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Jun 9, 2024
The second season of Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun targets the themes of fitting in and coming to terms with one's role in life presented in the first season, and applies it in a slightly different lens: with Tomozaki having "developed" in the first season, 2nd Stage works with how he applies what he's learned and whether he can truly process and apply his own perspective on these aspects of life and aid others. Viewers of the first season might take mixed stances on the direction of 2nd Stage, straying further away from the more methodological Hinami Aoi-led self-improvement plot of season 1 to focus more on how
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Tomozaki responds to the world around him, but this direction grants an opportunity to explore Tomozaki's development of independence, confidence, and agency. With strong and confidently executed character interactions and character relationships, 2nd Stage is a well-rounded and recommended watch.
2nd Stage's forte is in developing and maintaining substantive character interactions and interpersonal relationships. The relationships between all characters, even minor ones, are treated with respect and consistency, breathing life into the characters themselves. Many of the characters remain fresh and distinct without devolving into single-purpose characters. Importantly, the show is able to work with Tomozaki processing the world around him and play his character out in new dilemmas despite him having "developed" in season 1. Particularly in the first five episodes, the show is highly adept at pulling off the school drama atmosphere, demonstrating how high school molehills are escalated into mountains in a decently realistic, high school way. Crucially, not everyone shows their cards, and the show allows each character to (at least sometimes) act accordingly to their own thoughts.
That the season executes character relationships well is important to emphasizing the show's thematic strengths: through character relationships, the show has a lot to say about how to act in life, fit in, react to others, the utility and purpose of putting up a facade, and the contrasts and similarities between improving oneself versus putting on a facade to get by in life. These certainly aren't novel themes, but 2nd Stage does well in letting different views on these themes play out among the characters. Tomozaki himself articulates how he's processing these aspects of life often, but while the show can be a bit heavy-handed at times in answering these moral questions, it is fun and engaging to watch how Tomozaki is able to apply his thinking to address them. The first season deals with Tomozaki developing his character. This second season deals with Tomozaki applying it.
Somewhat strangely, the interaction between Tomozaki and Hinami is one of the weaknesses of the second season. Despite the massive importance of their arrangement to Tomozaki's growth in the first season, 2nd Stage treats Hinami's instruction of Tomozaki somewhat as scaffolding to propel the plot: in a way, Hinami's goals are essentially the show telling the viewer what's next. There is a lot of potential depth that goes unaddressed, or is only explored at a surface level. Although Tomozaki can grasp the toxic implications of Hinami's worldview and her methods, the show shies away from letting him truly work with his thoughts independently and tackle this tension, and avoids letting the naturally developing unease simmer. Hinami remains a black box that manages to keep things running in the show, which is a little disappointing.
2nd Stage starts off with a habit of playing a bit fast and loose with the plot. Key events are skipped through and things seem a bit too "easy" for the protagonist to get what he wants. This rush to results does end up in a lot of tell-not-showing, and the show at times dumbs things down a bit too much in explaining situations as they are instead of letting things play out for the viewer to interpret. There are at times random feel-good, uplifting moments, which can be nice but does sometimes kneecap tension or opportunities for more thematic exploration. Thankfully, these weakness do lessen as the show continues. The latter 2/3rds of 2nd Stage takes on a more romantic framing, but does well in contextualizing this in the framework of Tomozaki growing and becoming more cognizant of the feelings of himself and of others. While this shift to romance does make the show much more predictable and leads to it tapping into fairly common romance genre tropes and cliches, the show is able to develop these romantic beats without constantly tripping into the pitfalls of making Tomozaki a one-dimensional character: he's able to experience a blend of desire, pessimism, and agency when it comes to life. While Tomozaki being a relatively mature character in 2nd Stage does mean the show loses the unique luster of his awkward season 1 self, it is nice that 2nd Stage's direction does not perpetually cast him as a fool.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 21, 2023
Net-juu no Susume is a cute, snappily directed romantic comedy with characters that – rare for this genre – aren't incompetent, can figure things out, and promptly confront and deal with misunderstanding. The story and its central pairing are cohesively laid out in 10 episodes, and Net-juu no Susume does not drag its feet: each episode immediately kicking off with the series opening is symbolic of that. The main protagonist and NEET-by-choice Moriko Morioka is endearing, and while the overall setup of a romance bubbling from a happenstance real-life encounter between two close online friends seems a little out there, the series' characters respond realistically
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to events without devolving into mayhem. It's great to see characters in a rom-com that can be both awkward but also understanding and perceptive. It allows their awkwardness to feel real and meaningful rather than manufactured, and Net-juu no Susume's progression is predicated on its characters processing what's going on and becoming cognizant of their feelings.
