Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Review

Today marks the 25^th episode since Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei anime started airing, a good time for a review of the series.

Frankly, I must say that I am pretty disappointed. After all, I love this series as much as I enjoy SAO Light Novel, and I was really looking forward to the anime adaptation. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the Mahouka anime was poorly done.

Why do I say so? Well, for me, it’s primarily because they pretty much fucked up the most basic “Show, Don’t Tell” of story telling.

In an earlier post, I compared SAO and Mahouka, stating my reasons for believing that Mahouka doesn’t lend itself so well to an anime adaptation, because of the heavy content. In summary, Mahouka explores a new world, where Magic is studied as science, and thus necessarily has lots of technical jargon. Too much dialogue would throw people off, but too little would result in inadequate understanding of what’s happening. Unfortunately, Mahouka leaned too far into the too little, and in my opinion, failed to capture what truly made the series special.

Case in point, how many people has an idea how the Ichijou’s special technique, Rupture works?

Ichijou Masaki's Clan technique Rupture..

Rupture sets the target of the magic as the liquid inside the human’s body, resulting in the target’s body being completely torn apart as the liquid escapes. Thus, it earned the name “Rupture”.

How about Mayumi’s rapid fire technique? By converting the heat energy in each molecule into kinetic energy, she creates “Ice bullets” firing hundreds per second.

Mayumi's technique

What was Honoka doing, that required Mayumi to show concern?

They didn't say. Those who read the novel would have known that Honoka was using an optical magic to make the helicopter invisible. These are some examples of the touch-and-go nature of this anime, that really fails to highlight what's happening. How are viewers suppose to appreciate what's going on if you just make cursory mentions of such scenes??

In today’s episode, we see Tatsuya restoring Kirihara and Isori, after they "died". The total time spent was.... 2 minutes, involving around 50 seconds of ...

SHIT LIKE THIS.

The actual process took less than 25 seconds. Here.

Yeah exactly, WHY THE FUCK IS TATSUYA POINTING HIS GUN TOWARDS ME???

And Isori is suddenly revived.

All this under 2 minutes. Miraculously bringing someone back after being shot, how could something so convenient exist?? In the novel, the author, Satou Tsutomu,  goes on to explain how Tatsuya, in reading the Eidos of the people he restores, takes on all their pain himself. All that shock and awe from Kanon, and the others, and then the anguish Miyuki felt. All of it was dropped. Could someone explain why??

I have a possible explanation. Due to the budget constraints, and the schedule, the producers had to rush the scenes to make it fit within the number of episodes allocated. This, along with the idea of not making it too wordy, resulted in the botched up job of a show.

To make matters worse, the entire show has no action, little excitement, or suspense. This is no doubt due to the overpowered main character, with no emotions. Admittedly, it is hard to create an engaging shonen story when you can't show your main character trying his hardest, or thinking of creative ways to overcome obstacles. However, what you can do then is bring attention to the techniques and power he has, partly through explanations, and through showing the reactions from the other supporting characters.

This was done in the light novel, pretty well in fact, that Tatsuya's OP-ness doesn't destroy the story, but becomes an integral part of the story. Readers in fact look forward to Tatsuya's next display of power, and ingenuity, which the author adequately answers in the Light Novel. Of course, this is also due to the novels having unlimited time to develop all of this, while the anime could have really been facing constraints on the time and budget.

Stop spending time on Tatsuya and Miyuki's shitty sibling love. If the producer cared to explain the bonds between Tatsuya and Miyuki, maybe we could have appreciated that a little more, like that kissing scene in episode 24.

Half of Tatsuya's powers are sealed by Miyuki's power, and that kiss was to release the power. Was it shown? I wouldn't say so... what we saw was this.

Doesn't really cut it now does it?

Meh.

Mahouka had a really novel setting, magic as science, using the most advanced technologies. Who would have thought of that??

Unfortunately, everything amazing in the Light Novel was negated in the anime. While I strongly believe that anime needs to take a different approach, with more focus on the action, excitement, and mood, the essence of the story cannot be discarded. Different stories need to be handled differently, e.g. deep stories like Psycho-pass needs to be slowly explained and developed to shine, but still not ignoring the action, while action-driven stories like SAO, Akame ga Kill, has to be fast paced, and show off the "Coolness" of the characters, by simply letting them look cool. Looking cool simply won't cut it for Tatsuya, genius isn't shown by a stone face.

Story: 9/10 BUT Only for the light novel. The anime would probably deserve an 7, for the novelty. Unfortunately, most of the plot lines weren't developed sufficiently in my opinion, all of them were just "big bad organisations" (without even the who-are-a-threat-to-Miyuki part).

