Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei – 02

Episode 02 –

While the seemingly one-sided love between the main characters is already starting to grow wearisome (incestuous undertones aside), at least this episode centers in on one of the more intriguing conflict points brought up in the first episode; that is, the social stratification in the student body.

It’s rare to see, in anime at least, an extremely strong form of social discrimination (this is different from bullying, which we see surprisingly often). In any case, we see the talented “bloom” magicians separated out from the untalented “weed” students; this is made painfully obvious by the emblems embroidered on their uniforms. If you don’t have an emblem, then you are deemed “inferior” by the blooms. This hiearchy seems to be playing a powerful role in shaping the setting and characters, where you can see it’s effects everywhere from the student council’s “no weed” policy, to the Blooms’ blatant lack of even a modicum of respect towards their “Weed” peers.

Of course, this setup is meant to emphasize the nature of the main protagonist, Tatsuya. I mean, after all, it’s even mentioned in the title to this series: “Rettousei”, which roughly translates to “the Irregular student”. In other words, our character is meant to directly oppose this social hiearchy explicitly by showing off abilities that are outside the scope of the tests used to determine the “blooms” and “weeds”. In effect, he would be the “irregular” that proves that weeds aren’t necessarily inferior.

In other words, the protagonist’s very presence is effectively calling “bullshit” on the methodology used to classify “blooms” and “weeds”. While I do think this is a valid way to attack the discrimination issue, I do worry that this series will simply devolve into Tatsuya performing some wondrous miracle time and time again; he already performed one when he easily defeated the vice president this episode. Sure, his extraordinary accomplishments would break the stereotype of Tatsuya as a “weed”, but it wouldn’t be making much of a statement; it would simply be saying that he is far more exceptional than the other “weeds” around him. The more valid way to handle this would be to have the weeds, through sheer hard work and motivation, overcome this barrier of discrimination, because then it would be obvious that the discrimination is superficial.

Instead, I worry that we’re going to have a superman of sorts here, where Tatsuya consistently performs miraculous deeds on par with his near instantaneous defeat of the vice-president (whom probably was no pushover considering his status). If that happens, then the whole “weed” vs “bloom” debate becomes pointless; instead, it simply becomes “look how awesome Tatsuya is, he’s just an exception to the weed rule, while the rest are still weeds”. And that would be sorely disappointing.

Score: 6.5/10

Screenshots are later in the post.

First Impressions – No Game No Life – 01

Episode 01 –

I can straightforwardly say that No Game No Life should be watched purely for entertainment. With a invincible duo for protagonists, a fantasy world that works right to their advantage, and healthy amounts of disdain of the real world, there is no doubt that this series is meant to be one of fantasy fulfillment. That doesn’t necessarily mean this won’t be fun, though.

I think what is important for anybody watching this series is the way in which they approach the story. If you want some exceptionally good character development, intense and intelligently thought out game battles, and serious plot, you probably won’t get particularly much out of this show (at least, based on first impressions). There are obvious hints to the social outcast status of the main protagonists, but this episode gave off the impression that the main focus will be on the game battles in the fantasy world.

Rather, if you want to watch a show where the main characters cheat their way to victory, No Game No Life fits the bill. Success in this series seems to be directly tied to your ability to cheat and scheme up dastardly plans, so from the viewpoint of pure entertainment, I can easily suggest this show based on first impressions. I can imagine this getting particularly entertaining if both sides end up cheating, leading to some potentially outrageous encounters.

The biggest issue I can see here, though, is the believability of the story. For instance, when the main character managed to magically “cheat” and pull off a royal flush, I was less than convinced. It would’ve been nice to actually see the level of skill and effort that was needed to pull off that trick, and be shown exactly how he did it without being noticed. That’s the one flaw to invincible characters; things can quickly get boring if they always seem to be winning in some “magical” manner.

Anyways, with this one episode there is one fact that is absolutely crystal clear; the “games” will not be contests of pure skill, but rather, gaming skills combined with the sheer ability to exploit every little loophole and scheme possible to pull yourself to victory and deceive your enemy. Assuming the main protagonists don’t end up overwhelmingly one-sidedly defeating every enemy they encounter, this show should make for, at the very worst, a mindlessly entertaining series.

Score: 6.0/10

Screenshots are later in the post.

First Impressions – Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii – 01

Episode 01 –

Soredemo is a series that is based on a manga series, one that I’ve been following for a few months now. And admittingly, this introductory episode was rather different from what I had anticipated. Not necessarily in a bad way, mind you; it’s just that the tone to the adaptation seems to be rather different from the manga. In short, the manga tends to have a lot of introspective moments regarding the main heroine and her relationship with the sun king. In comparison, it seems that this TV series may be placing emphasis on the comedic elements to the story.

To be fair, we haven’t really seen much of the Sun King in terms of screentime, so there is the obvious possibility that this introductory episode was only meant to give us a feel for the characters and general setting. And in that regard, this episode did an okay job; primarily, it established the very energetic, proactive personality of the princess from the Rain Kingdom. From her silly desperate lack of knowledge of the country, to her naivety with regards to foreign countrymen, we do get a general understanding of our princess (although nothing particular in-depth).

We also get a vague idea as to what it means to be a prospective wife to the Sun King; with political plotting abound, a real sense of danger exists here. Considering the king’s apparently young age, this setting makes even more sense. After all, it’s not common to have a young boy to gain control over a vast empire, and it would come as no surprise if this somehow begets ill will against both him, and his soon to be wife.

In the end, we only have one half to the equation here; we only see the princess, and don’t have a clue as to what the King will be like. It’s rather obvious that the pair’s interactions will make-or-break this series, where their relationship and character growth will be critical to the overarching plot (especially with regards to the political overtones).

Score: 7.0/10

Screenshots are later in the post.

First Impressions – Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei – 01

Episode 01 –

Mahouka’s original source material, a light novel series, has been quite popular in Japan (selling a few million volumes, I believe). Thus, it comes as no surprise that it is one of the more hyped series for the season, particularly amongst the male demographic in Japan. Knowing that, what do we exactly get out of this first episode? Succinctly put, this episode features nice animation, fluidly-animated fight scenes, some solid introductory world-building, and a lot of ugh-why-brother-sister-romcom antics.

To be fair, ignoring the seemingly incestuous brother-sister relationship of the main characters, this episode proved to provide several points of interest regarding the setting. The most noticeable point of interest would be the social stratification prevalent in the student body; it’s quite intriguing that this social stratification is not only officially mandated by authorities, but also imposed due to how it plays a critical role on an international scale (primarily, producing magic-wielding soldiers for war). I can easily see this series delve into some rather interesting conflicts regarding individual vs national interests, but whether it will pan out in such a manner is dependent on the original story.

The dynamic between the main protagonist and his little sister, on the other hand, does not bode well for the series. The relationship between the two is wholly unnatural (and I daresay, not healthy), and if this dynamic continues to be the central focus to this series, I suspect that the character development will suffer tremendously. Another issue with this dynamic is that both the sister and brother are portrayed as rather flawless and highly capable individuals; I don’t really see much room for character growth, and could easily make the main duo a bore to watch.

In the end, this series has some merits worth noting, mainly being the impressive animation and the interesting setting. I can also see the magic system being fairly intriguing; from first impressions, it seems to have been built in a comprehensively detailed (almost technical) manner. However, good setting and world building does not necessarily equate to a good show; this is all bogged down by a rather mediocre main cast, where I see little room for growth and development.

Score: 6.5/10

Screenshots are later in the post.