Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen

Episode 10

I’m starting to feel bad for Lina, a high school student who is required by the USNA to carry out murders on their behalf as she’s also a “Strategic-Class Magician”. I find that disappointing as she’s a teen and such traumatic events would serious mental drawbacks.

What did I think about episode ten? I immediately thought “finally some action”. Short lived action, anyway. I think that’s one of the many problems I have in general with Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen is that when there is an action sequence, it’s one of the most epic yet shortest action scenes you’ll ever witness in an anime. In fact, I think the action scenes in the second season of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei are quicker and are resolved more quickly (with Tatsuya and/or Miyuki ending the fight) than when you compare it to the action sequences in the first season of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei, which are more drawn out.

It’s a shame really because I think the fighting scenes in episode ten were pretty epic and entertaining to watch, I just hated how quick they were. Especially since we saw Miyuki’s most powerful spell Cocytus, amplified by Tatsuya’s massive magic reserve when Tatsuya decided to do that weird thing where he pulled his sister close? To the point where they were about to kiss or something? Like what did I just watch. They literally became ‘one’ to defeat this monstrous parasite, it was honestly one of the weirdest yet most epic sequence of events I’ve seen this season. It’s so weird that I do not even know how to describe what I just watched.

I also like how Kudou and Yotsuba Clan take great interest in the sealed parasites. I assume each one of them wanting to study and maybe learn from the parasites themselves. Which may or may not be a good thing especially since the Yotsuba Clan is probably the strongest Clan out of the Ten Master Clans, who birth even stronger magicians (Miyuki and Tatsuya), Tatsuya of whom is a weapon, product of the Clan itself. Seeing them play more of a role in the anime is nice to see and I hope to see more involvement from them, should more of the light novel be adapted.

Episode 11

I find it funny that it took Tatsuya’s school so long, I assume two full years plus the creation of a new engineering program Tatsuya had designed was enough to make Tatsuya into a “Blossom”. But that isn’t what this episode is about, episode eleven is about the Yotsuba Clan. Yes, we say goodbye to Lina as she heads back to the USA, but we say hello to a late comer to the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei: Raihousha-hen story, Minami. A maid to the Yotsuba Clan and asked by the Head of the Yosuba Clan, Maya, to be her butler’s security because the event they were supposed to attend was an suspected target of a terrorist organization.

Somehow I assume that Tatsuya and company are about to play a role in the last few episodes, as expected of course, as the story the anime tells revolves around them.

There have been many things that irk me about the anime in general. I’ve been vocal about everything as you know, but I cannot help but mention things that bother me that happen throughout the episode. There never is a ‘middle ground’ with regards to how much each episode tells the viewer. Some episodes we have a ton of information, while other times, we have little to no information given. Episode eleven is exactly that, it’s a setup episode, setting up the next confrontation between our characters and those involved. We’re introduced a new character that we know literally nothing about. We also have several other characters in play, all of which I assume will play a role one way or another in the upcoming final few episodes.

I just hate how they’re doing all this towards the end of the series. We go from Lina on a mission to find out who was the magician behind the ‘Scorched Halloween’, to finding and killing all parasites. Whilst that is going on we also have Tatsuya who is trying to capture and seal the parasites AND we also have other individuals who have special interests in the parasites, like the Yotsuba Clan and Kudou.

I just need an episode or two where everything feels straightforward and the action sequences last longer than three minutes (Not actually sure how long the fights are but it feels like 3 minutes or less). I hope the final two episodes provide those two things.