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Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Watching a god interact with humans is always worth watching.

If he can do all this stuff, why is he even going to magic school?

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Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Stall_19 posted:

She basically worships the ground Tatsuya walks on. She can't even take a compliment without getting flustered and pointing out her brother is much better in that area than her. She can't seem to do anything without getting his approval.

I watched the first episode, it's prob the fact that he saved her life and, being his sister, she probably knows that he's essentially (according to the OP) wizard god.

That said though, having her be nice to him and hyper-defensive regarding slurs against him is one thing and would be justifiable given the above, but for some reason they unironically went with her being in love with him.

loving :japan:

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

The_White_Crane posted:

"No-one in the world can possibly beat ~onee-sama~; he's so great!"
"Boy yes, I sure am! Look, I came up with this revolutionary theory, implemented it, and thought through the ramifications like a boss!"

*LATER*

"~Onee-sama~, if people got wind of your true power they'd hound you forever!"
"Hm, yes, maybe we should try shutting the gently caress up about how great I am?"
[Together:] "Nahhh."

Onee-sama would be for a sister, not a brother. You want onii

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Ep 3. Did the sister literally just murder him cause he was talking about other girls?

HiveCommander posted:

There's some serious anti-communist social commentary in this series.
"The higher income brackets are made up of people whose skills are crucial to society" and "They don't know that using magic required long years of study and training, not just ability?" were good little gems that I took out of this episode.

Seeing as magic seems dependant on those computer thingies it seems like the rich can afford the best stuff thus cementing their superiority over the proles.

That is except for the MC who is the word's greatest gear creator but doesn't mass market it or make any for his friends because ???

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

This is the lamest loving power fantasy in that the main dude seems content to fly under the radar about being wizard god instead of owning everyone all the time.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Wark Say posted:

Wait, so TV tropes also has its very own text file creed-type bullshit now ?

I mean, I dislike the site for the retarded (and completely unwarranted) self-importance that a good chunk of the users carry as if it was a badge of pride of some sort, but I didn't know it had devolved into full-on shitlord wretched hive. Oh, well.

It's less of a wretched hive than it used to be (because of the death of troper tales, fetish fuel and the banning of some paedophiles due to goon mockery) but it's still a website where people categorise everything that happens, no matter how bland, into "tropes" and then don't bother to examine how the use of said tropes works.

It's like taking a radio to bits, labelling each piece, but not knowing how each piece interacts to form a working radio.


Back to this, I've been reading the first light novel. I don't know whether it's the baka-tsuki translation (which is admittedly more than I could do, but the english used is appalling) but somehow the MC is even more obnoxious in the books.

Also it's implied that he's aware that his sister fancies him but doesn't want to make an issue out of it.

Serious Frolicking posted:

Now that I think about it, no one at any point learns anything about magic from the magic high school curriculum. Tatsuya comes pre-loaded with his special range of bullshit abilities, but anyone else uses some combination of figuring stuff out on their own, family specialties, and/or slobbering over Tatsuya's cock until they reach enlightenment.

Well the deal with the class 1 and 2 system is that only the class 1s are actually physically taught magic, whilst class 2s are just given access to books and rooms and left to get on with it. This results in the class 1s becoming more adept at magic as time goes on, thus furthering the divide

Namtab fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Apr 28, 2014

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Pierson posted:

tvtropes.txt isn't really just single lines of awful loving opinions like gamers.txt or bitoins.txt is (although it certainly has that too). It's a dude proudly showing off twenty paragraphs outlining a novel - nay, a whole quadrilogy - of their space-opera epic including cosmology, character breakdowns from prologue to finale, loving descriptions of technology and entire reams of 'world-building', without ever putting down a single chapter of the actual story, because writing is really loving hard you guys.

So many tropes, not a single line written

Phobophilia posted:

It does, however, have the greatest opening line of any novel.

The dickgirls opened fire.

Different troperwork, although that one was much more horrifying.

Anyway, the troperthread is here although it's a lot blander than previous troperthreads.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Serious Frolicking posted:

Edit: Oh, didn't see what you were quoting in my rush to mock the show some more. My assertion that no one ever learns magic from school is especially true for Miyuki, who is ostensibly receiving instruction. Of course, just what 'magic school' would even consist of is never really elaborated on.

