Oh Mahouka, Mahouka, Mahouka… what far-right nonsense will you peddle this week?
— Ah, the Madonna-whore concept in a single character. At first, Mayumi goes, “Here you are, having a conversation in such a proximity to a beautiful girl, but you’re not showing any signs of making a move. Sorry that I have such a childish figure.” But when Tatsuya actually decides to tease her — “If you were offering yourself to me, I would not hesitate to partake of you” — the girl freaks the hell out. Hitchcock would be proud, except, y’know, there isn’t any commentary here on the representation of women in anime. Haremettes simply throw themselves at the harem lead until he decides to pay them any attention. Then all of a sudden, these girls must pretend as though they hate sex. Japanese maidens are always pure and virginal, yo.
— By the way, Mayumi doesn’t appear again for the rest of the episode. Her inclusion this week is thus completely pointless and arbitrary.
— Oh no! Someone’s hacking Tatsuya! Quick, type super fast on the keyboard! That’s how you stop a realtime hack! Sometimes, two people have to type on the same keyboard at the same time! But our Gary Stu’s got this!
— Oh man, you thought the Nine Schools Competition was ridiculously important? It turns out our evil hackers are attempting to steal any information they can get on these kids’ upcoming thesis presentation. Yeah man, everyone knows cutting-edge research can be found in high schools. Fuck college. It’s just where we go to get hammered and sleep around. But anyway, this Magic Thesis Competition is such serious business that the Disciplinary Committee will even provide personal bodyguards for each team member. Wait, surely you aren’t suggesting that Tatsuya needs a bodyguard, are you? This manly Gary Stu over here? A bodyguard for him? Hah.
See? You heard the man. On a more serious note, if they’re going to provide everyone a bodyguard, why not be safe rather than sorry? It’s not like a trained bodyguard will somehow make you less safe just because you’re perfectly capable of defending yourself. But no, Tatsuya is a strong, independent Gary Stu, and he don’t need no bodyguard!
— According to Mari, “teams for this contest are sometimes targeted by industrial spies.” That’s right, industrial spies targeting a high school thesis competition. First, Chinese terrorists try to stage a violent protest at a Japanese high school. Then, the Chinese mafia tried to rig an athletic event. And now, industrial spies are after the secrets of a high school thesis competition. But why are we even beating around the bush? We all know these industrial spies are truly Chinese badmen. In fact, even if the spies are Japanese, it just means they’ve been brainwashed by the Chinese badmen to do their bidding!
— Mahouka has a distinct pattern, and it’s a sad, pathetic pattern. One small, potentially interesting thing will happen, then the characters will proceed to talk about it ad nauseum. Soemone tried to hack Tatsuya? Let’s spend the next five to ten minutes talking about it!
— Man, after 20 weeks of this stupid anime, I still don’t know half of these character’s names. I had no idea who the dorky-looking guy was until the purple-haired girl called him Kei. And yes, I don’t know the purple-haired girl’s name. The show has a ton of characters, but none of them have any personality or depth.
— Later that day, the worst spy ever attempts to keep an eye on Tatsuya and his friends. I say she’s the worst spy ever, because, well, take a look for yourself:
I mean, seriously, you’re out in broad daylight. As a result, you are making yourself look even more suspicious by hiding behind a tree like, well, some sort of shitty spy. But this is Mahouka, so no one gets to be smart except for the Gary Stu himself. Also, notice how the streets are empty and devoid of life. This universe is practically dead. Every single location looks untouched and unlived. Where is everybody? In fact, where are all the poor people? Have we seen a single poor Japanese citizen in this show? Gasp, what have you guys done to them?! Obviously, poor people are busy picking up their bootstraps offscreen.
— Apparently, our spy is a fellow classmate who wants her revenge on Tatsuya. What’s her beef? Shrug. I bet it’s stupid anyway. By the way, the girl’s also dumb enough to think that “classified documents [to the evil Chinese badmen] is the most effective revenge.” As a result, she’s manipulated into working for the Chinese badmen! Those evil bastards have brainwashed our innocent, virginal shoujos!
— We also learn that the evil Chinese badmen have now added First HIgh School to their list of targets. Man, if only my time in high school was this exciting! Had this really been the case, maybe I’d still be hung up on it even now!
— The next day, Mikihiko tells Tatsuya that someone’s using Ancient Magic to stir shit up at the school, but it’s not Glorious Nippon Ancient Magic. Uguu, it’s dirty Ancient Magic from a foreigner! An evil foreigner at that!
— Another terrible spy stalking our kids:
You can’t really spy in this country when it’s so devoid of life. Anyone who isn’t a part of Tatsuya’s gang is automatically a suspicious person. It doesn’t help either when these spies can’t seem to act natural. Instead, they have to dash behind corners like some sort of caricature from a comedy. Sadly, this is not a comedy as much as we would like to think otherwise.
— I’m practically ignoring the scenes with the two investigators, ’cause they barely seem to be adding anything to the narrative.
— Erika and Leo leave Tatsuya’s side just to deal with the spy. I guess they’re serving as Tatsuya’s bodyguards even though he didn’t ask for any. This is a great insult!
