilts-nee-chan is picking this up?
YATTA!!!!!!
Wow. You made Stilts a girl.
Hold on…. Stilts is a guy?!
*Goes to the edge of a cliff*
GIVE ME BACK MY FANTASIES DAMN IT!
Joking aside, stilts is right about one thing about this anime… it is way too complicated.
PS: Incest is wincest
PS2: Tomboys are hot
I’m a girl now!?
While I do admit I have amazing legs, they’re not quite the right shape for thigh-highs or a short skirt. I-I’ll do my best though? *uguu~*
They did show Tatsuya’s sinister face at EP 1 when Mizuki asked about Tatsuya’s “aura”. This image is the nearest one during ep 1.
This time they didn’t show Tatsuya’s sinister face during Shun’s encounter with Tatsuya outside the Public Moral Committee room.
IMO, Mizuki is really lucky she became friends with Miyuki… If not Tatsuya probably
Show Spoiler ▼
Regarding Mizuki:
Show Spoiler ▼
@SK’s spoiler
Yep that is possible also. But I hope you didn’t forgot that Show Spoiler ▼
Even if it isn’t traced back to him, murder in his vicinity will only bring unwanted attention to his vicinity hence contradicting Tatsuya’s character.
I have a feeling Miyuki isn’t really his sister.
They(Tatsuya and Miyuki) have the same blood running through their veins. It’s just that the reason why Miyuki became way too clingy with Tatsuya is… a major spoiler.
(Hint: watch the OP scene)Miyuki just did that to his beloved older brother and claim it was a prank/joke. The reason Tatsuya didn’t die was because of his restorative Magic, Regrowth. That was the name of the magic he unconsciously did after Miyuki pwn him.
I’ve read the chapter, since someone posted a link to it here. She hit him with a burst of psions that knocked him unconscious. Not a fatal attack by any means.
I hate to be a pessimist, but this is the inferior Madhouse production this season.
Hopefully the kenjutsu club as a whole gets suspended for this, since they’re all attacking a disciplinary club member. Blatant proof that the entire club thinks that the school’s rules do not apply to them, and the discriminatory behavior of the place is not an excuse. The club itself should be placed on suspension pending judgement as to whether its members are fit to be representing their school in that fashion.
I knew Stilts-nii would pick this up. It has MAGIC on it.
(¬‿¬)
Stilts chose to blog this after
Miyuki had shown some sexy skin and Erika showing a bit of her oppaihaving found that this show will be getting more interesting as the show progress.So will Stilts-nee-chan blog Bryndhir as well?
It has MAGIC as well……
I’d probably have to start watching it first, lol. I’m so behind on all my shows again this season :X
Oh. And Erika is sexy as hell.
This is the kind of show where the you just know what you don’t like and what you like on the get-go.
The Super Incest Time scene produced lots of question marks there, which I hope will be explained in time (even with info provided by some of you helpful people there, thanks!) I agree with you, Stilts. Exposition like this is important especially when it comes to some complicated setting that is within the novel. Optimistically speaking I actually think the setting and terminologies are pretty interesting, but that works mainly in a novel form rather than in a visual form – unless you include VNs in that.
The art looks pretty as ever, and the OP is really good with its animations. Makes me wonder if people are actually reminded of Fate Zero with LiSA as the singer. I like how they inserted the music at appropriate times as well to heighten the mood of those moments. The action was good, of course. Never hurts to be reminded Ninjutsu isn’t exactly some kind of ability to manifest gigantic energy shurikens or eyes that have special powers. :p
Tatsuya is also growing on me, first by confounding most viewers with his apparently 100% stoic outlook, then showing some kind of reaction to certain things. That stoicism might actually be more of a mask of protection IMO, especially when you consider the implications that his own family didn’t really see much worth in him. In any case there is more than meets the eye. It’s only the 3rd episode, after all.
Speculation aside, I liked the episode. I’ll even let the Super Incest Time scene slide with that bit of fanservice from Miyuki (and Erika too).
Verdict of the 3 episode rule? Flawed, yes..But definitely worth following.
I agree with Stilts that it is certainly entertaining to see an “anti-mage” style hero among magicians. It’s a large part of what made Kiritsugu so appealing in Fate/Zero, combined with the intelligence and skill both display to make up for their deficiencies. I’m a bit confused by the sibling relationship here(though there are obviously some important hidden information about/between them we haven’t been made aware of yet), but aside from that this has been one of my favorite debuts his season so far.
I’m also enjoying this anime far more than No Game No Life. Both have characters that are seemingly overpowered, but while Tatsuya comes off as a mysterious badass that has trained up his strengths to cover for his weaknesses, the siblings in NGNL are just straight broken tier. It feels like while the former stretches the boundaries and rules of what people expect as possible, the latter completely ignores it. This difference makes the heroes in this show ones I can honestly cheer for, while NGNL’s protagonists I am at best indifferent about.
There is a reason why he is OP, but the explanations are later on in the show.
Mayumi, doesn’t feel quite as fun as in the novel… She’s supposed to be more flirtatious, teasing, and mischievous… That’s why Hanzo was so flustered, the dynamic between Tatsuya and Mayumi is straight up missing… there was supposed to be a conversation between Mayumi, Mari and Tatsuya in the Public Morals Office. That’s what made Miyuki annoyed…
Show Spoiler ▼
The above spoiler pertains to the said conversation that was cut out. Seriously need an edit button…
Yeah, they’ve cut so much from Mayumi already that they’re seriously weakening her character. Of course, they’re also exacerbating certain aspects of Miyuki’s personality with the way things are getting cut, so…yay? 🙁 Not to mention the whole zero-time with classmates. Or Honoka and Shizuku. Oi.
Which is quite ironic, since Mari more or less vanishes from the story after graduation, but on the other hand… Mayumi – strip off that mask of “Student Council President” and it’s associated connotations and tropes and expectations, and the character underneath is fascinating, and very well utilized by the author even past graduation.
Show Spoiler ▼
Mari, will probably be making her comeback when we get more focus on Erika and the situation regarding her family. Though that’s probably a few more months of waiting… Mayumi on the other hand, is bound to show up more as the focus is more on you know what and the you know who’s… Also next week we get to see ‘Iron Wall’ I guess?
@Stilts: I can’t help but think it’s unnecessarily complicated sometimes though…
“Unnecessary” is subjective. What attracted me to the series initially is the opposite of what you say, and while certainly not everyone (including even some LN readers) like the complexity, I and others do. The magic system is much more detailed and well laid out that what the anime shows. As I previously posted, MKnR’s level of detail and exposition is NOT for everyone, but that doesn’t make it necessarily bad. I find the issue similar in how the economics centered plots of Spice and Wolf are not for everyone. Some found Spice and Wolf “boring” while others, including myself, enjoyed the series tremendously (both anime and LN, and FYI – the anime adapted the LN at a 6 episode per LN pace).
The MKnR author devised an fairly unique, cohesive and finely detailed magic system which is both integral and woven throughout the series. I find it much more interesting, smart and creative than another generic MP/mana -> wand/staff -> *poof* fireball or “cone of cold”. It’s magic explained in RL scientific terms. The author borrows from physics theory to explain how magic works. So rather than magic -> “cold”, in MKnR “cold” = you slow down molecular energy by temporarily overwriting the Eidos via Idea. TO BE CLEAR, that is NOT the only thing I like about the series, NOR do I think it’s required for a good story, NOR would I even want that in EVERY (key) story. However, IMO rather than a liability, it is a positive, distinguishing characteristic of the series which provides a welcome change from the norm.
