Otaku Central

There are very few anime that I want to watch nowadays. That being said, the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei series will always be one I will go out of my way to watch simply because the first season was so good and hooked me. What’s interesting about these older anime (ones that keep getting renewed) is that while the initial ‘wow’ factor fades away, and as fans come and go, the hardcore fans stay.

I will admit that the Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei series has been rocky since it came back under a different studio. In my most recent blog on the second season, I bashed it hardcore because I didn’t like the change in the animation studio.

But I accept it was the only way the series could return at the time because Madhouse is notorious for doing a ‘one season’ only scheme, especially with their more popular shows. Heck, I am still waiting on a second season of ‘No Game No Life,’ one I know I’ll probably never get.

So anyway, now that Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei 3rd Season is up and about. What do I expect? What were my thoughts on the first couple of episodes? Well, allow me to share my thoughts!

---

What I’d like to see…

It looks like we’re going to see what the Ten Master Clans can do, which, let’s be honest, I think we’ve all considered. What do they control? What do they influence? Just how powerful they and everyone are as a part of that structure. My detective skills have concluded that Miyuki and Tatsuya are ‘outliers’ to this structure. I think we’ll see them start to shake the status quo.

Let us not forget that Tatsuya is still only 25 percent capacity and overpowered. Imagine if more of his magical ability is unlocked, how much damage, power, and influence he’ll have against the Ten Master Clans, all levels of government, and militaries he has.

The author, Satou Tsutomu, has already moved past the ‘High school’ aspect and moved on to a sequel to it. I can only assume that we’re about to see a lot of hints about what will eventually happen later in the story. After all, the goal of the animation studio is not only to profit from anime but also to drive people to read light novels, ultimately giving them more material to adapt to.

That being said, I actually think that the third season will be the last, considering that it has taken the studio, 8bit, four years to get around to the third season. But that’s okay. Three seasons would be good for me. My only hope is that they show off more of ‘Godsuya’ and what he’s capable of doing, simply because I do not think we got enough of that in the previous season.

While I enjoy learning more about the Ten Master Clans, the first four episodes do feel a little bit ‘political,’ which makes sense because the Ten Master Clans are essentially the roundtable for magicians. All ten influential families have a seat at this table and have their own agendas. How much will they be willing to show? I have no idea, but I hope the anime doesn’t get too ‘gamey’ because I do not think it would be entertaining to watch.

Oh, and I also love that LiSA is back for the opening song again. She’s my favourite.

---

What I don’t like…

Now, then, moving on to a dislike. Shippou, this new character they’ve introduced, is kind of annoying. Snobby! Almost like the Vice President in the first season until he got rolled and smoked by Tatsuya in a duel. While the Vice President became humble after that moment, Shippou is a whole different story.

It seems as though Shippou has something he wants to prove. What exactly is it? No idea at the moment; however, I think he’s a jerk for no reason whatsoever.

I will also casually gloss over the fact that the anime should follow the same trajectory as the light novel. Then we’ll see Miyuki and Tatsuya engaged to each other, which is very suspect and something I am not looking forward to. I do not see why the author decided to go that route. Maybe he has a vision I do not see or a reason for why, but I personally am not a fan. I am more of a Tatsuya x Mayumi fan than the latter.

Oh, and let’s not forget that in this third season, we’ll see them animate three arcs. I can only assume that the three arcs are all linked together, so they must be animated together. But I do not like the fact that they’re going to accomplish this in thirteen episodes. To me, that’s rushed. I think it’ll be too condensed, and we will miss out on valuable information for the greater story.

That was my biggest problem with the second season: them (the studio) trying to fit as much information as possible, covering as much content as possible and cramming it all into thirteen episodes. That is why I still maintain, to this day, that the first season has always been the best season to date, simply because they had the time and space to give each scene their time to shine. This, of course, has been something that I think has been missing ever since then.

To conclude…

Ultimately, I want the third season to make up for the failures of its predecessor. But I know I should expect too much, considering that we’ll probably end up seeing more information in a compressed form than we should ultimately be seeing. If you’re going to animate three arcs, you should allocate the appropriate number of episodes to each arc to give each of them their moment in the shine.

I want to see more of what Tatsuya can and can do. I want him to be given full power to see how strong this overpowered character can and will be. I also want to see what Miyuki can do because of how the story has played out for her. We’ve long known that Tatsuya is supposed to protect Miyuki. Still, we also know that Miyuki is the key to unlocking Tatsuya’s full abilities, which means that she, too, is very powerful.

I want to see an overpowered Tatsuya and an extremely strong Miyuki.

What were my thoughts on the first couple of episodes? They could be better, considering we’re already more than 25% done with the third season; I did expect more. So, on that note, what do I expect? I expect all the episodes following episode four will be better than the last and will make up for the various shortcomings that have plagued the series.

If this season is not the last, then one thing I will expect should Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei be re-upped is that we get an anime that’s longer than thirteen episodes.

That is all! Until next time,