Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei

How did this series get left behind?

Anime adaptation recently announced. (Original source)

Prepare your bodies for this.

Cool I do really like this series and I had been wondering if it would get an anime any time soon.

Really? The novels are terrible.

Most of the book is narrated exposition. The characters are honestly pretty dull and the narrative is below average.

But okay, before I launch into a rant on everything bad about the series I will admit that a good adaption could fix nearly all the problems.

Cutting all that unspoken exposition, stepping up the pace of events, maybe adding in establishing character moments, not to mention taking the effort of visualising bogged down scenes off of us.

And it's being done by Mad House, which is good.

I think Hagure Yuusha No Estetica did this kind of overpowered protagonist better though, even if logically I appreciate this guy's backstory and personality better.

This is one of those things that is bad, I know it's bad, and yet I'm inexplicably amused by it anyway. It could definitely be saved by a good adaptation, but "saved" means "above average" here.

Perhaps I should have said that I enjoy the manga as I haven't read the light novels (I don't read light novels unless they get an official English Language release).

And I haven't read the manga, so I'll reserve judgement on that.

The Light Novels are presumably what they'll be adapting from though.

What's good about it? Adding Ore Imo to 110%-generic premise doesn't make it any better.

Personally I like the characters and the magic system. The manga only has 21 chapters translated but I like the plot reasonably well so far. I don't know anything about Ore Imo so I won't comment on that but I have never been a believer in Generic=Bad.

I have never read a manga or watched an anime that I didn't enjoy to some extent though so take of that what you will.

As amusing as I find this I don't actually consider it accurate.◊

Which is beside the point. Considering the thought put into the magic system this is less generic than Hagure Yuusha No Estetica.

But, it's all in the execution.

Sure I think the execution is bad, but I'm at least willing to point out where it went wrong.

This just in: the OP will be performed by LiSA.

Source: The official twitter @mahouka_anime

So hyped. I'm a pretty big LiSA fan, and I kinda like the massive infodump that is the novels (though I'd prefer if they cut the unimportant bits of exposition out in the anime).

edited 3rd Jan '14 8:13:30 PM by HanabiraKage

The title of the anime's OP will be "Rising Hope", composed by Tabuchi Tomoya (bassist of UNISON SQUARE GARDEN) and co-written by both him and LiSA herself.

edited 14th Feb '14 7:41:52 AM by HanabiraKage

Rising Hope sample up for listening on LiSA's official website, along with a short commercial for the anime involving some footage from various points of the show set to the sample on youtube which is sadly restricted to viewers in Japan (ain't teaching you how to bypass it). Seems to be the chorus, and I think it's quite fitting (haven't tried figuring out the lyrics yet though).

Anyway, the manga adaptation seems to have stalled? And they basically skipped ahead to the Nine Schools Competition for some reason (they started a new serialisation JUST to cover it), and they seem to be planning to adapt each subsequent arc as an entirely separate serialisation. So basically all the arcs up to Reminiscence are going to run simultaneously. I have no idea what's going on any more.

Anyone has any news on how many episodes the anime will have? I think it's practically guaranteed that the Nine Schools Competition will be adapted, but it'll probably take up at least half a cour, which means that the Yokohama Disturbance arc won't make it in if it's a one-cour.

Ooh, looks like the Double Seven arc has been fully translated since late January. I should get around to reading it. I wish they'd hurry up with Summer Break (volume 5; obligatory side-story volume) though.

edited 1st Mar '14 10:20:38 PM by HanabiraKage

Episode 1 is out and I didn't mind it surprisingly.

As much as I dislike the oreimo comparisons for their superficiality, does Miyuki have Ayase's voice actress? Because Ayase has the best "onii-san". Sounds like her anyway

I appreciated that in anime form apparently we were considered smart enough to speculate ourselves on the exact nature of running spells, martial arts, school politics and magitek on display. Either that or they're hoping to mostly appeal to the light novel crowd.

Hanabira Kage, I'm going to suggest that emotionally stunted amounts to the same thing as dense for the purposes of anime plot. I really wish I could read as much into it as you, but I only see it completely unironically.

I also think the exposition was left out wasn't important. The attitudes to different students are the important thing and that's what we see. It can come out later that there's a program for graduating first class students while the students without the flower are basically there in reserve.

And regarding the incest subtext, I definitely think it's possible to frame it more suggestively while events are essentially the same. But then I'm dense to this sort of stuff, so it's possible I just didn't see it. I do vaguely remember that Tatsuya was this touchy-feely with his sister in the light novel, but I may be mis-remembering.

edited 5th Apr '14 11:38:20 PM by UltimatelySubjective

As someone who hasn't read the LNs (but did watch the specials), that was... really pretty boring. Very little actually happens. Mostly just pounding into our heads that weeds are discriminated against that that Miyuki likes her brother. The fight scene was good, at least. I don't think I'll be watching the second episode

If nothing else, the school uniforms, both sexes, are snazzy as hell.