– To be honest though, I feel like this is 90% symptom of this having been the Tsutomu-sensei’s first novel
I suggest reading the LN before making that assumption. No doubt there is room for improvement for the earlier MKnR volumes. My primary issues with first arc do not concern the magic system exposition and/or world building, but rather the later parts of the Enrollment arc itself (e.g IMO LN vol. 1 > vol. 2). I like the later arcs (vol. 3-7) better, but the same is true for Log Horizon (both LN and anime). To put it bluntly, IMO it’s more like 90% of the “symptom” is due to the director’s method of adaptation.
It is the director’s choice in terms of what material to include and what not to include (e.g “pacing” which currently at 3 ep./LN vol.). This is NOT Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon (aka “Horizon”) in terms of time constraint issues requiring large source material cuts/high compression. As I previously explained in detail, any pacing issues and resulting negative impact thereof are of the director’s making. Furthermore, as both Log Horizon and (IMO) Horizon show, you do not need a “fish out of water” for this type of exposition. Log Horizon did a GOOD job without that – including using Shiroe’s internal dialog. A LOT of Tatsuya’s internal dialog has been cut so far. Frankly, I never once thought the characters were “dumb” or felt the same myself while reading the MKnR LN.
TO BE CLEAR, my primary issues with the adaptation are NOT the truncated explanation of the magic system. Omitted character interactions and plot hints/details, cut/altered dialog (including internal), etc. are all IMO having a negative impact to the story presented thus far. “Good enough” is not the same as “good” let alone “great”. I like a LOT of the “side” characters in MKnR, and compared to when first reading the early LN volumes, all those characters seem flat. Even someone as stoic as Tatsuya is suffering from cutting the bulk of his internal dialog.
Worst of all IMO, was this episode cutting a VERY important part of the story (end of vol 1, ch. 4). Given some of the non-LN reader complaints and misconceptions, I fail to understand why this was done. Delay is only detrimental, and if that key underlying plot is removed all together, IMO that significantly alters and degrades the original story. I previously posted some “wait and see” type comments, and the anime cut out the part I was referring to. LOL. TBH, I’m now concerned about the anime simplifying the story (e.g. cutting out some central plot lines). REALLY hope that doesn’t happen. There’s a lot more to the original story than simply magic battles or the magic system.
Overall, I’d say the anime so far is “OK/meh”. Probably won’t drop it though obviously my enthusiasm for the adaptation has waned considerably.
@daikama
Agreed. Very much agreed. I feel like in the attempt to make this appeal to the mass market they’re making the show weaker to everyone. I was really irritated with the scene in the lab because it had no bloody context. I didn’t really care about them adding stuff, but the fact that they didn’t even show the events Miyuki references just makes it seem like she’s completely insane.
At this point, I’m really just watching it because I love the LNs and “Hey, I’ll get to see scenes from the LN animated.” If it weren’t for that, I’d have probably dropped it like a rock with this episode because a lot of the context was missing. If it can’t stand on it’s own, there’s very little reason for anime-only viewers to watch it. And right now, I don’t feel like it can.
@Altherion – Agree down the line. Your second paragraph mirrors my own thoughts exactly. *sigh* This is exactly why IMO ANY first season anime adaptation should be made for non-LN/manga readers. It should stand on its own as you say, and if time is required to give sufficient explanation of the background/setting/whatever, then SLOW DOWN to do that even if it means covering less source material in the long run.
What’s unfathomable to me is why this approach is being taken. This is NOT some obscure LN. Obviously not everyone will like MKnR or, if so, to the same degree. Still, the LN series manages to be widely popular in its original form. IIRC, MKnR LN sales were ranked 3rd in 2013.
FWIW, one reason I care about the anime adding/altering stuff is because of the impact that stuff has on how non-LN viewers perceive certain situations. One non-LN reader expressly noted an anime only addition which reinforced a problem he/she has with the anime.
I agree. The entire lab scene was reduced to fanservice – a particular kind of fanservice which the anime inexplicably amped up. 🙁 There is NO need whatsoever IMO for the anime to add Miyuki caressing Tatsuya’s hand. Might as well toss napalm on a fire. Wouldn’t be an issue if the anime had not cut out the remainder of vol. 1 ch. 4. That crossed a line for me – a big line. In case you don’t recall the details of that section, I’ve cut and pasted the most important parts of what was left out in the spoiler below.
**WARNING!! SPOILER!! – LN READERS ONLY!!**
Show Spoiler ▼
I can only imagine what non-LN reader post episode comments might be like if that was included in this episode.
Care to show how the eidos and idea here relate to the Platonic concept of eidos and idea (my impression is idea is that it’s sort of interchangeable with eidos but nowhere near all-encompassing)?
The official english site has a short comment about the Eidos and Idea terms.
http://mahouka.us/keyword/
Which doesn’t say much. Well my take in the end is that eidos refers to the essence that gives objects/phenomena their characteristics and idea refers to the realm where the image/representation of those objects/phenomena resides.
@daikama
You’re giving the author too much credit when he tries to connect what are inherently philosophical ideas to the laws of the physical world without breaking a few things. I can buy fabric of space-time but the existence of a realm parallel to our own where there exists the representations of things from our world and having the ability to manipulate that with mortal instruments requires huge leaps in logic.
@Solace: Care to show how the eidos and idea here relate to the Platonic concept of eidos and idea (my impression is idea is that it’s sort of interchangeable with eidos but nowhere near all-encompassing)?.
Everaldo’s post above gives a link to the official US MKnR site definitions for Eidos and Idea. Both definitions start the same way: “Originally a Greek philosophy term. Under modern-day magic…”. [emphasis added]. Right from the start, the author is telling you that the terms are redefined = NOT the same thing as the original Greek philosophical concepts. So if MKnR “Eidos” doesn’t match with the original Greek philosophical concept – I don’t care. Instead, I look to the meaning of the term as defined by the MKnR world.
IMO the explanation from from MKnR Wiki (copied below) is helpful:
— “You’re giving the author too much credit when he tries to connect what are inherently philosophical ideas to the laws of the physical world without breaking a few things.”
First, see above about how the term is explicitly redefined for the MKnR world. Second, if I’m “giving the author too much credit” in this instance, then what credit should I give to series which do not give ANY explanation other than the generic magic -> *poof* fireball? This is magic after all. A fantasy element that is the antithesis of RL science. So even if MKnR’s magic system is not 100% bullet proof in every instance, I’m willing to give some latitude because I give a lot MORE latitude when I accept magic -> *poof* fireball.
Compare MKnR with the standard explanation of how magic works which is… NOTHING. It’s magic = cast spell and *poof* fireball, summoned creature, transform a mouse into a dragon, teleport – whatever. The MKnR author has devised a highly detailed scientific based explanation of how magic works. IMO that is a difficult thing to do, and at least for the most part, I think the magic system in MKnR works well. JMO, but I think it’s much more original, creative, etc. than going the standard route.
Again to be clear, I watch a number of fantasy anime and read fantasy LNs so I don’t mind the standard route. “Par for the course”, entry fee for the story. The quintessential fantasy novel LOTR doesn’t explain how magic works, and I consider it a truly exceptional, outstanding piece of fantasy literature. However, the MKnR author clearly spent a considerable amount of time and thought in going one step further, and as noted above, IMO the MKnR magic system works. He could have gone with *poof* magic and didn’t. By going that extra step, he gave considerable depth and a distinguishing characteristic to the series. I think that’s quite laudable and noteworthy.
@daikama
I just think this is an interesting read and not directed at any particular statement you made. It’s about how to effectively handle magic in fantasy literature.
http://brandonsanderson.com/sandersons-first-law/
For the other laws:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Sanderson#Sanderson.27s_Laws
This is prolly the most important law for me in terms of world-building, when we can see how the introduction of magic influenced the world.
