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Harime Nui
Apr 15, 2008

The New Insincerity

WickedHate posted:

Kirihara is definitely a weird character and I find his "Her sword was impure so I tried to kill her, now I chop off limbs as expressions of love to her" stuff as weird as anyone else. On the other hand, the victim of said limb chopping deserved it, but it's still weird.


Leo, Erika, and Mizuki aren't rich or elite.

Erika is from one of the rich elite families, she's just a bastard. Leo has some super hardcore german magic soldier in his ancestry. I don't remember the third one but basically every character has a plausible reason they can benefit under the incredibly lovely and unfair system except Tatsuya, who's just A MENSCH.

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Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

WickedHate posted:

Leo, Erika, and Mizuki aren't rich or elite.

Yeah, but it seems that the point is more "these people who aren't elite should be elite" than "it's bad that some people are elite/privileged and others aren't." This is sort of supported by what Harime Nui said about Erika actually being frmo an elite family and Leo also having something in his ancestry. It's bad that the system lets some True Elites fall through the cracks; not that elites exist in the first place.

Srice
Sep 11, 2011

For a serious post tho, the reason why completely invincible protagonists works a lot better in something like Fist of the North Star is because when Kenshiro makes some thugs explode while they're unable to even scratch him, those thugs kinda have it coming because you see them do vile things like setting people on fire or forcing villagers to kill each other while they watch and laugh.

There's no question that those thugs would love to tie damsels to railroad tracks if trains were still around in the world of Fist of the North Star, and they'd twirl their mustache around while doing it. And Kenshiro is practically invincible so for most of the show he very rarely is threatened. But heck, it never gets dull because the thugs try so hard and Kenshiro is always so creative in how he takes them out. Plus the thugs at least get to try to do something before they get splattered.

Here I just can't cheer for the brutal violence on random mooks because damned if I don't sympathize with their cause. Plus the hand waving to instantly win was dull enough the first time around.

(The real fun of writing things about this show, outside of talking about the lovely politics, is relating it to better shows :v:)

Harime Nui
Apr 15, 2008

The New Insincerity
I mean under the "rules" of the setting, some bloodlines are better at magic than others, fullstop. No amount of hard work will make you as good as one of the lucky genetic elites. Furthermore, Erika's a case in point that "diluting" this bloodline just makes you go down a tier. So we have a setting where it is literally better to be incestuous (!!) than mingle with the commoners. It's a science-fictional excuse for straight up aristocraticism.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
The only one who was badly injured was the leader. The mooks just ended up with frostbite for a little bit.

Ytlaya posted:

Yeah, but it seems that the point is more "these people who aren't elite should be elite" than "it's bad that some people are elite/privileged and others aren't." This is sort of supported by what Harime Nui said about Erika actually being frmo an elite family and Leo also having something in his ancestry. It's bad that the system lets some True Elites fall through the cracks; not that elites exist in the first place.

It's a criticism of the system not fairly evaluating people, just like it does in real life.

Harime Nui
Apr 15, 2008

The New Insincerity

WickedHate posted:

The only one who was badly injured was the leader. The mooks just ended up with frostbite for a little bit.


It's a criticism of the system not fairly evaluating people, just like it does in real life.

It's evaluating people at something they have no choice in participating in. This is why when Miyuki(?) makes her speech to Kendo-girl it rings completely hollow. It actually doesn't matter what else that girl is good at or what her real talent is, she's going to grow up to be one of the poo poo-tier rank and file magic users that Tatsuya mentions when he talks about why Blanche is so wrong. The show tries to dishonestly frame the issue as people being mean to the Weeds, who are actually being disenfranchised and regulated to second class for life, not just in high school.


E: Also saying the mooks got off with "frostbite" is ignoring the fact that Miyuki came within an inch of killing them, and only didn't (IIRC, lol at watching that poo poo twice) because Tatsuya stopped her.

Harime Nui fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Jun 4, 2014

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
Erika is the heir of a major clan, though she only gained that status recently what with being a bastard. She isn't the oldest child, but she is the only one who managed to master some of her clan's secret moves. I could be wrong on some of those details. Mizuki is all set up to marry into Mikihiko's major clan, since her only value is as an object. She also did not engage the terrorists in any way! I'm pretty sure Mizuki is the only named character in class 2 who isn't somehow a skilled combatant, actually. Leo is on a fast track to the military, and given that this is right-wing bizarro world that is a prestigious job. I think he was from a long line of military men?

Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

WickedHate posted:

It's a criticism of the system not fairly evaluating people, just like it does in real life.

Yeah, but there are two issues here:

1. In this show, it is pretty explicitly shown that talent is directly passed down through elite bloodlines.

2. Even if it wasn't, there are real arguments to be made that meritocracies are not a good thing* (this is a much more serious issue that goes beyond just the scope of this show).


*Not in the sense that it's better for people to be unfairly evaluated, but in the sense that they don't solve the more important underlying issues of poverty and inequality; meritocratic systems just shuffle people around

SorcerousHam
Apr 8, 2011
Erika belongs to pretty much the second richest clan of magicians in Japan. Or they might be the absolute richest. Why? Because they literally provide basic and advanced combat training to all police and military forces in Japan and it is implied they also do a lot of it for allies/friends/clients of Japan.

They're actually comparatively weak magician wise, but when you have some loyalty from just about every cop and soldier in Japan, well, you're going to have clout. Especially in glorious re-militarised Nippon.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Daily dose, but not a lot this time.

:siren:You probably shouldn't read my posts anymore if you care about spoilers:siren:

Tatsuya invents this

Which is just as dumb as it looks. The length of air isn't variable and when it's extended Leo has to swing harder. Also it's not a real sword.

Mari gets injured at the magic olympics

quote:

Tatsuya had received military and guardian training since youth, which more than qualified him for minor surgical operations.

...