Also...man, Tatsuya and Miyuki makes Haruka and Sora look like normal siblings.

I would probably expect it to remain about the same. I read through the novels hoping it would be fun once I got to the school competition and even at that point I was wondering where the good bits were.

Admittedly the bits when the main character goes all out are fun, but worth it? Well, you see when people say it's padded with exposition from cover to cover (and about one or two things actually happen per book) they're not kidding.

edited 5th Apr '14 11:50:24 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Yep. The funnier thing is that Tatsuya has Kyousuke's voice actor from the same series. Which is something that I very much hope they did on purpose, because that's hilarious.

Aside from that, it's pretty much what I expected. It's dumb popcorn, sometimes very dumb, and the anime is inevitably going to be better than the source by virtue of having fewer words.

edited 5th Apr '14 11:50:50 PM by Einander

Yes, those uniforms are very cool. Especially the patterned cloths that the females have.

x5 All Tatsuya ever does is really just pat Miyuki on the head or hold her close to protect her. And he later kisses her on the forehead to unseal both their powers, though it's usually Miyuki who does that. Oh, and I think he's hugged her just to see how she'd react or something to that effect, more than once.

Dense would imply he doesn't notice her affections. Tatsuya actually does, he's just leaving it be because it's more amusing that way.

Yeah, it's kinda refreshing to have viewers not be treated like idiots for once, but it'll be kinda...lacking for non-readers. Well, I suppose they'll reveal the exposition bit by bit; it's not like they have to expound on the magic classification system and the like at this juncture. I also felt that that world-building exposition at the beginning could have been spread out a little, maybe even done like Shingeki no Kyojin's eyecatches. The episode felt somewhat disjointed and some parts rushed, maybe they could have done better if they had more time to work with. Don't take my word on this though, I suck at analysis and reviews.

x4 Yeah, that's partly why I didn't quite like the episode. It does a bad job at generating hype.

edited 6th Apr '14 12:00:24 AM by HanabiraKage

This is going to be one of those topics where original material fans constantly come in to "supplement" the anime without prompting, isn't it? Can't say I haven't been on the other end, but it's still aggravating. Well, I haven't actually posted here yet, but goodbye. I'll probably watch the anime anyway.

edited 6th Apr '14 12:11:40 AM by Clarste

Nah, I'll only add stuff if anyone asks, or if there are really glaring omissions.

Not like I remember that much about the earlier volumes anyway.

edited 6th Apr '14 12:14:26 AM by HanabiraKage

I kinda have to agree with Hylarn here. More than anything, this episode was... boring. Eight Deadly Words are in full effect here. Not a strong way to start your series.

I will say this though. Erika is love~

I don't know if the anime will get to it, but later on there are some subtle implications suggesting that Miyuki might have a bit of a brother complex.

Though I might just be reading too much into it.

edited 6th Apr '14 2:04:58 AM by Rem

Mahouka for Dummies 1-3. In which we find out tiny bits about the setting.

We're also introduced to some of the characters. That's about it.

Episode 1. In which a warm interior makes for a frosty exterior.

Magic from Technology: The Series. Unless it's mostly about their not-sibling relationship.

Why is West EU east of East EU? And I'm not sure I think it's a particularly natural split. Also, pretty much all names seem needlessly long.

Miyuki's awfully pale. When she's not blushing.

The dress looks rather plain, being entirely white below the collar. Though with the icy, transparent coat thing it works. Without, as for some of the girls, not so much.

The male uniform looks a lot better. Just a little high collar.

I like the prez. She's like a prez should be.

Mizuki. If she's not using some kind of water magic, it's unexpected.

Why is she surprised they're related when their name is the same?

Discrimination doesn't usually take the form of such blatant anger.

"Uh, you two..." Yeah, that about sums it up. Probably sums up a big part of the series as well.

Skating like that is classy.

Lecherous teacher, check. At least he seems well-intentioned.

Comic relief characters confirmed.

Awesome by Analysis can easily get boring, but it depends on how it's used. It's easy to bog it down with too much exposition, or on the other end, use it as a get-out-jail-free-card to magically solve a situation. As for how it was used here, it made sense.

The exposition is on a good level, I think. I don't know about the source, but I didn't get the feeling that there were important details left out. I'm not really quite sure what would've been left out here that was necessary to understand the setting or the actions that went on. (Feel free to answer if it's not a spoiler.)

Anyway, I'm kinda with Clarste. If I find myself finding stuff out I've not seen in the anime I consider spoilers, I won't read much if anything here. Might still post.

edited 6th Apr '14 4:37:46 AM by AnotherDuck

There really wasn't anything important omitted in this episode, just very minor, unimportant things.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but it's already there in episode one. And it's totally obvious.

edited 6th Apr '14 4:22:14 AM by HanabiraKage