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「九校戦編V」 (Kyuukou Sen Hen V)
“Nine Schools Competition Part V”
An accident, an investigation, a gamble, and a lot of talking.
Now We Have Some Tension
Mari’s Battle Board match was perhaps the most interesting part of the episode, as long as we ignore the fact that Tatsuya is apparently a better paramedic than professional paramedics are. It’s hard, but I’m really trying to ignore that. Really trying here. Give me a minute.
Anywho, it had some action, it had some tension, and they were showing rather than telling when the outside interference messed up Mari or the Seventh High girl who slammed into her. All ending with both of them laid out…finally, we have some tension in this competition!
Assumptions & Guesses Treated As Facts
Let me be blunt: investigations do not work that way. Tatsuya’s analysis led to the (seemingly logical) assumption that someone tampered with Mari’s board from within the water – okay, that makes sense. It dodges the cameras, the guards, etc. That’s an assumption I can get behind. But the rest of them? He immediately leaps from assumption to assumption and treats them like facts. He says it must have been someone other than a human. What if it was a human who bribed the committee? What if the committee is running a betting scheme and needed Mari and Seventh High to go down to make a lot of money? What if some fool hid in the water and got just lucky enough to not get caught? What if they used something mechanical, either to disrupt the water or hide themselves?
There are a hundred possible reasons why things could have happened like they did. That’s why the police don’t jump to right-seeming conclusions and then start arresting people based on that. They look for facts and evidence. This trips across a pet peeve of mine, as typified by many Sherlock Holmes-type characters who analyze things in a split-second and are somehow always right (trope!). What a disservice that does to our world! It ignores the manifold possibilities of reality in favor of treating it like an equation that could be broken down and solved absolutely, often by treating a 51% chance like it’s 100%. I’m sorry, this triggered a pet peeve of mine, but it’s an egregious one to my eyes. Reality is complex and messy, and while Mahouka has spent a lot of time trying to convey that complexity, it all becomes too clean when Tatsuya gets involved. If you’re going to turn this into some kind of mystery anime, do it properly; don’t skip out on all the messy details and expect it to work. That’s just the author pulling things out of his ass by having Tatsuya pull things out of his.
Going For Gold
I heartily approve of their decision to put Miyuki in Mari’s place for the official Mirage Bat competition. It could end up biting them in the asses if they lose both, but I think it’s better to go for the gold than play it safe and risk losing due to insufficient spine. Plus, they know that Tatsuya is there, and he knows how to manipulate deal with his imouto like a pro. She’ll try her best, if nothing else.
Shizuku’s Time To Shine
Shizuku’s preliminary match was interesting for a number of reasons. There was her mention of [her family] offering Tatsuya a job; they actually took the time to explain the magic Shizuku used; they spent enough time on it that I got that thrill of “I hope she wins, but maybe this is setting her up to lose!”. All fairly good. The explanation was still dry as hell, and struck me as clever for this event but potentially useless in real life, because when are you going to be able to keep the distance and relative positions constant in combat? But as a stepping stone it was fine. The main thing lacking was, when they noted that Shizuku/Tatsuya’s Active Air Mine was the exact opposite of Mayumi’s magic. That’s really cool guys, but you never explained what Mayumi’s magic was, so…thanks? It’s the Mahouka anime’s old problem again, of mistakes earlier coming back to poison the effectiveness of events that take place later on.
But what annoyed me the most was that, when Shizuku stepped up to compete, the older girls were talking about finally getting to see Tatsuya’s work. What about Shizuku’s skills? She’s the one actually competing! This is mollified somewhat by what a cooperative situation these games have ended up being – it’s almost a knight/begleiter situation they’ve got going. Yet it still annoyed me that they were focusing on Tatsuya’s engineering skills over Shizuku’s, even though she was the one actually competing. It struck me as one of the (many) annoying double standards (for instance, trope!) that are so common in fiction (and life). One caveat: this could easily have come down to time constraints, if the older girls talked about Shizuku and Tatsuya in the LNs and they just didn’t have time to do both in the anime, since Tatsuya is the more plot-critical character. That would be understandable, though it still rubbed me the wrong way at the time.
Looking Ahead – Looking Back
I said last week that this would probably be the last episode I would cover, and though I considered going up to ep14, when this arc is apparently going to end, I honestly can’t summon up the willpower to get that far. Plus, I pride myself on posting quickly in order to extend an episode’s magic for just a few minutes longer, but when I don’t feel any magic and I’m having to force myself to blog the show every single week, it hurts my professionalism as a blogger. Better to step away than do something badly, I feel.
To clarify, I don’t think the Mahouka source material is bad, though I have a feeling it’s probably too dry for me – exposition and world-building are delicate things, and while I love them when they’re woven organically into a story, reading what amounts to a made-up tech manual isn’t my idea of a good time. I’m a fiddly marketer/liberal arts/writer-type, not a scientist/programmer/engineering-type, so wrapping my head around this world is too much (and too unintuitive of) work for me to enjoy. The anime exacerbates this by not even being a good tech manual, because it’s hard to understand something when they leave gaping sections out. And cutting all the fun character interactions that we saw so seldom, even though they were invariably one of the best parts of the series.
So consider this show dropped from weekly coverage. I finished (most) of a season, and that’s enough for me. Time-willing, I’ll try to return and do an END post after the second cour is finished, but I can’t promise that – I’ll be going on a big overseas vacation right around that time, which may make it difficult enough to finish the other shows I’ll be blogging next season.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – An accident, an investigation, a gamble, Tatsuya having all the answers, and a lot of damn talking. So, business as usual #mahouka 12
Random thoughts:
- I wonder if that sword Leo was playing with can hit things with the middle part? Because otherwise it would be a very weird sword to use. Go to block attacks like you would with a normal sword and oops–there’s a giant section missing in the middle. Hello enemy’s weapon to the FACE!
- Spreadsheets again AHHHHHHH! It’s still the weekend, I don’t want to do work right now NOOOOO!!
- One other reason why Tatsuya may get so much love – all of the other First High boys (except Jyuumonji and Hanzo, barely) are apparently pretty worthless. It seems like every time we get an update, they’ve all lost their matches. Girl power!
- Once last blushing Mari for the road.
- Disclaimer: Please do not post spoilers in the comments. If you want to talk about future events, make sure to both enclose your comment in spoiler tags and identify what the spoiler is about (without spoiling) so other readers know whether to click on it. Also, if I ask any questions in my posts, assume they’re hypothetical unless otherwise noted. Thank you for your understanding.
Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: On the lookout for ideas, Make it worthwhile, Neil Gaiman’s Eight Rules of Writing, and I don’t want you to succeed.
Preview
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Man, while I do think the show isn’t that good, but enjoy the 20 minutes of entertainment it gives me, I’m going to miss your posts more since half the reason I watch the show is to read your post and know what you’re going on about. It’s half the fun of watching this show :/
Well, you did pick up No Game No Life which is my absolute favorite of the season, and that’s enough for me. I’m just hoping you pick up another high caliber show that we can both rave about in the comment section!
The funny thing is, I like the source material so much, but the anime ruin my MKnR experience. The biggest reason I continue watch it, is, just like you, to read Stilts’s post.
*blushes* You all are too kind. Hopefully there’ll be something more fun for all of us to talk about next season : )
As the anime lacks too much information, i’ll just say: That knowledge that Tatsuya demonstrated is it a requirement to be a Yotsuba Guardian, to deal with any kind of situation.
I can’t blame you. The first Tatsuya-affected competitions were actually pretty fun in LN form, where the clever use of magic was complemented by the fun parts how people were reacting to the unexpected results (since Tatsuya was still a mere fill-in). Now these fun parts were either pushed into full Tatsuya-worship overkill or simply skipped. Instead, the pace is killed by having people drone endlessly about how the magic works.
This was the first episode which I had trouble finishing without fast-forward, so I can only assume how it must feel to properly blog it. Too bad.