The series does decently well switching between the real-world of Moriko Morioka and Yuuta Sakurai, and their MMORPG alter-egos Hayashi and Lily. Since the viewer knows who's who but the characters don't, the world of Fruits de Mer serves as a place to grow romantic tension and plays an important role in the series. It's great fun seeing how the characters deal with their external, IRL problems in-game without knowing who's on the other side. The series does not cheapen the importance of either the real-world and the in-game world, and neither one is used to slow down or detract for what's going on in the other: the characters value their experiences in both realms, and Net-juu no Susume does well in recognizing that. The focus in the series is primarily on the main possible-couple-to-be, and the side characters do not arbitrarily add unnecessary or unrealistic drama for the sake of twisting the plot. Of note, Sakurai's friend Homari Koiwai plays a great role in the series and is a pivotal part of the romantic pairing. The other characters fill mostly atmospheric roles and ultimately aren't very consequential – probably why a Washing Machine is listed as a character on MAL – which does mean that some of them are "just there". Some of the interactions/depictions of these other characters do add some obfuscating detail that detract from the story, but that's probably Net-juu no Susume's only clear weakness.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 16, 2023
The third season of Kanojo, Okarishamsu may very well be the most well-crafted installment of the series yet. Its strength comes in mostly playing things straight, covering Kazuya's passionate effort to produce a movie to fulfill Chizuru's dreams (and to help indulge his fantasies, of course, even if only temporarily). Season 3 focuses on the attitudes that Kazuya and Chizuru take towards each other and themselves, and is well-paced to keep things interesting throughout its 12 episodes, even dipping its feet into more emotional and serious tones. This installment is also very cleanly animated and has some hilarious and creative ways of depicting a wide
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range of expressions. Kazuya is once again frustratingly oblivious as always and has a tendency to kneecap himself and the moment with his self-doubt and hormonal hysterics, but there are moments of brightness and maturity from him. As in previous seasons, there are truly selfless parts of his heart buried in his depraved state, and the best parts of season 3 come when Kazuya is able to be pensive and convert his energy into tackling a problem and genuinely figuring things out. However, it can be quite the drag when Kazuya reverts to his usual ways – the kind of moments that make you go "c'mon really?" – which can spoil moments with true potential.
By now, it should be no surprise that Rent-a-Girlfriend has perfected the art of having a relationship both progress and yet feel like nothing has actually changed from start to finish: teasing the viewer is the series' modus operandi and that feeling exudes from season 3 as well. While viewers wanting consequential progression from the romance might be once again stymied, there's numerous morsels of moments between Kazuya and Chizuru. True to its form, season 3 makes these moments ambiguous when it comes to their impact on the two central characters, narratively juxtaposing a tell-all approach with Kazuya with a show-don't-tell approach with Chizuru. As we follow Kazuya's movie producing and its aftermath, we're left to guess where Chizuru stands and how she truly feels through Kazuya's blinders, which keeps things interesting though it may be frustrating to see them both be rather obtuse at times. Yaemori – their neighbor and new to season 3 – adds a splash of exuberant support to try and pair the two together with her insightful Zoomer wisdom, acting as a bridge between Kazuya and Chizuru. Yaemori can come across as obnoxious, but she plays a pivotal part in pushing together the romantic equivalent of Zeno's paradox. Chizuru's grandmother Sayuri is also a key part of the season 3 story and like Yaemori provides refreshing wisdom to the stagnant fake-not-fake relationship. Sumi and Ruka have their moments in the limelight, though season 3 has focused its lens on the clear core of the story and functionally the two come close to being moeblobs for the season. Viewers hoping to see more of Mami unfortunately will get essentially none of her and her chaotic contributions in season 3, though in large part this is a consequence of playing things mostly straight.