Characters: 7/10. I'm not sure why this happened...

It sounds like they're just playing a fool there. Or maybe it's just a few people who are dissatisfied with the anime's handling of Tatsuya. For the common folk, maybe just having a cool character, such a superficial appreciation is enough. Who knows. The other characters were quite likeable, and I would have really appreciated if Honoka and Shizuku, and other characters were given some screen time (they were in fact, in the light novel, but as it didn't contribute significantly to the action, it was apparently dropped). From the light novel, my feelings towards Miyuki was 50-50, or in fact, leaning more towards "like". However, the anime reminded me how much I hate bro-con incest. 

As OreimoKawaii kindly counted for us,

Art: 7/10... Not too sure how to judge this one. The art isn't shabby, and a lot of attention was given to the magic designs, definitely. Most of the magic effects had very intricate designs, and in fact, that was one thing I was looking forward to in the anime adaptation. Unfortunately, the rest of the scenes were pretty standard, nothing fascinating. Furthermore, a lot of scene designs were too flowery and overwhelming, which became a little too distracting. Overall, it resulted in a rather mild impact.

Music: 7/10. Loved Millenario, by Elisa. That song was the ending for the first half of the series, and I quite enjoyed it. Rising Hope, by Lisa was okay too. The openings and endings in the second half though, were a little disappointing. Nothing really captured any attention. The music, overall, didn't contribute much to the mood either, so really, without the great ending and opening song, I might have given it a 6 even.

Enjoyment: 5/10. Barely passed. Well, I guess what saved it was the Nine Schools Competition arc. That arc was pretty much the most exciting arc, with all sorts of magic clashing, and Tatsuya unveiling new tactics and tricks. Not only was there at least, some sort of decent explanation, the competition setting  also helped to create some intensity, which was sorely lacking throughout most of the episodes. Mahouka started off slow, with some interesting scenes here and there in the first few episodes, but compared to other anime running at that time, especially No Game No Life, it was prettttttty dull. After the Nine Schools Competition arc, the series pretty much went downhill IMO. 

Overall: 7/10 by average, by feeling, 6/10.

However, I must admit that perhaps my expectations from reading the Light novel have been set rather high, and thus, I may have been more critical in my judgement than normal. Still, I maintain my stance that this anime was pretty poorly handled, falling into various pitfalls such as: too skimpy explanations, resulting in no depth; over-powered main character, not handled well (resulted also in the lack of excitement, as everyone knew Tatsuya was gonna just blast all the enemies away anyway); and lack of music and art support (Maybe also partly because they had to rush almost every scene, so no time to have scenes to just create mood. Still, a really poor excuse if you ask me).

Even without my bias, I would probably have been able to give it a 7 at most.

Hikaru no Go

As I expected, I couldn't stay away from Anime for one full week. Even during prelims. Well, I think I'll be fine. More importantly, let's talk about Hikaru no Go.

I used to have this prejudice against old anime,  partly due to the less detailed scenes. Then the other day, I was browsing through MAL, and realised that Hikaru no Go had an anime too. I was a little skeptical, seeing as how it aired on 2001, 13 years ago. Nonetheless, it's about Go, and it probably can't be that bad. I decided to give it a try.

It certainly exceeded all my expectations. The art, music, was fabulous. It wasn't finely detailed and colourful as most of the anime nowadays, but I find the art style a surprisingly apt portrayal of "reality". The character designs were good enough, memorable, and not out of proportion. (More or less, any problems are minor and barely noticeable).

More importantly, the animation managed to add "ACTION" and movement, and most importantly the EXCITEMENT to this story, about Go.

Not many people are able to appreciate this game nowadays.

The best thing about Anime, and sometimes Manga, is that they are able to bring such seemingly boring games to life, making it accessible to the common folk who have little knowledge about the field. 

That is also, perhaps, the draw of sports anime/manga. Such niche games are only interesting, really, to the people who play and know how to appreciate them. However, through the manga, the author can take a different perspective, e.g. through the astounding growth of the main character, to make the sport more interesting. (Hikaru does too). Or some unique circumstance (Sai), romance, etc. Or a different approach to the game (Doesn't happen in Hikaru, but try Last Inning, a baseball manga with a crafty and calculative coach).

Some of the best manga/Anime that I find this at work are Hajime no Ippo, Cross Game, Kuroko no Basket (rubbish power-ups, but is interesting nonetheless).

ANYWAY.... BACK TO THE STORY.

Well, I've always had an interest in Go; I learnt the basics when I was young, and recently picked it up again. I guess the manga did re-kindle my interest, prompting me to play again when I was Secondary 2. After a while though, with no one to play with, I gradually stopped playing. If the manga gave me a candle-worth of passion, the anime is definitely a campfire-worth -- that's just how much better the anime is than the manga.