What remains: The scriptwriter aptly continues to concentrate on all the wrong things: Either those that are so overdone that they’re getting purely annoying (Tatsuya worship, Miyuki pride), or those that no normal viewer really cares about. At the expense of those things which people could actually enjoy: Interpersonal hijinks, “inner monologue” scenes and action.
A shame. Really.
Whoever still enjoys the anime should definitely try the LNs. Chances are high that you will LOVE it.
I don’t know why but I use to like Miyuki now I am on the Shizuku ship! Go figure.
Why not like both or do as I do and like them all. =p
Shizuku does not have romantic feeling for Tatsuya! and…Mayumi is the best girl! hands down
By now you should take anything that comes out of Tats as Word of God [insertLinkhere].
Even the whole conversation between Mari and Mayumi boils down to “Because Tatsuya said so”.
Personally, I’m considering dropping this show and that’s coming from someone who rarely does so, especially after after what, 12 weeks of watching? The premise was interesting, however, the plot continued to bore the hell out of me so I was at least amusing myself with the interaction between the characters, but even that became dry, so I can’t say I’m too interested in watching as Tatsuya’s harem grows while he continues to be better in everything than everyone.
So in my eyes it’s completely understandable that you’re unable to continue blogging this. Thanks for the posts till now and looking forward to seeing your summer shows ^^
Can’t say I blame you for dropping Mahouka Stilts, for everything this show gets right it builds on it by getting three other things wrong. There is simply too much trying to be included word for word from the source material (with even more cut that should not have been) and not enough on making the source material fit the TV mold. No point in repeating past criticism, at this stage we all know just what has failed in this adaptation.
I’ll watch this through to the end as there isn’t much point in dropping it now (not to mention Miyuki’s onii-sama hollering makes for a lovely drinking game), but Mahouka I’d say is definitely deserving to be called the show which has most failed to meet expectations this season. Oh well, onto SAO season 2 and its divisive opinions 😀
The good thing is, now that I don’t have to be coherent enough to write a post afterwards, I can play the onii-sama drinking game with this show too! That can’t possibly end badly, right?
Right?
Is anyone else taking Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei?
Doubt it. I haven’t asked, but nobody is enjoying the anime version any more than I am, so I don’t see who would.
Drinking to the luscious sounds of brotherly love from a devoted sister can never end bad. Unless you black out, then you may have a problem.
Thankfully humanity has been endowed with the wondrous gift known as beer. If a connoisseur of beer still ends up blacking out from excessive consumption of this glorious product then yes, you do have a problem.
Fortunately, I am both a connoisseur of beer and able to handle the odd libation with no trouble. Miyuki’s brocon-ness is no match for my liver, RAR!
Gee Stilts, now I’m browsing TVTropes for another hour again.
Keikaku doori >:D
Aside from the occasional enjoyable Mari (who should be a main cast member) the rest of this has show been boring as hell. I will just go read the novels.
I can’t comment yet on how they (most likely) butchered the source this week since I’m a few episodes behind, but thanks for at least giving the show a shot.
I honestly would not expect anyone to keep chugging out lengthy posts about a show they aren’t really enjoying and I’m certain you’d rather blog shows from the upcoming season you know you’ll enjoy.
Prisma Ilya for starters, obviously. (Well… unless you give it to Takaii since it’s a sequel, lol.)
Noooo way, I’m taking Zwei for sure. Illya-chan is mine!
LN reader here. This episode here marks the entry into the 2nd LN related to Nine Schools Competition arc…and there’s still quite a lot to go..
If the Enrollment Arc reached 7 episodes,
this NSC arc could probably be around 8-9 episodes by my estimates if not much rushing.
*Ep12 here marks the 5th episode for this arc.
On the adaptation basis, yeah, Mahouka suffers from info dump issues and not-so-exciting tones. I guess the target audience was meant to be the LN / manga fans.
Being one of the first Mahouka LN fans, I must say I dropped the anime before Stits did. 🙂 Couldn’t bear to watch it being butchered anymore. Well more like, it got reeeeeally booooring. Though I was looking forward to seeing Tatsuya annihilating those no head dragon guys (That part was kinda scary, if you ask me).
Anyway, Stilts. It’s been fun reading your posts. Really enjoyed them. Looking at your posts, one can’t really tell you weren’t enjoying the anime. I Respect your dedication and professionalism. Well, Good luck with your next coverage.
R.I.P can’t really say I am surprised, overall the show has been pretty dull.
To be honest after reading some of the light novel I think Mahouka been adapted into anime had 2 things going against it, large amount of monologues to explain things and a inexperienced novel author that fell into the Gary-stu main charactor trap.
watching Tatsuya doing his stuff with one hax abilities after another with no obvious glaring weakness
is like watching Medaka from Medaka box doing her stuff, comparing Tatsuya with Kirito isn’t even fair,
at least Kirito is only good when he’s in the game.
Another hax character coming later this anime season would be Esdese from Akame ga kill, she’s like
Medaka aswell, completely perfect at everything, but at least she’s a villain not the main character
One big difference, for me anyway, is that I can actually enjoy the stuff in Medaka Box (of what I saw in the anime adaptations anyway) because it doesn’t try to take itself THAT seriously, also much like how Izayoi in Mondaiji is so OP, but in an enjoyable way because pretty much everything is over the top, and also have other enjoyable characters that breathe more life into the series so it’s clearly not JUST all about Medaka/Izayoi.
With this episode, with the anime adaptation anyway, it’s all become about “Tatsuya, Tatsuya, Tatsuya” and no one else really.
If you’re going to try to make an actual dramatic anime/manga, then having an OP main character, “flaws” or otherwise, is a big risk since, if you do use one, you have to make sure the plot and the other characters are top notch to keep people’s attention and not drone on into repetitiveness. Otherwise, like Mahouka has done (or what Hagure Yuusha did in terms of the anime adaption as well, to me anyway), it will feel like most, if not all the other characters are virtually pointless because the main character will be solving everything somehow, despite whatever “flaws” they may have or things that happen to them), and there would be NO believable, much less enjoyable tension or drama. It would all feel very forced and dry like it is now overall.
Even having OP side characters is a risk, like Hiko in Rurouni Kenshin for example…
From the wiki:
Nobuhiro Watsuki has mentioned in character notes that he is comparable to a Joker in a deck of cards because he is so powerful. As such, he ended up being difficult to include in the story because he could simply solve Kenshin’s problems with little effort, and because finding opponents for him would be difficult without overshadowing Kenshin’s own opponents. Due to this, his only fight in the series is with the giant Fuji, another “Joker” card that defeated Kyoto’s entire police force single handedly, but was not involved in the story in a narrative sense. Thus Hiko does not appear except in flashbacks once the Kyoto arc finishes, though he is featured in the OVA series and Watsuki has stated that he wished he could have used Hiko more often.
…thankfully, Hiko is involved just enough to be cool, noticeable, and giving a good impression of how powerful he is, but not so involved that he steals the spotlight away from Kenshin and the others.
I agree with HalfDemonInuyasha. Medaka Box was enjoyable because it didn’t take itself too seriously and it was interesting to see how someone as overpowered as Medaka could ever be challenged (the answer: really overpowered opponents and putting her friends in the driver’s seat from time-to-time). Izayoi & crew from Mondaiji did something similar, though that was more like Kuuhaku in No Game No Life where it was serious mixed with silly (as opposed to Medaka Box’s seriously silly) and it actually seemed possible that Izayoi or Kuuhaku could lose.
Though Medaka Box did go downhill somewhat after the Anshin’in arc. Hard to beat her & Kumagawa though.
You can get away with overpowered characters when the fun is in seeing monsters clash, like a mahjong match in Saki. (Not really, it’s just that when I think of monsters, I think of Saki. Go figure.) When you try to be too serious, though…it does not work.
So Leo becomes Kamen Rider Den-O.
