Review: (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) The Irregular at Magic High School vol. 1 and 2
Illustrations: Kana Ishida
Translation: Andrew Prowse
Publisher: Yen Press (Yen On imprint)
Tag line: An irregular older brother with a certain flaw. An honor roll younger sister who is perfectly flawless.
Synopsis: The series is set in a
future (2095) some years after the Third World War which shifted the power
structure around the globe. Magic exists
as part of this new world order and is another resource coveted and manipulated
among the major nations. Cast in the
middle of this are siblings Tatsuya Shiba and his sister Miyuki. Newly accepted at the prestigious First High
School of Magic in Japan, the two soon find their quiet lives disrupted by all
manner of challenges and events.
This review will cover the first two volumes of the series -- also identified as the Enrollment Arc.
To start, I am discussing both volumes because it really seems like one
book to me. In fact, the first book
actually ends right in the middle of a fight that has not yet completed. It ends very abruptly, almost as if they ran
out of pages and just had to stop right there.
It is rather jarring for a reader to be honest. And all of the elements around that
particular fight (which essentially spun up in the last 15 pages of the volume)
were the core of the events in the second volume and a major part of the
resolution to the overall arc. So, given
the way that first volume skidded to a sudden halt and the remainder of the
story (volume 2) carried those pieces through to the finish line, I have to
treat it all as one novel because --- to properly digest it --- one needs to
read both volumes.
Before we get into the story, let's talk about the art.
The cover for the first volume is a bit vanilla with a minimal color palette. The colors are primarily white, green, and
black. The cover features the siblings,
Miyuki and Tatsuya. Both characters are
holding their CADs (more on that later) and standing back to back -- with Miyuki
facing the reader directly and Tatsuya with his head turned slightly so the
reader can see half of his face. While
the cover is a little vanilla (compared to many other light novels), it
actually has a very clean feel to it and creates a slight bit of intrigue
(primarily due to Tatsuya's CAD being in the shape of a handgun).
Interior art for the first volume contains five color inserts (with 2 of
those being double-page spreads) and 10 black and white illustrations. In addition to that is a glossary page that
explains certain terms and a character page that identifies a number of the
characters in the volume and provides head shots for the principal
players. Of the black and white
illustrations, only one would qualify as fan-servicey (Miyuki in her
underwear), otherwise everything is mostly non-eventful moments (capturing
character expressions at various stages).
The color inserts are also nice and provide additional introductions to
the principal characters as well as a few others who play key roles in the
series.
The cover for volume two adds a fourth color (neon pink) to go along with
the white, green, and black we had with the first volume. This one is slightly less vanilla and
actually has a slight action feel --- Tatsuya is aiming his gun in the
direction of the reader and it is slightly blurred to indicate movement. He has his arm around Miyuki and is pulling
her toward him in the same motion.
Interior art for the second volume again contains five color inserts (with
2 of those being double-page spreads).
Unfortunately the first color insert is the exact same one used in
volume one (basically treating it like a title page). The color pages again introduce most of the
primary characters and the last one is an action scene that takes place near
the end of the story. The same glossary
and character pages are also present.
There are 10 black and white illustrations with most being simple
moments but there are a couple depicting some key moments of action. No fan-servicey shots in this volume.
In regards to the black and white illustrations in both volumes, the simple
moments tend to be more loosely drawn --- I don't want to say cartoony, but
they definitely don't feel as tight and as serious as the more active/important
scenes. Overall I think this series
could have used a drawing style that was a little more serious and angular
(which the artist mostly achieved during those more pivotal scenes) --- it
would have been a better fit for a something that is so
magic/technology-centric.
Next we will talk about the characters.
The principal players in this drama are the siblings: Tatsuya and Miyuki
Shiba.
They are both approximately the same age with Tatsuya being the older
brother and Miyuki being eleven months younger.
The timing of their birth is quite convenient such that it allows both
to attend the same grade in school simultaneously. I believe it is mentioned in one of the two
volumes that if Miyuki had been born a month later, she would have ended up a
year behind him in school.
Miyuki is described as being a rare beauty while Tatsuya is mostly an
average looking, not exactly handsome but certainly not unpleasant looking,
male. Miyuki is generally friendly and
good-natured (except to anyone who disrespects her brother) while Tatsuya has a
mostly cool (as in not cold, but definitely not warm) disposition. He is told on a couple of occasions he has ‘a
bad personality’.
Miyuki has very strong magic and is enrolling as the highest ranked student
among this year's freshman class.