In fairness though the sister is almost as equally bullshit as the brother in that she's just the best in terms of absolute raw power.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Xythar posted:

I think you guys are reading too hard into what might have just been a bad translation of the Japanese.

It's a bit hard to judge whether it's the writer or the translator's fault unless you've read the original or asked someone who has. I'm not sure if that translation is fan or official, but basically 90% of LN fan translations (and 99% of the ones on baka-tsuki) are pretty much trash.

Bka-Tsuki, among its many problems, has a tendency to use three long words where one short word would do.

Ytlaya posted:

Yeah, this also occurred to me. The Class 2 people should still be elite, just slightly less elite.

This is based on what I could take from the BT translation of book 1, which takes any complex explanations and makes them nearly incomprehensible.
Class 2 exists for two reasons, the first being that some people in class 1 will burn out before the three years is through, and therefore the school needs a supply of reserves in case a position in class 1 opens up.
The second reason is that there's apparently a load of support jobs that require the person to be schooled in a magic school, such as CAD engineer. People who are less apt at actually using magic practically but who are still able to use magic can receive education to help them get a support role.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

I'm watching this seriously and unironically

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

drat anime is deep.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

I don't usually make unironic posts about analysing anime & other things, but Jesus Christ WickedHate + others.

Take an issue such as "Why is it only the case that the class one students have teachers?". Now you can take the in-universe justification for it "oh there aren't enough fully trained wizards to teach all the students" and leave it at that. You've answered the question on a very superficial, in-universe level. You've taken the author's in universe justification and accepted it as the reason that the thing exists. Congratulations, you're casually absorbing the work, engaging with it on the same level as a sponge or TVTroper.

Or you could engage with the work and consider exactly why it is that there aren't enough course 1 teachers. This isn't answered by looking at the reasons given to us, but the themes that the author is trying to present to us. The reason there aren't enough course 1 teachers is that it makes Tatsuya look more special because he doesn't need instruction. It's a message about elitism and discrimination that doesn't discriminate in the right way. Better posts than this one have been made about the actual reason that the author has chosen to do things this way.

Remember that this isn't a documentary, these aren't real events. Everything that you are presented with is there because the author of this light novel series made the choice to put it there, and the people behind this anime chose to keep it there.

For a simpler question ask yourself "why is the sister in love with the brother". The in-universe explanation is "He saved her life and she also didn't know they were related until three years ago". The actual explanation is "It means I can write a harem comedy with the sister as part of it. This will sell more books due to the creepy otaku demographic who are more likely to find my web published novel".

It's not hard to think a little more critically about anims.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

I've been answering from the author's point of view.

You're looking at what he's saying and not why. Which is my point in a single sentence.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

I just don't see it the same way, I guess.

You're really loving stupid and I'm not 100% convinced this isn't some really elaborate troll, so let me present this as simply as possible with another example.

The baka-tsuki translation posted:

The International Anti-Magic Political Organization "Blanche".
Their manifesto called for an end to political systems that treated Magicians as superior, and eliminating the difference in treatment caused by the presence of magical abilities.
However, the idea that this country's Magicians received preferential treatment from the political system was false.
To be precise, since Magicians were treated like tools to be used by the military and other government branches, to say it was "inhumane" treatment would be closer to the truth.
This was because when compared to the neighboring country with the highest population in the world, there was no other way to match the sheer difference in the number of troops that could be mobilized besides adopting a quality over quantity approach.
It was true that Magicians serving in the military or the government received a higher salary, but that was in compensation for increased labor as well as expended life energy.
The criticisms leveled by the Anti-Magic Organizations focused solely on the lack of their own benefits, and thus created anti-establishment organizations, of which "Blanche" was the most active.
Thanks to the political freedom guaranteed within this country, criticism directed towards the government was not banned or suppressed.
Historically, the Anti-Magic Movement had always been easily linked with criminal activity. In reality, there were several examples of Anti-Magic Organizations delving into terrorism.
(I'm not fixing their obnoxious line breaks and lovely english sorry)

This is the first (subtle) mention of China as being the villains. Ask yourself this: "Why are China the villains".