Dunno if it’s a spoiler…
Show Spoiler ▼
They’ve shown it before….as for naming it or explaining it at all…..nope, not in the anime.
Glad there was a good amount of Shizuku this episode. Other than that. I was pretty bored.
Oh well. At least we still have the light novels.
Well.. it was actually interesting to see how that speed shooting was all about!
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
Don’t you guys wonder what were the officials were thinking when they got here in the scene?
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
This is cheating: she’s not shooting at the targets, she’s playing a magical rhythm game.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
This is stupid: what if the enemy got in between the sword and it’s hilt?
You could use the retraction system of the weapon to place enemies in a stranglehold? I don’t know. A regularly extending weapon would be just fine too. It seems to me like they used that entire scene to settle the concept of Fortification Magic being capable of carrying over without a solid connection, as long as it had connected when the magic was being cast in the first place. It’s most likely just a writing gimmick so that the idea can be re-introduced later. Nevertheless, I am interested in the practical uses of that weapon. Seems a little… Situational.
He can swing through a person to attack someone behind like a hostage situation? He could swing around a blind corner? I forget what this was actually useful for. It does seems much less practical in animated form than I imagined it. It does make sense that Tatsuya just calls it a toy.
Well, it does give good (controllable?) reach without burdening the wielder with excess weight.
Although if that was the plan, I imagine a lighter sword would have been picked, that thing looked massive…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk7xFfB1UsE
It’s not a set distance he can extend/contract it as he would please. And if he got in the middle he could just retract it back and hit the fool that is in the middle of the retreat path. -.-
The only reason why the extendable sword exists, is so that it is considered a “magical weapon” and hence can be used in the NSC.
Yeah, thanks for giving it a chance and not trashing the source material. I found it really interesting that you mentioned the lack of tension this show has had, because Show Spoiler ▼
Unfortunately, the show seems to understand its source material as well as many of its fans do; not very well.
i enjoy more reading comment for this anime what seeing the anime itself,some highlight comment of this episode.
-On this episode of “Tatsuya Shiba Does Everything”…
-I honestly think that I experienced more excitement from waiting for CR to release the 720p version of this episode than from actually watching it.
-Such a boring episode. Almost 0 wincest action too.
-Wow, Tatsuya nearly made it through an entire episode without doing something awesome. Aside from the opening that is.
Well, it’s a shame you’re not blogging this show anymore, but I can definitely understand why. It was nice having a post to look forward to after a usually underwhelming episode, though, but oh well. I’ll try to keep chugging through this though, I don’t like dropping stuff. At least this’ll open up time for more deserving shows in the summer season.
Understandable decision, Stilts, as far as dropping coverage goes.
Active air mine is a brute force, AoE spell that requires the user to have plenty of psions; Mayumi uses a single-target spell that is quick and efficient. Mayumi also has a secondary ability that allows her to be very accurate, going 100/100 without a single extra shot in her attempt.
I think Mari and Mayumi focus on Tatsuya’s engineering because they already know Shizuku’s abilities as a magician(2nd/3rd of the freshmen, along with Honoka), but they’ve only seen glimpses of Tatsuya’s work. His beatdown of Hattori was more about his ninjutsu, they weren’t around for the attack on the terrorists, and the example maintenance he did earlier had boring results.
Thanks for the explanation on Mayumi’s magic.
And that makes sense on Shizuku, it just rubbed me wrong when I heard it. That’s why I added the caveat that it could be because of cuts or something exactly like you said, but sometimes even things done for the best of intentions can strike a reader wrong if they don’t think about it in the same way the author does. ‘Tis always a risk, I’m afraid.
@SK
Yep, the air mine spell wouldn’t really be ideal outside of the competition. It was supposed to be a cheap way of winning by taking advantage of Shizuku’s high psion count. Unlike Mayumi who high-speed sniped everything, Tatsuya basically just took advantage of the rules to stick a magical flytrap taking up the whole scoring zone.
@Stilts
I blame the director. I do feel that things have been picking up slightly for the last 2 episodes, but it’s too little, too late.
So thank you Stilts, for sticking as far as up to and including this episode.
And as for the paramedic thing, Tatsuya is a walking x-ray machine…
Mayumi is a true speed sniper, but Active Air Mine is -BRUTAL- for holding down chokepoints.
RIP in peace Dr. Japanese Atomic Robocop
Seriously, this could’ve been a nice character development episode, still found it really weird how it’s suddenly all focused on this Shizuku girl. Naturally everything is done by Tatsuya, but we’ve been saying that for the past 11 episodes so whatever.
So this is it, huh? I was only still watching this show because you were blogging it, Stilts, so I suppose this is the point where I officially drop it entirely. I already caught myself skipping through parts of the technobabble because I just didn’t care, which I suppose is enough of a sign that I’m not enjoying the show. Did the same thing to M3 last week, and I’m not missing that one either.
Because besides the fact that it’s boring, I had a similar list of complaints about annoying tropes in this show. While I’m not annoyed by awesomeness by analysis as a trope in and of itself (I loved the way Tensai from Nanana did it, for one), I do get annoyed when even a casual viewer can easily poke holes into their methods and outcomes – but of course they’re right anyway! Just feels like lazy writing to me. And of course there was Tatsuya suddenly telling the doctors what to do…what an arrogant jackalope. He’s certainly crossed over my tolerance line with his Gary Stu antics in general, and I’ve got little interest in the ongoing adventures of God-mode Tatsuya and his gaggle of fanboys/girls.
So byyyeee Mahouka, don’t the door hit you on the way out!
I thought this episode was better than most. There was more exposition and character focus.
As for Tatsuya’s diagnoses and deductions, they should’ve explained his “sight” long ago already. There was already previous scenes showing Tatsuya’s concentrating and he suddenly gets 3D X-ray vision of an entire building. It’s much more powerful and in-depth that just X-ray vision, but it gets complicated in jargon that the anime has not explained. Anyway, that’s just one of Tatsuya’s hack powers.
Also, ALL magicians have an innate ability to see spells/magic/psions to differing degrees depending on skill. Tatsuya has demonstrated he is much better at it than most, so no one really doubts his “assumptions”.
I actually agree that this one was better than other episodes. I liked the Battle Board scene (mostly), subbing in Miyuki for Mirage Bat was smart, there was some Mari & Honoka blushing, and the Shizuku stuff was done alright. It’s just that the silly “analysis” assumptions ticked me off and, far more importantly, it’s too little too late. It was a cut above other episodes…but that’s not a high bar to clear. Ah well.
I’ll explain it for you. Given the nature of his innate Magics, Tatsuya is capable of using Elemental Sight, is a Sensory magic that allows users to connect to the Information Dimension. They can then specify the Eidos of their surroundings individually, regardless of distance. Basically Tatsuya analyzed the Eidos of Mari completely, and that information showed which of her bones were fractured.
Simply put, this is a bad adaptation, and for me a very disappointing one as well. MKnR anime never ceases to amaze me in how it can consistently take a story I like and turn into something markedly worse in one way or another. Everything about the anime’s presentation feels flat. Funny scenes are not so funny, dramatic scenes mundane, and action scenes pedantic. Even the piano BMG is overly sedate. I’m amazed at how an anime can make watching action scenes less exciting than reading the original written version. Yet somehow this adaptation manages to accomplish just that.
Frankly, just like the bus crash, I thought Mari’s race lacked tension due to excessive use of close up “stills” and slow motion shots in misguided attempt at “show” which interrupted the natural flow of the scene and killed tension. There is plenty of explanation about what happened later, so why break up the action like that? Portray it in “real time” and have the guts to show them actually hitting the barrier. I honestly find it hard to believe this is the same director as Horizon. Perhaps a minor point, but I had to LOL at how the “weaponized CAD” tested by Leo suddenly doubled in mass between EP 11 and EP 12. Is there any reason for that? Just not “cool” enough unless it’s over-the-top huge?
