With these two episodes being the wrap up of the first arc of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, I can't help but feel like it was both an extended one -- as far as introductions go -- and a short lived conflict. I'm well aware that this is the first one, so it wouldn't be that challenging, but going up against some secret anti-magic organization took a couple of student less than a day to apprehend is a bit odd to say the least.
Regardless, the focus on the first and probably only terrorist attack from Blanche is what episode six is about. We get a handful of reveals from both Mibu Sayaka and Ono Haruka without much prying, considering all plans involving First High School have been stopped easily and no real damage was done to the students. However, even with Haruka's help in finding the hideout of Blanche, most of the episode was unraveling the mind of Mibu after she was hospitalize.
The only thing that was moderately interesting about this episode, in particular, was deciphering the points where Mibu's misinformation became so clouded that she felt like she needed to fallback to equal treatment between the two courses of magic students. It turned out that Mibu ended up focusing on her lack in ability toward magic because she was around people that thought similarly. Despite her great swordsmanship skills, she ended up passing it off as not that important; this resulted in her having a disdain for herself that spiraled into this business with Blanche.
Mibu learned quite quickly that a lot more people respect her more than even she respects herself; so that fight between her and Chiba was the breakpoint of her self-loathing. Right after that sparring match, if anything, it was her being hospitalized because of the broken arm acquired. And this is where the facts get cleared up with pretty much every student in power at First High was gathered at Mibu's hospital bed.
I'm not one to revel in action scene, but this one that was very much action filled with the finishing off of the terrorist invasion of Egalite. The rest was information gathering and setup for the real fight at the Blanche hideout to end there rampage once and for all. I would say the episode was pretty solid, it revealed enough information to get a bit more from the side character Mibu Sayaka. The next episode is where the last bit of Blanche happens, so lets get to how this arc ends.
Getting in and out of the secret hideout of Blanche seemed like too simple of a task, making the threat seem not that important. And this is where the series as a whole starts to feel like an anime where the main character isn't going to grow too much seeing as Tatsuya is extremely modest but still pulls off not-so-simple tasks like it is his season nature. It was the same vibe I got back when Sword Art Online aired and most of the things he does is extraordinary just because he is the main character. I'm sure there might be some challenges facing Tatsuya considering we are only seven out of twenty-six episodes in; plus that new guy Ichijou -- introduced at the end of this episode -- might be someone more challenging than Blanche.
The other thing that was connected to the infiltration of Blanche, inside First High School, was the hypnotic magic that the Blanche leader tried to used only to fail to the likes of Tatsuya. Both students from First High, Tsukasa and Mibu, were ensnared by Hajime's "Evil Eye" that made them do his bidding by altering their memories.
After the rather easy battle of Blanche verses a select few of students in First High, police took the terrorist in. All the problems caused by those students involved with Blanche were lifted because of the use of hypnosis. So the arc in all tents and purposes, ended with everything being completely fine and no wrenches were thrown in this operation; however, there are a few things that are leading into the next arc that have got me quite curious.
We got this micro scene with the aunt of Tatsuya and Miyubi right after the one with Tatsuya and her butler. The only thing that I find strange is that the aunt only really regards Tatsuya as Miyubi's guardian rather than a nephew. This might be some insight as to how the Shiba/Yotsuba family treats Tatsuya since the anime revealed it wasn't that positive in the first episode. So only being recognised as the one who is protecting Miyubi seems a lot more impersonal since he is basically being treated like an outsider.
And, like I mention in the introductory paragraph, there was this new guy named Masaki, or "The Crimson Price", who seems like someone that either Tatsuya or really anyone from First High might be fighting with for whatever reason. It is far more ominous than any real information, but I can wait to seem how this guy plays a role in the story.
If anything, this episode was both a wrap up the "School Enrollment" arc and the beginning of a new one. I would say that it was decent for what it was, but I can help but be disappointed at how easy every fight seems to be for pretty much anyone that wasn't an antagonist. That kind of feel leads me to feeling less excited for any type of battle ahead. That kind of makes things a bit more difficult to remain that interested in this series. I would say, if either the aunt or Masaki end up being as easy to deal with as Blanche, I doubt I would want to continue with this series because there isn't much to look forward to if Tatsuya is just "Mr. Perfect" in every way.