Tatsuya, on the other hand, is not so apparently gifted as his sister,
though his scores on the written portion of the entrance exam were some of the
highest ever (including perfect scores on two of the seven categories --- which
is 'unprecedented'). However, a Magic
High School student's value (much like magicians in society) are based more so
on their practical ability score, an area where Tatsuya falls short.
First Magic High School enrolls 200 new students per year. The 100 top scoring students (also known as course
1 students) receive teacher-assisted education while the remaining 100 (known
as course 2 students) follow the same curriculum but don't receive the benefit
of teaching assistance. Due to this,
there is a noted division among the students and terms have arisen around this. The course 1 students are known as blooms
while the course 2 students are called weeds.
Weed is actually considered a derogatory term and not allowed to be
used, but among the student body the course 1 students look down on the course
2 students and they feel lesser because of this attitude and differences in
their educational opportunities.
Due to his scores, Tatsuya is entering school as a course 2 student while
Miyuki (as noted above with her number 1 ranking) is a course 1 student. This is cause for some strife as Miyuki
idolizes her brother (she has a bit of a brother complex in fact) and she is
quick to anger at anyone who looks down on Tatsuya or otherwise disrespects
him.
Because of her number 1 ranking, Miyuki is invited to join the student
council (it is customary for them to invite the top ranked incoming student
each year to be part of the student council).
Why do I mention this? Because
this leads into the other character introductions.
As Tatsuya is the principal of the two primary characters, most of the
story revolves around his activities. As
such, his classmates play a bigger role in the first two volumes (Miyuki's
classmates become more involved in future volumes).
Tatsuya happens to meet two of his classmates during the introduction
ceremonies (during which Miyuki actually gives a speech as the top incoming
freshman student). These classmates
would be Erika Chiba and Mizuki Shibata.
(and yeah, you might see some slight similarities between the names
Mizuki Shibata and Miyuki Shiba ---- believe me, the translator screwed it up
in a few places, including one sentence where one of the characters was
actually speaking and referencing the other and yet the translator inserted the
speaking character's name for the reference ---- yeesh)
Erika is fiery redhead, a little bit of a spitfire. She is very outgoing and not afraid to speak
her mind. With this very upfront
personality, it doesn’t take her long to clash with another classmate (Leo
Saijou --- see further below).
Mizuki is much more the timid sort.
She wears special glasses due to a condition that allows her to perceive
magic 'particles' (I don't want to get into the whole description of this ----
it is actually covered in detail in the glossary and further in the story) and
is otherwise slightly inhibiting for people trying to cast magic (the glasses help
to 'normalize' her vision).
Also in their class is Leonard Saijou, who immediately upon introducing
himself to Tatsuya tells him his magical specialty is hardening magic and he
hopes to get a job involving physical activity like a SWAT officer or
wilderness security officer in the future.
It might seem a little odd that someone would make this sort of
introduction, but as the author points out almost immediately, it isn't
uncommon for magic high school students to have already determined a course for
their future due to the type of magic they wield.
I will note very quickly that each class of students is divided into four
groups with course 1 being A through D and course 2 being E through H. Being the top student, Miyuki is in class
1-A. It isn't directly stated, but given
that Tatsuya (and Erika and Mizuki and Leo) are in class 1-E, that would
indicate they are among the higher ranked of the course 2 students.
Additional characters we encounter are those from the student council, of
which Miyuki is a member, as well as the disciplinary committee.
Mayumi Saegusa is a senior and the student council president. (yes, I know, yet another female character
with MS initials and a similar sounding M name --- it is very cruel)
Hanzou Gyoubi Shoujou Hattori is a sophomore and the student council vice
president. He looks down on Tatsuya and
very quickly finds himself on Miyuki's bad side. Tatsuya feels forced to defend Miyuki’s honor
(not what you think) in a match against him in the first volume.
Suzune Ichihara is a senior and the student council accountant.
Azusa Nakajou is a sophomore and the student council secretary. She is somewhat timid and is 'bullied' in a
very friendly way by Mayumi Saegusa.
Mari Watanabe is a senior and the chairwoman of the disciplinary committee. She has a very strong personality.
Katsuto Juumonji is a senior and the head of the club committee (which is
the unified organization overseeing all club activities). He doesn't really play a role until the
second volume.
Mayumi, Mari, and Katsuto are considered the strongest magic users at the
school. In addition to this, Mayumi and
Katsuto belong to 'Numbers' families (which I will get into more in the world
building section).
Finally, we have a couple of course 1 students who are in Mayuki's class
(class 1-A) but mostly play a minimal role in these first two volumes.