"Because he was the one who escorted you here and stayed on station while you were undergoing treatment."
"What?"
"Well, of course we didn't leave it all to Tatsuya-kun himself...... Shocked?"
Mayumi sported a grin while Mari turned around with a miserable expression on her face.
It was precisely because she felt a tight knot unraveling inside her that Mayumi's grin irked her even more.
"Naturally, men wouldn't be present while ladies are changing, so he obediently waited in the corridor while treatment was ongoing. But you better thank him later on. He arrived practically at the same time as the emergency response teams and helped bring you to shore. He also spotted your fractures in one glance and gave the orders for treatment."
Who needs real doctors when you have tatsuya.

They investigate the cause of the argument. Tatsuya has a theory

quote:

Miyuki would never question Tatsuya's judgment. She was only assuming her brother's hypothesis was true and asking for the next step in the puzzle.

Then it's the afterword by the author

quote:

Perhaps some of the readers may have already realised but the story line visualised this time is really similar to a certain popular world-class novel's fourth entry.
However, the difference lies in the fact that that popular world-class novel's fourth entry is about an individual's competition, whereas my story is about a team competition. In addition to that, the forms of magic are completely different, therefore the competition's circumstances is in no way similar to each other.
"I'm kinda ripping off Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, except mine involves team games and different magic so it's not really a ripoff at all."

quote:

In the next volume "Nine Schools Competition (II)", the main protagonist will finally distinguish himself in the competition. And not just in the arena, the protagonist will also have the opportunity to fully showcase his dark hero's abilities wantonly in the outside world.
"Tatsuya will finally be able to show off in the next book"

quote:

M-sama, thank you giving me so many precise suggestions, especially [When on a trip, of course you need to go to an onsen]. Without this suggestion, the colored illustration as well as the normal novel illustration will not be able to depict such a wonderful scene.
"Thanks to you, I shoehorned in an artificial onsen + boob groping"


Book 4 starts with a rundown of all the magic Miyuki and Tatsuya can use.

Miyuki

quote:

Hell of Fire and Water (Inferno) A magic which reverses the heat energy within a set area. Areas of bitter cold and scorching heat occur concurrently in adjacent regions.

Niflheim A Wide Area Deceleration-Attribute Oscillation-System Magic. The specific heat of the material within the area, regardless of attribute (Phase) is cooled evenly. As a result, a large mass of cold air which contains a fog of liquid nitrogen, Diamond Dust (Ice Needles), and dry ice particles is formed.

Dry Blizzard A magic which collects the carbon dioxide in the air to produce particles of dry ice. The dry ice flies at high speed by converting the thermal energy produced by the freezing process into kinetic energy.

Thunder Snake Path (Slithering Thunders) Like [Dry Blizzard], stones of dry ice are produced and water vapor is condensed. This combination magic utilizes Oscillation-System and Dispersion-System Magic to melt the ice, creating a fog of carbon dioxide which has a high electrical conductivity through which a static charge is run through.
She freezes stuff, that's her gimmick. Also she can make a storm when she freezes stuff in a specific way.

Tatsuya

quote:


Rupture A Dissipation-System magic which evaporates all liquid within an object. In the case of living organisms, body fluids will evaporate and the body will explode. All fuel will vaporize in internal combustion engines or fuel cells. Since nearly all machines have a fluid of some kind, such as lubricants, coolants, hydraulic fluids, oils, or battery fluids, they will instantly be destroyed by [Explosion] or simply stop working.

Flight Magic A magic to move through the air via gravity control. It was once thought to be impossible, using a very short duration (a default of 0.5 seconds) of magic invoked in rapid succession, the difficulty caused by an increasing Interference Strength was cleared. It is possible to continue flying so long as the operator's Magic Power is in supply.

Vanishing Clouds, Fog Dispersal (Mist Dispersion) By interfering with the structural information, this magic decomposes substances into molecules such as ions and the basic elements. Direct interference into the structural information of an object is a form of magic of the highest difficulty.

Magic Dissolution (Gram Dispersion) This magic takes a Magic Ritual and decomposes it into a group of Psion particles without a meaningful structure. Due to the nature of a Magic Ritual acting on the information of an object accompanying a phenomenon, if the information has not been exposed, it is impossible to interfere with the magic. On the other hand, if the Magic Ritual is decomposed, the phenomenon will not occur. To analyze the magic before the magic is activated in the present age where invocation takes a fraction of a second requires the ability to [See] and analyze the magic structure. Since the user is typically required to understand the magic being used beforehand, it is thought utilization of this magic is impossible.

Magic Dismantling (Gram Demolition) A mass of compressed Psion particles are thrown directly at an object and explode. Any Activation Sequence or Magic Ritual recorded into the Psion Information Body is blown away. Though it is called magic, it is simply a cannonball of Psions that has neither structure nor a Magic Ritual to modify an event, so it is not affected by Zone Interference. Furthermore, the pressure of the cannonball also repels the effects of Cast Jamming. It has no physical effects and cannot be hindered by any obstacle.
Notice all the comments along the lines of "this was thought to be impossible" or "this just straight up can't be stopped"

Book 4 so far is mostly the year 1 girls winning events due to Tatsuya's superior strategies, ultimate engineering and perfect magic coding. Funny bits so far though:


quote:

If Tatsuya himself had been faced with Mayumi's remark 'his fans are increasing', he would have vehemently denied it.
In fact, during social events, he went out of his way to avoid women (or so he felt).
Needless to say however, he didn't possess any such 'divine ears'.
Tatsuya weakness #2: Not quite omnispective


Tatsuya goes to his room alone. Miyuki is sat on her bed cause she's nervous about her event and wants to chat to him for a while. She is upset that Tatsuya didn't patent the brand new magic he totes invented for the competition because their aunt would be pissed if he did.



quote:

Those words weren't so much to convince his sister, as for himself.
As he tried to satisfy himself that way,

Miyuki, moving from the front, embraced him.

