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Mar 16, 2015
The irregular at magic high school, better known as Mahouka, is a well produced anime. It's a much more standard Shounen anime than I first thought, and you could easily place it with recent anime such as Tokyo Ravens or Accel World.
Good:
+ Magic system is interesting. So broken that it's not.
+ Large cast of characters.
+ Decently paced. Doesn't drag on to fill the animation budget.
+ Drama is kept to a reasonable level.
+ Characters aren't dying left and right.
+ Leaves room for a second, and/or third season.
+ Relatively unique concept of magic
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Bad:
- Shiba siblings aren't well explained nor explored.
- Characters aren't dying left and right.
- Magician's "mana" limits are ill-defined.
Ugly:
-- It's a standard Shounen series in disguise.
-- Haters seem to really hate characters that are completely overpowered to the point of nigh-invincibility. (I say this only because Tokyo Ravens and Mahouka have a score difference of .09, but the top reviews for Mahouka are 7-3-5-7, and Tokyo Raven's top reviews are 8-8-7-8.) Don't people realize that main character's lives are only on the line at season endings?
Again, Mahouka is a standard Shounen. It doesn't have a mind blowing plot, it's characters aren't getting slaughtered by the dozens. What really interests quite a few people is the premise. Sadly, the premise isn't the complete driving force of the anime. However, magic in the anime obeys it's own laws. And by it obeying it's own laws, I mean its overpowered in every aspect, especially those that are figureheads.
Speaking of overpowered, that's where our main characters come in. Shiba Tatsuya, and Shiba Miyuki. Technically they're the main characters, but they're quite dull. One is practically soulless, and the other has a Big Brother complex. Neither are particularly interesting, raw power is where they stop.
The redeeming aspect of the show is the large cast outside of the Shiba siblings. The student council is interesting, the Nine Schools participants are solid, and it just feels like many of them are people.
I do recommend Mahouka, mostly because of it's magic. If you've done programming, it's like programming with physics, so some interesting concepts come up. The characters are likable enough, and there's enough action, plus drama doesn't swallow up the show. I'm looking forward to the next season
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 31, 2014
At it's heart, this sequel is meant to just give you more time with the characters, so enjoying this sequel is completely about your expectations.
The original series was about growing out of your awkward early teenage years, getting over your delusions and accepting a measure of adulthood and responsibility. This second season takes all the lessons learned, character's increases in maturity, and goodness from the first season and forgets it. It focuses on the odd romance between Yuuta and Rikka, which progresses in a non-standard fashion.
My verdict is:
It's fine, as long as you don't expect anything deep.
That said, it's KyoAni quality animation that looks
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great. It's just no where near the caliber of show the first season was.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 24, 2013
If action defines whether you like a show, this show is for you.
If you're looking for a meaningful story, steer clear.
The show is worth watching the first four episodes, either way. It's just like they made four episodes of a series with really cool characters but no point, and suddenly decided they needed a "moral of the story" about friendship inserted at the end. *sigh*
--- Action ---
The combat is bloody gorgeous, the fights are amazing, and the music is fitting. Amazing if you're just watching for this. A 10/10 for the fights alone.
--- Story ---
I began watching this show, loving it. It was mysterious as
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to how the alternate world related to the real world, and actions performed in both worlds were ambiguous and difficult to tell if they were results or representations from the other world. I loved the show but got the feeling it might turn sour.
Then episode 5 hit, and turn sour it did. The story turned into the biggest "friendship" story ever. It leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth because the alternate world is the most unfulfilling reveal I've ever seen. The world was not cohesive, and the explanation for girls was nonexistent. Just friendship and seemingly dynamic characters turned into cardboard cutouts.
- Characters, Enjoyment, and Misc -
The first four episodes are really enjoyable. I would recommend watching the series just for those. However, the drastic shift in theme of the last four are really quite depressing. Characters are about average, their real world parts are pretty meh with their alternate world counterparts as intriguing but hollow.
Enjoyable? Mostly. Worth Watching? Only for the first four episodes.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 14, 2013
I tried to love this anime. I wanted to love this anime. So many glowing reviews surrounded this anime, and it took every drop of my fading enthusiasm to finish SEL to the end, hoping it would mean something to me.