In Mahouka atm, it seems like magic exists in the vacuum that is these magic high schools and I guess government/military installations. We haven’t really seen what normal everyday magic is like (see Harry Potter, FMA), except for that one instance where they chose to run really fast and I guess clean their clothes? These spells seem pretty advanced from their explanations, so I wouldn’t really put them under the normal category.
@Solace: Quick question – how much/how far of the LN have you read? Would be very helpful in terms of reply. Thanks.
Irrelevant, you can spoil away because I want to see how deep this rabbit hole goes, the descent into madness, the plunge into the darkness, the spectacle of this carnival of stupid.
@Solace
You just completely contradicted yourself btw.
First you decided to argue that the show is illogical because it messes with scientific theory, now you choose to argue in fantasy terms.
Google search much btw? You don’t even really have a solid handle on what you’re trying to argue about.
@Kuntzy
http://img.pandawhale.com/74489-jim-carrey-gif-what-the-hell-a-Ly3J.gif
You seem awfully rustled. Especially since this thread wasn’t directed toward you. And you’ve shown that you didn’t bother to read or understand anything I’ve written.
(1) The reason why I asked about the original Platonic concept of eidos and idea and how it connects to Mahouka’s usage of those same terms is to try to better understand how it works in the realm of magic by looking through the lens of its real world concept. Authors generally look to real world ideas or concepts to incorporate them into their works because there’s a foundation already laid out for them, for which they can use to reinforce a theme, much in the same vein as religious references. I mean, find me all the Jesus imagery you’ve seen in just anime alone. If you read extensively, then you’d see a lot of these references, from all sorts of literature predating them.
(2) I stumbled upon Sanderson’s article when searching on Google on a whim about the LotR plot hole where people posed the question of “Why didn’t Frodo just fly the hawks into Mordor?” after seeing daikama mention LotR in one of his comments.
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/2333/why-didnt-gandalf-or-frodo-fly-to-mount-doom
If you click [show 14 more comments] under the OP, you’d see this comment:
I was redirected to Sanderson’s blog and found it relevant to our discussion of magic in Mahouka. The contents are also applicable to any sort of fiction you’re trying to write that has supernatural powers or advanced technologies (sci-fi for instance). If you read the blog post you’d see that Arthur C. Clarke’s Three Laws of Robotics is something Sanderson points to as being a good example of establishing a simple set of rules and never breaking them, but still manages to write entertaining plots based around those rules for his robot series. You can switch out fantasy if you want and use any sort of genre label you want for Sanderson’s laws, but the key idea is that it’s applicable to all fiction that tries to deal with extraordinary powers.
Seeing how what he writes makes a lot of sense and that this is just the first law he wrote about, I was curious enough to search for the others. And all that laws there are totally applicable to one of my most favorite works to come out of Japan, Muv-Luv Alternative, which you should totally read by the way. (IMO, if you think Mahouka is great, MLA would make you praise the sun, kiss the ground you walk on, but that’s a topic for another day.)
And what do you have against Google search by the way? If I’m curious and I wanna know something then I will use the available means to find out more about it.
But let’s get back to how the show is “illogical.” I just don’t understand how in a branch of our world, people can manipulate things in an entirely different realm using man-made instruments not too different from modern day computers and using what is essentially encrypted computer code. Tatsuya being able to read said code already puts him at supercomputer capabilities and if he can decrypt said code on the fly and figuring out what that code is gonna do before he finishes reading it, that’s already beyond whatever computer we may have in our possession.
Like what connects this eidos and idea thing to quantum mechanics and the classic laws of physics? And—actually, never mind. None of this matters in the end and I’m tired of this.
As far as Sanderson’s laws go, keep in mind this is essentially the opinion of an author of what he believes is the best way to do it. These are in no way actual set in stone laws that have to be followed to an absolute T. And let’s not forgot that you provided examples yourself on how it didn’t break the third rule but threw it out because of an assumption. You’re 3 episodes in and trying to apply rules set for an entire series on something that’s being extremely condensed and cuts out much of the technology used in daily life.
As far as the Eidos and Idea goes, this series is still technically a fantasy. As you yourself should know, fantasy is the impossible made probable. He uses scientific terms and theory to explain the magic system, but the system itself is still very much fantastical mainly due to the inclusion of Eidos and Idea. Rather than simply trying to categorize it as sci-fi or fantasy, it’s science fantasy (leaning more toward the science) which is a legit genre. The main thing is that he doesn’t create major inconsistencies within the system that completely ruins it (but you haven’t read it so really, how would you know?). Inductive reasoning is nice and all, but it also is extremely effected by bias.
But yes, you are right I didn’t read your links to Sanderson’s laws. I only know Sanderson from word of mouth through people who enjoyed his fantasy works so, naturally, I applied said rules to the fantasy genre before reading them properly. I made an assumption, which ended up being wrong. No, there wasn’t really a contradiction between your two statements.
And thanks for that last part (which seems to be edited out now). Shows exactly the kind of person you are when you do stuff like that. Note how I’ve never actually insulted you and yet somehow you came to the conclusion that I’m mad? LOL.
http://i.imgur.com/1Fx46M6.png
I’m a very bitter and wrathful person toward people who drink the Kool-Aid. I’m not the person who’s constantly pushing the idea that Mahouka is (gasp!) really good! But you know what, live and let live.
@Solace
Yes, we get that you don’t think very highly of this show because incest and whatever other reasons you have. If you don’t like it, fine, everyone’s entitled to his/her opinion. Just don’t come in here with that condescending attitude, wanting to see the “descent into madness” and “the spectacle of this carnival of stupid”, as if your taste is above the cesspool that is MKnR. I and other LN readers have said that the first arc isn’t the strongest; you’ve seen half of the arc and passed judgement, not just on the show, but also on anyone who is “drinking the Kool-Aid”. From what you’ve written on this and prior episode posts, I’m hearing “OMG this story has incest, it must suck, I don’t get how anyone could possibly enjoy another this, you guys aren’t very discerning in taste. How can you push that the source material is actually any good?”
You act like MLA is the Holy Bible; I could use your argument from above, and say that the entire story is an “elaborate setup to sell [their] brand of sexual depravity” known as tentacle rape (Like incest, a rather common theme in eroge). They started with “let’s show a tentacle rape scene”, and wrote the entire story to justify that scene. Since the entire story is simply justification for that one scene, it really doesn’t matter what the actual story is; since tentacle rape is bad and immoral, any story containing that as an element must suck. Don’t get me wrong; I love MLA, though it, like MKnR, has its flaws.
What if, instead of MKnR, we were discussing an adaptation of Muv-Luv. This adaptation happened to cut out interactions between the group members from Extra and Unlimited, condensing the boring material just to reach the epicness that is Alternative. Context for certain scenes are lost, and some character development scenes are cut or condensed, changing the intent of those scenes. We lose most of Takeru’s inner thoughts, so the audience can’t connect with him as well as someone who played the VN would. If someone watched three episodes of a Muv-Luv adaptation, they would probably be watching the extremely generic romcom/harem that is Extra, and wonder WTF all the hype is about. Someone with an attitude similar to what you’ve shown here would be bashing anyone who loves MLA, since the show is clearly just generic crap that’s been done thousands of times before. They can tell, clearly there isn’t a whole lot of depth to the story, there won’t be any delving into psychological issues, political issues, or anything else with substance; the characters are generic and fit the usual tropes to a T. Why anyone could actually like the source material is beyond them, and those people clearly have bad taste to like this generic crap.