Since Stilts is dropping the show, I’d like to revisit two important, arguably very important, pieces of plot revelation which the anime either cut out entirely (first spoiler), or significantly and IMO detrimentally watered-down. I’ll put them in spoiler tags in deference to those who still want to read the LN and/or plan to continue watching the anime.
From LN vol 01, chapter 4 (EP 03):
Show Spoiler ▼
From LN vol 03, end of chapter 2 (EP 09):
Show Spoiler ▼
I’m curious as to what difference retaining such material, particularly the first spoiler, would make for anime only viewers. Personally, both had a big impact on me when reading the LN the first time in terms of how I viewed the characters and my level of interest in the overall story. That being said, perhaps it’s a moot point after all. Reinstating two instances of cut/altered material doesn’t mean much when the presentation itself has issues.
For me watching this is “adaptation” is like watching a bad school play. It’s dull, overly abridged, and lacks any character, soul or substance compared to the original work. I get a very strong sense of minimal effort by the adaptation staff since they figure they can simply rely upon the LN’s popularity for BD/DVD sales. Good luck with that. If this is how adaptations for favorite series of mine are going to turn out, I’d rather they pass on the series altogether and do something else. Do it right or don’t do it at all.
I’ve consistently stated that MKnR (LN) is not for everyone due to the level of detail, complexity, and lengthy world building. There is a significant amount of “intellectual exercise” which some will not like though, again, that is not the primary draw for me. But this adaptation is not for anyone. It’s certainly not for anime only viewers, and as an LN reader, I struggle to see how it’s satisfying for people such as myself. Like Stilts, I’ve had enough. Whether I eventually watch the remainder of the series is highly questionable and completely dependent upon my level of boredom and available alternatives to alleviate said boredom. Frankly, the odds of me finishing MKnR anime are low. I’d enjoy the time spent more by re-reading the LN instead.
——————————————————-
@Stilts, you gave it a fair shot and didn’t like. So IMO, time to acknowledge and move on. This isn’t a job where you’re getting paid. Blogging is supposed to be a fun hobby, not some duty bound chore. Hopefully both of us have better luck next season.
Actually, I think the animation staff has done an amazing job. They’ve managed to amplify the weak points of the LNs and eviserate it’s good points. An adaptation that manages to make something that is able to cure the worst insomnia. Articles will be written on how not to adapt source material to anime and use this as the example. 😛
I had exactly the same opinion
LOL
It probably would not change all that much, particularly your first excerpt.
For your first excerpt,
Show Spoiler ▼
Would not change much.
All excerpt one does is reinforce the notion that Miyuki appears to be an idealised, subservient female designed to compliment the protagonist- the reader. unfortunately it doesn’t really make her seem like a better character, it just confirms what can be assumed from the anime.
Tbh, because of excerpts like that I have some doubts that these who did not enjoy the anime would appreciate novels more. It appears that many of the issues raised about the series are present, if not elaborated even more in the novel.
This may be a mistaken observation, as it is based mostly on the excerpts that people post which were omitted from the anime. Am I getting the wrong picture in this regard?
@daikama
Those two excerpts you pasted don’t really change anything. They feel more like a confirmation for what we already suspected rather than a good justification. LN readers kept saying that there’s a good reason for why Miyuki acts the way she does and then I read it and go “OK, Miyuki really likes her brother and she now likes him even more and decides to dedicated herself to him. That’s it?” Why’s everyone treating it as if it’s some super secret special sauce thing that will absolve the work of any criticism thus far? Considering how seriously the work takes itself, I’m surprised it doesn’t take the angle that Miyuki might be mentally ill, but Satou decides to play it up and ignore the implications. This isn’t the first work of its kind to employ this sort of technique and honestly has been done better elsewhere. Krono above has the right idea and I’d like to throw in FMA’s Hawkeye-Mustang relationship as also something to emulate. The problem I have is that we’re told this rather than shown clearly from the beginning. By the time they reveal it to us, it’s too little, too late. Nanana did a better job showing us what the MC is really like there, because it showed it to us early when the piqued interest was freshest in our mind.
I think dropping it is the right decision, there’s no need to force yourself to do something you don’t enjoy.
Good job getting this far!
Just as I was starting to get into the ep, and thinking, “Hey, this is *finally* going somewhere,” we get a 5-minute lecture on Hufflepuff Aerodynamics or whatever the hell it was, and everything just ground to a halt.
Again.
It reminds me of the first couple of episodes of “Lucky Star,” which had atrocious pacing. KyoAni may have screwed the first few eps up, but they were VERY quick with the hook when the fans got angry at the poor direction.
With MKNR the Anime, I feel like I’ve been watching 12 weeks of Konata trying to teach me how to eat a chocolate coronet. A magical chocolate coronet that’s so complicated, I will never comprehend how to eat it properly.
And every time I attempt to eat it anyway, Konata grabs my wrist, stops me, tells me that I’m doing it wrong, and then Miyuki goes on to start a lecture on some other obscure and esoteric facet of the magical chocolate coronet that she forgot to mention the other 11 times I tried to eat it. And she does it in a way that bores and confuses me at the same time. (In spite of looking moe as all hell.)
And I know in my heart of hearts that I will NEVER get to eat the damn thing.
T-that was beautiful. Best comment award goes to s_w. That explains it perfectly *wipes away a tear*
Thanks. I was almost afraid to check the page, because I wasn’t sure if it was going to get downvoted to oblivion or just ignored, but I couldn’t let the last episode go by after that momentum-killing monologue.
Sorry this show didn’t work out for a lot of us. The LN is actually pretty good, but it needed top-notch staff to turn it to an anime that doesn’t suck. I was worried before the season started. As a LN reader, I really wanted this to be good. It isn’t.
I’d recommend that angry anime viewers go take a look at the LNs. Now that you have the background gobbledygook down, it should make for an easier read, and you can see how much got chopped out. And I do mean chopped.
I’m almost as mad as I was when I saw the Chrome-Shelled Regios anime butcher the LNs. Almost.
You completely understand the mind of the anime watcher!
You make an excellent point, and if I might add, this show does have it moments, but sometimes it feels like we just want to understand and watch the story unfold, but then somehow we’re given a lecture instead. It’s hard to describe, but your analogy basically sums it up; we’re hungry and though learning how to eat it is understandable and so forth, we just want to eat the damn food! XD
You, sir/miss, win all the Internets.
Funniest thing I’ve read all day. Give this wo/man some likes…
And with that post,you reached hero status among us anime-only viewers.
Still,there are other factors that could make the “chocolate eating process” more bearable(maybe even enjoyable)…If the characters doing the explaining weren’t so bland then at least it wouldn’t be so damn boring listening to all the info dumbs,even if it wouldn’t completely remove the problem. Alas,Mahouka kinda fail’s at that as well.
To continue having unpopular opinions. Am I the only one that liked that chocolate crochet eating discussion episode? =p
Honestly, since I marathoned most of Lucky Star I never understood what the fuss was about, or even knew there was a fuss until I was done. I don’t remember laughing at the chocolate coronet scene, but I do remember it, and there’s something to be said for that.
At the time, there was a huge stink about it on the interwebs. Everyone got all excited about the anime, and after ep1, there was a lot of rage directed at the poor choco coronet, and the director. (It was weekly, so it was a big deal.)
In the comic, it was a 3-strip gag, but the director decided to drag it out to 10 minutes. It made the show feel more like a moe version of “Seinfeld” rather than a moe otaku gag manga. (Cute Girls Doing Otaku Things.)
When they changed directors, the pacing sped up, the flow of the show improved, viewers were appeased, a lot of DVDs eventually got sold, and everyone was happy again for the most part. (Except the guy who got fired, and people who hate KyoAni anyway.)
In MKNR’s case, it’s pretty much too late to change anything. We’re halfway in, so the die is cast. What you see is what you’re going to get for the rest of the anime.