Even though I read the story before, most of the episodes were highly engaging, with very nice pacing, and scenes. I would perhaps attribute this to the lengthy run it was given, a total of 75 episodes. Maybe one of the reasons a lot of anime today seem rushed is because of the budget and the limit on each series. Most anime are scheduled to end after 1 or 2 seasons, (around 13 episodes per season). If that's the case, then the old shows that take their time on each scene definitely has something to offer.

Or maybe it's just the nostalgic feeling, like OH THOSE WERE THE KIND OF SHOWS I WATCHED AS A KID!!! THAT KIND OF DRAWING, THOSE EFFECTS. Perhaps so, because even today, I still remember fondly shows like Marchen Awakens Romance, Law of Ueki, Samurai Deeper Kyo, and definitely Gundam Seed (Among my all time favourites). 

Regarding the story, I like how the author weaves in a real Go player's life into the story. Also, I'm no expert in Go, but the games in the Anime seemed really interesting, and made me wish so hard that I could play Go with my friends (Unfortunately none of them can play, but maybe after my exams I'll sign up with one of the Go association centres around.) 

While most of the episodes were well-scripted, there were just a few that I got irritated with, from episodes 62 to 69. 

SPOILER

For a full 7 episodes, Hikaru is down in a slump as Sai disappears, and Hikaru acts like a selfish little bitch, thinking that if he doesn't play, Sai would come back. Without caring for any of his professional responsibilities, not living up to his own promises to himself and to the friends he left behind to pursue his dreams, he arbitrarily decides to quit playing. If that wasn't enough, they had to throw in a random "SPECIAL EDITION EPISODE" in episode 64, instead of pulling Hikaru out of his slump first. SERIOUSLY, I GET WHAT THEY're doing, but I thought some of the scenes could have been skipped. Really very draggy, those 7 episodes. (ALTHOUGH I WOULD PROBABLY AGREE THAT THEY ACHIEVED THE MOOD, maybe beyond what was necessary)

Well, let's rate it.

Story: 8/10. Loved it, all the rivalry, friendship, and the Go. However, I'm not sure if I am able to give a fair judgement, as I can't speak for those who don't know how to play the game. I had an idea what most of the terms meant, but even still, I had trouble following the games. Nonetheless, I think it was done quite well, the story wasn't boring, and maybe if they had spent too much time explaining, it would have gotten boring. Well, if you don't understand, try learning how to play. It's definitely worth it.

Characters: 9/10. Besides Go, this story is really about the interaction between the players. While they are rivals, they are at the same time nakama, pursuing the same goal in Go. Some of the characters are amazed by Shindou, some fight beside him, others are drawn to him by the mysterious aura around him (literally). As Master Kuwabara (Title holder in Hikaru no Go, the Honinbo) puts it, 

"You need two people to play Go. A truly exciting game involves 2 good players, only by fighting against a strong rival can one get closer to the Hand of God. fhuhohohoo."

Strong rival appears from the start, and the rivalry stays strong, and is managed well. Mentor (Sai) also exists, being a key role in the story. We could really feel Sai's feelings from episodes 50+, before he disappeared. The supporting cast is also not neglected, they are all developed well. Really, I think it was quite excellently done. Of course, let's not forget Shindou, our main character. Very cute hairstyle he has there, and very cute personality too. This main character appeals, initially, as an innocent little kid, and Sai, ignorant of the modern world and also at times desperate to be noticed (He can't be noticed though, as he's a ghost.), adds onto the humour and cuteness. And most importantly, he has what every shounen protagonist needs, good development and growth, both in hard skills, and in mental strength. 

Art: 8/10. It would definitely be unfair to compare it to the art and detail of today, and as it fits the theme quite well, I thought it was okay to give it an 8. The fluidity and motion in the scenes also adds to the excitement, to the (seemingly boring) mental game of Go. Nothing really stands out though, hence I don't think I can give it more than a 9.

Music: 9/10. Now THIS really surprised me. I wasn't really expecting much at first, but then, the songs immediately captured me. I especially like the 1st opening, "Get Over" by Dream. It made me remember that actually, most of my favourite anime songs are from MAR Heaven and Gundam Seed, and while both of these series are actually quite old, I still listen to their songs as often, as my new favourites from recent anime. The anime OST especially was impressive, very intense piano, or other sound effects extremely fitting of the scenes helped set the mood very very well. I just wish I could find the OSTs compilation somewhere.