In summary, the third season of Kanojo, Okarishimasu is a recommended watch for fans (yes, even the ironic ones) of the first two seasons, and viewers may find more compelling and concisely developed storylines from this installment of the series that opens and closes the movie-making arc. Whether any of the characters have truly evolved is largely left ambiguous even in the face of potentially character-defining moments, and it will be up to the viewer to decide whether any of them have meaningfully changed from the season's start to finish.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 14, 2023
With more dramatic story beats, interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts, and a steady forward momentum to draw out and expand the romantic implications laid out in the first season, Masamune-kun no Revenge R is a strong sequel that brings finality and tackles the consequences of Masamune's plot to exact revenge on Aki. Does his plan come to fruition? Does Masamune realize how ridiculous his plan is? What is its aftermath and how do the characters truly feel about themselves and each other? Season 2 is a recommended watch for viewers seeking answers to these questions and the branching ramifications they imply.
This second season of Masamune aired
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quite long after the first season, so it makes sense that there are more callbacks to and recaps of the first season than many other second-seasons. However, the season does a good job keeping these callbacks concise and limiting them to the most important details to establish the setting and conflicts, doing decently well enough that a season 1 rewatch wouldn't be necessary to be caught up to speed with the plot and its characters. Masamune-kun no Revenge R does a great job of portraying its characters as multi-layered with personal disquietudes: they are not perfect and flawless, but they are not one-dimensionally awful, either. The characters come to realize this, too, and Aki, Neko, Yoshino, and Masamune all have their share of thoughtful introspection, developing and nursing moral conflict in the pursuit of romance. Season 2 does rely on the often-used trope of romantic misunderstandings to create dramatic tension, but allows its characters to muster the courage to directly address these misunderstandings to each other without dragging them out for too long. However, the show's proactiveness to resolve misunderstanding runs a little too quickly sometimes, and in some instances doesn't allow struggles and reactions to marinate and grow organically before moving along with the story. In some spots the pacing of season 2 quickly runs through what should be important transitions: the show often backpedals by showing the aftermath of a critical event first and then portraying that event as a flashback or monologue rather than telling the story straight-up, which would probably be more fulfilling and engaging. That said, it is refreshing to see that the misunderstandings and realizations that come to shape the intentions of the central characters are taken seriously and have meaningful consequences regarding how characters see each other. Aki continues to come across as a bit stubbornly annoying in this season and the series sometimes seems hesitant to scale down the tsundere mold at times, but the other core characters provide a convincing and engaging presence.
Masamune-kun no Revenge R features more drama than the first season, but it's more of a slight curve in emotional tone rather than a sharp change. A balanced romantic/comedic atmosphere still prevails, and the season mostly does a good job in not spoiling its more dramatic moments with random comedy, as well as regularly maintaining its funny moments. The opening arc involving Muriel does seem a bit pointless but provides an on-ramp easing the tonal transition from the comedic overtones of the first season to the more dramatic undertones of the second. While most viewers will probably be able to infer the general direction of the plot, this installment throws intriguing wrenches and roadbumps that spice up the road to the series's conclusion. Some of these dramatic details do seem a little manufactured, but thankfully, the show has well-formed and well-established characters that make these twists and turns all the more engaging. The story also stays focused by ensuring that all of these twists are directly connected to the primary thrust of the plot (Masamune's plan to make Aki fall for him and break up as revenge for her coldly rejecting him in childhood).
The ending of season 2 concludes the series with a strong sense of finality, though the aforementioned tendency for the story to skip forward and reflect back makes the ending a little unfulfilling, skipping over elaborating how we got there and leaving some questions unanswered for the side characters. The ending is a bit rushed and comes rather suddenly, developing discordantly compared to episode 11, which set up what would have been a very surprising, unique, and sensible ending. Nonetheless, the ending and the trip there that season 2 affords offers an intriguing array of character development and finality that many fans of the first season of Masamune-kun no Revenge will enjoy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Oct 8, 2023
The second season of Hamefura is sure to please enjoyers of the fun vibes and warm empathetic notes of the first season. Catarina once again excels in being what fans have come to call "Bakarina": an amusing yet charismatically caring buffoon who seems eternally oblivious, but manages to stumble backwards into solving problems with her friends and her five brain cells. The dissonance between the situation and how Catarina perceives (or doesn't perceive) it makes for great comedy and permeates much of season two. The large, jovial, central crew of characters who came to love and admire Catarina in the first season reprise their roles,
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remaining great friends with one another aside from the sparks of romantic rivalry, and continue to showcase their personalities when the central cast faces dilemmas.