There are two ways to do this:
1.) Repeat the in-universe justification, whatever it is.
2.) Think about why the author specifically chose to put China in his story and make them evil. Not the justification chosen in universe, but the factors behind the author specifically choosing china and the impression of them he wants to present to you, the reader. Bear in mind that later in the series it is specifically revealed that Tatsuya has slaughtered thousands of chinese people during the war and that this is presented as a good thing

:siren:Bonus points for advanced thinkers.:siren:

The anti-magic movement had always been easily linked with criminal activity + terrorism. Why? Do not use the in universe justification, think about the message

Namtab fucked around with this message at 23:39 on May 6, 2014

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

^^bring it dork

Tarranon posted:

just a quick question, can you think of one popular tv show, movie, or book that is about an ideology?

like, did you read animal farm and think it was just a fun story about a bunch of pigs going hog wild

Man those pigs were really mean to the horses :saddowns:

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

quote:

"Their proposal is to abolish the differences in society caused by magic. Just this, by itself, is an unimpeachable and correct idea." (Tatsuya)

"...Yes." (Miyuki)

"In that case, what is this so called difference?"

"An individual's talent or hard work does not reflect adequate compensation from society...?"

"I just said, Miyuki, think outside the box."

As he said this, Tatsuya picked up the remote control from the table, and turned to the screen. There were sixteen different pictures, one of them was brought forward and magnified.

"Blanche is a political organization on the surface. Their evidence for Magicians receiving preferential treatment comes from the difference in salaries between Magicians and non-Magicians. The difference they speak of is the difference in mean wages. But that's nothing more than an average, a single result. They do not consider the extent of hardships that Magicians go through to obtain their high salaries. They also ignore the fact that Magicians are only allowed to work in fields pertaining to magic, even if these backup Magicians would receive lower salaries than ordinary office workers."

Tatsuya's voice was bland and almost completely emotionless. However, a tiny trace of melancholy could be detected.

"No matter how capable or strong, so long as society does not need that magic, monetary compensation and recognition remain impossible."

Miyuki painfully lowered her gaze. Tatsuya stood, paced a few steps, then tenderly placed a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"There is a reason why Magicians have such a high mean salary. That is because society requires certain specialized Magicians. Because there are a small number of outliers that throw off the average, the mean salary becomes so high. Next, for Magicians active on the frontline and capable of contributing to society — no, that's overly embellishing it. It is because Magicians can provide society some sort of benefit, monetary or otherwise, that grants them larger compensation, and not merely for the fact that they are born Magicians. The world of Magicians is not naive enough to believe that simply being born with magical talent guarantees prosperity. This, I think we are well aware of. Right, Miyuki?"

"Yes... Very well aware."

Miyuki nodded as she put her hand atop her elder brother's hand.

"Thus, Blanche proposes to abolish the difference in salaries caused by magic, but in the end is really advocating the abolishment of using magic to obtain monetary compensation. In other words, they are asking Magicians to selflessly contribute to society."

"...That's quite the self-centered proposal. Everyone needs money to live, regardless of whether or not they can use magic. But, they don't allow Magicians to use magic for a living, even people who are capable of using magic must use other skills to make a living... In the end, just because they don't know how to use magic, they don't want magic to become the measuring stick for a person's value? Are they saying that it's okay if Magicians' hard work cannot receive compensation? It should be obvious that their hard work is not valued... Or do these people not know that simply being born with magical talent is not enough? That using magic requires many years of intense studying and training?"

Tatsuya moved away from Miyuki's back and returned to his seat with a thin smile on his lips.

"No, they know. They know, but don't say it. Because if they don't say it or think about information that contradicts them, they are able to use equality to lie to themselves and others. Miyuki asked this in the beginning. Why would magic students join the activities of Anti-Magic Organizations like Blanche or Egalite?"

"Hm... Is it because they don't know the real philosophy behind the anti-magic parties?"

"People that can't use magic cannot learn it no matter how hard they try, and thus feel that it is unfair for society to reward Magicians for using magic. Then, how about the students who can use magic, but lack the talent to catch up to the truly outstanding students regardless of their diligence, and in turn are looked down upon — this type of thinking would be perfectly reasonable, right? Differences in talent is not unique to magic. This is apparent in other fields, such as the arts or athletics.
Even if they don't have talent in magic, maybe they have talents in other areas.
If they cannot bear to have no talent in magic, then they should find another path."

