Magical Warfare

Takeshi Nanase is an ordinary high school student with a difficult past. On his way to kendo practice, he comes across a girl named Mui Aiba in a school uniform he has never seen before. After being nursed back to health by Takeshi, instead of thanking him, she accidentally turns him into a magician.

Takeshi learns that the current world is actually split into two: the world that he's living in and the world of magicians. He also finds out that Mui is a magician who is going to the Subaru Magic Academy to learn how to control her powers and live with regular people. Takeshi and his new magician friends, Kurumi Isoshima and Kazumi Ida, decide to join the academy instead of going back to the real world.

Magical Warfare is an action anime from the winter season of 2014. It ran from January to March and has 12 episodes. The production was done by the famous Madhouse Studios, known for some legendary anime like Death Note, One Punch Man, Hunter x Hunter, Monster, Black Lagoon, and many others. The anime Magical Warfare was based on the same-named light novel by Hisashi Suzuki.

Magical Warfare is an anime that has disappointed viewers in every possible way. Being the work of Madhouse, fans expected a lot from this fantasy, but few of those expectations were fulfilled. The reason for this is primarily the plot, as well as the pacing and characters. All in all, there isn't much to rave about in this adaptation.

The first impression most people have when they give this story a chance is confusion. It is very difficult to connect an intriguing premise with a series that has almost no plot. And after the initial shock, there is a feeling of pity, not so much for the wasted time as for the wasted potential that the anime had.

The first problem with the story can be seen right away when the concept of the anime is explained. The story of the magical world is nothing unprecedented; what's more, the theme of magical warfare is one of the most used in this genre. However, the generic nature of the story is not its biggest problem. What turns viewers off is how much of it doesn't make sense. Everything happens too fast and at once. The anime tries to explain at the same time why the two worlds exist, how they came to be, who lives there, and anything else that might interest viewers. However, this bombardment of information achieves the exact opposite effect.

The partial lack of plot is what definitely affects the quality. In the first part of the anime, we simply get to know the main character and get hints that he will be strong. Apart from that, we don't get anything: no concrete plot with a goal and a point.

Despite all this, the worst thing about Magic Warfare is the pacing. The story from beginning to end is unbalanced, with a lot of information and unrelated skips. When you combine that with the illogicalities that plague this anime, you get a storyline that is impossible to follow. In the end, the anime itself failed to explain its own plot. The ending was completely rushed, and what was okay was ruined. It seemed like when the anime got to episode 11, the author realized there was no more time, so a few episodes of explanation and information were skipped in order to get to the end right away. This led to numerous plot holes and no real ending. The already confusing story ended even worse, and there is no one who can explain what exactly happened in the second half of this anime.

Drama is also one of the main genres of this anime, and it's definitely present, but considering all the previous story problems, there was no way to do this aspect solidly. The first problem is that there is so much information in such a short amount of time. In parallel, we follow the family drama of the protagonist and Mui's attempts to get her brother back. There wasn't enough time to go into these stories in depth, so they stayed shallow and unimportant. The audience simply didn't have a chance to connect with these stories and take them seriously.

Lack of logic is one of the first terms that come to mind while watching this show. There are just so many unanswered questions, like by what logic did Takeshi get magic in the first place? Why is he able to defeat people much more experienced than him? Why does Ghost Trailer try to destroy people when they can already turn them all into wizards so easily? These are just some of the many things that don't make sense in the anime Magical Warfare. The fact that such important information is at stake only shows how badly the story was put together.

The next important part of the story that is bad beyond the plot problems and information dumps is the characters, who are bland and uninteresting. Although their lack of personality and development was influenced by the number of episodes, the characters didn't have much to begin with. The protagonist, Takeshi, is the epitome of every living stereotype. He is simply a hero who wants to leave his world and save people without any good reason, and at the same time, he is unrealistically talented in magic. There is nothing overly amazing about him, and he is by far the least interesting character. He just has no personality and is often indecisive.

Alongside him is Mui, who is also nothing special. She is a little girl who wants to save her brother and will do anything to reach her goal. Unfortunately, this plot line did not manage to overly touch the viewers, so Mui as a character was not seen as something incredible either. There's also Takeshi's fake girlfriend and delinquent best friend, who are too easy to forget.

Another aspect of magical warfare that is poorly executed is that of antagonists. Like the positive characters, they are quite bland and uninteresting. The story's main antagonists are the "Ghost Trailer," who also represent certain stereotypes. The story tried to present them as deep characters that you can relate to, but basically, they are classic clichéd villains with big egos and cheesy ambitions. In theory, there is a reason for their actions; however, the plan itself is illogical and just seems like an attempt to get more out of them. Gekkou is another villain about whom there really isn't anything positive to say. There's just no justification for his behavior towards his brother, and the fact that the series tries to present his problems as a valid argument for treating Takeshi like that makes him even less likable.

This anime's other flaws include tasteless romance and mediocre worldbuilding. There is simply no chemistry between the main characters, and a romantic triangle was thrown in that makes no sense because we know from the beginning who the protagonist will end up with. As for world-building, it is one of the most important aspects of fantasy anime. In Magical Warfare, there was some talk about how the two worlds were connected, but neither world was ever looked into as much as it should have been.

The look of the anime isn't bad, but it doesn't match the atmosphere and can be inconsistent. The designs of the characters are boring and based on common ideas about those characters. The animation is generally okay, although more was expected from Madhouse.

The music is the best part of this anime. The OST is very catchy and goes well with the action scenes. The opening is also great and really puts you in the right mood for watching an anime like this.

Magical Warfare is a missed opportunity, primarily due to poor pacing. The very concept of the series could have been very interesting, but the flow of the story did not allow it. There are many plot holes, and the characters are also very bad and forgettable. If nothing else, at least the music is good.