Having cleared the doom flags of Fortune Lover, Catarina has been freed from the shackles of turning into the archetypal otome game villainess. However, without that clear threat looming over the protagonist, most of this second season could possibly be titled "The Hijinks of Catarina Claes and the Friends She Made Along the Way". There's not really a broader plot that ties the season together aside from the romantic tension that Catarina has helped foment between essentially all of the core cast. One could reasonably argue that Hamefura X counts as slice-of-life. There's a lot of screentime dedicated to backstories for new secondary characters and throwbacks/callbacks to previous events (such as before the season 1 timeskip). Several episodes are wholly dedicated to opening and closing a particular incident or story "arc", nipping the bud for any further growth of the story. It takes until episode 9 for the show to take itself a little more seriously and hold and develop a plot point with stakes for more than one episode. These serve to flesh out the characters and their attitudes, but might be a drag for viewers wanting more forward progression. The backstories and the diversions that lead to them can be fun and intriguing, but many ultimately don't contribute a whole lot to the plot, and some of the introduced characters don't add a whole lot. In fact, one of the episodes is essentially a recycling of an episode from season 1 re-envisioned in a different setting. The characters don't change substantially throughout the season, though some of these diversions give them some additional depth.
As a whole, Hamefura X doesn't particularly stand out as far as comedic reverse harems are concerned, but viewers who liked the comedy and characters from the first season and their united pining for Catarina will probably enjoy season two, with clearer romantic beats. Those looking for a renewed focus from season two or a deeper dive into the "escape from an otome game fate" storyline from the first season may be left wanting more. In that respect, Hamefura X feels more like an extended bridge between the first season and a possible third entry in the series rather than a complete work unto itself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Sep 25, 2023
An inherently intriguing premise and a bubbly lead character comically fighting fate itself give Hamefura a lot of promise, but poor pacing and a tendency to stray away from the main story end up undermining the show's momentum and cheapen key moments. It's still a fun and playful watch with bountiful humor especially carried by the antics of Catarina, the lead, but the simultaneous potential for depth and suspense set up by the show early on ends up being disappointing.
Hamefura is powered by a great premise and a compelling twist on the isekai model: with the protagonist Catarina reincarnated as the lead villainess in an
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otome game from her past life, she must now play the game of life right to avoid what seems like certain doom for her. Ever colorful and sympathetic as she strives to remain in the good graces of the game's other characters, Catarina is easy to root for and a hilarious lead. One of Hamefura's strengths is showing Catarina deliberate (with what appears to be her five braincells) upon her next course of action to stay one step ahead of life itself. It's a situation ripe for comedy and intrigue, and Hamfeura does a great job of this early. The show is at its best when we see Catarina's sometimes bungled and sometimes successful attempts to carve a new, unprogrammed route in her new otome world. The other characters in Hamfeura don't particularly stand out (and ultimately end up being somewhat one-note), but it's heartwarming fun seeing Catarina empathetically befriend them and the camaraderie that develops among the central cast.
Unfortunately, what begins as a great start with many avenues for exploration loses its steam about midway through. The show keeps its comedic tenor but gets caught up in side stories and odd excursions that drastically slow down the story and derail the momentum that was building up, so much so that it almost slows into slice-of-life territory with episodes skipping forward in time to whatever ultimately trivial event happens to be ongoing. The show starts off with a lot of potential to play on both being lightheartedly humorous yet also bear meaningful stakes, which would have been a rare and exciting combination. However, Hamefura ends up angling more for the comedic vibe, which is fine for atmosphere but comes at the expense of the story itself. With all the time spent dawdling, the impactful moments in the story come very suddenly and are resolved very quickly, and it's because of this that the payoff for Hamefura's central conflict (after finally getting its premise-driven footing back towards the end) ends up falling pretty flat. By compressing meaningful events and drawing out milieu, a lot ends up going unanswered or deserving of more elaboration, and key events seem to just "happen" without impetus.
Hamefura lays out the framework for a great show, and while it at the very least follows through with what it promises and the threads it opens up, it does so in a way so full of random detours and stalls that its conclusions become somewhat flat and unsatisfying. Nonetheless, Hamefura remains a fun ride with abundant stress-free romantic tension.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 12, 2022
The second season of Kanokari does what one might expect of a sequel. For better or for worse, the characters begin as they were in the first season, so viewers continuing from season 1 get all the cringiness they've come to love or hate. Kanokari gets a lot of disdain for what it is, but it excels in much of what it sets out to polarizingly do. Between the layers of fools' comedy and the (maybe agonizingly) slowly growing threads of romance is a show about a socially awkward man's bungled trainwreck of an attempt to define his love life.