IMO Lucky Star is one of those true SoL shows where the goal is not to leave memorable moments that stick in the mind, but to provide a nice little weekly dose of lighthearted and cute comings and goings. Much like its successor Acchi Kocchi the focus is on nostalgia and quirky humour rather than story, it’s why when you try to dig into it the whole thing appears overly shallow; the fan-directed anger is just funny in the end (at least to me), what did people seriously expect was going to happen in a show based off of what we would consider to be a Saturday morning comic strip?
Quite similar to GJ-bu, Seitokai no Ichizon, or any other of the vast array of slapstick comedy series we get that have often have their origins in small and simple works. You’re either going to love them for what they are, or absolutely hate their decentralized nature and lack of binding story 😛
This comment is so full of win.
I’ve heard that later volumes portray the Chinese in a negative light. Is this true?
@zztop
You asked the same question on the AnimeSuki forums and naturally the fanboys there will say no, so to IceHism and the rest of the Mahouka defense force, it’s not the just Chinese; anyone not allied with Tatsuya is portrayed as one dimensional bad guys, who are bad just because. The Chinese probably has it worse because it involves them indulging in other heinous, heinous crimes. One rationalization is that “it’s war, shit happens,” which doesn’t mean anything because some of the things that happen in war are still considered crimes against humanity and are dealt with as such. They are portrayed as barbaric and some of the Chinese residing in Japan are met with gross suspicion.
@Solace: Thanks for the explanation! I’ve heard of the loyal Animesuki fanbase, so I’m asking around here to get a more unbiased opinion of what happens.
It’s very simple actually. The Mahouka world is in a Cold War, and the WMDs are the relatively recent discovery of Magicians. Yes, magicians are considered as weapons.
@Ptolemaios00: So this means Japan’s magic schools are like training centres for magicians to become deadly soldiers?
The schools are like weapons factories, and the students are the bombs manufactured there?
@zztop
I always saw it that way considering mages are considered invaluable military assets in the Mahoukaverse. It makes sense to churn out a lot of them during their magical Cold War. It’s honestly not too different from military school, but military schools are run by the government. I’m not sure who runs the magic high schools. I don’t think they ever showed us the administration (principal/headmaster/staff/etc.)
The LiSA OP was one of the anime’s few saving graces.
Mahouka’s author said in an earlier interview that he might end the novels around vol 20-25, depending on whether his publishers will let him or not.
Or he may just go on until Tatsuya’s final year in high school.
And that’s why I’m not fond of publishers. They can tell him to just keep going with a story he wants to end? Ugh…
Dull, uninspiring and just tedious is what this adaption is. Though you can’t even call it an adaption, it is a simplification of the stuff that’s in the light novels.
I really don’t blame you for dropping this Stilts. I’m actually sorry you stuck with it a while longer after you were thinking of dropping it.
What really sucks is the people who watch this and then dismiss the light novel because of how terrible this show is. It is good and fun to read. Yet I bet a ton of people will overlook it thanks to this.
I’m hoping they don’t screw up Zwei for you. You kind of need a great show next season to balance out this car wreck.
Just watching through that section now. I have to admit, that’s annoying (not that I doubted you, just… man it bugs me too). Individually the hypotheses Tatsuya comes up with aren’t bad: each one makes sense in and of itself as a possible explanation for why things happened the way they did. But simply arbitrarily deciding that each one is right and moving on using that decision as a basis for further conclusions is terrible investigating procedure, and is something most people in this situations should know better than to do.
I know, right? He started off alright, but then it was just assumption piled on top of assumption. I’d love for the story to end up going “LAWL no, it was just some jackass in a scuba suit who paid off the officials. Suck it, clever boy!” But of course, there’s no way that will happen.
The problem is I would assume the anime left out a bit of information that spirit magic is actually used pretty extensively in China, and who are the villains of this arc? A China based crime syndicate, which Tatsuya knows. So the idea that it was a spirit that did it was a very reasonable conclusion for Tatsuya to make there.
I know this series is worse than Horizon in a sense but I have no idea why I’m still watching this show after all those weeks…
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei/Mahouka%20Koukou%20no%20Rettousei%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2021.jpg
…Maybe it’s becuse of all those cute faces?
Or is it the Magitek(Trope!) being involved…
off-topic: Is it just me or is there are more ppl from AnimeSuki forums here than usual…
@imfo600 probably because the AS Mahouka section is full of fanboys who will whine, cry and call you a spoilsport the second you raise any kind of criticism against their precious show. They will tell you that you are dumb and have no business complaining when you should be discussing all those relevant plot points that were revealed.
Then, when the critics are silenced, they start to instead bitch about users on other sites- so much for those precious plot points. But you, evil critic, are the toxic one xD
Stilts, while I’m sad you won’t continue to blog this- your posts and reading the relatively sane discussion here were one of the few things that made this adaption bearable. But I can absolutely understand why you wouldn’t want to continue.
With a show that a already so tedious and almost insulting to watch, I can only imagine what it’s like having to prepare a timely post for it every week. Onwards and upwards 🙂
Leo’s sword; Tatsuya develop it just on a whim, and said it is a toy that had no market (because only someone like Leo would be able to use it, and the reason of course not available in the anime). He had no intention to develop it as a weapon. Ah, and also, in general, magician in MKnR world use GUN as a weapon, not sword.
You share the same opinion with Suzune. And, Mari, she doesn’t agree with you with some reason. Of course, Madhouse think this all is not important and just cut out from the anime.
The previous episode should be where you learn of how great Mayumi, the ‘Snipper Elven’ is, as the world top 10 magician in long range precision magic. Of course Madhouse cut 2/3 of her scene because the third most important character in the LN is not important at all in the anime. Not to mention, they change her character as well.
Yeah, this much explaining talk run the show dry. So long explaining for 10 secs of the anime. Do they have Budget problems that big, that they use more the voice and nearly no movement to fill this space? The Anime is playing in the Future, you dont need to explain the Magic around it, that accurate for us in today.
Thanks for all your hard work up until now Stilts! I enjoyed your weekly blogs on this show.
I do really hope you get back and do an END post when it’s all over. There’s a few signs of it now, but the story does take a quite interesting turn.
With this episode,I only listened to info dumps enough to understand what happened and will do so from now on. Screw the details! They’re not worth listening to.
So Shizuku spammed the trigger on her Tatsuya-tuned CAD to cause some kind of box that would easily take down her targets. Oh and it’s apparently the opposite of Mari’s magic. I get it,and mostly everyone does. Paying attention to all these technical details doesn’t FEEL REWARDING,so I don’t see why should I,or anyone who doesn’t find them enjoyable,should pay attention to them. Doing something that’s not enjoyable in order to enjoy the show more would work if the overall enjoyment gained would be worthwhile,which in this case,it’s not. And that’s a big problem here too because the info dumps in this show take away from the potential excitement of the action scenes. Some series somehow manage to dump info during action scenes in such a way that it makes them even more interesting. Once again,the characters doing the explaining probably play a big part in this.
The mention of Death Note was a good one last week Stilts. That’s probably one of the better examples of an anime where paying attention to all the details truly feel’s rewarding,not to mention that the process of doing it isn’t boring to begin with.
Totally understand why you’re dropping it, but I’m going to miss all these detailed posts you put out for the show every week. I’ve been contemplating on dropping it as well, but since I’m the type to finish everything I’ve started, I might as well stay for the whole ride.
The never said that anyone tampered with Mari’s board the said that someone interfered with the water surface.
He spent hours analyzing the footage and has been an eye witness. He properly thought through this. And he didn’t suddenly said it wasn’t a human. There is a huge beforehand explanation why he eliminated the possibility of it being a human caster in the vicinity.
The more people that know about the conspiracy the more likely it is that it’s going to be leaked out. So the people involved would be the committee and the judges and the counter magic specialist that are hired to prevent the interference from other parties. Not to mention a metric ton of video surveillance. There is no way everyone could be in on it and allow a human close proximity interference from affecting the game without it leaking out.