Enjoyment: 9/10. This criteria is highly subjective, as it necessarily has to be. I certainly enjoyed this series, being interested in Go after all. What also hit me, with Hikaru no Go, was definitely nostalgia. Maybe I might try re-watching my childhood favourites soon. The story was fresh, as not many people can do such an in-depth, engaging manga on such a niche topic anyway. It was certainly interesting, and I wouldn't mind rewatching it again. I really hope some guy might pick up this story again, and continue the special edition movie for the North Star Cup. Currently, it only goes up till the preliminaries, and that 1hr15mins episode was extremely engaging. Overall, I really enjoyed this show, except for those 7 episodes (which did it's job)

Conclusion: Hikaru no Go is 100% worth watching, by both Go players and non-players alike. For those who don't know the game, it is a good opportunity to get to learn it. Whether you do take an interest in Go or not, this show is definitely worth watching.

Akame Ga Kill

So... Against my better judgement, I decided to start on this 1 day before my Prelims. Thankfully, it only has 11 episodes so far.

Despite feeling all guilty about watching it, I must say, it was extremely satisfying. I think the best thing this show gives, is the way the most horrible people and things, on the surface, look so innocent, but underneath the false exterior is a vileness that runs very deep.

Let's take a look at episode 1. Tatsumi, raised in the village outskirts has dreams of moving to the city to work, and send money back home. The capital seems to many to be a wondrous place of dreams. Not long after arriving, Tatsumi gets cheated of all his money. He ended up homeless and hungry, until this sweet little cutie offered to take him in.

She just looks so innocent doesnt she? And right till the end, even after Night Raid attacks, she keeps that sweet, perfect smile.

 Little would anyone know, her entire family often takes in people, to torture them to death.

And here...

And suddenly.

Tatsumi finally realises, and kills her.

After watching the first episode, I knew this was good. The carefully disguised gore, the expression of vileness. And the sweet illusion covering it all.

Alrighty then, let's rate.

Story: 7/10. The setting is not entirely novel. Revolutionary army, small elite group, working undercover to overthrow the corrupt government. As of now, I can't really say it's anything splendid, but I'd really like to see how it turns out, especially after they take down some key officials. One thing I like is how the story doesn't try to save everybody. I was hoping that all the wonderful people wouldn't die, but I'm glad the story went ahead to let go of some people. What's great is that they didn't do it simply to force that loss in, to make it more realistic, or to create some psychological drive for the protagonist. This anime treated them as individuals, who died in the way they chose to. (As much freedom as they can have anyway, it's the perception okay.)

Art: 10/10. Splendid. It codeswitches between different styles at the best moments. The gore is undisguised, and the vileness is truly brought out by the distorted faces. Even though we know it's clearly an exaggeration, and a portrayal of an object, different mediums of expressing shapes our thinking so nicely, it's like it determines our thoughts. And the sweet parts are delightfully sweet too. But I'm not gonna list them or prescribe them here, go watch and immerse yourself in the show. 

Music: 10/10. I'm not over-rating this. Some openings and endings take at least 3 episodes to hook me, others don't manage to at all. The erratic beat of the opening, Skyreach, very appropriately suits the theme, and is very catchy too. (Also, this should have been under art, but the animation for the opening and ending is very nice. The different art styles used work well). The ending theme, and the ending note of each episode also supports. Konna Sekai, Shiritakunakatta, the Ending song makes me want to listen to it every time, to absorb the feels from the episode. Within the anime itself, artistic and appropriate use of the soundtracks work very well to set the mood. Well done.

Characters. 9/10. I might be overrating. What I'm gonna say here might be a bit debatable, and controversial. The MAIN reason I'm giving the characters a 9/10, is because the characters are made to appeal. And they do. 

BUT. If you think about it, it's not all that different from the fan pandering in SAO. Where SAO has Asuna (devoted girlfriend), Silica (kawaii lolita with a pet dragon), Lisbeth (tsundere broad), Suguha (cute imoutou), Sinon (sexy gun girl + megane in real life), Akame ga Kill has it's own variety. 

From left to right: Akame (Kuudere assassin girl), Tatsumi (Main character, doesn't count cos he's not a possible relationship), MINE ( Sorry haha I just love Tsunder Lolis. The pink fits her perfectly, and so does her gun.), Leone (Sexy cat girl with mega boobs), Sheele (Megane Airhead, and her weapon is a scissors lol), Bulat (Overly muscled Hot self-proclaimed gay [see, we even got stuff for female fans]), and Lubback (weird hentai=pervert, attacks with steel wires). AND LET'S NOT FORGET ALL THE ENEMIES, 50% of which are cute girls too, including enemy commander Esdeath. 