Love him or hate him,
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the season 1 and manga antics of the much maligned Kazuya' (the protagonist) made him the definitive simp exemplar of characters, so it probably would have been very jarring if he had randomly turned over a new leaf for season 2. Embarassment and perversion is his identity, and this season does a great job of showing Kazuya shamelessly at his worst. In some cases, Kazuya's pitfalls in season 2 are even more embarrassing and annoying then in season 1. Kazuya is not a model character, but he may be a model characterization. Kazuya is a frustratingly and irritatingly stubborn character with a moral compass swayed by his hormonal overdrive, and this season is not afraid to keep Kazuya mostly in this mold without random, unexplained spurts of sudden morality or changes of behavior for the sake of advancing the plot. This could forseably make for a bad viewing experience as the stubborn Kazuya also makes the plot progression materially slow, but at the very least it brings an air of believable continuity into what is already an odd character. What gives Kazuya some depth and beyond being a strictly comedic hysteric in season 2 is that he's not completely shameless. He's at least cognizant of some of his faults, but unfortunately those faults are his escape from the rut he's in.
The nice thing about this season is we see more of this cognizance from Kazuya. Sure, the moments are sandwiched between repugnance, and he repeatedly snatches defeat from the hands of victory, but somewhere within his stubborn pericardium is a heart. It's hard to say whether his character truly develops a whole lot in season 2, but at the very least the events of the season help him become a tiny bit more empathetic, understanding, and reflective, with the aid of particularly Chizuru.
All in all, season two of Kanokari is an apt sequel. It has all of the silliness, cringiness, and comedy flourishes of season 1 with a sprinkling of some heart and development. The romantic progression is still at a sloth's pace that tests the viewer's patience once again, but it's a sloth that hasn't been interrupted... yet. Unfortunately, Sumi gets sidelined to a mostly immaterial presence on this go-around, but Mami and Ruka continue to add a twist of precarious uncertainty in Kazuya's plans, along with his and Chizuru's grandmas. Fans of the first season, including even the garbage junkies looking for their daily dose of trash, will probably enjoy this season. Those looking for the anime to sharply turn to a different direction probably aren't going to get that in this season, but at the very least there's a trajectory away from the plane of cringworthy depravity.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 2, 2022
Yuusha, Yamemasu ("I'm Quitting Heroing") is coherent movie that is unfortunately spread across five episodes (episode 8 onward) with seven(!) episodes of what would otherwise be bonus / OVA content tacked onto the beginning. The first seven episodes are increasingly mundane isekai-adjacent managerial fantasy that is pretty formulaic, with our MC Leo helping out the Demon generals one-by-one in an... office internship capacity. There's character and relationship building here along with some funny moments, but it moves terribly slowly. So much of this anime is just... talking... and talking... and talking... and so much of the first half of I'm Quitting Heroing could be condensed
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if they just show-don't-tell'd for once. For a fantasy anime, a lot of this expositional content would probably have been better used for worldbuilding rather than trying to keep with the 'cool sarcastic and powerful MC helps out in a new environment' schtick. No offense to Lili, but there is an entire episode dedicated to improving logistics. Logistics!
Maybe the first half could work better if the entire season was like this, but the switchover to a more serious character study after episode 8 really exposes the seeming irrelevance of the first half. At that point, I'm Quitting Heroing quickly jumps to a different kind of show -- and a much better one -- altogether. It both breathes life into the show and highlights how dawdling everything before it was. Unfortunately the problem the anime has with continuously staying on dialogue/flashbacks continues, but at least it's part of a coherent story rather than a plain collage. MC Leo's situation feels dystopian and we finally get a glimpse of how this is actually affecting the character rather than the jarringly discordant light comedy vibe of the season's first half. The ending of this series is a bit disappointing and predictable after the second half of the season comes into focus, but at least makes sense contextually.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jan 21, 2022
Koi to Senkyo to Chcolate (Koichoco) is a feel-good save-the-club tale couched in a school election drama that follows independent underdog candidate Yuuki Oojima as he attempts to ascend to school president in order to stop the disbandment of the Food Research Club and other clubs like it. If you enjoy a good underdog story and a tale of a group of friends growing together to beat the odds, you'll enjoy Koichoco.
