THE IRREGULAR AT A MAGIC HIGH SCHOOL It has been a long time since The Irregular at Magic High School, a popular novel series in Japan, began to be adapted into anime, a story in a world where magic and technology are one. Such a premise was what hooked me to follow the series back in 2014. But how well does this series handle this concept? So, today we bring you its review! It has not been easy, but the siblings Tatsuya and Miyuki have managed to enter the prestigious Institute of Magic. This institute is where future master magicians are trained before joining the National University of Magic, an incredible opportunity for anyone. However, there is terrible news. In high school, not all students have the same category. While the Blooms are considered superior for their magical abilities, the Weeds come in as a spare. They are the ones who will replace the Blooms in case there is an accident, or they decide to leave their place. Miyuki has managed to enter the institute as one of the most promising Blooms, but Tatsuya is just a Weed. How will the two siblings work to cope in an environment that threatens to separate them? What is interesting about The Irregular at Magic High School is precisely the environment in which the story takes place. Forget spell books, magic potions, and wands. The spells used by the characters in the series are far from what we can find in any epic fantasy story. They have been transformed into programs and data. Now it is high-tech gadgets that one has to use to unleash their magical capabilities (CAD). So setting it in a magic high school and beginning with their first days of classes is the perfect first arc for a story with so many concepts to learn by using it to present the magic system it proposes and the discrimination towards people untalented in magic. This drastic distinction between Booms and Weeds generates conflicts among the students themselves. What matters in the Institute of Magic are the magical abilities. Entrance tests examine all students in the same way as if there are no differences in their abilities. Tatsuya gets the best marks in the theoretical part, with an average that many of his classmates could not reach. But that doesn't matter. Blooms and Weeds’ separation is so noticeable that the latter do not enjoy many of the former's privileges (no personalized practical classes to develop their magical abilities, for example). The Blooms avoid associating with the Weeds: it is frowned upon. They must remain separated by that category difference. Despite everything, Tatsuya struggles to gain a foothold and ensure that nothing separates him from his sister until he attracts some important students' attention. The second arc is much less heavy in importance to the story (it can seem to be the typical school anime filler with a touch of magic), except for certain occasions like Tatsuya and Maki meeting, and the ending is a twist for the last arc of the season. It is filled with some brutal deaths with the so-called Yokohama incident. This is where there is a rush in the script that makes it more evident that the previous arc served as a transition fill between arcs. It is an ending full of fights, mechs, armor, and much more complex magic mixtures with technology. The anime manages to finish leaving you waiting for a second season (which has just ended its broadcast) In my personal opinion, one of the most prominent weaknesses of the franchise is how the characters have been developed. It starts with creating Tatsuya as a perfect and OP character but at levels where he already becomes too much. He is an inventor, technological genius, military officer capable of defeating an entire army independently. Each episode suffered from the things that Tatsuya can secretly do. And absolutely no one does anything but be amazed and say, "Wow, how amazing is Tatsuya." I think focusing all these characteristics on a single character (that apart from that has the most screen time), the rest of the characters’ potential is quite subtracted. It does not make them wrong, the truth is they are pretty great, but they could have offered much more and are left in the protagonist's shadow. It's almost as if their importance is if they help Tatsuya's story progress, and there it ends. And despite that, when you meet them, they become fascinating to you, so that they are simply left behind little by little when you wanted to know them more profoundly is sad. I don't like that Miyuki (second sister) is introduced as a magic PRODIGY is reduced to her dependence on her brother. She doesn't use this great magical potential and typically waits for her brother's approval to use her powers to the point that I went to read the novels to know more about her story. I ended up finding out that there is part of the novel that was not adapted. It is explained in the novel why such adoration towards her brother exists. The anime adaptation did not explore her attachment in great detail and instead gave us pseudo-romantic scenes and an obsessive Miyuki. Lastly, the villains they put into the season are lame, who seem to be placed in the story to be easily defeated by Tatsuya in just one episode. Entirely disposable enemies, which is disappointing. The animation seemed more than decent with a quality that remains constant and gives precise detail to the characters' expressions and, in my opinion, improving the interactions and the original script of the novel on many occasions through a brilliant direction of the scenes. But where I think it shines the most is in the fight scenes, specifically when they use their magic and activate their CADs. They are pretty great, and the animation scenes amazed me the most. Fantasy and science fiction mix to result in a fairly original idea. You will like The Irregular at Magic High School if you are looking for an entertaining story full of action and an original vision of magic.