As we can all see, despite the gory and darker theme running in Akame ga Kill, it's as much about fan-pandering and harem building as SAO is. I'm not trying to defend SAO, i'm simply saying I LOVE FAN-PANDERING!!!! When it's done well of course.

Enjoyment: 10/10 Definitely. Why the hell would I burn my precious time during prelims to watch it if it wasn't worth it? The story isn't anything special, the fan-pandering may draw negative reviews from haters, but who gives a fuck. The pacing is splendid, the art and music rocks, the characters are freaking sexy too. The story-telling (note the distinction between story and story-telling please) is excellent, it does the espoused "Show, Not Tell" very very well. Only truly splendid story-telling can make you feel for the characters, and cry when they die after all. Episode 5 i think, when Sheele sacrificed herself for Mine to escape. EXTREMELY WELL DONE, I only started to know Sheele in that episode, but effective use of one screen flashbacks, rain, music, fight scenes, slow motion and omission made the feels rush up. It prompted me to listen to Find the Way, Gundam seed last ED song, which was also very appropriate to use.

Overall: 10/10. For now. I am really looking forward to the rest of the anime, so much so that I'm not gonna read the manga to find out what happens next.

SAOII episode 10

So, I had just finished watching episode 10, Sword Art Online season 2, and decided to browse through the comments abit. And one comment that really set me thinking was about Kirito trying to hit on yet another girl, and BUILD ANOTHER HAREM, which I think is so not true.

Not the first time I'm hearing this criticism of SAO (well actually it's gotten rather stale), but for the first time I strongly disagreed with what was being said.

I believe that many people are being misguided by the "harem" tag on SAO, and all the hate surrounding the genre, to become irrationally prejudiced against the show. SAO is definitely a Harem, but two things, firstly, it's not Kirito trying to be a mega playboy, and secondly, SAO is a show with a predominantly male demographic. Live with it.

What people need to realise is that Kirito is just the Standard Shounen Protagonist, who is always too caring for his own good, and can't leave people in trouble alone. Unfortunately, circumstances always result in the protagonist meeting new people and getting close. Most people simply dismiss this as the excuse for Harem, and why it always ends up with the main character being surrounded by girls. You may not notice it, but essentially Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, IT'S ALL THE SAME. Luffy busts into Impel Down for his brother, into Enis Lobby for Robin, and beats the hell out of any "bad guy" on whatever island he's on. Naruto explodes into nine tails for his friends, takes on the world for his friends. Ichigo can die and come back 5 times (actually maybe more) for his friends, for soul society, whatever. It's the same for things like PERCY JACKSON, because HARDWORK + FRIENDSHIP ALWAYS = VICTORY. What works is that whoever fights for their friends will win. 

The aforementioned examples are more focused on the fighting and wtv, but between helping friends and helping friends (who are female), for most shounen protags, it really doesn't matter. It's what the readers think, and harem is simply a result of authors trying to appeal to readers.

Often, harem series have a bunch of girls who exist for no other reason than to add variety to the options the main character has. And usually the main character can never decide which one to be with (The author doesn't want to establish a pairing, and cut off future possible routes. Or for some mega-harem like negima, ichigo 100, cage of eden, they simply keep the bastard indecisive so he can have ecchi scenes with every girl, and which is primarily what drives the story.) SAO CLEARLY DIFFERS FROM THIS, in that there is 60% or more focus on the fighting and the story, than on the girls. IN FACT, RIGHT FROM THE START Kirito is already with Asuna, and the anime makes it even clearer that it's about the romance between the two. 

Granted, SAO is still a harem, some of those girls have no reason to actually exist (Silica, Liz), adding nothing substantial to the story. But unlike other harems stories more deserving of hate, SAO doesn't mess around with them too much. (Also if you put up with it for the first season, and not let that affect your bias, you'll realise that GGO onwards, Sinon is the only other girl Kirito gets close to, and she doesn't simply exist to pander to fans. In Mother Rosario, it's mainly between Asuna and another girl; in the Underworld Arc, Kirito is with a guy.) 

So SAO, Harem? Yes. Kirito building Harem Kingdom? No.

Then, WHY DO THEY ALL GOTTA BE GIRLS???

Well, this brings me on to point 2.

Why don't you try, for one moment, to imagine the "damsel in distress" being a guy, say Klein for example. 

Pretty sure you can't find any way for Klein to be haunted by his trauma, be so wimpy, cry and confide in Kirito as naturally as Sinon did. The author simply conformed to gender stereotypes. Not discussing whether this is good or bad (gender equality wtv bullcrap), but it's EASY, and it works. Pretty darn well. Nuf said.