I enjoyed "Irregular at Magic High School"
thoroughly.
The soundtrack is amazing. I love several of the background tracks, which rely heavily on EDM. The animation is also gorgeous. The visuals on magic are some of the best I've seen.
Storywise, the world is fascinating and the way it approaches magic - an application of math that influences reality's foundations to trigger physical phenomenon - is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed how the author put thought into this system and innovation: shortly after introducing gravity controlling flight magic, for example, he immediately takes it to the next step of fusion reactions through gravity control. Brilliant science fiction.
One thing I liked is that while it has a lot of talking, which I normally find boring, the dialogue is good enough to hold my interest. A common complaint about is the gobs of techno-babble it uses to explain other techno-babble. Personally, I like those bits (probably my Star Trek background coming in). The explanations also make sense in the context given with some gap-filling on the part of the viewer.
A large chunk of the characters are actually interesting! I found Tatsuya a very refreshing male lead. He gets criticized as being overpowered, but I see him as very similar to Alucard in Hellsing: immense power that came at the cost of his identity, making him a tragic figure. I like that he always decides by reason and logic instead of emotion. He's the polar opposite of the inept but hot blooded hero so much anime has. He's careful and calculating even in the smallest thing. That he has such amazing rational capacity makes all of his accomplishments seem plausible and avoids Gary Stu status.
While the male lead does have romantic interests from some of the female cast, not all of them are enamored with him. There are several other pairings, helping the show avoid the harem trope of SAO.
My main critiques are aimed at the last arc, "Yokohama Disturbance." It felt rushed, especially the fight scenes. We get major revelations about Tatsuya, but the exposition seems too short. I understand his powers are basically all creative applications of a single skill, but the show doesn't tie it all together as well as it could
I am fine with Tatsuya being exceptionally powerful, but it felt his classmates, who are supposed to be more average, were comparatively too strong. One of the bad guys that gets built up as a true threat is taken down twice by high school kids in short conflicts. It was very underwhelming. The fights needed to be longer to justify the outcomes as the result of struggle and hardship to defeat a superior foe. As is, none of the villains ever came off as truly a danger, which undermined the tension. Tatsuya curb stomping someone is fun, but when everyone is brushing off battles with just a few bruises, it makes him seem weaker.
I'm hoping for a second season, since the novels are ongoing. One of my hopes is that we see Tatsuya have a match at some point. One of the rules for being incredibly powerful is that you're rarely unique - or others learn how to deal with you over time. It'll be good to see him have to deal with that in the future.
Overall, the series is worth watching, at least for the first few episodes. The last arc is sadly a bit rushed compared to the rest and feels poorly constructed. It's a definite "Your mileage may vary" series. I recommend the series, on Netflix subbed only, for anyone who likes their magic to be more science based.
The soundtrack is amazing. I love several of the background tracks, which rely heavily on EDM. The animation is also gorgeous. The visuals on magic are some of the best I've seen.
Storywise, the world is fascinating and the way it approaches magic - an application of math that influences reality's foundations to trigger physical phenomenon - is a lot of fun. I really enjoyed how the author put thought into this system and innovation: shortly after introducing gravity controlling flight magic, for example, he immediately takes it to the next step of fusion reactions through gravity control. Brilliant science fiction.
One thing I liked is that while it has a lot of talking, which I normally find boring, the dialogue is good enough to hold my interest. A common complaint about is the gobs of techno-babble it uses to explain other techno-babble. Personally, I like those bits (probably my Star Trek background coming in). The explanations also make sense in the context given with some gap-filling on the part of the viewer.
A large chunk of the characters are actually interesting! I found Tatsuya a very refreshing male lead. He gets criticized as being overpowered, but I see him as very similar to Alucard in Hellsing: immense power that came at the cost of his identity, making him a tragic figure. I like that he always decides by reason and logic instead of emotion. He's the polar opposite of the inept but hot blooded hero so much anime has. He's careful and calculating even in the smallest thing. That he has such amazing rational capacity makes all of his accomplishments seem plausible and avoids Gary Stu status.
While the male lead does have romantic interests from some of the female cast, not all of them are enamored with him. There are several other pairings, helping the show avoid the harem trope of SAO.
My main critiques are aimed at the last arc, "Yokohama Disturbance." It felt rushed, especially the fight scenes. We get major revelations about Tatsuya, but the exposition seems too short. I understand his powers are basically all creative applications of a single skill, but the show doesn't tie it all together as well as it could
I am fine with Tatsuya being exceptionally powerful, but it felt his classmates, who are supposed to be more average, were comparatively too strong. One of the bad guys that gets built up as a true threat is taken down twice by high school kids in short conflicts. It was very underwhelming. The fights needed to be longer to justify the outcomes as the result of struggle and hardship to defeat a superior foe. As is, none of the villains ever came off as truly a danger, which undermined the tension. Tatsuya curb stomping someone is fun, but when everyone is brushing off battles with just a few bruises, it makes him seem weaker.
I'm hoping for a second season, since the novels are ongoing. One of my hopes is that we see Tatsuya have a match at some point. One of the rules for being incredibly powerful is that you're rarely unique - or others learn how to deal with you over time. It'll be good to see him have to deal with that in the future.
Overall, the series is worth watching, at least for the first few episodes. The last arc is sadly a bit rushed compared to the rest and feels poorly constructed. It's a definite "Your mileage may vary" series. I recommend the series, on Netflix subbed only, for anyone who likes their magic to be more science based.
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