Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Review: The Irregular at Magic High School vol. 1 and 2

Review:  (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei) The Irregular at Magic High School vol. 1 and 2 


Author:  Tsutomu Sato
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


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