One of the things Koichoco does well is that it gets the main story rolling quickly and stays focused on that story early on without distracting or interrupting itself with too many subplots. This
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does eventually happen, to some extent, but it's rather minimal compared to other visual novel works. The nice thing is that we quickly get a lay of the land in the first episode without wasting much time. We meet much of the cast, have our inciting incident, and explore the cast's camaraderie in the first episode without dawdling on excessive exposition. Some other subplots do get started, but the series chooses to expound on those in the second half. Takafuji Private Academy has a somewhat... ridiculous student government with a lot of underhanded deals, conspiracy, and shady politicking, so there are instances and hints of this going on throughout the whole series. The show doesn't drop this all at once and keeps the puzzle pieces relatively light so there isn't an inordinate amount of things to keep track of and you can gradually figure out what's going on as the story progresses. The plot itself is paced well, at least for the first half (we'll get to the second half later) so we can always look forward to the efforts of our inteprid candidate.
The nice thing about our MC is that he's definitely a guy you can root for. Yuuki's a bit of a fool, but not a complete buffoon and can stand on his own. The main guy in an underdog story should be likable, and Koichoco succeeds here. Yuuki does leave himself to the mercy of his surroundings and the other cast, but he has his own aspirations and isn't a complete pushover.
Koichoco almost feels like a harem when it starts. However, while there are competing love interests, the good thing is that Koichoco doesn't keep circling around this for cheap laughs. The core cast of characters (including the members of the Food Research Club and some others in the school government) are recognizable and fill niches and archetypes much in the way other harem animes do. Different hair, different personalities, different idiosyncrasies... we've got the childhood friend, the quiet feline one, the mad scientist, the one with the mandatory boob envy, and even the drunkard club advisor. We've seen these types of characters before, and they're not particularly unique or memorable, but Koichoco does keeps them entertaining through their comedic interactions. The character interactions are also more fluid and organic instead of dedicating entire episodes to single characters. Artwise, Koichoco does look pretty flat, which makes for somewhat expressionless faces, but overall it is passable.
Koichoco opens up a few dramatic threads in the first six episodes that eventually get resolved more completely in the final six episodes. Because Koichoco focuses a lot on the school election in the first half, it does end up having to take a break from the action to close these loose threads. This puts the election by the wayside and ends up compressing the pivotal final days of the election, which was pretty disappointing compared to what the series' first half set up. This tradeoff between fleshing out the characters and maintaining the intensity of the story was somewhat unfortunate but made for a more well-rounded cast and gave answers to the unanswered questions from the first six episodes. However, things did remain unanswered, and various oddities remained unexplored. One wonders what they could have done with more airtime, or whether they should have focused on the main election story given the 12 episodes they had.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 23, 2021
[Spoiler Free]
Having watched shows like the the Fruit of Grisaia, Rokuaka, Maou Gakuin, and Chivalry of a Failed Knight, I decided to give Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei (aka Mahouka) a go given its similarities with those other four and its popularity and decently high rating. Unfortunately, it turned into a bit of a messy trainwreck, which is a shame because it leaves so many pieces around that could have been explored with much more coherence and depth.
BOTTOM LINE
Mahouka is a magic school show crossed with an action thriller whose complicated magic system and complicated geopolitics produce confusing and inorganic results. Its deadpan, rule-of-cool protagonist
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is too overpowered and erases any sense of ambiguity and mystery; the show relies on his immaculate abilities, intellect, and offscreen actions/knowledge to advance the plot. The focus on showcasing his brilliance has a cascading effect that cheapens the role of the ensemble cast and their subplots. Foreseeably a fun watch if you like magic school fights and worldbuilding with ample external action, but likely underwhelming or disappointing if you're looking for coherence and character development that you can put your mind to.
PLOTS WITHOUT A BRIDGE
Mahouka suffers from an identity crisis. There's two worlds that Mahouka tries to dabble in, pulling at the series in two directions. Mahouka wants to be a show about a magic school, its students, drama, and school conflicts and competitions. Mahouka also wants to be a geopolitical, crime, and action thriller. It's a noble effort to spice up the world. However, the series struggles to really show the interplay between these two directions. When things start out, it's a magic school show with random political/crime shenanigans afoot. These political incidents happen, but Mahouka doesn't do a good job showing why these things are relevant. Instead of painting a picture or offering pieces of a puzzle for us to piece together, we instead get assorted, fleeting snapshots of ambiguous importance. We're told some things about the state of the world, and forced to accept things, without being shown why they're actually playing out. Important developments are simply thrown at the viewer, rather than revealed.