Anyways, just as fans of the LN are drinking the Kool-Aid, you’re a hater (as much as I hate to use this overused word); we’re never gonna agree, so whatever.
http://h9.abload.de/img/supernatural_confusedbdy5p.gif
At this point, I’m just watching to see if it can hit so-bad-it’s-good status.
(1) Correction: NieR/Spec Ops: The Line is the Holy Bible, but MLA is not too far off. Only reason I pulled it out is because I feel Yoshimune Kouki did a better job building an alternate world that actually extrapolates from contemporary geopolitics, while at the same time making those foreign policies believable when looking through the lens of the current political climate. I’ll explain my gripes that don’t include the word incest in the latter portion of this reply. (Oh and I don’t like comparing things to the Holy Bible because that implies other religious texts are inferior.)
(2) You could use my argument above but then you’d be making a false equivalence when comparing it to the incestuous relationship in Mahouka; the false idea that tentacle rape is actually prevalent and a motif in the VN. You’d be correct with your comparison if in Mahouka, those instances of incestuous feelings were less than two (a low arbitrary number) and there isn’t an entire ongoing relationship thread, plot, whatever for it that goes unresolved for volumes. You know, I never really did like your analogies because they’re wholly misinformed.
a. I hated that scene in MLA. It was unnecessary and only shown for shock value, and for the reader to completely hate the BETA if they didn’t already hate them. The censored version only put a bandaid on it, but I’d rather they didn’t show it at all. This was prolly one of the few legitimate gripes about MLA I had, along with the lacrosse arc.
(3) I hope they never make an anime for the ML series, as much as my deep inner fanboy wishes for it to exist, because I know they will never do it justice unless it has the funding and development cycle of the next GTA game. Re: the creator’s thoughts on an adaptation: “one of the biggest reasons Muv-Luv itself has never been adapted into an anime has been the diversity of its ideas. More than a few producers appear afraid to animate something showcasing Alternative Japan’s culture.”
(4) Let’s run with the idea that they did make a ML anime adaptation, but you’re prescribed to the idea that Mahouka is at least as good as ML/A and I’d argue it’s not. (inb4 but you didn’t read it in its entirety so what do you knooooow!? Let me pose a question to you: if you found yourself to be knee deep in shit, would you walk deeper and rather be neck deep in shit before you could realize you’re wadding in shit? Unless you’re hate-watching, which I’m technically doing now I guess after seeing how it doesn’t get better, just crazier, like SAO.) And you’re misconstruing the point of ML existing as a way to segue into MLU/A (and as a way for Kouki to troll its players before anyone knew about MLU and MLA’s existence) which would never translate well to anime adaptation when done straight. We weren’t there for the original ML release, and we most likely found out about the series after hearing about how great MLA is, so we would’ve never been as surprised as the original Japanese players when they found out that a little something called MLU unlocked after clearing the appropriate routes.
(5) Now for the gripes—what is up with the geopolitics in the world? I know I talked about this before but what is up with Pakistan uniting with India? Israel with the rest of the Arab nations? Japan being the only country that is not consolidated? How do you expect me to buy this stuff? This is one of the reasons why I said Satou can learn something from Kouki. I can go on and on but someone already beat me to it: http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=107880951
Keep taking the blue pill.
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/609485983.gif
for god’s sake it’s the third episode! How can a series be as bad as you describe it!
you are taking a bad angle to this anime like ” my series is better than yours” who cares who is better Mahouka or MLA! They have theirs unique charms and just because you like one you don’t have to trash the others! You can like them both or at least make your criticism less wrathful.
@Solace
At the end of the day, your attitude just makes you come off as an arrogant jerk. From what I can see from most comments, nobody’s going around proclaiming this the best story ever created. The only thing I’ve been doing is counter pointing your highly biased opinion that it’s terrible.
Seriously, all you’re doing is drinking your own kool-aid thinking that your opinion is some all encompassing truth that can’t possibly be wrong in any way. Like I said in a previous discussion:
Please, get over yourself.
Btw, I like how you said you were tired of this, and yet you came right back to it. At least last time I had the integrity to actually stop when I said I would.
1) Uhh, no, I compared it with the Bible because it’s the most well-known, at least in the West (where I and most of the readers here reside), not because I think it’s the best. I could have gone with Bible/Quran/Torah/Communist Manifesto/Vedas/Shinto texts/Daoist texts/Book of Mormon/etc., but that gets kinda long. I must be subconsciously ordering them, and I’m shortchanging anything that I decided not to actually type out, which must mean that I don’t think they’re worthy enough.
2) My point is that if I made that argument, it doesn’t really hold up. No matter what anyone says, you have declared over and over that MKnR is just a vessel for the author to write about incest, and that any other possible justification is just dressing to cover that up. The comparison to deities several people have brought up? Nope, the author really just wanted to write an incest story, but he made some parallels to fool readers about what he really wanted to write about.
BTW, since you like to nitpick, incest is defined as “sexual relations(intercourse) between relatives who are forbidden by law to marry”, so this (and most anime, for that matter) don’t actually qualify. Bro-con? Absolutely.
Would my analogy be better if I substituted right-wing militarism/Japanese superiority instead? OK, so now MLA (and MKnR) is just a vehicle to promote that. And while I’ll admit that my analogies aren’t always spot-on, some of your refutes were clearly based on misinterpreted/out-of-context secondhand information, so don’t complain about me being misinformed when you aren’t any different.
3) Not sure what your point is here, I was never arguing for or against having an anime adaptation of Muv-Luv, just considering a hypothetical.
4) Don’t put words in my mouth; I have not said one is better than, or as good as, the other. All I’ve said is that I’m a fan of both. To use your shit example, I could say that going through Extra reached at least waist-high levels of shit during the lacrosse arc. I waded through that shit, since I had heard that the payoff afterwards would more than make up for the slog. If someone told you that MKnR has a prize once you get past the swamp of shit, do you continue? It’s up to you whether you want to continue, and up to you to decide if the prize was actually worth it. Yes, I entered the ML trilogy after hearing how good MLA was, not because people were singing their praises for Extra. If I had never heard of MLA, would I have bothered starting/finishing Extra? Questionable at best, as lacrosse really would have tested my desire to continue. As several have said, Enrollment isn’t the strongest arc, and it’s not the reason why most of the fans love the series. You judging both the series and its fans is like someone judging Muv-Luv and its fans based off of Extra.
5) It’s like you’ve never heard of the concept of war before. All we got from that map in Ep. 1 was the aftermath; it never said that the consolidation was like the EU, a diplomatic and peaceful occurrence. 100 years, with WW3 happening, is enough for some borders to be redrawn. Who would have guessed 100 years after Napoleon, that the UK and France would work together? They had been rivals for centuries, with a history of interfering with or outright invading the other. The new India region mentions Indo-Persian (India and Iran, just in case you didn’t know), who have a decent relationship, not Indo-Pakistani. If much of the world was engulfed in war, there wouldn’t be much preventing the Middle East from becoming it’s own battleground to finally deal with that tension. As for Japan, the home islands have not been successfully invaded for various reasons, including luck/divine help (kamikaze [divine wind, not suicide planes] against the Mongols) and surrender caused by the firebombing/nuclear bombs. There is somewhat of a belief that Japan can’t be invaded. Having natural barriers does make it easier to defend territory, after all, and we saw in the opening of Ep. 1 what happened to one attempted invasion force. If you’ve got issues with the geopolitics, fine; I’m not gonna argue much further about this point, since it may be a legitimate problem, but I haven’t studied world geopolitics enough to comment much.
