Studio: Madhouse Studios
Genre(s): Magic, Romance, School, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Supernatural
OP: "Rising Hope" by LiSA
ED: "Millenario (ミレナリオ)" by ELISA
Summary: Magic is a product of neither legends nor fairy tales, but instead has become a technology of reality since a time unknown to people. Supernatural power became a technology systematized through magic, while magic became a technical skill. A "Supernatural Power User" became a "Magic Technician." Magic Technicians (in short, Magicians) are nurtured through Magic High Schools and Universities.
This is a story about:
Tatsuya, a defective elder brother low achiever.
Miyuki, a perfect, flawless younger sister high achiever.
After both siblings entered a Magic High School,
The stage of daily turbulence was unveiled—.(Source: Baka-Tsuki)
Going head first into Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, the first thing that drew me into the first few minutes was the fact that magic was explained as more of a produce of science rather than something supernatural. The only gripe I have with this type of reasoning is why is it even called "magic" in the first place? By definition magic is something that is usually some phenomena that can't be explained in a worldly way -- it kind of like calling a computer magical or any other piece of technology. Either way, I was pretty excited to see a science based "magic" and the cherry on top was the fact that it was based in a magical school -- which I have a soft spot for, for whatever reason.
Right after the prologue, that explained the world and arms race of controlling said magic, we are quickly face to face with the no-so-subtle incestuous nature between Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba. Now, I've said before that I'm perfectly fine with seeing these type of relationships, as long as they are explained well enough to have to include them; so far there was some hint as to why in the prologue -- Miyuki owes her life to Tatsuya -- and that could cover respect or admiration on Miyuki side for sure. There was also the problem with their parents, that I only have some clue as to why they only care about Miyuki which ignoring Tatsuya's existence.
My best guess is that Tatsuya might either be adopted or has a different mother, based purely on the closeness of birthdays that the siblings have. They are a month away, Tatsuya's is in April and Miyuki's is in March, and that is basically impossible for a single women to give birth to two children a month apart. So with those facts, there could be some animosity coming from the parents if Tatsuya was some illegitimate child from the father sleeping around, but adoption is a bit of a different story considering the parents chose to bring him into the family.
If there is a possibility of the siblings being either half-related, or not at all, by blood that is pretty much the entry place for most sibling closeness that end up going into lover status. But setting that aside, this mystery of family problems made me pretty invested in the character in this one episode, so we are off to a good start regardless.
Going into the school of First High School, pretty early on we are introduced into the words "reverse" and "weed", which we later find out that they are words for the social status for this school. First High is pretty much split into two separate courses, the first ones are called Blooms, who are the ones at the top and the others are called Weeds. It might be just the students calling either other that -- considering the two courses are also call Course 1 and Course 2 respectively -- but it is a bit strange to call half the students, who aren't showing as much potential as the other half, "weeds" if we are considering this school the garden for them to grow and flourish; by the word alone you can assume that they would want to be plucked a discard so the blooms can grow without much disturbance.
So far, a few student do end up showing that "holier than thou" act when it comes to someone beneath them like the Weeds. The fact that Miyuki is a bloom and Tatsuya is a weed is pretty interest considering they are siblings and yet the people that hang around Miyuki don't want her to be around any weeds -- which include her own brother. And that speaks volumes to how fast a little bit of power or status can get to some people in just one day; however, there are a select few that don't adhere to such toxic views, like the student council president Saegusa Mayumi and of course Miyuki.
So this hierarchal structure in the school could result in some more interesting situations where maybe some blooms underestimate the weed and become overconfident. This might result in some interesting observations of human nature for those consumed by power, and other who are held back by oppressions and discrimination; plus, this theme fits well with this arms race going on around the world.
Right now there are quite a few elements that remind me of Freezing, without the fan serves, and I'm okay with that since I enjoyed both seasons of Freezing pretty thoroughly. The main characters themselves are pretty intriguing, mainly Tatsuya at the moment, but there relationship is something that needs to be explored later on for sure. The world that was built in this first episode was really in-depth for the two minutes that were spent explaining the back story. I'm looking forward to continuing Mahouka for the time being, I just hope to see characters' background developed more. The last thing, and to wrap this first impressions up, the character design for the females is very strange if look at how pale they look compared to the males -- just something I thought I'd point it out.
Orginally posted to the now shutdown sekijitsu.com: Archived Page