If someone who was only superficially acquainted with Tatsuya heard these words, they might have thought he was saying this to himself. But Miyuki, the only person present, would never make that kind of mistake.

"I believe that people who learn magic reject the 'differences' caused by magic, because they are unwilling to abandon magic. Unwilling to give up, but unable to accept being second-rate. Unable to accept the truth that there are people with such talent that are completely beyond their grasp. Unable to accept the possibility that putting in many times more work still puts them out of reach. Thus, they reject using magic as an assessment. The fact is, they know that the people with talent also put in the same amount of work. This is evident before their eyes. But, they choose to ignore this and pile all the responsibility on inborn talent, and reject it.
Well... It's not like I can't understand that sense of weakness. I have similar thoughts myself."

The terrorists don't want equality they are just jealous that people who are better at magic than them get paid more (which allows them to continue buying equipment that helps them be better at magic).

The only people calling for income equality are jealous strawmen because the rich have worked hard to be rich damnit.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his imouto?

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

I'm not saying it's perfect. There are things wrong with it, and there are things about it that I like. In the case of the nationalism, I can just forget the possibility it's meant to be a nationalist metaphor.

It's possible to watch this show without resorting to doublethink, y'know.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

I'm not. I'm only saying that if it is meant to be libertarian I can forget about that and enjoy the surface of it.

The surface of it being the show about a gary stu and his sister who is in love with him?

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

darkgray posted:

I hope you'll be this passionate when Dainihon Samurai Girl becomes (?) anime. It's about a hyper-right-wing 16-year-old girl who wants to become dictator of Japan in order to arm the nation with nuclear weaponry, so they can take on China and whatever, and she's persuaded to become an idol first, since it's the fastest way to the political top. Great stuff.

Sounds amazing, sign me up

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

A lot of interesting arguments on the last page. For the people still thinking that this isn't like telling the disadvantaged to bootstrap or w/e, replace the word "bloom" with "white" and "weed" with the n-word and you'll see where people are coming from with the whole discrimination thing.

quote:

Poor little haram member, seduced into joining a terrorist organization by her ~senpai~ because she was rejected by a course 1 student/ BUT WAIT THAT'S NOT WHAT HAPPENED IT WAS THE REVERSE! The course 1 member was trying to praise her!.

...

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS! MY BAD FOR HATING YOU FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR AND HELPING AN ARMED GROUP ATTACK THE SCHOOL WITH ROCKETS, GUNS, KNIVES, AND INSIDER TRAITORS!

It gets worse. It turns out that the leader of this lot of terrorists had the power of super-hypnotism (which is naturally useless against tatsuya) so she's not to blame for any of her actions at all.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

Magic doesn't equal value to society, magic is just valuable to society.

Wrong.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

I don't hate this show, it's just not a good show. Like the one guy said, it's so bad it's interesting.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

The Irregular at Magic High School: Worse than twilight???

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Paracelsus posted:

People keep bringing up race as the main thing in discrimination, but I don't think that makes much sense given the context for a work from a very mono-ethnic society about a high-stakes educational system.

Race is just being used as a parallel to explain the rough western equivalence of the arguments. But that's a good, interesting post.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

I started reading book 3:

quote:

"Onii-sama, sorry for the wait."
Upon hearing the voice, Tatsuya shifted his gaze over as the headlights illuminated his sister's slim body.
Miyuki's long hair was done up in a bun while she wore a biker's suit in the same fashion as Tatsuya's own. The custom fit suit hugged her curves, hinting at the fullness of her womanly charms.

this is after a section of Tatsuya talking to his friends, which is 50% him explaining things to them and 50% them telling him to not belittle himself.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

It's more that ADTRW Reads Too Much Into Things and Doesn't Like A Good Show.

Yes, we read the text. Not even the subtext, we read what was literally published and then explain it to you.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

The irregular at magic high school: The text says the rich are rich because they make an effort, but what if it doesn't?

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

I get it now. It's just a case of show, don't tell.

WickedHate's just holding out for video evidence of the swastika in Tatsuya's hand...