As for your linked post: The author of that post makes some misleading/incorrect statements. His second spoiler isn’t wrong, but he completely omits/ignores a necessary condition, one that Tatsuya does not meet at this point in the anime, or for that matter, most of the time in the LN. Also, he doesn’t act in a vacuum; there are repercussions from them, especially politically. The spoiler under #2 is also questionable; what we saw from Tatsuya in class, and his results on the entrance exam, were not the result of him tanking to score low, but his actual ability.
Show Spoiler ▼
Doesn’t mean he isn’t OP (he is), but don’t try and use misleading examples when there are plenty of actual examples. As an aside, you guys must really hate Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, and other Renaissance men, because they sure were OP with all their abilities. Completely unrealistic, they were too good at too many things.
The information under #3 is misleading or just false. “In their school, one of the group of top schools in the nation for training mages” is wrong. The entrance tests are based on international standards, and they do a decent job for most people; Tatsuya’s abilities are unique, and his score relative to ability should be considered an exception to the test, not an example that the test is completely flawed. The nine schools aren’t the top schools in the nation for training mages, they’re the only schools in the nation. The rationalization by one of the “good” characters about the discrimination boils down to this: if you aren’t motivated enough to learn and improve on your own as an inferior candidate, having an instructor spending time teaching you stuff you could have learned on your own is a waste of time that could have gone to someone else. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable rationalization. The writer of that post omits any reference to limited teaching personnel, as if the school refuses to provide teachers to the Weeds only because they want to enforce discrimination, and not because there are other factors involved. The first spoiler does accurately include Tatsuya’s stated desire; however, the reason he is at First High is
Show Spoiler ▼
His second and third spoiler under #3 implies that Mayumi is free to break that rule whenever she wants, but she can’t because it’s (the only) written rule regarding who can be on the student council. The only way to change that rule is with a 2/3 majority vote by the student body, and there are certain times when that vote can be cast. The writer of the post clearly either didn’t read all the way through (saying “apparently X happens later” implies his knowledge is second-hand), or has limited reading comprehension skills, since there’s a discussion/debate/forum about the rule that occurs. Mayumi didn’t just unilaterally break the rule to show her opposition to the discrimination, as she doesn’t have the power to do so. His final point in #3 is related almost directly to the difference in cultural mindset; in Japan, you don’t make waves, and you don’t make trouble for others. Whether you agree with that or not is irrelevant; that is how Japanese culture works, and since this author is Japanese, writing in Japanese for a Japanese audience, it wasn’t really meant for Westerners to read, and if you don’t like that cultural aspect, too damn bad. This ain’t the right forum to discuss the pros/cons of that aspect; for now, it is what it is, and that’s the perspective that the author is writing from. And don’t try to act as if societal discrimination doesn’t exist; the degree varies from place to place, but it’s always there.
If you want to link a bunch of complaints about the series, try and have someone who’s actually read more than the first 2 volumes, not this second-hand bullshit information that you and this guy are basing your complaints on.
Keep sippin that haterade.
@Kuntzy
http://i.minus.com/ibhvBFnXPJ81De.gif
“From what I can see from most comments, nobody’s going around proclaiming this the best story ever created.“
Seeing how we got like the same 3 people vehemently trying to defend the series from all sorts of criticism and trying to reassure everyone that it gets better, even going as far as pulling up fan theories regarding the author’s writing habits as if either absolve him of his inclusion of incest or to justify whatever tactics he uses to sell copies, I’d say you guys are pretty invested in it. Again, if this was a ML adaptation or any other choice of highly anticipated anime adaptation of a favorite piece of work, and everyone was shitting on it 3 episodes in, frankly, I wouldn’t care, since it doesn’t take away from the brilliance that is the source material. I’ll let people decide whether to stick with it or not as that is the correct way to go. I wouldn’t spend time writing essays trying to reassure everyone like “hey guys it’ll get better promise please don’t drop it.” It really just seems like very desperate damage control at this point.
You said this early on: “ I guess it just interested you enough to want to listen to everyone saying that it really does get better? “
I said this: “I’m not the person who’s constantly pushing the idea that Mahouka is (gasp!) really good!”
“really good!” vs “best story ever created.“
???????
“really good!” =/= “best story ever created.“
So, thanks for putting words in my mouth?
And it doesn’t get better. It really doesn’t. And there are reasons why up there. If you choose to ignore all of them that’s your prerogative. This isn’t the first time I had to deal with this. The SAO fanboys of yesteryesteryear said the same exact things. They all lied and ignored all criticisms leveraged against the series because muh beaterrrrr
And why not just take the high road and ignore my posts? If you respond to me with statements that I feel I should refute then I will respond. Or are we not allowed to defend ourselves here?
@Solace
It gets better instantly means that I think it’s super amazing huh?
I really like the Pirates of the Caribbean series and they’re some of my favorite movies of all-time.
Do I think they’re some of the best movies of all-time though?
Absolutely not.
I mean, if you have such high standards that apparently only the things that you acknowledge as good can possibly be so, all the power to you. You’re an arrogant blowhard with the mental maturity of a 12 year old (all those childish gifs and pics… so pathetic) nonetheless. How’s the view from that pedestal you’ve placed yourself on?
I’d like to laugh at you but I can’t even do that. All I can really do is just shake my head. It’s seriously just sad.
I’m done with this now btw. You can go ahead and do whatever it is you do, but I’m done with this topic. Now I’ll actually do what you should have done to prove you’re a man and not a little kid, and not even bother looking at this ever again. Seriously, grown ups harping on things and contradicting what they themselves just said is easily the most immature thing you can do. Have fun being a small man.
@ daikama
It’s not the details that are unnecessarily complicated, but the explanations. Which I could have probably stated better in my post, but oh well. I like the depth of the world, but when it’s brought across in a confusing fashion it serves to enhance the complexity instead of conveying a complex idea with simple, more quickly grasped terms that would draw the viewer in more quickly. That’s the ideal we’re missing.
I still think some of these problems are a symptom of inexperience. A volume that’s almost entirely world building is a flawed volume, because you should be able to both build the world, reveal character, and advance the action all at the same time. If you spend an entire volume with the action almost at a standstill, it’s far from the ideal – even if the rest is still enjoyable, and the end results are worth it.
Of course, that might not be true in the LNs, but I doubt I’ll ever know because I don’t have the time to take in a story in multiple forms of media anymore, alas.
I do agree that a fish out of water character isn’t required, as Log Horizon and Kyoukaisen proved. LH was the better of the two at that, while Kyoukaisen occasionally had characters explain things they should already know, but it was largely forgivable because it’s better to do that than leave us all confused. It’s just that they need to do one of the three things, and they’re not.
I don’t think it’s entirely the director’s fault though. I imagine he’s being forced to get to a certain arc by the end of this adaptation, which is forcing him to hurry up earlier arcs. Those kinds of things aren’t usually under the director’s control, though they should be because he’s going to get blamed for any subpar execution. But once again, some definite mistakes are being made on the anime staff’s part as well, regardless of their orders from above.
It’s a definite challenge though, balancing all these different details, and it’s no easier if you don’t know them all as intimately and don’t have as much time to work with. Which is probably the suits’ faults, alas.
@Stilts
I feel like it’s necessary to stress that a lot of the weaknesses you’re viewing aren’t exactly related to the author or his explanations. Much of it is the weakness of the adaptation. I’ve already mentioned once that I would’ve dropped this series already if I weren’t a fan of the LNs, because the adaptation is doing a poor job at introducing new people to the universe. Even considering the specials, it gives me the impression that the jargon was just invented to have special jargon to make it ‘different’.
That really, truly, isn’t the case. The author puts genuine effort into creating a unique and well thought out magic system. The needless complexity is coming more from the adaptation than anything else. At no point have I ever felt lost during the author’s explanations of the system in the novels. Or even felt that they drag on too long. To be fair, I do enjoy that sort of world building.