The competition is held in a military facility under military protection. Do you honestly think that someone or something could get into the water unnoticed, stay there and then leave/dissapear without any trace? lololololol
They mentioned this in LN and in the anime. Because it’s a set distance she doesn’t need to do anything fancy and just detonate predetermined coordinates. It doesn’t matter that a real life application of this spell would be harder to pull of. He just made it up for Shizuku so she can maximize her potential.
Now as mentioned in LN Mari did discuss the possibility of a practical application of the spell that wasn’t mentioned in the anime. (read the LN if interested)
This episode unlike the previous one took time to explain things, how certain magics worked and strategies behind them. If this was a 3 cour show (The minimum amount that they should have gone with imo) I am sure a lot of the episodes could have been far more enjoyable and made more sense. -.-
I’ll miss the weekly Mahouka posts because this was the easiest place to go to to observe and see and sometimes jump into discussions. Your post Stilts were just a jumping board for most peoples discussions. I don’t read this blog for the blog posts I read them as always for the comments. I won’t miss your post Stilts as for a while it could have been seen that you weren’t really trying and your post were just big apologies and justifications for you to drop the show.
You are overly concerned what the commentators think and are a bit of a attention whore (lol slut-bashing), you readily respond to comments filled with praise for you and that one time that you were criticized (although he was really rude and could have done it better) you told the person if he doesn’t like your content he doesn’t need to see it. Instead of thinking that there could be some even little amount of truth. I’m disappointed frankly. I’ve always liked you and your style and your post but this blogging series brought to light a part of you that I don’t really find admirable.
I am completely fine with you dropping it, if you don’t like it and you are forcing yourself do so. But don’t apologize so much. It’s your choice and there is not a thing that anyone can do to stop ya. =p
Big picture, your first point doesn’t really make a difference. Your second point doesn’t address the key issue, which is that we are shown no proof for his assumptions. Your third point is another assumption; just because you say that a big conspiracy would be impossible to keep under wraps, doesn’t make it true. It seems reasonable enough, but I wouldn’t treat something like that as unassailable fact, because it’s not.
Frankly, that guy with the criticism was extremely condescending and seemed to get off on being a contrarian who revels in his own “good taste”, while bemoaning the wasteland the anime landscape is becoming and how everything made now is shallow, mindless, and sucks. I understand some people enjoy reading stuff just to bitch about it, but I agree with Stilts’ view; if all you’re gonna do is complain, take it somewhere else.
There’s a difference between constructive criticism and bitching. Stilts will bring up other works as a reference or a comparison; if you have an issue with that, then you should probably find someone else to follow, since that’s more of a stylistic issue than an objective flaw in his blogging. If you think that a particular comparison is flawed, I don’t think he would have an issue debating that point. However, if you just don’t like the show he’s comparing with and proceed to make ad hominem attacks on both Stilts and other viewers who enjoyed the show, you’re just being a dick.
@Zirthiel
Ahhh, but you’re incorrect, because I have no intention of telling you to go away! And no, not just to prove you wrong. (Well, mostly not.) While I think you too take “probably not” to mean “absolutely not” – I don’t necessarily think my other examples were likely, because the anime hasn’t explained the magic system enough for me to have a clue what is possible or not – it was how he tacked assumption onto assumption on top of one another and treated them like facts that rubbed me the wrong way. But once again, it could be that, with more knowledge about the world, all of those assumptions would have gone from “that’s maybe 60% probably right” to “this is ~95% the answer”, in which case it would be more understandable to make assumptions. (Though you still have to respect the unlikely possibility, see: Spain, 2014 World Cup.) I just don’t know that because the anime hasn;t explained it well.
As for me not trying the past few posts, the whole reason I’m dropping it is because I haven’t felt like I could give it my best anymore. It’s not that I wasn’t trying – if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to put out a post at all. But I knew the quality was slipping, and though I gave the show as much of a chance as I could stomach, it didn’t get better, so off it goes.
You’re free (actually, encouraged!) to come here primarily or even only for the comments. You’re also free to think whatever you like of me. I will say that I’ve been criticized MUCH more than a single time in a single Mahouka post, and it really doesn’t bother me. When somebody attacks me or one of the other writers personally, I do take affront. Personal attacks aren’t necessary, and there’s no reason to put up with them. Just because we’re posting things publicly doesn’t mean we become punching bags, though the things we say certainly do.
And yeah, I’m a bit of an attention whore. So what? I like talking to commenters! Unlike other writing I do, I treat blogging here entirely as a conversation, so the more people I get to talk to, the more fun I’m having. (Though I was lurker here before I was a writer, so I try to include as much as I can in my post for those who will only read that.) Plus I find that people who put work out into the public sphere get faaaaar less compliments than people realize, so I like to encourage the people who take the time to give a kind word by thanking them and letting them know it’s appreciated. I think that’s polite, and yeah, it feels nice too.
As for not apologizing, good point. I wanted to give plenty of heads up on dropping the show so people weren’t surprised, but it’s not like I had anything to apologize for in that. Old bad habit of mine – I’ll try to avoid that in the future.
That’s why I’d actually like for you to keep commenting, by the way. You may have gotten a little personal, but unlike some other people who I’ve asked to go away, your points weren’t terrible and your criticism was mostly constructive. I like to see that just as much as a compliment. So thank you kindly for your comment *bows*
@SK
True it doesn’t make a difference as far as the result of anime goes but it is a indicator that Stilts is forcing himself and not being as accurate as he usually is. =p
The key issue is that Stilts said he was making huge assumptions while I consider them to be a result of Tatsuya going through various possibilities and coming up with the most plausible answer he could come up with.
But after Stilts said that anime didn’t explain enough of the magic system so that he would know that he wasn’t making huge assumptions I must agree with him. I’ve read the novels and know stuff that wasn’t mentioned so far and stuff that the anime didn’t even have a chance to touch upon because we are at this point in time. It’s definitely understandable why he would feel that way. I feel dumb for not considering the matter from his point of view. -.-
Also the reason there is no proof about the water dipping method is because the alleged method used wouldn’t leave any traces behind itself. Also they were unable to obtain another possible set of proofs because of something that LN touched upon but the anime won’t have time to address.
True. It’s not impossible, it is just very unlikely. I shouldn’t have said impossible because huge conspiracies have happened in the past that have only been uncovered decades later. There are probably a lot of those that remain undiscovered in the world. You are completely correct on that point. However arrogant as it may be I’ll stick to saying that it’s highly unlikely that something like that could have happened in that particular setting. It being a public and a highly exposed event.
I’d agree that the person in question pretty bad mannered but I’ve thought that his argument had a head and a tail. It was structured. It was condescending but aren’t you as well just being condescending to him by slapping a bad guy label on him? He could have been so much more polite about it but I felt that he wrote his genuine feeling and I don’t want anyone’s feelings however unpopular or “contrarian” they may be get shunned just because he left that impression on people. I could be wrong on his motivation but that is how I think about that matter.
I’m very sorry but I just don’t understand this part of your post. I’m not sure what you are referring to. Could you please elaborate? I’ve reread this a couple of times but I just can’t wrap my head around it. =P
@Stilts
You totally have a point and as I have mentioned earlier I totally didn’t consider how much an anime viewer would be in the dark about that stuff. I’ve used knowledge from all the novels to asses Tatsuyas assumptions while an anime viewer doesn’t know even half as much. When I read your response here I just looked through the window and I could just hear that anime thing when a character is contemplating about something and that ding sound while he finally realizes something.
When I did consider it from your point of view your complaints are perfectly understandable. I apologize for my thoughtlessness.
Huh to be frank as I have no experience with being so public figure as you are and I was unaware that you have been criticized so much. Sorry for being totally ignorant of that fact. It seems that I’ve stumble upon just another instance of something that you have dealt with in the past repeatedly and took your response of of context considering your circumstances.
