Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Remember Magic High School Anime?
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Shay Guy
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As I've worked on my Japanese, it's become increasingly weird to me to see The Irregular at Magic High School abbreviated as "Mahouka", since it just means "magic (as an academic discipline)". Which does capture more meaning than "Shimoneta" (which just means "dirty jokes"), I guess.
No, I can't be bothered to change it on the Narou anime spreadsheet. And yes, I'm going to keep calling it that here. You know, now I'm curious about the timeline of this trend. Looking up the Wikipedia pages for all the series named here, not counting the later isekai stuff, start dates for the original light novels are:
Somehow it never really registered to me that Mahouka was still putting content out, or that it came so early in that wave of magic high school LNs -- and the original web novel, the most popular story on Narou for some time, predated all the others mentioned. How much did it shape the others? Did Narou kickstart this and the isekai trend? Do both ultimately have the same root in The Familiar of Zero? (And Negima, which was also super-popular on Narou back when they hosted fanfic.) …Actually, come to think of it, Infinite Stratos wasn't mentioned at all in the piece -- kudos to lemurs for bringing it up -- but it's probably a more direct progenitor. LN started May 25, 2009, before any of the others except the Mahouka WN, and from what I've heard ticks pretty much all the boxes. (It was also quite popular as a fanfic source on Narou.)
I've never seen anyone flip like this. It always had its detractors. Their voices have just become more prominent. There are people who've said "I did love those books once, but looking back, they do have a lot of problems", or "I loved them once, but I can't in good conscience contribute to societal approval of someone who's made her entire brand into promotion of ideologies and policies that get trans kids killed", but that's not the same as what you were saying.
I believe bishoujo romance games in general have been in decline for quite some time. (There's even a one-panel remark about it in Aka Akasaka's latest manga, Renai Daikou.) Not much left that any studio would adapt anymore. |
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Avec ou Nous
Posts: 144 |
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It's important to note Uno himself specifically told people to not translate his characters as transgender, they are either otokonoko (male daughters) or josou danshi (crossdressers). He was initially worried about how it would be handled overseas in English.
I do not know how the official English localization handles it though. I know those tend to be controversial issues from what I've seen happen with media translations and controversies in the past. I do find it funny that Warner Bros. Japan is involved in the anime adaption. I'm going to assume that was intentional given the other Harry Potter homages in the series since Japan loves Harry Potter. |
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HyperbolicPlane
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I have seen plenty of flippers. Anyway, I won't get into my view on this matter, so I'll just say that even if you do think that, I really don't understand how it makes the work any different. Many pieces of art and fiction that I adore are made by people who hold and proudly share values and ideals I totally disagree with, but that doesn't detract at all from my enjoyment and admiration of the works; if anything, it makes me respect their authors regardless of our conflicting opinions. |
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FilthyCasual
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Infinite Stratos definitely counts for it. That does feel a bit heretical to say though as a diehard "SAO is VRMMO not isekai and there are key differences" absolutist, but it's the truth.