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

SSNeoman posted:

How are people missing the incest theme? :psyduck:
The sister literally said that she wished her brother saw her "as a woman", while she was in her underclothes no less, before murdering him in a jealous rage because he rebuked her advance.

gently caress me now there's a sentence goddamn anime

People aren't missing the theme, there's just nothing to discuss about it really. It's gross poo poo that the author put in to try and get additional views. Discussing the author's messages though is actually somewhat interesting.

quote:

Tucked inside Tatsuya's bosom, Miyuki was blushing furiously. Thankfully, that was difficult to discern in the surrounding darkness — at least that was what Miyuki thought, but Tatsuya had already noticed due to being in contact with her stiff body, while Yakumo had detected this through her erratic breathing.

Oh good the brother is actually aware of it :psyboom:

FakeEdit: seriously, everytime I read like 5 pages I find something I want to quote for this thread these books are awful.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

quote:

Today's class activity was football.
The encyclopedia's entry was as follows: This is a sport derived from soccer, with similar rules, that is played on a field surrounded by a large box with numerous tiny holes in it. The only notable differences are that players wear a head protector, and head and hand contact are prohibited. (Also, the competition format where players "compete in a transparent box" was one of the defining characteristics of post-2080 AD athletics.)
Occasionally, this contest was also held with magic involved, but generally magic was ruled out, and today was no exception.
Football was played with a lightweight, highly resilient ball that bounced off the walls and ceiling. The ball rebounded left and right at high speeds, much like a ping pong ball, as players chased after it in order to make the shot against the opposing goal. It was a sport that demanded both incredible agility and considerable strength. In addition, the highly stimulating exercise was a popular sport for "entertainment".
So it's football, except in a box with airholes, and protective gear, and a ping pong ball.

I'm pretty sure in 2080 no matter if magic is real or not sports are probably gonna be the same as sports we have now and not played in dumbass transparent boxes. Your made up sport sounds dumb as gently caress.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Baka-Tsuki are the worst, and this is particularly clunky.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

That's just nitpicking. A lot of LN's and manga do that.

Christ dude you don't need to whiteknight the clunky as gently caress amateur translation.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Fashion goes in cycles, the gritty magical future with a victorian fashion sense.

"Madam, I can see your ankles"

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

My "fave" aspect of this show has always been that the guy is emotionless just so they can make him sarcastic all the time.

The irregular at magic high school: my only emotions are imouto and :smug:

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

Yeah, even if you don't like Mahouka you can't have seen that bad for it to be the worst.

It's better than creepy fetish shows I guess.

the irregular at magic high school: it's bad, but chuu-bra is worse

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

boredsatellite posted:

Honestly it's a rough tossup between creepy fanservice shows and shows that pander to right wing otakus with terrible nationalist stuff

Right wing otakus at least consent to having terrible opinions.

WickedHate posted:

Using China as the bad guy could be nationalist but not necessarily.

Yeah the national enemies that Japan's occupied within the last century and there's still lingering resentment and an ongoing argument between the two nations over the ownership of some dumbass unoccupied rocks in the assend of nowhere. Making the national enemies comically evil and dedicated to overthrowing glorious nippon isn't nationalism it's ????

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Code Geass is a fun ride with entertaining characters that becomes a glorious trainwreck. The main characters are somewhat layered and as you said, while there is a strong nationalistic vibe there's good and evil people from every country.

This is unironically nationalistic and the main character siblings are both Mary Sues. The brother is basically a ninja genius ultimate wizard soldier, and the sister is literally the most powerful wizard in the school. There's no depth, it's just interesting how bad this is.


By all means watch this show, but I wouldn't dream of comparing it to Code Geass.

Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

Serious Frolicking posted:

She is the most powerful wizard in the school even though she is using half of her power to seal half of Tatsuya's. It is hilarious.

Oh so that's why Tatsuya's so wary about the girl with the glasses. I mean I hadn't got far enough to find out the reason but who the gently caress cares about spoilers for this garbage?

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Namtab
Feb 22, 2010

WickedHate posted:

Black and white how, exactly? There are bad Japanese characters, and it only seems like the Chinese government is antagonistic.

I guess if you're definition of nationalist is "there's an antagonistic country" then I suppose it is, but that's really broad.

But every bad japanese character has been working for the chinese government.

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