Her face shining with tears buried itself into his chest.
Such an appearance might be better described as 'clinging', yet that was somehow inappropriate.
"......I'm on your side."
"Miyuki......"
"I will always no matter what, come what may, be on your side.
That time will definitely come. Without a doubt, it will come.
Until then, and forever after, I will always be on Onii-sama's side."
"......"
The hands of the clock accused them of far exceeding the realms of 'just a little'.
But let's go along with her 'just a little more'...... Tatsuya thought as he gently wrapped his arms around Miyuki's back.
Not creepy at all. (This has its own illustration)

quote:

Her other name was Emilia Goldie. Her full name was Akechi Emilia Goldie Eimi. Eimi was a quarter British stock. Her nickname "Emmy", rather than originating from her Japanese name "Eimi", probably came from her British name "Emilia".
A Magician's ability was heavily influenced by genetics.
Due to the connection between magic and national power, each country jealously guarded its magic bloodlines and either officially or unofficially forbade international marriages between Magicians. (This country that superficially allowed freedom of marriage belonged in the "unofficial" category.)
Yet, in the generation of Tatsuya's grandparents, allied countries actively encouraged international marriages between Magicians. The goal was to "cross" "excellent stock" to "develop" superior Magicians.

The ensuing result was that over half of the current students at magic high schools boasted bloodlines from Western Europe or India.
Leo was one of them, and the female student known as Akechi Eimi was another.
As could be inferred from her words, she also appeared in yesterday's Speed Shooting competition. This was the second day in a row she was working alongside Tatsuya. Besides Miyuki and the two others, Eimi was the first one on the Women's Team to jell with Tatsuya. For Tatsuya, she was also the most relaxed young lady on the team.
After the two of them exchanged greetings, they delved into girl talk as Tatsuya smoothly removed the CAD from the case he was carrying, performed a cursory examination, and handed it to Eimi.
This was a clumsy looking, shotgun-shaped Specialized CAD that measured 50 cm in length and completely dwarfed a young lady's hand.
The weapon looked quite heavy, but because recoil wasn't an issue, the weight was significantly lower than a normal firearm thanks to its lightweight materials. Yet Eimi's movements were like something straight out of a Western as she swung the gun around and took aim out the window.
"......Eimi, you're not British, but American, aren't you?"
"How many times do I have to say this, no. Now even Miyuki is saying this too? My grandmother's family was knighted by the Tudors themselves."
Totes not nationalistic and advocating elite bloodlines + stereotypes. Also I loving lost it at the "knighted by the Tudors" bit. I guess it sounds british enough for its intended audience of Japanese shutins though.


Going with the Sword Art Online comparison someone made earlier, this is so much worse. Tatsuya is overpowered to the point where fights are boring. It's essentially akin to the complaint people make about DBZ where arcs are spent waiting for Goku to show up. In addition I remember in SAO there being conversations where Kirito wasn't mentioned, but I'm serious when I say that I don't remember a single conversation in this that hasn't been with Tatsuya or about him. The stuff with Suguha, whilst distateful, is at least mollified by a few things: her actually being his cousin not his sister, Kirito being completely unaware until it's revealed as opposed to Tatsuya who seems to suspect something is off but doesn't care, and finally SAO resolves it as a crush that ultimately goes nowhere and is properly rejected.

Tatsuya and Miyuki are both boring protagonists with bland personalities.

Tatsuya is kind of the author throwing in anything he thinks is cool into a pot, and anything that we're told is a weakness about him actually isn't
-He has no emotions, except sometimes he gets melancholy about his situation (which is an emotion) and he also uses sarcasm to both escape conversations he doesn't want to deal with (usually due to an emotion) or because he thinks it's funny (amusement being an emotion). So in other words he has no emotions except those required to make him a cool, tortured anti-hero.
-Tatsuya can't take a compliment. This would be a legitimate flaw if it weren't for the fact that he's basically an ubermench who is constantly being praised. His humbleness actually comes across as arrogance.

Miyuki of course, only has two character traits: "beautiful" and "onii-sama is my god"


Tomorrow I can look forward to Miyuki competing in the ~Fairy Dance~

E: Tatsuya looks smug as heck about his invention though

jwang
Mar 31, 2013
Namtab, you make this thread that much better with your well thought out words of wisdom and analysis of this terrifically bad piece of work (I don't think it actually qualifies as any type of literature). Between your analysis and Wickedhate's terrible opinions, I constantly check back to see what new hilarity has recently developed. Also, no this really doesn't get any better, it's just a continuous roll downhill on this mountain of poo poo. Between this and Gate, I think we're pretty much covered on right wing nationalist works.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


This show is just not fun.

Hellsing is fun and a great example of a power trip. There are actual stakes and when humanity is about to be totally hosed, Alucard crashes down on a high speed jet and brutally murders all of the aggressors. He does this by letting them have the first shot.

Jiraishin has a pretty much invincible protagonist, but everyone calls him out on his poo poo and the people he fights are fairly unsympathetic (and the ones that are sympathetic highlight how nuts he is). It also fits the show's setting; it's a bleak, dreary world where humanity is awful.

Fullmetal Alchemist has tons of science and explanations, but it works because the world is consistent and the audience can basically fill in the blanks. Ed is shown to be a prodigy, but ultimately fallible. He is also immature, childish and easily angered. Additionally, he is obsessive, first with resurrecting his mother, and later with helping his brother.

This show can't manage tone, can't present credible (and unsympathetic) villains, doesn't have any stakes and it can't even do a power trip correctly. Again, this show manages to make me sympathize with terrorists who shoot up schools. How can you gently caress up this badly!?


By presenting the "terrorists" as desperate people who do not have the power to face the heroes head-on. They do not commit enough crimes to be unsympathetic and the amount of force they use does not even begin to match the other side's power. Meanwhile, the heroes wantonly neutralize them without any compunction or care.
Seriously, in any proper anime, Tatsuya's band of warehouse raiders would be the team of villains. You got Tatsuya as the leader and Sephiroth stand-in, you got the obsessive crazy chick with ice powers, the insane psychopath with a sword, and the gentle giant who is the only decent person of the bunch. Our heroes are basically Wild ARMs villains.