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Iron Maw
Posts: 495 |
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Spellblades predates Mashie as it came out in 2018 2 years before the later. So if anything it would later copying the former, although its just consequence that two just sing Harry Potter to base their source of inspiration. Actually if anything this week's column highlights why Spellblades stands out to me more older magic high schools years before it did whether when using similar tropes or not. For one there very magical schools that use western fantasy as template for their settings, the Ancient Magus Bride is probably the most notable for me, but not primary a magic school setting, its current arc just happens to take place in once. Even less so to specific twist on an existing property like Harry Potter which there are only two shows whole Japanese magical high school genre you can even point to. Like take sword arts duel in episode 2 for example. One of common tropes magic highschool/academy (I'll just use MHS as an abbreviation) is that male and female leads fight eachother usually as result conflict where the former caught the later in some tried fanservicey compromising scene. The heroine is often already part of the established setting as well as the ace-student of the school or at least class she is part of (may even have fire powers to match her firey personality!). On paper and supposedly in practice she is way better than male protagonist who is typically a newcomer or has little prior experience in whatever the school does our lead female does. Then hero beats her anyway and gets all the attention she once had from her peers and serves a starting point for a harem, all within the first episode. Spellblades bucks the trend here beyond the framing Oliver and Nanao dueling each other. Both are newcomers into the MHS have no established reputations. They duel is a simple mock exhibition match with nothing on the line thanks to aforementioned point and its not result of some kind of recent hostility. While Oliver did in fact see Nanao partially naked its not how they first met nor did result any kind convenient fanservice (like him falling into her boobs) and instead to set some foreshadowing about Nanao's background and potentially her skills. Which leads to actual due itself, Oliver doesn't beat Nanao, in fact they tie with narrative confirming tho that battle they are rough equal overall. The two are coming different directions in terms of martial prowness with Oliver pre-education training & societal knowledge clashing against Nanao's instinctual battlefield training with their individual weakness neither is superior to other, especially not due some special skill that's use in the match for once. Sure they both get a "little too in to it" but they come out admiration (way more on Nanao's side than Oliver) for eachother at end of it not jealously or shame. The post duel and next episode also expand how they view swordsmanship and where the duel sat for them in the boarder conciseness, with it being a way of life for Nanao and merely a tool to achieve his aims with Oliver. I also like the fact Oliver trains Nanao in magic to shore up her weakness in magic rather than narrative keep it as means just balance them out. Not only is a dynamic that is rarely done (use the one of leads is a teacher themselves) it hints at narrative's intention have Nanao surpass Oliver completely one day. She already well on her way as of episode 6 spoiler[she's shown to be capable of manifesting a the titular 7th spellblade by sheer talent.] Spellblades also sets it apart form the older MHS is fact core cast consist of 6 that we follow instead of the protagonist. While yes Oliver is main protagonist and our POV in the world his motley crew of friends is almost always present and when they aren't interacting, they are usually working together when comes to solving various problems rather than Oliver being one man army doing everything himself. The troll subdued by efforts everyone involved, the arena fiasco had Oliver & Nanao taking on Garuda while the other fought off the escaped kobolds tried to attack them and taking down Miligan was a team effort between the leads who otherwise outmatched. Only battles have been solved by Oliver alone and both were personal matters for either different reasons. The fact Nanao often one standing out in the majority of aftermaths these conflicts, earning much more heaps of praise and popularity compared to Oliver who recognized by a few perceptive individuals. Love fact that Oliver hasn't had any easy wins & there no fight he doesn't struggle not mention we learn more others character before Oliver himself It been one of the many things makes Spellblades refreshing for me ways wouldn't have without them. Tropes are everywhere in media no matter what content you watch, so media nowadays live and die by the execution said tropes that better informs viewer of the quality of the work. So, while Spellblades is MHS just like Re:Zero is isekai its in the little ways that twist the formula in genre that has garnered their attention. I'm someone who care all that much of MHS or isekai due how boilerplate they have become but I don't hold as death knell to any individual works potential when step off the beaten.
Just gonna point out that Spellblades follows the more traditional shounen plot structure where some threads resolved for the time being and surface in completely different manner that expands on the resolutions of prior incidents later on. Nothing is really dropped in this story and first arc was more than about just Kaite, it was also introduction to the world of Spellblades as whole. Peeling back just enough given a sense underlying themes and conflicts going on in the narrative. So while the incident settled for time being with defeat and exposure of mastermind and her accomplice resulting in the troll surviving best not assume its something just dropped will never come up again. Like Ophelia just showed up in recent episode of after 6 week absence.