Admittedly, Enrollment (both one and two) are weaker volumes. And it certainly isn’t optimal. That doesn’t make them weak volumes, though. Much of the fault lies in the way the novels are being adapted–that may not be the director or the staff’s fault, but it certainly is the fault of the studio as a whole. And it is very much depressing considering the budget the show must have with the heavy A-list voice cast and the animation quality.
@Stilts: I agree with Altherion’s post above. Volume 01 is not “almost entirely” world building/magic system exposition. There are other things going on such as you mention (i.e. “build the world, reveal character, and advance the action all at the same time”). Opinions will vary as to how well that’s done which is why I suggested you read the LN for yourself. As an author, I’m sure you can appreciate the reasoning behind my recommendation. Perhaps in the future you’ll have the time to do so.
FYI – I posted a spoiler free example of how the LN handles some of the magic system exposition in my reply to a post of yours above. FWIW, that style of exposition integration is pretty consistent throughout the series. No doubt a quicker, simplified version is better for anime, but leaving out the explanation entirely (or effectively so) is not the solution.
I’d like to reiterate that there is much more missing than just magic system exposition. Erika (one of my favorite characters) got shafted this episode in terms of her part getting reduced primarily to damsel in distress. As others have noted, the “weird lab scene” is one example of where material cuts impacted non-LN reader perception. And yeah, the part immediately after the “lab scene” which was cut out entirely is a big deal.
It’s a frustrating situation as an LN reader, especially considering non-LN reader comments/complaints. The author put that key plot information at that precise location for a reason. Unfortunately I can’t go into detail since it’s a potential anime spoiler. I really would have liked to have read your and other non-LN readers’ reaction to that. At any rate, if the anime omits key material, it’s hardly the fault of the author or a weakness in the story.
As for who makes the decision in terms of how much source material will be covered in a given season, if the director does not make that decision then who does? Granted I’m not intimately familiar with anime/movie production, but AFAIK it’s the director’s prerogative on that. If that’s not the case, then you or someone else please correct my misunderstanding. Whoever made the decision made the wrong one IMO.
Since you’re now in for the long haul, if nothing else, the action should start to pick up around episode 8-9 given current pacing.
Alright, makes sense. It’s always dangerous to extrapolate what you see in one media form and assume it reflects something in another, and while I’ve managed it successfully a few times, I can easily see it being mostly an adaptation problem here.
I stand by my thinking that they’ve been forced to get to a certain arc in a certain number of episodes, hence the rushing. It’s a boneheaded damn move by whoever made that decision, whether it is the director or (more likely) someone else, but it’s also a damn common one, lol
Episode 3 is an okay for me. First, they explained what is going on neatly. Even though i didn’t understand half of the explanation. Second are the fight, it’s refreshing to see some real fighting scene, it’s differ than the last 2 episode.
Overall it’s entertaining. But, not for the explanatory. Honestly i didn’t give a shit what is what. “Ain’t nobody got time for that”. Just keep the action coming mothaf*ka. LOL
Well, it’s a nice surprise to see the last episode is good (3 Episode Rule). I Think i can watch this series for the fight. I’m not a patient watcher, if this episode ain’t got any fighting i consider dropping the series. But, hey the action is refreshing at least, the protagonist is normal it’s make me remember touma from toaru majutsu index series. Gonna stick for next episode
Congratulations Mahouka, you will no longer be watched in the living room!
On their own the first three episodes haven’t impressed me in terms of plot or characters, but I can see how the show has the potential to become much more interesting in the future. I’ll stick with Mahouka, but it’s relegated to my second tier of shows unless it starts to pick up.
Wow……i’ve got to say i like how they are handling the discrimination angle here. It’s not completely cut and dry where everyone who is in a certain group is a dick. We have people who are just straight up haters, people who at first disliked the idea of Tatsuya being associated with them but recognize him for his skills and of course those who wish the labeling system would disappear altogether. It’s a much more realistic take on the issue than I’ve seen in a long time. Funny since I posted a huge rant on why Black Bullet was sloppily handling the issue. Humans do not all feel the same way about each other even if they are raised to think that way. I hope they expand on this even more because it’s the main catch for me right now.
Everything about this series so far has me hooked………….aside from of course the incestuous themes. I think this is pretty much the major turning off point for most people. Sadly it’s going to be a recurring issue in the series but as long as it never gets to the point of making me feel even more uncomfortable than this episode did I think i can overlook it. Everything else besides the overly complicated explanations at times is handled quite well. It’s a shame how one element can almost completely ruin ones experience on such things.
That aside it is a real shame they had to cut out Tatsuya’s inner narration too. Some have told me that it would make the show boring but i strongly disagree. When done right it can be a very pleasant feature. I can’t think of a better example than Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya. He narrated most of each episode and the series was still entertaining (not to mention it’s pretty much reached cult popularity). It helps a to give the audience a better understanding on how the character sincerely feels about the events that occur around him and how he a processes everything. For someone as complicated as Tatsuya it would certainly be a big boost for his character. I can understand them needing to cut it for airtime reasons but I think even shounen audiences who mostly only want to see action could deal with it if it was correctly implanted into the series.
Good point on Kyon, he’s a great example. I really wish more shows – and anime in particular – would let us go inside the characters’ heads because why the hell not? When there’s source material involved, it’s almost invariably written with this in mind, so take the time to let us get in their heads so we can understand their heart of hearts, and the words they say to only themselves in their head.
I really like the red hair ,but too bad in anime red hair girl really does have a hard life, that’s so wrong!
Humm… This show hard is to find someone with an easy life…
Honoka and Shizuku have a pretty easy life.
Shizuku, really. Honoka little is known of her background, but (Spoiler chapter 11)
Show Spoiler ▼
Stilts, as someone who’s a computer engineer the magical terms used in this show I think make more sense to me from the get go than most. The loop cast system makes sense because its a system to repeatedly cast a spell and while its apparently simple to modify a single variable every loop, modifying multiple variables is apparently difficult. It sounds like they’re running spells in something akin to a recursive function call and with apparent input to each recursion to modify the flow.
Makes sense. They are treating it like a science more than, well, magic, so it makes sense that it would be engineer friendly. My quip still remains, because when you explained it, it made more sense – I didn’t quite grasp that Tatsuya’s special strength is that he can modify multiple variables on the fly – but when they did it with all the jargon, it didn’t quite stick.
Probably they need an engineer on staff to smooth out the confusing edges. Wait, no, I’ve worked with engineers before. It usually doesn’t work like that. Hmmm…
Actually Stilts, you are right in that it’s not magic in the sense of demons and gods doing your bidding or curses being thrown. This is straight psychic ability enhanced by technology with an underlay of physics. An old SF term would be psionics (technology enhancing psychic abilities). Human minds can manipulate physical things by using particles of psychic energy (psions). CADs supplement the users ability to make this process easier. There are more than a few SF stories that employ a similar idea that reality is just information that can be manipulated.
Definitely easier to digest with some engineering background. Experience with a bit of computer programming especially.
Blah blah blah. 🙂 Where’s my:
1.) Glass Cannon Blaster-Sorcerer
2.) Utility Sorcerer
3.) Shield Sorcerer
That would be
1. Mikihiko
2. Hattori
3. Leo
3. Juumonji is the ultimate barrier mage, because of Phalanx. Leo’s many steps down; he only has self-buffs.
Wouldn’t be a a Utility Sorcerer could be Mari as well?
I had almost the same reaction that Stilts had to the CAD maintenance scene, despite me knowing better. I literally thought to myself, “Well, that could have been explained better. And Tatsuya still looks like a creep.” Whereas the rest of the episode seemed to flow along its own continuity (and there’s nothing wrong with that), that one scene stuck out like a sore thumb because how utterly spontaneous and nonsensical it was.