HiveCommander
Jun 19, 2012

Wow, people are still arguing with WickedHate as to why this show is bad?

I'll put this simply; strip out the creepy incest from NGNL and you have some cool-rear end games and the main characters testing their limits to win these games in creative and awesome ways. There's also a good bit of comedy and clever game/japanese pop culture references which is just gravy for the show.
Strip the creepy incest from Mahouka and you have an invincible MC, Chinese who are evil because they are Chinese, Japanese terrorists being manipulated by the 'evil Chinese', and a supporting cast whose primary purpose is to have :stonk: expressions whenever the MC does something 'amazing' or 'impossible'. Also, technobabble to try and justify why the supporting characters are so mystified by absolutely everything Tatsuya does.

OP characters are only good in a few series. Hellsing being one, because Alucard has character flaws and a personality, as opposed to being an operating table autist. Jojo is another, despite also sharing the issue with supporting characters having to narrate everything we see happening on the loving screen.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax

HiveCommander posted:

I'll put this simply; strip out the creepy incest from NGNL and you have some cool-rear end games and the main characters testing their limits to win these games in creative and awesome ways. There's also a good bit of comedy and clever game/japanese pop culture references which is just gravy for the show.
You'd also have two other girls being Sora's slaves.

SSNeoman posted:

This show is just not fun.

Hellsing is fun and a great example of a power trip. There are actual stakes and when humanity is about to be totally hosed, Alucard crashes down on a high speed jet and brutally murders all of the aggressors. He does this by letting them have the first shot.

:words:

By presenting the "terrorists" as desperate people who do not have the power to face the heroes head-on. They do not commit enough crimes to be unsympathetic and the amount of force they use does not even begin to match the other side's power. Meanwhile, the heroes wantonly neutralize them without any compunction or care.

I actually watched the Hellsing OVA just recently(easily one of my top five anime)and yeah, I agree. It did that a lot better and Mahouka failed by making it's villains complete pushovers. I'm hoping that kid in the blood covered room will be a better one.

WickedHate fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Jun 5, 2014

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
Ha ha, no. Basically, he is a military mage thoroughbred prodigy that lots of people have high expectations of. But in a shocking twist, Tatsuya is better than he is in every way on top of actually being an experienced soldier. His buddy is famous for discovering some fundamental building block of magic. Unfortunately, Tatsuya's bullshit special vision can see that building block and all of the others besides. He just never published it, despite the fact that he already has an anonymous pseudonym for that sort of thing.

In a shocking twist, they only exist in order to make Tatsuya look better during this arc. To absolutely no one's surprise, Tatsuya of course ends up competing in the games.

I refuse to use spoiler tags for this garbage.

Harime Nui
Apr 15, 2008

The New Insincerity
But does he become one of Tatsuya's clique of hanger-ons??? He looked like a straightforward "first enemy who's kinda dece, quickly becomes hero's sidekick" to me.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007

Harime Nui posted:

But does he become one of Tatsuya's clique of hanger-ons??? He looked like a straightforward "first enemy who's kinda dece, quickly becomes hero's sidekick" to me.

He is from a different school, so no. I forget what he happens to him when the chinese invade.

MrCinos
Dec 20, 2011
I wonder how many episodes it'll take before we see Tatsuya actually struggling in a fight. It'll happen in this arc, but with such pacing (which strangely doesn't bother me) it whould take at least 5-6 episodes to get there.

Light Novel-wise I enjoyed the fact that one of the secondary characters who attends the same school (being outside of Shiba's friends clique) and isn't that famous - turned out to be a powerhouse who, IMO, has a good chance to beat Miyuki in a fight to death. The guy managed to press Tatsuya himself in close combat for a decent amount of time.

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
He didn't, though. Tatsuya was only using martial arts and his magic dispel. He was a good match for Tatsuya's facade, which is merely human. Basically, the idea was that first year students have a lot to learn and need to respect upperclassmen. Of course, none of the current first year students have jack poo poo to learn from upperclassmen. But then, that entire book was essentially glorifying the sempai/kouhai thing. It was kind of a weird focus, even for this series.

I guess Leo could have learned from someone older, but instead he ended up becoming Erika's student.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
It's disappointing there won't be higher stakes, but I watch it for different reasons anyway.

uuuummm
Apr 13, 2014
OK, from a few pages back:

quote:

On the Internet, Tatsuya had read that some young women have been afflicted with a malady that causes them to see all interactions between different genders as romantic interactions. Truth be told, Tatsuya had several people around him suffering from the same illness, so he really didn't want to broach that subject.

What? What? (Though I must shamefully admit that I read "malady" as "m'lady")

I don't really understand how this is the biggest hit of the season. I've mostly seen hate for it when I've checked here, /a/ and reddit. Am I checking the wrong sites? Or... the right sites?

Even if someone is watching it for the incest, I don't see how a relationship between a clingy girl and a disinterested guy is very interesting. Whether or not they're related makes no difference.

jwang
Mar 31, 2013
This is to guys as Twilight is to girls. That's all you need to understand to know why this thing is so popular. Of course, people who actually praise this piece of garbage instead of seeing it as the terrible waste it is gets nothing but contempt from me, just like people who praise Twilight.

Ytlaya
Nov 13, 2005

jwang posted:

This is to guys as Twilight is to girls. That's all you need to understand to know why this thing is so popular. Of course, people who actually praise this piece of garbage instead of seeing it as the terrible waste it is gets nothing but contempt from me, just like people who praise Twilight.

But apparently this is also #2 among girls in Japan (I think #1 was Haikyuu, which is a pretty strange pair to be at the top of the ratings). It's pretty bizarre.

Part of it might also be that the more right-wing/nationalist elements appeal to nerds over there. Aren't Japanese otaku at least somewhat right-leaning?

aers
Feb 15, 2012

Don't take that internet poll as evidence of anything.