Actually this apparently not meant to be that literal. Its more like people are born with certain attributes their are better with than others. Otherwise they wouldn't be so many males who are good using lightning magic and Nanao wouldn't more proficient with wind and fire combat spell than opposing elements. What Pete is doing as Reversi is doing reshuffling innate magical preferences one might have. There is a other LGBTQ content that shows up the in later novels and Pete feelings about his gender. So I while don't know if Bokuto did this take a piss of out of Rowling, but Spellblades its definitely more LGBTQ friendly than HP and certainly deals with how magic affect one sex and other understanding of themselves. Last edited by Iron Maw on Tue Aug 29, 2023 3:05 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Moonsaber
 Posts: 343 Location: USA |
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VN based anime are still being made, by all means. The creators move with the times as well, and Key is known for adding a supernatural element. When I said I was expecting more from Key, I am expecting Summer Pockets and/or Loopers to get an anime adaption sooner rather than later. It's hard to do multiroute stories like that without doing what Amagami SS did, and they do have a bishoujo romance angle for certain, but the mystery/supernatural part is a big part of the draw. Last edited by Moonsaber on Tue Aug 29, 2023 4:18 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Top Gun
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If you told me that 90% of the titles mentioned in this column were completely made-up, I'd believe you without batting an eye. I have no memory of most of them even by distant proxy. That whole trend flamed out so fast that it pretty much passed me by entirely. I think the most salient point is that authors should probably stop chasing whatever the popular trend du jour is and maybe instead focus on, y'know, writing a good story. We'd all be much better off for it.
Oh, and...
*brofist* |
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dm
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As the column went on, I started thinking that they were just making up titles, but then there were the links to the ANN Encyclopedia for them..... |
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Cho_Desu
 Posts: 226 |
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There's got to be 20+ isekai series for every magical high school one we had back in the day. Also it's arguable that the magical high school fad never truly went away, when they still feature in many isekai...
And speaking of which, I feel like we're in our fifth (sixth? seventh?) year of articles that note "the isekai fad will surely be passing soon." A finger will almost assuredly curl on the monkey's paw if I say I'll accept literally anything to replace the narou-kei boom at this point, but I may be willing to accept that. Bring on whatever is somehow even worse. I'm ready. |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1546 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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I think it says a lot about my opinion on Akashic Records (and intrusive ecchi elements in general) that the school uniforms didn't bother me in the slightest and ultimately wound up a non-factor in my overall final thoughts.
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Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9951 Location: Virginia |
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I have to agree with this. The uniforms caught my attention for a few minutes as I tried to figure out what the straps were holding up (or down) and then they just became part of the scenery. |
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Blue Senpai
Posts: 41 |
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I always associate the genre with Negima, the OG Anime Harry Potter. I know it's not technically magic but series like Naruto and Soul Eater also remind me of the concept of a school for special abilities. I like both magic schools and isekai series so I'm fine with either being so prominent
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Iron Maw
Posts: 495 |
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From that angle you could fit in My Hero Academia and Soul Eater's sequel Soul Eater Not. |
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Nigel Planter
Posts: 98 Location: London, UK |
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The hate on isekai is no different than the hate moe got back in the late 2000s when people said Azumanga Daioh, Haruhi, Nichijou, Lucky Star, K-On, and other Cute Girls Doing Cute Things shows were killing and ruining the industry. It's always vocal people who dislike when market trends shifts to something they don't like, because the actual numbers showcase the majority of people like this stuff and that's why they become popular. Whatever the next big thing is, I'm sure it'll have it's own share of haters as well. I don't recall any hate for magical school series though, or really much of a notable 'trend' per say. No more than saying fighting shounen shows are a trend, but a popular concept and genre. I guess back in the height of Harry Potter's releases you saw a lot of them like Negima since Japan freaking loves Harry Potter especially Bokuto Uno himself who was in The Nikkei recently talking about Harry Potter's success and what attracted him to the series and about how it influenced his own Reign of the Seven Spellblades. |
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Aster97
Posts: 161 |
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really enjoyed this article. been trying to explain this to my friends for a while but they didn't seem to care much. glad to see fellow viewpoints on here. i hope the isekai genre dies down in a few more years if not sooner. really need a break from it.
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