Honoka Mitsui (female and childhood friend of Shizuku Kitayama)
Shizuku Kitayama (female and childhood friend of Honoka Mitsui)
Shun Morisaki (male and I believe his family is one with a strong magic
lineage though not one of the master clans)
There are some other characters from the school who play a role:
Sayaka Mibu (female sophomore course 2 student and member of the kendo club)
Takeaki Kirihara (male sophomore course 1 student and member of the
kenjutsu club)
These two are not introduced until near the end of the first volume and are
a key part of the fight that breaks out there and dovetails into a major plot
driver for the rest of the story.
As if that wasn’t enough, there are a couple of additional characters (and
entities) to note:
Yakumo Kokonoe is a user of ancient magic called ninjutsu and also
Tatsuya's martial arts master. Tatsuya
has been studying under him since he was young.
He operates out of a temple where he is (on paper) a priest but is in
truth a shinobi.
Shiba Taturou is Tatsuya and Miyuki’s father. He is the Vice President of Four Leaves
Technology and its largest shareholder.
He is in charge of their research and development divisions.
Four Leaves Technology is a company that recently started manufacturing
CADs after a particularly brilliant engineer (Taurus Silver) in one of their
R&D divisions developed an activation program called the Loop-Cast system
which is said to have advanced CAD systems by almost ten years.
CAD (Casting Assistant Device) is a device that simplifies magic
casting. Magical programming is recorded
within. There are many types and forms,
some specialized and other multi-purpose.
(description was taken directly from the glossary section of the novels)
Magic engineers are responsible for tuning CADs. It is important a device is tuned for the
specific abilities of its user and requires regular tunings since the user's
physical and mental condition can affect their casting.
Highly skilled magic engineers create the programs stored within CADs that
make casting more efficient. That is an
important purpose of the CAD, to be able to cast magic very quickly. Instead of having to use a chant or something
of that nature, magic can be activated and cast in a matter of milliseconds
instead of the many seconds a chant might require.
Why the inclusion of Tatsuya and Miyuki’s father and Four Leaves Technology
even though neither are physically present in either of these volumes? Principally to bring up the fact Tatsuya has
access to otherwise expensive CAD tuning technology in his home and he tunes
his own and Miyuki's CADs.
I should mention that Tatsuya and Miyuki live together in a house apart
from their father (and his new wife). Shiba
Taturou is very doting towards Miyuki but very cold toward Tatsuya. Miyuki is somewhat dismissive of her father
because of this (recall she gets angry at anyone who does not respect Tatsuya).
As noted earlier, Tatsuya scored incredibly high on the written portion of
the exam. He is very knowledgeable about
magic programs and his intent is to be a magic engineer --- which is generally
a route taken by magicians who don't have strong magical skills.
Shiba Taturou doesn't want Tatsuya to go to Magic High School and in fact
wants him to work at Four Leaves Technology full time instead. Tatsuya refuses however as he is Miyuki's
guardian (or to put into other terms --- her bodyguard).
What is this you ask? A bodyguard? A high school student with poor magical
skills (though one who has been studying martial arts for years under an actual
shinobi) ?
The more things we learn about Tatsuya (and having read many of the later
volumes, I know what else awaits), the more I am reminded of the title
character from the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th
Dimension.
I'll just drop this handy link right here and maybe you can figure out
where I'm going with that:
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
(hint: it is primarily in the second paragraph)
I think I’ve danced around the character intros long enough (too long in
fact). Next, I will hit on a bit of the
plot without spoiling anything.
One of the reasons Tatsuya has chosen to enroll in Magic High School, in
addition to his duties as guardian to his sister, is that it will grant him
access to view private documents and materials available only through places
affiliated with the National Magic University.
As a fledgling magic researcher and engineer, his goal is to address one
of the Three Great Practical Problems of Weighting Magic. However, he very quickly finds the time he
had planned to spend looking at these materials is taken up by other events
when an encounter leads him to fall under the eye of the student council and
disciplinary committee leaders.
This eventually leads Tatsuya to becoming a target of magical attacks
across the campus while other influences are stoking flames and slowly building
tension around perceived inequities between the blooms and the weeds. Being a course 2 student who has shown some
ability to hold his own in a fight, Tatsuya is invited to join the movement but
declines when he doesn’t receive an adequate answer as to what they actually
hope to accomplish with their protest.
As the group’s efforts escalate, the presence of this uprising threatens
to upset the quiet existence Tatsuya is trying to maintain with his sister, and
that he finds UNACCEPTABLE.
Now I want to talk a little bit about world building.