Harime Nui
Apr 15, 2008

The New Insincerity

jwang posted:

This is to guys as Twilight is to girls.

I think you've really hit the nail on the head here. Just like Bella is sort of a bland ordinary girl for the audience to project into, that's Tatsuya: he has no personality to speak of except being spergy and snarky and the ultimate geek power-fantasy avatar. Likewise just like the actual focus in Twilight is on the hot guys constantly fighting over the audience avatar, the focus in this is on the women constantly surrounding Tatsuya. Just like that whole thing with the Italian Vampires (?) in Twilight turns out to be a big non-starter the "action" and "plot" this show allegedly centers around is really just a thin attachment to the romantic/wish-fulfillment fantasy itself, which is the show's real selling point. Of course the dynamic is somewhat changed up; from what I understand Bella largely spends Twilight being carried around like a baby by one strong man or another, whereas Tatsuya is more like an omniscient protector to his harem of ingenues.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

jwang posted:

Namtab, you make this thread that much better with your well thought out words of wisdom and analysis of this terrifically bad piece of work

I'm just quoting things I find funny when I read this on the bus is all. This ain't analysis.

Serious Frolicking posted:

I refuse to use spoiler tags for this garbage.

You know what, I'm gonna join you. You want to maintain spoiler awareness you skip my posts.


Daily dose. Still book 4.

So far all the year one girls have been winning because Tatsuya's basically setting the girls up with spells they can use to win events, plus his strategising and knowledge of what the girls are able to do magically allows him to dominate proceedings. This has been interspersed with shocked expository reactions from the student council which are basically "tatsuya has done blah blah blah....unprecedented. Unbelievable".

We're in the Icicle smashing round now, which because it's the womens event it means that it is also a fashion show. Miyuki's friend went to her round dressed in a full kimono because the author wanted a character in a kimono.

Now it's miyuki's turn

quote:

Miyuki's appearance on the platform threw the crowd into pandemonium.
"That, incredibly, that is......"
"But suits her quite well. What do you think, Kanon?"
"I say, that's simply gorgeous."
Tatsuya tuned out Kanon and Isori's conversation like it was a BGM and focused on preparations to monitor Miyuki's status. In the blink of an eye, the preparations were complete. Tatsuya peered towards Miyuki and suddenly realized: "Right, that's what everyone is staring at."
Miyuki was dressed in a fine white hakui paired with a crimson hakama. Her hair was held back by a white strap.
True, the hairstyle was slightly different and if in place of a CAD she held bells or a sakai, she would be even more stunning. It was that kind of garb.
Originally, she was already gorgeous and now paired with this wardrobe, she gave off an almost divine aura.
No, perhaps she had already surpassed divine possession and was now approaching the realms of the gods themselves.

"Ouch, her opponent seems to have been submerged."
"Nothing they can do about that. Even I must admit that I can't hold a candle to that. ......Ah, unless that was the goal all along?"
Mayumi and Mari's voices from behind him were plainly directed towards himself. Tatsuya turned around and replied.
"By goal, you mean what? There's nothing particularly astounding about using that attire for magic ceremonies."
Still, his answer was literally the answer to a literal question, but there was clearly a mismatch in what both sides wanted to communicate.
"......Tatsuya-kun's family follows the Shinto system?"
This time the question was even more off the mark. After Mayumi's unrelenting pursuit, Tatsuya didn't hesitate as he shook his head.
"Hardly, it's simply because we're Japanese."
"......Really, maybe, fine."
Mayumi reluctantly nodded. Tatsuya left with a "Let's end the conversation here" and turned back towards the monitors.
Tatsuya's words themselves were hard to deny and were fairly logical.
Yet, if someone witnessed the entire process, they would immediately be able to tell that he wasn't being uniform the entire time.
They were both kimonos, but Tatsuya had a conflicted view of Shizuku's tamotos yet didn't question his own sister's miko getup. Tatsuya's sensibilities on this — objectively speaking — were indeed suspicious.
"Miyuki was gorgeous and all the people stared at this perfect goddess". gently caress off.

quote:

Miyuki was wholly unaware of the drama unfolding on the back stage — well, that was only to be expected — as she calmly waited for the start signal.
"False starts" were a major violation of the rules.
Being overly enthusiastic could subconsciously activate magic, which was your own fault. Well aware of this fallacy, Miyuki wasn't fired up during the waiting period like all the other players, but was concentrating on restraining herself.
......In the eyes of others, this was a "posture of silence".
The signal lights on both ends of the arena flashed red.
Miyuki opened her faintly closed eyes and gazed directly at the enemy field.
A sigh arose from the audience.
And not just in one area either, but from nearly the entire arena.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the young men, but the young women who were mesmerized by that fiery gaze.
"She was so beautiful that when she opened her eyes all the men and women creamed themselves"

This is all unironic.

So then they get down to the competition, and Miyuki crushes her opponent. It's not close, it's not at all a contest. Miyuki just freezes her area and melts the opposition's icicles and the opposition is powerless to do a drat thing about it. This is about as compelling as it sounds, because how better to write a sporting contest than to have it entirely one sided in favour of your mary sue. Seriously, her icicles aren't even scratched.

Incidentally

quote:

Occasionally, this magic served as the test for A-Rank Magicians. Many testers shed bitter tears at their inability to wield this highly difficult magic, but for Miyuki, this was merely a triviality that she could manipulate at will.
Yeah, this really powerful spell is "trivial" to her.

So then it's dinner time

quote:

Tonight, at the First High tables, a clear line was drawn between light and darkness.
Darkness covered the corner where the 1st Year male players were gathered.
Light enshrouded the corner where the 1st Year female players were gathered.
And among the dense jungle of female players, the small dash of red (or maybe green is more appropriate in the jungle?) was, of course, Tatsuya.
With only mere mortals servicing their CADs, the males are doing poorly, whereas all the girls are just slaughtering the other schools.

By the way, the guys are really pissed off about the girls doing well because of a mere course 2 and the dinner scene ends with one of them storming out because every girl is swarming Our Overlord.