When I called you lazy I was entirely aware that you were not motivated at all in writing these posts but you were still putting in a lot of effort. What I really should have addressed is the quality drop as you have mentioned. I just got unreasonably annoyed at the quality drop while I knew you were trying to do it best as possible so I called that being lazy which was a easy way for me to complain at the spur of the moment I was writing my post. Because I hold you to a great standard and I felt annoyed that you are not meeting your usual level and overdid it in my response.
I’ve felt quite silly after reading your very considerate post and thinking about it.
When I was talking about that I was actually complaining about the fact that since there will not be any Mahouka posts I won’t be able to easily ascertain and read what other people have said about and thought about of the ensuing episodes. Sorry about my bitchiness there. -.-
I usually don’t mind people that seek attention and would never think anything of it. I guess that I was just distressed by the difference in treating that one critique and all the positive comments that you got. It as you say rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t know that positive comments are so rare and criticism more prevalent. With that in mind I think my reaction was out of proportion. =p
Yes I also think it’s polite thing to do. =)
The apologizing for 3 consecutive posts must have been the biggest offender to me. Stop being such a Tsundere about it. Or reverse-Tsundere… whatever. =p
Being polite and having a big heart despite the negativity aimed at you. Mixing a bit of embarrassing truth in your first sentence. Mixing reprimands with praise at your closing statement. Inducing convoluted feelings. Killing with kindness.
Stilts-sama are you maybe a romance anime male lead by any chance? I think with this combination you would make females fall head over heel for you. xD
Woops accidentally hit the post button instead of the preview one. -.-
Please my post a little below this one.
@ Zirthiel
If only I was anything like that smooth in real life, I’d have all the anime grrlz! (Wait, anime girls aren’t real…eh, you know what I mean.) Alas, it’s more of a Herp de Derp situation when I can’t write things out, Orz
I’m totally going to add that description to my storytelling notes though. It’s kind of brilliant. It’s like the perfect male anime lead…well, the perfect one who isn’t named the Io (Acchi Kocchi), nyahaha!
Absolutely no tension at all…
And the magical explanations…
2deep4me.
Why do we need to hear those?
And yeah…AIMBOT, there is no need to compete when you just stand there and just push the fire button randomly and still hit the targets with 100% accuracy.
I am an LN reader, so I understand there was more time and thought put into his reasoning; going purely by the anime, however, makes the leaps somewhat shaky. Seems like we’ve come to an agreement on this point.
You’re right, I probably shouldn’t be slapping labels on someone else. That stems from a pet peeve and a bad habit of mine; I really don’t like the crowd who thinks only the stuff they like has any real substance, and look down on anyone who enjoys what they consider garbage. Don’t try to shove your opinion down my throat, that’s liable to make me agree with you less, on principle. I don’t care if you (not you specifically, anyone in general) disagree with my choices; I have no problem arguing over the de/merits of a particular show, or agreeing to disagree. I just don’t like being called an idiot (or something similar) simply over my anime preferences. If someone starts to get into personal attacks, I will respond in kind (bad habit). Keep things civil and intelligent, and I will generally do the same.
That last part was a little unorganized, so let me try again. I’m basing this example on something from that critical post.
1) If someone has an issue with a stylistic choice, such as Stilts comparing/contrasting with other shows, then they should probably find someone else to read. There isn’t really anything to improve upon there, it comes down to a matter of taste. Some people like his comparisons, others don’t; if this outweighs whatever they like about his posts, then they’re probably better off finding another blogger whose style doesn’t irk them.
2) If someone disagrees with a particular comparison, that encourages discussion and debate. This is a good thing, as it allows people to consider things from a different angle. It could also improve future blog posts, if the new way of thinking provides a flash of insight that Stilts may have otherwise missed. He will often engage in discussion with people who find his analysis flawed for one reason or another, and this usually concludes in a civil manner, whether they end up agreeing or not.
3) If someone doesn’t like the show he’s using as a comparison, that is also fine. Complaining about his choices isn’t likely to do much good since it’s really up to him anyway, but I don’t have an issue with someone voicing a complaint about comparing with [Show X] too often.
What isn’t fine, however, is proceeding to personal attacks based on his choice, whether it’s directed at him in particular or to the general audience who watched and enjoyed [Show X]. Once someone reaches that point, they’ve gone well beyond constructive criticism and aren’t contributing to the discussion. Even if they made a good point earlier, once a debate gets personal, everything tends to get thrown out the window. This is what I believe the other comment did, and this is why I have no problem with Stilts telling that person to take it elsewhere.
This was meant as a reply to Zirthiel above…
1) True. There is nothing anyone can do here if there is stylistic dissonance.
2) Very true. I often times have opinions on things that get changed when I see it from an another point of view. This is true in every life situation.
3) True. Everybody is free to voice their opinion. =)
True, that course of action is a reasonable response. It’s just that people sometimes get hotheaded and say things that they wouldn’t have said if not under a spur of emotions. Now if someone would insult me I would try to make a conscious effort to maybe calm them down and see if the conversation is salvageable or not. For me the conversation is only over if I can’t or it wasn’t possible to bring the other person to a more stable mind state. If I can’t do that only then the conversation truly ends for me. But that’s just might be me. =P
While I’m nodding in a total approval after going poker face at Tatsuya’s deductions, I feel compelled to remark that Tensai from Nanana Something is excused out of the trope because she’s too adorable. Ok I’m a double standard bad person, I know it ┐(￣ー￣)┌
On a different note, like the vast majority here I’ll miss your posts Stilts, they have been a great entertainment, professional till the end and … sorry man I laughed while reading “It’s hard, but I’m really trying to ignore that. Really trying here. Give me a minute.” but don’t get me wrong, it was because I pictured a very skilled writer freezing in front of the keyboard while thinking “how the hell do I make a good post out of THIS stuff?”. Well, you did it, anyway.
See you in the final ep of NGNL!
No joke, I did pause there. I was trying to praise it, the scene wasn’t bad, and then I remembered that and I was like “…siiiiigh. Okay, I can do this. Keep going self, you got this.”
Apparently it makes sense in context, just not anime-only context. For that…siiiiiiiigh.
I’m amazed you held out this long.
The problem with this show isn’t that the adaption is bad. No, the source material is bad. Don’t listen to any of the fanboys who defend this show like it’s their religion, because Mahouka is just plain BAAAAAAAAD. The adaption is also bad, because honestly what was Madhouse to do with a series as awfully written as this?
Mahouka is many things, but the best way to put it is “every terrible thing about LN’s poured into one horrid concoction”: Gary Stu MC. Blatant wish-fulfillment. Extremely egregious infodumping and worldbuilding that is both completely pointless and delivered with the subtlety of a flaming sledgehammer. The (un)holy trifecta of LN’s. Most “excel” in only one or two of these categories. Mahouka has ALL three in some amazingly terrible mixture. Mix in abhorrent politics with jingoism and racism for even more terribleness!
I like to believe that this series is actually a giant parody of LN’s, because my brain automatically refuses to accept that this was written seriously. It’s just too painful knowing that something this awful got published and popular.
Gary Stu MC – I don’t think this as a automatically bad thing. If the work is enjoyable and entertaining read even if you can make the argument that the MC is OP it doesn’t matter in the big picture.
Blatant wish-fulfillment – I really don’t understand people that find this objectionable. As long as the actual work is good/entertaining/enjoyable (I think it is) it is irrelevant if it’s true or not. Every literature work is wish fulfillment of some kind.
Extremely egregious infodumping and worldbuilding that is both completely pointless and delivered with the subtlety of a flaming sledgehammer – Your opinion I guess. The only problem I have with infodumps in Mahouka is that they maybe too many of them =p
Mix in abhorrent politics with jingoism and racism for even more terribleness! – I don’t really see this as you do. Can you give examples of what you find to be objectionable? I’d like to know.