Despite how much of an influence in-universe politics has on Mahouka, there's an inflated amount of time spent on describing the magic system -- the technological gizmos, pseudo-physics and endless technobabble -- but woefully insufficient setup on the political side. Way too much political and family drama takes place in still frames. School incidents and characters seem to randomly and suddenly escalate to criminal and political implications inorganically, as if the series went "oh wait, remember that thing we randomly brought up earlier? It's a whole conspiracy now." Because the series keeps bouncing between the school world and the political world, the actual importance of various events or information lacks any persistance. Seemingly consequential incidents are immediately brushed over, with our heroic main cast being all smiles the next day while everyone else would seem completely unchanged or indifferent despite their proximity to tragedy. Characters respond to these events as if terrorist attacks and vigilantism are the norm.
Many probably find the middle arc of the series - the Nine Schools Competition -- pretty boring, but in my mind it's actually the first time the series slows down enough to show some connected interplay between the magic school side of things and the geopolitical/crime thriller side of things, allowing the two facets to play off one another more organically even if they still seem pretty ridiculous. For the first time, there are stakes that characters react to. Towards the end of the season, we finally get scenes that actually develop the political side, allowing us to finally understand the universe a little better. These scenes don't elicit an "ohhhhh now it all makes sense!" but instead leaves the viewer asking "why didn't you show something like this earlier?" I think towards the latter half of the season, Mahouka realizes that the in-universe politics is what actually drives the show's conflict and starts to devote more attention to it, and it's at that point that the show starts to slightly more consistently paced and focused.
This issue with unfocused direction causes characters with some sort of interesting backstory to collapse into one-note roles. Saegusa Mayumi and Juumonji Katsuto apparently are prominent figures within the Ten Master Clans that supposedly wield tremendous power over Japan, but Mahouka does nothing with this dimension. Instead, we just get a Mayumi who is there to flirt with and tease the protagonist, and a Katsuto who is only there to be a big tough guy. There are also way too many characters that are introduced in both the magic school and political spheres throughout the entire show, preventing any detailed or coherent development. This partly has to do with the show's strict adherence to chronology, forcing it to splice scenes. Unfortunately, because the show's events get a bit ridiculous and escalate too quickly regardless, this scene splicing confuses the audience instead of promoting a sense of realism.
Much has also been said about the endless avalanche of magic/combat system explanations and the pseudo-scientific, neo-technological exposition that underlies them. While its neat and sort of cool that the show goes in depth about all this, there are way too many magic system intricacies to keep track of, and this is made worse by the show's identity crisis between the magic school and political side of things, preventing the audience from actually absorbing this information. New mechanics are introduced at every corner, so much so that you start to feel that the magic system is the way it is only for the story's convenience, rather than the characters growing into the preexisting magic system. For an alleged magic school, there's surprisingly little learning going on. There are supposedly classrooms, classes, tiered tracks, clubs, lunches, and a student council, yet nobody seems to be learning anything. The only improvement in magic skills that happens is thanks to hand-me-downs or instruction from the all-powerful main character, Shiba Tatsuya. Speaking of him...
A PROTAGONIST WITHOUT LIMITS
This is arguably the biggest issue with its show, because it underlies the entire series. Mahouka is centered on an overpowered character -- in this case a student at a magic school who excels at essentially everything other than the specific things that the magic school tests for. It's fine that a series has overpowered characters, even in shows that present themselves seriously. There are many ways that an overpowered character can be crafted so that the audience can actually remain invested, including one of or a mix of the following:
- The character's powerful traits "spoil" the character by either producing hubris or coming up short in certain situations
- The character is not used to their overpowered traits, so they struggle to fully apply them
- The character is overpowered in only a limited range, so that they must still be clever, witty, and resourceful to overcome challenges
- The character doesn't know everything, so there are still mysteries that take effort to solve
- Either the character or the show itself treats the overpowered abilities comedically
The important thing is that these overpowered characters need at least some actual flaws and struggles, as well as motivations and compulsions vulnerable to setbacks. These weaknesses together allow an audience to gain sympathy for such characters, be invested in their growth, and feel the weight of their ups and downs despite their otherwise inhuman traits. That said, good lord, Mahouka completely botches this. Shiba Tatsuya, the main character, is essentially god. He has access to magical spells no one else can use, can analyze magical sequences at supercomputer speeds, is a prodigious enginner, and is apparently never wrong about any insight he provides. He seemingly knows everything at every second, and nearly every moment in the show is dedicated to telling the audience that Tatsuya is perfect and has supreme intelligence. Sometimes we'll be showcased moments of non-sequitur brilliance because Tatsuya is such a perfect being. It almost feels like the show relies on Tatsuya randomly doing something to advance the plot.