I am a proponent of conducting adaptations that take a logical approach to the source material, but calling this episode that would be a blatant lie.
The conversation in the public morals office… Fate/Doom
No wonder everyone’s confused… because it couldn’t have been the one In the Student council room, since she was also there… On another note @Dreyakis; Mayumi doesn’t have the same charm and playfulness as in the novel. Any thoughts on that? Any other gripes? Though I imagine Erika’s Fan Club at animesuki seem happy..
I’d wager that the dissonance is because readers of the light novel have come to associate Mayumi as that type of character after many volumes. However, keep in mind that we barely half way into the Volume 1 at this point, so most of the scenes that helped to define Mayumi as a character haven’t appeared yet.
True that were not that far in yet, but I guess it’s just the fact that the anime hasn’t even hinted as to what she’s really like is kind of a let down..
This anime. The manga makes so much more sense. This anime just ruined a good manga. I didn’t read the LN so I dont know how the scenes are portrayed in there.
Text to anime adaptations tend to be very difficult to achieve. Again, it boils down to the simple fact that adapting Text usually requires omission, while adapting Mangas merely require either faithfully following the panels, or creative expansion. If you look at the complains about this episode by LN readers (and indeed, in most LN to anime adaptations), the biggest gripe has always been about Omissions.
Yea I understand that. Which is why certain scene transitions felt weird in the first episode. I havent watch this episode but I dont think I will follow the anime anymore. I’ll just go with the manga. =)
@Andmeuths
That’s a really good way to put it. Mind if I steal that? I may write a Stilts Out Loud or a My Way or the Anime on it at some point…
@Stilts
Thank you very much! It’ll be my pleasure for you steal it (=
Too much technobabble. Dropped.
I’m not a massive fan of the show so far. The incest plotline is a real putoff, and as much as Tatsuya’s design and basic premise is interesting, I’ve found the character himself to be incredibly boring. Honestly, our two main characters are probably the least appealing thing for me so far.
I’m sticking with it for the supporting cast, though. I’ve found them all to be pretty interesting (especially Mari!) so I’m hoping they stay strong while the two siblings get a lot more development to make them more interesting to me.
People need to watch the three mini PVs and possibly read the manga to get into the flow of things. I did, and it’s making my experience great. The super incest time… I ain’t even mad
Haven’t seen this many comments since Attack on Titan,lol. Still,I wouldn’t call it overhyped or anything since there seem to be enough people who consider the show to be decent or good and not great. Guess I’ll stick to the “it’s good” camp for now. Stilts neutral perspective & the discussions here makes watching following Mahouka even better though.
I honestly just hope it’ll be consistent enough throughout it’s run as not to stir up too much controversy,as it usually happens with such shows. There might be a good chance of that too since the expectations for Mahouka shouldn’t be very high or anything,at least not yet,although I’m not expecting greatness here.
“super incest time” Well, I’m not a big fan of incest story. I mean no one is! I know, I know oreimo fans will hate me right now, but those same fans will never like a series only because it has incest … or maybe I hope so?
I have really enjoyed the show until now because maybe I have the tendency to shut down my brain when unpleasant things like incest show up, it’s not like I don’t know what is it, but unconsciously I ignore its implication. I only take notice when I read or hear someone complaining about it, however that’s only possible for me if the “thing” doesn’t affect directly or strongly the plot.
When I saw that “super incest time” I was meh a girl “liking” her brother, so what! They didn’t cross any line, “physical line” and they will not because the incest is not the main purpose of the show. You are not here to hear about the difficulties in a relationship with two sibling and how their parents are complaining about it and how the society judged them and so on … all I see is absolutely not that! So sit down, eat popcorn, drink soda and watch because you are watching one of the best show this season have to offer.
For me, I watched Oreimo cause I was praying for an Ayase or Kuroneko (Ruri) end, sadly my dreams were crushed before I even started.
Was kinda asking for it, though. Kirino IS the main character of the series, and the damn title of the series particularly gave away the ending.
I could feel the build to super incest time in the first episode so I just quit there. I don’t get the obsession that contemporary anime has with this. Its beyond annoying. The anime in the 70s, 80s and 90s didn’t glamorize it – the anime of before had normal, functional romantic relationships between characters. Tezuka addressed it in his masterpiece, Ayako as a clear problem that Japanese people are resigned to bow to. Its no wonder Japan has a real problem with dating/love/population growth. Its not something to glamorize and yet I feel like the normalization of the once-taboo behavior has become standard fare. At least in depiction which counts for a lot. If it isn’t a major point of brother-sister character dynamics, it’s most certainly always referred to in a series of unfunny “jokes”. I love Japanese pop culture and Japan but this is one thing I find ridiculously annoying. I can’t count the number of anime in the last decade that has admirable, functional romantic relationships between teenagers. It certainly isn’t the norm. Even Shinkai’s beautiful but unfortunate Garden of Words insists on the strange with a teacher-student relationship for us to ponder. Its creepy. Japanese already notoriously xenophobic, even if it is a polite racism, and now the incest reference is so common in anime, it no longer shocks. Dare I ask, what’s the end goal? Centuries and centuries of in-breeding on an island with no multiculturalism in sight? It pains to say but it doesn’t bode well. I’ll continue to watch anime though… just not the incest-laced shite.
I was hoping you could work your magic and convince me to pick this show up, Stilts… So far, all I’m picking up is the vibe that I should be following the Light Novels in order to derive any pleasure from viewing this show, as the adaptation seems to be poor and the world to complicated to explain in anime form. That doesn’t make for an enjoyable. I don’t read Light Novels, so I guess I’m not gonna have any fun here.
This show is killing me with those weekly cliff hanger at the end!
I just want to say that the show is using this discrimination aspect of its story extremely well. They create a school that is said to be the best in the world, yet such a large issue is still not dealt with within its walls. The word weed is forbidden, yet no one gives a damn about using it.
Having a weed patrol the blooms as well as beating the hell out of them is going to be extremely satisfying.
well, we still has this subclasses in our real world. just look to India for example. And Money and poors…
This anime got on my Watch List…
Racism.. i like this topic. And in the end he is Top Notch, of course its all secret stuff
In due time everything will be explained. Both manga and Novel go way in depth into the terms, but I have a feeling they’ll only start going in depth on certain terms and such when we hit that point and time.
There is also a lot of mystery hidden in Tatsuya himself. The self-repair is only part of the entirety of Tatsuya and who he is today.
Also, throw out any gaming terms, cause that won’t help you understand the terms listed better.
I guess being exposed to the material already, (and going over it in my head again after the first time knowing I was way to tired to understand), it’s pretty much lecture time at this point. Which isn’t exactly a good thing for a show, but if you don’t get it the fisrt time, you read it again pretty much. And what makes it worse if you don’t initially understand the terms, it only gets worse.
Probably the best way to interpret magic in this show is to view it as complex math formulas. Sequences are basically a set of formuala used (step by step) to achieve a solution. The solution being the magic invoked. If you note earlier, Eidos is basically what you would assume is atoms of our world and a magic sequence is changing the Eidos into something different.
Interference is actually pretty simple. Don’t know why they used Target Data Rewrite, but interference strength is the amount of strength needed to rewrite the atom or Eidos in this case into something else. The basic concept of how magic works is assuming multiple magical sequences are input onto the same Eidos. Only the strongest Magic sequence will have it’s effect, while all other magic sequences effects will be overwritten. Note that the magic sequences will still be bound to the Eidos. The basic idea is think of a bunch of a bunch of if this occurs, then that will occur. All the if statements are still there, but only one is activated. As such, the more sequences there are, the stronger the sequence needs to be. For example, in our if this, then that, the more specific the if command needs to be the more if statements there are.