It seems that you are going through a lot of pain/suffering because of this work. I kinda understand how ya feel because SAO exists and is popular and I will never ever understand why people like it so much. xD
@Agni
My comment is directed to Agni but I failed posting it as a reply. I’m a big baka!
@Zirthiel
At the risk of repeating every criticism leveraged toward this show and the source material from before the adaptation was even announced… at first glance, it’s not that the individual elements are flawed, it’s when they’re mixed into this perfect storm of terribly executed writing that ALL the possible flaws that can possibly come from hose elements became reality. It’s like everything we learned in the past millennia about literature just did not occur to Satou. A real Murphy’s Law in clear display.
You might be wondering at this point, “why are some people so peeved and pissed at Mahouka?” I once said before that I don’t gush at potential, but I sure as hell get angry at wasted potential. There is no doubt, this series has most of the elements that I look forward to in a grand sci-fi work. It’s a “real-world exploration of a fictional problem” that I absolutely love seeing stories explore. The what-ifs. Deus Ex asked, “what if humans decided to replace body parts and/or augment themselves?” Mass Effect asked, “what if humans discovered the means of faster-than-light travel from an alien source?” NieR asked, “what if humanity was infected by some otherworldly disease and was forcefully introduced to pact magic?” The difference is, however, Mahouka poses questions but doesn’t answer them fully or in a believable manner. There is no pathos, no reason to care for characters or their plights and tribulations. Developments are more about showing how amazingly good at everything Tatsuya is and how beautiful Miyuki is and less about the stuff it should be focusing on (which all the works I mentioned above actually do). Satou merely tells you things and expects you to feel based on that, but funny thing is, most of the things he babbles on and on about doesn’t matter in the long run (remember the discrimination arc? “Wow, that was fucking nothing”). Like those endless magic explanations, which leads me into the next paragraph.
I like using FMA as an example of such a type of work done right. Society gets taught alchemy and had two paths, they weaponized it and, at the same time, harnessed it for more positive endeavors. There were infodumps on how alchemy worked but it set clearly defined rules for itself: (1) composition/destruction/reconstruction, (2) human transmutation is forbidden, for good reason, (3) equivalent exchange. Everything that happens (happens, meaning not talked about, aka shown, not told) in the series refers back to this. There are exceptions to the rules set above (the philosopher’s stone and seeing Truth, homunculi), but for the most part, when people do things, they don’t need 10 minute explanations on what’s happening because everything has been defined and you’re already acquainted with what people can do. Magic in Mahouka is a bit tricky because it seems extremely malleable, which is not too different from alchemy in that sense, like computer software. What you can do in a computing environment is defined by the software, but there are A LOT of exceptions that overshadows or circumvents whatever Satou wrote about in past explanations. There are also innate abilities and mind magic which throw a wrench into the gears. Now there is supernatural shit like spirits and ancient magic and interdimensional vampire demons summoned via micro black holes. Logical my ass.
If you’re going to such lengths to explain these sorts of concepts, you better use all of them when solving conflicts and please stop constantly introducing new things over expanding on old ones, otherwise leave all of them in the glossary.
Oh and about the jingoism/nationalism/racism stuff… You can find that stuff in the link below. Nowhere near comprehensive but I’m sure you can connect dots with what you know. AnimeSuki forums also banned discussions about nationalism in Mahouka, so… yeah.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4227069&highlight=#4227069
I don’t know, while there were it’s dry moments, I feel like I’m the only one who’s still enjoying Mahouka right now. Not sure if I have weird taste or I’m very forgiving on anime… 😛
Don’t worry a lot of people are still enjoying Mahouka. For diverse amount of reasons. =)
Im impressed that stilts was able to hold out this long.
As for me (an aspiring pilot), watching Mahouka is forcing me back to Air Law class, except instead of an old ugly male teacher giving the boring lecture, I get to watch cute moe girls do it.
Seriously, no matter how moe the girls are, explaining a Law is Boring as HELL! Even putting in Mio from K-On (my favorite moe girl) can save this dictionary of an anime.
Am I really one of the few people that is enjoying this show? I’m loving Tatsuya and his OP skillz.
Regarding the detective part, who gives a fuck. It’s about Tatsuya and his sister being bad-ass and better than anyone else. Besides, it’s not like detectives don’t use assumption during their investigation. Sometimes it’s the only thing they have going for them.
To be fair, the source material itself isn’t really that interesting and is overrated.
Ep 18:
Looks like this Anime here, will be a Hidden Dragon… It is entertaining me so far. Even if this “We must be Nr 1” Tournament, took long. But looks like the real fun, is about to begin
The Persons that can give contra to our OP Tatsuya are about to appear
Ep 19:
Like i told, with Ep 19 a new Arc begins. Now looks like School things lie behind, and now Power Company’s swap in.
But again, our “Guardian” is still the God like Guy. Everyone wants his Brain
oh, i forgotten. Yes, they still talk allot and try to explain how the World works around them. Even if i dont get the Gist…
Ep 20:
You know, first there where the Seeds and the Bloom, then racist line that ended in a Attack on the School
then we got the “To be on Top” no losing allowed, because we are High Above Tournament
and now we get Protect our Magic Secrets at all costs, even if your need to Kill
Well, the curiosity that got me at the begging. Well i somehow losing it on the Way now
The Path is somehow not the same like in the Beginning. Spy’s, Deaths and Military Secrets… is it really a School theme path?
Not for me
for me this Anime is about to forgotten their Roots as School, It all circle around the MC Past, involving now the entire School…
What next? The MC will save the World for big bad Magic Aliens?
This show is about to losing its feet from the ground, and begin to fly away…
Ep 21:
It took them 21 Episodes to find out, that there are some side chars, that could need attention. Well anyway. This Episode was not our God Like Hero on focus, this time it was the Side Chars time to get a bit of the Sunlight.
Even if i know, that our God like MC is an 1 Men Army. This is interesting. other Chars want to rise in the important ladder
Ep 22:
Well, the gist of this Episode was more Spy games, and some Melee fights. But in the end, there where no deaths, like you would expect of this kind of Spy games
Just some “memory deletion”
So, definitely this Anime left the School grounds, and is now home on Spy plays
Ep 23:
At last this Anime end with a Big Bang. If you still watching it, then it seems our will to watch to the end, begin to pay off. A Big Finale is about to rise
And looks like, our One Men Army God Like Oni-sama, get a little Help from the others. They put a little bit his Foots on the ground, well not the full foot. Just the toes, but he looks like he gain a bit Human
If you watched it and lose in the middle, and want a Big bang to end it all? Start watching Ep 23 and Ep 24. I think you will enjoy it
Ep 24:
Like i told, they released all Safety belts and have no Mercy with the Enemy’s. This Episode was action packed. And we still have Episode to go
As i said, if you want to enjoy this Show end with a Bang. Watch from Episode 23, and turn of the Reason section of your Brain. And enjoy this ride
EP 26:
Yes, as i told you. This Shows ended with a Big Bang. It not failed me in my expectations in this Big End. Fights where Peoples die, not just knocked unconscious.
But this Counter Attack at the end, they should had done this when they enter Japan/Nippon Boarders or begin to force a Sea Blockade. But then, this was a Critical Warning Shoot, how mighty the “week” Enemy really is.
Power Plays in Military terms
In Animes, i dont mind. But in RL, if USA would use these kind of Power Plays or Russia. The world would be in a instant in WW3 with Atomic Bombs on his best
But as i said, this is (lucky) Anime Fiction
Short Story:
Mahou ended with a Big worthy Bang!… If you want to enjoy it yourself:
Ep 23 is the foreplay, the Action begins with Ep 24. Enjoy!!
oh yes, an important little Detail. Our God Like Hero. His best Spell (spoiler protection) comes with a heavy Price. There you have it, they made him a Bit Human
When the Body get “repaired”, what happen with the “mind” damage? You cannot undo the mental stress of hurting and worse
not to spoil to much here