His infallible mind also strips the show of any intrigue or mystery, because he already knows all there is to know about whatever terrorist organizations, crime syndicates, affiliates, and political motivations there may be. Everytime a new character shows up, Tatsuta already knows their background and everything that will be shown to the audience, removing any air of mystery or curiosity that the viewer may have. If he doesn't know something immediately, then his flawless analytics rapidly reach the proper conclusions. Whatever weaknesses Tatsuya has are given hand-wavey one-off explanations that don't align with his behavior throughout the show, and seem to only be there to try to mask the fact that he is essentially god. He's flawed only because Mahouka tells us he is, but Mahouka shows us he isn't. Worst of all, he hardly experiences development or change because he is already perfect to begin with. Epsiode 1 Tatsuya is identical to Episode 26 Tatsuya -- same ambitions, same personality, same worldview, same infallible thought processes.
Mahouka has funny moments, but takes its main character seriously and wants us to, too. I'm usually fine with a deadpan, analytical and "chill" demeanor like what Tatsuya has. Unfortunately, it's precisely the opposite of what's needed to save the show from itself. The result is an overpowered, infallible character played straight for 26 episodes, which starts to get grating after a while. It's fun to see detractors get their comeuppance early on or come to realize his godlike powers, but after it repeats and repeats for the umpteenth time across 2 cours, you start to tire of it. Everything bad that happens ends up with Tatsuya saving the day, so much so that you start to realize that things would play out almost identically if Tatsuya's friends never did anything and left Tatsuya to do all the work fighting crime and saving the world. Any insight that any other character provides is obsolete when Tatsuya shows up. I started rooting for Tatsuya's friends and other side characters to take care of business only for Tatsuya to repeatedly steal the show; towards the end of the series his mere appearance would suck the energy out of a battle. Mahouka's mishandling of the protagonist also ends up manifesting in battle choreography. Because the show insists that Tatsuya is perfect, his choice of friends and allies must also be perfect, resulting in underwhelming fights and quick victories that do a disservice to all the magic system building that the show does. This unwavering portrayal of Tatsuya also means the antagonists are either written like ridiculous caricatures of villains or are antagonizing for the sake of being antagonizing, with the wonkiest and most convoluted/arbitrary justifications for hating Tatsuya. Any antagonist with some depth gets wrecked by Tatsuya and then is cast aside by the show because any development on their part would detract from Tatsuya's grasp on the series. If you are not in the Church of Tatsuya, you get annihilated, and if you are, you get stat buffs.
Tatsuya is not only written to be unblemished in both ability and intellect, but also in charisma. His gravitational pull is apparently like a black hole with an event horizon that stretches to infinity. Aside from the antagonists, almost every character gets charmed by Tatsuya, so much so that you start to wonder if Mahouka is morphing into a harem anime. I'm trying to think of every single girl that has a line of dialogue in the show, and I can't think of one that isn't infatuated or has some weird fascination with Tatsuya. Some characters also seem to just randomly take a liking for Tatsuya as if a switch was suddenly flipped, without any meaningful buildup or rationale. As if the show's deification of Tatsuya wasn't enough, his sister, Shiba Miyuki, is this precise issue manifest as a character. I've seen it said that Miyuki is one of the worst written characters in anime. This is a direct result of the mishandling of an overpowered portagonist. Miyuki has some independent moments of her own but overall is only there to receive headpats and comforting words from Tatsuya or to say "onee-sama" and shower Tatsuya with endless praise and love. This is a seriously limited role for a lead character and all comes back to the mishandling of Tatsuya. I felt that there was so much more depth and backstory in the sibling bond that could be explored, but instead it's brushed off in favor of dissonant romancing moments amid political strife. Seriously, it gets excessive (to the point of essentially incestuous fan service) and ultimately goes nowhere because the show never dives into why their bond is the way it is outside of simple statements.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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