Meanwhile, and :siren: if you care about the villain's motivation being a suprise you should not read this bit :siren:, the villains are all meeting up.

quote:

Coincidentally at the same time.
Though it wasn't a sumptuous feast, there was an entire array of high class Chinese cuisine — far more lavish than any high school banquet — spread across the table that was surrounded by a crowd of dismal expressions. There was a colossal difference between the luxurious gold and red decorations and the dour faces of the men present.
"......Wasn't Third High supposed to be favored for the Newcomers Division?"
They were conversing in English.
"We finally managed to force Watanabe to bow out, but...... If this continues, wouldn't First High triumph again?"
However, the people present showed clear signs of mixed European and East Asian heritage.
"If the favored candidate wins, the house will be hemorrhaging money!"
"There are a lot of VIPs in the casinos this time. Even if we do pay out, this isn't a small sum for us. We'll probably be facing a gaping deficient in the beginning of the business quarter. If that's the case......"
The men peered at one another with grave expressions.
"......Everyone here will be purged by headquarters. Based on the size of our loss, the head may do the honors himself!"
One of the men murmured softly as he peered at the snaking dragon embroidered with gold thread in the middle of the hanging axle.
A heavy silence fell over all the men.
"Dying might be the best thing that could happen to us......"
Someone muttered.
In a voice quaking with terror.
Everyone is from Hong Kong, so this time around there aren't any Japanese quislings to get in the way of hatred towards our enemy the evil chinese east asian alliance criminals. All the sabotage and attempted murder is literally just because gambling losses.

Back to the magic olympics, and:

quote:

Based on the Official Division from previous years, the average spectator usually observed the Women's events, while the military, police, firefighters, and university related personnel paid closer attention to the Men's competition.
That seems a little close to :biotruths:

On their way to the third match of icicle break, Miyuki and Tatsuya are met by two members of third high.

quote:

"Miyuki, go ahead and prepare."
Tatsuya did not lift his eyes from these two as he gave his instructions to Miyuki. Tatsuya estimated that they would be here for a while.
"I understand."
Miyuki bowed towards Tatsuya and departed for the resting area without sparing Masaki a single glance, as if the pair did not exist within her dimension. There wasn't even a hint that she was intentionally avoiding them — that was how perfectly she rendered them to non-existence.
Beep Boop Miyuki obeys.

They basically just acknowledge tatsuya as a serious threat, state that one day they'd like to challenge people he's responsible for, then walk away. Tatsuya catches up with miyuki and is all "what did they want"

quote:

"No, well...... I'm not a contestant, right? I don't believe these two renowned individuals who have extended their reputations beyond the scope of magic high school students would view a nameless person like myself a rival."
"Rival" was based on the assumption that they acknowledged that both sides were equal.
Objectively speaking, from outward appearances, he wasn't even in the same strata as those two. Superficially, comparing themselves with him was a ridiculous notion. Furthermore, they didn't appear to have discovered his secrets either.
Ordinarily, it was frankly impossible for the "Crimson Prince" or "Cardinal George" to see him as an opponent — Tatsuya thought.
Upon seeing her older brother actually thinking this way and not out of humility, the sister sighed deeply.
"......Onii-sama, underestimating your own abilities would be fatal in battle. Exactly how highly you are valued, how greatly you are watched, even how much other schools view Onii-sama — how fiercely their antagonism burns because of Onii-sama's skills and strategies — I think Onii-sama should consider all of this objectively once more."
For Miyuki, this was an exceedingly rare, and blunt, counsel.
This was a completely unexpected boldness and unimaginable reproach. Tatsuya could only stand there and watch her blankly.
Luckily Miyuki is there to compliment him, otherwise some other character would have to do it for her.

Then miyuki competes some more

quote:

This was the third time Miyuki used her mysterious beauty to captivate the hearts of the audience at the same time that she wielded her terrible might to vanquish the enemy.

and that's all we get.

More girls win because of Tatsuya. The three finalists for icicle smashing are all from first high, and they'd just take joint first if it weren't for the fact that Miyuki's friend wants to challenge Miyuki. Tatsuya preps them both.

quote:

Shizuku stuck her left wrist with the CAD attached into her right sleeve.
She pulled out a pistol-shaped Specialized CAD in her hand.
This was the final trump card that Tatsuya had prepared for Shizuku.
Shizuku pointed the muzzle towards the front row of icicles in Miyuki's field and pulled the CAD's trigger.

(Dual-wielding CADs!? Shizuku, you managed to accomplish that?)
Seeing Shizuku's left hand also holding a pistol-shaped CAD, Miyuki inwardly wavered.
Wielding multiple CADs simultaneously was her brother's trademark ability. It was an extremely difficult technique that was almost "unique".
Miyuki believed that, for someone who could so easily lose control of magic like herself, it was far too soon for her to challenge that ability that demanded absolute control of her psions. At the same time, she was terrified of infringing upon her brother's favored technique.
However, at the current moment, Shizuku was wielding a second CAD before her very eyes.

Without arousing interference from the psion signal waves, the second CAD completed its Activation Sequence.
Instantly, Miyuki's magic stopped.
The sustained magic was curtailed in mid translation.
Now, Shizuku's new magic stormed forward.
Tatsuya is usually the only duel wielder in this setting because duel wielding is cool. Miyuki is so shocked by Shizuku's ability to duel wield that three of her icicles get slightly scratched. Then miyuki just uses the nitrogen in the air to explode all of shizuku's icicles at once. But hey, at least shizuku damaged her a little. What a worthy rival.