(Light/Unintentional Spoilers present)
Lets start with the source of my problem with the series - Lain. Lain doesn't really have many friends, and she doesn't seem to be passionate about anything at all. It seems like her down time is just her chilling in her room at home in bear pajamas. One day she gets a message from a classmate that committed suicide. This somehow sparks
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her to ask her dad for a more powerful computer. Right there was my problem with Lain. She lacks personality or apparent motivation for anything. She doesn't seem to enjoy making her computer more powerful even though apparently it's amazing. Her personality changes from episode to episode. I can't understand Lain. What makes her tick? Why does she care about anything? Does she care about anything? Why is Lain so important in the Wired? Does Lain really have an opinion about anything?
It boils down to her actions meaning nothing to me because they lack any sort of background character development. Lain starts as a blank slate and doesn't grow from there.
The rules of SEL's universe are beyond ill defined. They're downright mystical. They take computers from being a communication and data network to being a conglomeration of people's consciousnesses. Or something like that. As I said, it's not really defined.
Somehow the wired can manipulate matter beyond people's thoughts. (Wires being explained as connecting people through some phenomenon.) This was the killing blow, honestly. It's the god mode for the authors to do whatever they wanted and override plot holes.
Overall I couldn't enjoy the show (despite really really wanting to) because Lain was inconsistent and poorly developed. Its ending meant very little to me because they all could have died and I wouldn't have shed a single tear. The show failed to let me suspend disbelief, develop Lain as a character, present the philosophical aspects, or make me care. It gets a five because I watched it, and anything less than a five, I drop.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 3, 2013
Sword Art Online is a fast paced adaption of an author's debut novel, which does some things really great, and others not so well.
Lets start out with saying that I have read the light novels. The anime is nearly a pure adaptation of the novels, although it keeps everything chronological and brings the many side arcs and stories in line to make it more cohesive. Usually I'm a huge fan of keeping strictly to the source material. Not so much here.
The author had a major chance to expand and redevelop his debut novel into a solid anime, but instead he let them copy it directly,
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with its many many problems with the amount of content between the floors.
Story (7) Lets face it, I went into this series expecting Aincrad's floors to be cleared one by one, drawing things out wherever possible. I was pleasantly surprised to see the first boss cleared by the second episode, and it just went as fast as it could past that. Not really predictable, but my biggest complaint is the disconnect between the side story(Second Light Novel), and the main arc. Asuna was a great character until the end of the side stories and lost her charm, becoming Kirito's foil.
Art (9) abec's visualization of the characters is what makes the the characters work for a lot of people. All of the characters stand out and are really quite well designed. The art and animation is beautiful.
Sound (10) A perfect 10. Lets face it, if not for the music, I probably would never have gotten as absorbed in this series as I have. The main theme, "Swordland" is inspiring and just makes the battle scenes that much more intense. The rolling drums fit the theme, and remind me of Chrono Cross' world map music.
Characters (6) The characters are improperly dealt with and don't capture a lot of what was going through the minds of the characters in the Light Novels. You get a glimpse of Kirito as a solo player that regrets being selfish and not playing and helping others, but you never get into his mind, except a few times, such as when he vilifies himself to draw "aggro" away from the other beta testers in the second episode. Lets break it down further.
Kirito - The main character of the series. An alleged Gary Stu of the first class. However, he's likable. It's not a harem anime, technically. Sometimes we're not so sure...
Asuna - An amazing rapier user that fights alongside Kirito. As mentioned, she starts off the series as a really awesome character, and lost most of my respect at the 9th episode. A good character, just a too generic.
Liz - Perceptive, smart, and a good friend of Asuna's. Doesn't show up much, but good none the less.
Lyfa - Lets say she has some problems. Remember that harem thing I mentioned earlier? Yeah... Otherwise she's pretty cool.
Klein - The closest thing Kirito has to a friend as a solo player. Maybe the best guy character in the show, too bad we didn't see him too much.
Enjoyment (9) I enjoyed it until the main arc started and Asuna lost a lot of my respect. The combat scenes are great and the world is richly imagined.
The per-episode flow typically keeps to a well established formula, with action and a lower key character development section included in each episode.
Overall (8) It's not the most amazing anime of all time, but it does a lot of things right in the development department. This is one of the times where I would have liked to see the author really work over his material before putting it in the format he did. Things are missing, and it's oddly paced. Plus the ALO arc is tacked on for the second half of the season.
Verdict:
Watch the first 14 episodes. The rest is fanservice and doesn't live up to the spirit of Aincrad.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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