The activities in the two volumes primarily take place on the grounds of
First Magic High School. One of the
things we learn before the story even begins (in a page that comes before the
glossary at the front of the book) is the definition of magic high schools and
the hierarchy of those schools in Japan.
There are actually 9 magic high schools (First through Ninth). The schools follow a fundamental outline for
their curriculum, but certain schools place emphasis on certain types of magic.
Top graduates from these schools move on to National Magic University, while
the rest will move on to other ventures that may or may not involve magic in
some form.
Because most of the story unfolds on campus, there isn’t a great deal of
world building that is out in the reader’s face. But there are a few key things. Early on, the author presents the concept of
Numbers families. These are families
with a lineage of magicians with a superior genetic predisposition for strong
magic. And later in the second volume,
we learn that when magic became a component of a country’s standing and power,
they worked to strengthen magic bloodlines.
Japan was no different. This
resulted in a group overseeing magic in their country. This was the Ten Master Clans. Below them were the Hundred Families. These groups are the strongest magic families
in Japan and collectively known as the Numbers Families. The families of Mayumi Saegusa and Katsuto
Juumonji are part of the Ten Master Clans.
The Ten Master Clans hold great power and influence behind the scenes of
politics.
Another element the author introduces is the concept of anti-magic factions
that are trying to influence public perception about magicians, and these
activities are suspected to be sponsored by outside political forces looking to
weaken Japan in the global picture.
In addition, there are other more subtle clues that point to a larger
tapestry. There is the school counselor
who seems to know more about the conflicts on the school grounds than she is
letting on. There is the inquiry visited
to Yakumo Kokonoe by Tatsuya about the background of a student at his school
who seems to be mixed up in some of the mischief around campus that is
instantly responded to in a verbal fashion with thorough and detailed
information. There is Sayaka Mibu’s
father, a former member of the military, who knows someone in common with
Tatsuya.
Finally, before wrapping up, I will talk briefly about the magic.
The author actually gets quite technical in describing the various components
and working of the magic in this world.
Not only are some of the concepts introduced in the glossary at the
beginning of the book, but there are also explanations given at various stages
of the story to explain the different groups of magic, how magic is cast, how
magic users interact with CADs, and all the intricacies that go into
successfully casting the magic. I don’t
want to get into all the details because the author does an excellent job of it
and it is better a reader takes it from those efforts than from a few words in
a review. Suffice it to say, it is done
quite well.
I do want to talk about the writing style.
This is the author’s first published work, and as one would expect from
such, there are a few places where he stumbles.
There is a particular section where one of the students is talking about
Taurus Silver, the brilliant engineer from Four Leaves Technology who came up
with the Loop-Casting system. The author
goes a little overboard in trying to convey just how magnificently brilliant
this engineer is. Not only that, but the
student who is in effect giving the dissertation on the Loop-Casting system to
the other students is basically called out for telling them something they
already know, which is really the author openly admitting he knew he was force
feeding this information to the reader in a clumsy manner but went ahead and
did it anyway.
There are a few other bits and pieces scattered in these two volumes where
it is slightly clumsy but not in a really annoying way. Again, these are the kinds of things you’d
expect from a first effort and I can say from having read his later work in the
series, he is constantly improving and those things are not a reoccurring
issue. Even with these minor stumbles,
the work is better than the efforts of a lot of other first-time authors I’ve
encountered.
Overall, I very much enjoy the style in which the author tells the story,
the dialogue and interaction of the characters (the conversations feel very
natural), and the hint of the bigger tapestry that promises more exciting
things to come.
And these characters are fun. We can
already sense how some of these relationships are going to build even though
we’ve only just gotten a glimpse at some of them. Things we learn about them on the way and
hints of there being more than meets the eye makes me excited to continue on
this journey and find out what else may be revealed – not just for the siblings
(who have a complex and quite interesting relationship) but perhaps even more
so for the supporting cast.
I didn’t want to get into too many details here because it is difficult to
talk about a lot of the elements without revealing too much, and it is better
to experience them through the author’s words than being spoiled through a
poorly composed review attempt. I feel
like I haven’t really done enough to hype up these volumes (and more importantly
– this series as a whole) through what I’ve discussed so far, but I don’t want
to ruin all the fun and enjoyment that awaits in those pages. I’m certainly no
light novel expert – I only have about a dozen light novel series that I’ve
been making my way through thus far – but I can say this one easily sits at the
top of my list, and it really isn’t even that close of a competition. Some things just stand out more readily than
others and this is one those things.
Very Highly Recommended