More magic sports happen, then we get told a little about the two who stopped tatsuya earlier:

quote:

Ichijou Masaki — Three years ago, when the Great Asian Alliance invaded Okinawa, the New Soviet Union also took military action on Sado, where the young man of a mere 13 years volunteered for the front lines and, alongside the current head of the Ichijou Family, Ichijou Tsuyoshi, used "Rupture" to annihilate many enemy soldiers. He was a Magician who possessed live combat experience.
While the scale of the battle was quite small (to this day, the New Soviet Union denies their connection with the militants that invaded Sado), he was awarded the title "the Crimson Prince of the Ichijou Family" for his exploits. (Here, "Crimson" praised him for the fact that "he was bathed in blood and fought to the last" rather than being a derogatory "bloodthirsty" label.)
When both the evil chinese AND russians invaded japan, a child soldier used powerful explosive magic and was bathed in the blood of the foreign devils. Yeah WickedHate, totes not nationalistic.

quote:

Kichijouji Shinkurou — A genius Magician that identified the "Cardinal Code", which had only existed in theory, at age 13. Based on his surname Kichijouji and the "Cardinal Code" he discovered, he was given the title "Cardinal George" and was held to be one of the rising stars behind theoretical Magic Sequences who were known throughout the field.
idk what the cardinal code is. Who cares.

Tatsuya sleeps through the first year's men only event. Turns out that more sabotage took place and the first high team got crushed. First high need a replacement, a man who can make the impossible possible.

So yeah Tatsuya is now totes in the magic olympics now, along with his good buddy Leo (because that dumbass sword thing needs to be useful because Tatsuya is prescient) and Erika's childhood friend who is really loving bland.

The first year girls are all worried because of the attempted murder and watching Tatsuya work for emotional support

quote:

Completely besieged by these silent gazes, this was an irritating condition to work under, but it's not like he could shoo them away either.
He refrained from engaging in conversation not because he was hindered by them. Lacking any other options, he elected to ignore them and adopt his usual procedure of silently continuing his work.
An eternally unchanging appearance.
An eternally enduring object.
He had no idea what value this possessed.
For someone who had always labored under restrictive conditions and was well aware of the intermittent nature of the world like Tatsuya, few things were truly eternal.
Even so, the young ladies quieted down gradually as they watched him work as if nothing had happened. All of this Miyuki beheld with her own eyes as she nodded in place of her brother and revealed a satisfied smile.
Tatsuya is a rock in the ocean of chaos.

The women only event takes place and Azusa figures out that Tatsuya is probably Silver because of that smug as heck comment he made in the last book

quote:

"A-chan, what's wrong......?"
Azusa turned around to find Mayumi studying her strangely. Studying the wide-eyed, petrified her.
"No...... It's nothing."
Seeing Azusa curl into a ball, Mayumi replied with an "Is that so?", and turned back to observing the contest.
Azusa's reaction was well within the normal boundaries of her behavior, so there probably wasn't anything to it.
However, what was different was that something other than her usual embarrassment currently captured her heart.
(......As if, we're up against "Taurus Silver"?)
Somewhere, someone made that complaint.
Mixed into the middle of all the shrieks of delight and dismay, for some reason these particular words wormed their way into Azusa's ears.
(That fully manual Activation Sequence adjustment...... Connecting the main systems from the Generalized model to the subsystems of the Specialized model is the current cutting edge research...... The ability to use Loop Cast on Generalized CADs...... "Inferno"...... "Phonon Maser"...... "Niflheim"...... Every one of these are high class magics that have never had their Activation Sequences published......)
For someone who was also aiming to become a Magic Artificer, Azusa started thinking back on each "tour de force" that shocked the crowd time and time again.
(As if? We're up against Taurus Silver?
No, that...... If it wasn't Taurus Silver himself, this is simply impossible......)

— I wonder how shocking it would be if he turned out to be a Japanese teenager like us —

Suddenly, his voice rang out through Azusa's memories.
"......What's the matter? If you're not feeling well, go take a break!"
"No, really, it's nothing......"
Mayumi's anxious and concerned gaze was drawn towards Azusa who had suddenly leapt out of her seat. Yet, Azusa was beyond caring at this point.
The words that clearly rang out from her recollection. Maybe, that wasn't a guess at all......
(How is it possible? How is it possible how is it possible? How is it possible how is it possible how is it possible how is it possible?)
Those words occupied all of Azusa's consciousness.
So yeah Azusa is now in love with Tatsuya aka her hero Silver-sama

Not a lot else happened in the stuff I read. Tatsuya and co prepare for the battle by having Tatsuya redo all their magic code for the event.
Erika's childhood friend uses natural bloodline inherant magic, which Tatsuya has seen and therefore can make it better in every way shape and form because Tatsuya can improve on nature.

He gets to work on that with Azusa watching him

quote:

Presently, Tatsuya was calibrating Mikihiko's CAD at lightning speed. Next to him, Azusa was staring at him in shock. As the user, Mikihiko was also present as he stared wide eyed at Tatsuya's unique calibration method and typing speed. Yet, the subject that astounded Azusa was not so superficial.
Right now, Tatsuya was assembling an Activation Sequence that took into account the traditional requirements for Ancient Magic and adapting them for use in modern magic. "Translating" the technique itself wasn't a particularly daunting task. Much like using a clumsy machine translation, awkward details and minor errors would be scattered all over the place.
Even Azusa was able to fix errors like those.
Yet the calibration being displayed before her eyes was nothing short of a complete rewriting of the Activation Sequence.
By fully comprehending the transformation process from Activation Sequence to Magic Sequence, he was rewriting the Activation Sequence without sacrificing any efficiency from the Magic Sequence.
The Activation Sequence is the blue print for the Magic Sequence. Rewriting the Activation Sequence implied that the Magic Sequence was also being rewritten. Not only did the magic have to be finely tuned to the individual Magician, the excess details in the Magic Sequence also had to be pruned to increase efficiency. That level of rewriting had long surpassed "revision" or "configuration" and had ascended to the realm of "innovation", which was the same thing as improving the very magic itself.
Before he began, Azusa honestly wondered whether this was even possible when she learned from Tatsuya what he was attempting to accomplish. Yet before Azusa's own eyes, he bypassed any experimental verification or live testing and proceeded directly to extracting the very essence of magic from the Activation Sequence and began cutting away at the unnecessary portions and redesigning the Activation Sequence. This was precisely what was unfolding on the editing machine.