As such, interference strength is incredibly important, especially in terms of counter magic. Such as creating strong magic sequences to prevent another caster from invoking their magic sequence or buffering up your own sequence to prevent it from being countered. It’s basically a game of countering another person program.
The most basic method of countering is what you’ve seen in the first episode. Basically, shooting a ball of Psions (which you could say is bascially the electron, or stuff that make up an atom essentially) at the person activation sequence to blow away the sequence away. Though this has short range, this basically why the speed is important.
TL;DR the best way to think about it is a hacking type game, where you destroy your opponents sequences, and block his attacks, and try to deconstruct his program by creating an opening. It’s initially hard at first, but the terms are actually pretty simple to understand other then one or two discrepancies here and there sometimes. In terms of the actual world, they get more into that later, but it’s important to understand how magic works and why people are value process speed over actual knowledge and strength, especially later on.
Also not that it helps, Miyuki actually knows what her love is. Not to mention she actually tends to dote and have a perverted twisted sense of wanting to be the pillar, the hero, and the healer of her brother. Her jealousy tendencies is at most borderline romantic, but much closer to a little sister who wants attention. Most of her tendencies come out more when it comes to getting people to acknowledge her brothers talent. It also doesn’t help if you notice, that despite knowing her feelings are borderline taboo, that Miyuki is quite an emotional person in the first place, which also means prone to jealousy for certain reasons that she herself will need to figure out at some point since there multiple circumstances why her feelings ended . Which makes this a struggle bus since it exactly justify it. Her brother on the other hand, I’m pretty sure only feels a platonic familiar relationship.
I pretty much love the anti-magic combat style, whether it is done by mages themselves or sutitably skilled mundane types, or anything in-between.
There is definitely more to Tatsuya than meets the eye. He seems almost like secret agent planted into the school (by whom? for what purpose?).
Did I just hear Stilts, who absolutely LOVED the infodumps of Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon, comments on Mahouka as “unnecessarily complicated”. That’s a real surprise for me.
I’m still on the bridge about picking this up. Not personally a fan of characters who don’t break a sweat while mopping the floor with his opponents. Let’s see if the succeeding episodes would actually reel me in.
Nyahaha, well it always depends on how it’s done. And to be fair, I found the first four episodes of Kyoukaisen S1 to be confusing the first time I watched them, and it took a lot of effort (much of which I reproduced for all of you here) to wrangle them into a way that made enough sense for me to enjoy it.
What Kyoukaisen did so well was make all that complexity worth it. I don’t know if this show will do that yet, but that’s required to make this kind of story work.
Mostly though, it’s just how they’re explaining things here that seems unnecessarily complicated more so than what they’re talking about. It’s the how, not the what.
Following up on the Kyoukaisen analogy, it may seem that the first few episodes of Mahouka will be just like the first three of Kyoukaisen: it’s there to explain everything you need to know before the plot finally kicks in.
A lot of people expect great things for Mahouka and NGNL after the screw-up that is Mahou Sensou. If Madhouse pulls this off, they may actually get some decent sales from this.
Is it only me that have the feeling that the anime was done entirely (I mean, the 26 or so eps was done like a movie or something) and then they cut it so that it has 25 min? The way it ended was kinda sudden, like the “continue” message wasn’t supposed to be there…
I heard that it’s actually the end of the first volume of the light novel
It could be like knight of Sidonna…
I made a post on animesuki where I listed some of the cuts and what kind of effect I believe they are having. I totally forgot about the monologue on Miyuki’s part though but that’s just cause I was too distracted.
Most of the cut scenes were scenes that would make Tatsuya seem more human. It’s basically him interacting with the ladies & gentlemen of the world. Mayumi & Mari seem to have gotten the worst of it. Hardly any of their interactions with Tatsuya remained in these past 3 episodes and if they were “there” they were significantly shortened. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that this is still in the introductory stage and as such they want to “catch” as many people as possible with the flashy stuff and leaving the interactions for later on.
Also, to add some more regarding Miyuki
Show Spoiler ▼
@erohakase
The funny thing? Slice-of-life anime is big, so apparently we don’t always need flashy things to keep us entertained. Yes, the viewers for a Mahouka are going to be different from a Gochuumon wa Usagi Desuka?, but doesn’t mean the fans here need explosions all the time to keep them interested. Some fun wordplay can be just as good.
Better would be to weave both in seamlessly, though. Can’t always have it all though, I suppose.
@Stilts
I can only assume that like all other adaptions time is the limiting factor. I hear this is supposedly 24(26?) episodes long and therefore will presumably cover volumes 1-7 and most likely skipping most of volume 5 due to it being mainly sidestories(other than perhaps, beach and Election).
Since the first 3 “arcs” of Mahouka are relatively long @ 2 Volumes each they’d probably not want to just adapt 2 of the arcs(or 4 volumes) into 24 episodes as that would probably be a bit too slowpaced. Sure, they’d easily be able to fit all the delicious interaction and probably all the explanations aswell but it would most likely progress too slowly for the avg. viewer. They might’ve been able to do something like taking the first 4 volumes, adapting Volume 5(side stories) and also partly adapting volume 8(backstory) and probably been able to keep a very decent pace & such, especially with the “massive” spoilers they already showed from Volume 8 in the first episode. There was a reason volume 8 was after 6-7 in the novels but that reason is a bit less necessary since they already went ahead and showed what they did in the first episode.
I can only agree on the weaving both seamlessly would be best, but I can’t remember the last time a LN had the “time” to do so.
>They skipped the part where MC went full retarded MAGIC PHYSICS!
Welp, there goes my LN loyalty. Another reason to watch this, gone. Fucking studio/director/producer/writers can’t do it right.
I feel odd that I can’t get into this show. I feel like I have to like it. The LNs have been hyped to no end for a long time now, and I couldn’t get into that. But I figured with the anime it’s going to be a much easier medium to get into things. But I still can’t like it.
The problem is the story pretty much checks all my boxes. Smart protagonist? Check. Magic/Science fusion world? Check. World building? Check. Imouto heroine? Not a loli? Not cliched tsundere? All checks.
I’ll be dropping this very reluctantly and with great pain.
@baubo: “The problem is the story pretty much checks all my boxes.”
If you’re going to drop the anime, but like the general setup, why not give the LN a try – even just the first volume? You might very well enjoy it given your checklist. BTW, of the two, I definitely suggest the LN over the manga.
This is a weird show, i have read the manga so i know what to expect. But i can’t help to get seriously annoyed at the imouto. I don’t hate imouto characters per se, is just that they have to be made in a way that makes them entertaining and funny to watch her conflicting emotions *so far the only imouto that has been done properly is Mikan from To-Love Ru. The others are just tsundere crap*. The imouto from this series, definitely is not funny to watch. She is probably the weakest point in the series.
The other characters are entertaining. And luckily this MC is alright. He is by no means the best character ever. But you enjoy watch him kick ass, because the ones he ends up fighting are annoying assholes that rightfully deserve a beating. If he were fighting likable characters, i would find it really hard to cheer for him. But he’s not so yay! Also for a harem anime, he’s not a wuss. Another plus. I am tired of wuss MC’s
And i don’t know why anime fail to properly convey the feelings manga does. Again with the social class conflict. But in the manga you can actually feel it. In here, you just see it like this. The asshole group and the non asshole group. Few series manage to depict a proper social system. Just because someone is from a higher status than another, doesnt mean everyone on that higher class are assholes.
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