Even Azusa, who had volunteered as Tatsuya's aide in place of the usual technician responsible for the Newcomers Division's Monolith Code event, felt powerless before this insane industry. Right now, the only thing she could do was examine the coding language for the freshly minted Activation Sequence as her gnawing doubts steadily solidified into conviction.

He — Shiba Tatsuya — had exceeded the standards of a high school Magic Artificer.

Scratch that, he had long since surpassed the boundaries of what it meant to be a Magic Artificer.
He must be—
Leaving Azusa milling in confusion behind him, Tatsuya used one full hour to completely rewrite Mikihiko's personal Activation Sequence.
Yeah, he can literally rewrite all magic because there is nothing he can't do.

Then they fight Eighth High in the woods. Usually this would be to Eighth's advantage because they train outdoors, but Tatsuya is a ninja. Eighth are crushed.

And that's as far as I got.

Book 4 so far is really just the blandest thing. Magical sports without any fear of losing. Our Mary Sue and Gary Stu not only win everything they're involved with, the opponents are absolutely crushed without resistance.


Tomorrow: I imagine Tatsuya will win monolith code, find and murder the evil gangsters, and First High will win the magic olympics. Tatsuya will be humble throughout.

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


quote:

(to this day, the New Soviet Union denies their connection with the militants that invaded Sado)

:allears: I cannot wait.

Seems the author doesn't think much of women, or at least modern day fashion. There seems to be a constant theme of "if you dress provocatively you are a slut (or at the very least, weird)"

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007
I figure it is half a reactionary response to the way women dress now compared to the 'good old days', and half because Satou just thinks form-fitting clothing with no skin showing is hot.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Serious Frolicking posted:

I figure it is half a reactionary response to the way women dress now compared to the 'good old days', and half because Satou just thinks form-fitting clothing with no skin showing is hot.

not really cause every named girl except our pure goddess has, at some point, worn clothes that show off their legs because satou has a leg fetish

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying

Namtab posted:

Tomorrow: I imagine Tatsuya will win monolith code, find and murder the evil gangsters, and First High will win the magic olympics. Tatsuya will be humble throughout.
Truly, you are the Taurus Silver of predicting Mahouka's plot.

Sindai fucked around with this message at 21:41 on Jun 5, 2014

HiveCommander
Jun 19, 2012

Ytlaya posted:

But apparently this is also #2 among girls in Japan (I think #1 was Haikyuu, which is a pretty strange pair to be at the top of the ratings). It's pretty bizarre.

Part of it might also be that the more right-wing/nationalist elements appeal to nerds over there. Aren't Japanese otaku at least somewhat right-leaning?

Simple; Tatsuya is almost every shoujo lead male ever. No character flaws, extremely competent in everything he does, is a genius inventor who achieves the impossible, and best of all he doesn't feel those negative emotions like anger or frustration at all :v:

That's one thing that pisses me off with anything shoujo; Japanese females are encouraged to idolise males who are utterly flawless (which don't exist), at least my lovely shounen/seinen romcoms give the girls character flaws. Every shoujo male MC is the same person with a different look.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
That's not really confined to shoujo. Girl's media in the west tends to have overly perfect male characters too.

HiveCommander
Jun 19, 2012

WickedHate posted:

That's not really confined to shoujo. Girl's media in the west tends to have overly perfect male characters too.

True, but at least poo poo like Twilight has obvious character flaws, usually with characters being at least mildly psychotic.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
That's not intentional, though. "Character flaws" in Twilight are like when Stephanie Meyer says Bella is clumsy and then she is never clumsy.

Captain Oblivious
Oct 12, 2007

I'm not like other posters
I agree, thanks to other terrible things existing in the world this terrible show is absolved of all missteps and poor writing and nationalism and incest and weird fetishes intermingled with misogyny...

gimme the GOD DAMN candy
Jul 1, 2007

HiveCommander posted:

Simple; Tatsuya is almost every shoujo lead male ever. No character flaws, extremely competent in everything he does, is a genius inventor who achieves the impossible, and best of all he doesn't feel those negative emotions like anger or frustration at all :v:

That's one thing that pisses me off with anything shoujo; Japanese females are encouraged to idolise males who are utterly flawless (which don't exist), at least my lovely shounen/seinen romcoms give the girls character flaws. Every shoujo male MC is the same person with a different look.

Tatsuya is an amoral, arrogant bastard, but he still isn't nearly enough of an rear end in a top hat to be a shoujo love interest. He is a male wish-fulfillment character. Different styles of fictional human garbage, I guess. Plus, Tatsuya doesn't resemble an 8 foot tall walking stick.

Also, not all shoujo love interests are the same person with a different look. Most of them do in fact have the exact same look, but vary in rapiness by author.

WickedHate
Aug 1, 2013

by Lowtax
Tatsuya isn't really amoral, they just have emotional problems.

NowonSA
Jul 19, 2013

I am the sexiest poster in the world!
I haven't read this yet or seen the anime, but from reading the thread is my assessment of this as Ctrl-Alt-Del: The Anime/light novel correct?

Seraphic Neoman
Jul 19, 2011


Not really. Other than the verbal diarrhea, the two are very different and awful in their own seperate ways.

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HiveCommander
Jun 19, 2012

NowonSA posted:

I haven't read this yet or seen the anime, but from reading the thread is my assessment of this as Ctrl-Alt-Del: The Anime/light novel correct?

If Ethan was a Japanese super genius capable of discovering human flight (among other things) and Lilah is his super-jealous magical time bomb sister, fighting against the 'evil Chinese' and their brainwashed Japanese henchmen then they'd look kinda similar if you squint a little.

It's understandable that Japan use China as the enemy in manga/ln/anime in the same way America uses Russia for the same purpose, but Japan were the aggressors in WWII when it came to anything involving the Chinese so it's kinda funny that the Chinese are the evil ones.

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