— The spy tries to scream for help, but our two high school students have conveniently erected a barrier that will prevent anyone from interfering. That’s nice. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here, thinking, “In Mahouka, no one can hear you scream.”
— The two kids eventually manage to subdue the man, ’cause naturally, a trained spy is no match for a pair of high school students. He tells them, however, that he’s not an enemy. Hell, his name is even Jiro Marshall. Ah, those Americans are butting in on Japan’s affairs, aren’t they? More specifically, however, he’s here to prevent cutting-edge technology from falling into the hands of those dirty Chinese badmen.
Even better, he adds, “I thought this country was cured of its pacifist complacency…” That’s right. Being a pacifist means you’re just a complacent hippie do-gooder. Fuck, man, those Chinese badmen are after us! We need to fight back! We need to fight back right now! We need to bring back Japan’s glorious army, go over to China, and teach those assholes a lesson! I suggest we start with Manchuria!
— Sigh, even the American spy has to run like a Narutard. But it’s okay. He is quickly killed off by a Chinese badman.
— And that does it for this week’s episode. I mean, Mahouka has always been a boring show, but this episode was especially low-key for some reason. I mean, this is the first season’s (I’m assuming they’ll make more of this shit) last arc right? So you’d think the story would take special steps to build up to some fantastic finale, but I’m just not feeling it. It’s just Tatsuya wandering around while people — both good and bad — attempt to spy on him. There’s no sense of urgency. There’s no sense of danger. Everything feels so goddamn relaxed. And yeah, I get it, he’s a Gary Stu. He’s overpowered. He can kill you just by farting in your direction. But geez, evil operatives — let’s disregard the fact that they’re Chinese for the moment — have infiltrated the country, but it may as well feel as though nothing has happened.
— On the plus side, Miyuki barely had anything to say in this week’s episode.
Moe Sucks 
Why do source material readers defend Mahouka so much? Everything about it seems awful.
You know that the phrase “Read the Light Novel” is their final and desperate defense. Fuck, people! Read more light novels!
and in their def, SAO2 actually sounds more interesting then as an anime, I guess because i could always play those scenes in my head and let them move how i want them to move, so… imagination trumps anime.
Of cos, watching SAO2 now just makes me feel like sleeping.
You need a lot of imagination for terribly written fight scenes in SAO novels.
Now this is what I’m talking about. Mahouka’s xenophobia is possibly its only redeeming quality. While distasteful, it at least keeps the show from becoming more boring then it already is. It also feels like we’re getting a look into the mind of the writer and his political views.
I can just imagine how Tatsuya will humiliate the USA; I mean USNA in a later arc. Of Course this is after dealing with China; I mean the Great Asian Alliance. I really want someone to pull an Angel Cop and just say “You’ve underestimated the power of Japanese Magic!”
“In the name of the Raising Sun, I will punish you!”
Oh ha ha. We need Sailor Taurus!
“In the name of Demacia, I will punish you!”
You didn’t think this episode was boring? It might have had more xenophobia than the last few episodes, but I thought this episode was incredibly unremarkable.
Oh no this episode was dull as a log. I was just looking for something to latch on to and fight off the boredom.
Well, I can’t wait to see Tatsuya destroy every major superpower in the world with a snap of his fingers. “China”, “USA”, “Russia”, etc. Glorious Nippon will become the new Garden of Eden and the last bastion of the civilized world, all thanks to our Gary Stu.
Oh, but those “dirty Chinese” will be the first ones to go! After all, the nihon-jin got some beef with those animals!
Who is this written by? A far right-wing highschool lunatic? But of course the otaku will still be watching because of our beloved imouto Miyuki and let slide the writer’s pathetic anti-foreigner stance because let’s face it, they’re a pretty racist bunch.
People are still watching this show right?
You know what, Tatstuya should use his golden shovel, I mean his sniper nuke to disintegrate living tribunel at the end of the this series.
Judging by all the comments here, it would seem so.
i read the light novel and it was full of inane jargon which i can’t understand. perhaps i am just too old to appreciate this literature? though i am only here because i enjoy the review here, waiting whether there will be NTR C86 material like SAO.
Calling Mahouka’s LN “literature” is pretty insulting to every other great piece of written work out there.
And of course there will be dojin about this show. I mean, that’s the only good thing that will ever come out of it. Same with SAO.
it is pretty insulting to any piece of writen work out there, great or not. be it writen on a book,paper, newspaper or toiler paper….
I do believe Sao had a better premise on the first book. which by the 4rth book turnt into how da fak do i get to make more harems
Most boring episode yet and it’s suppose to end in a few episodes. Another arc centered around a school competition how sad. Only part I enjoyed was the Mayumi scene, I love that girls voice.
Hmm i dont get your concept of harem
just because mc interacts with women its a harem?
Miyuki loves Tatsuya…Mari has a boyfriend the glasses girl likes Mikihiko and he likes her
Erika nah i dunno maybe Tatsuya but i suggest its just a crush so Leo will win in in the long term
(Miyuki has a uhealthy affection for her brother yeah…thats why she has 2 girls and not 2 boys as her classmates because what would her beloved brother think when she hags out with boys)
you know i thought harem is when the mc gets courted by many women or reverse
.
Add :(Who is this written by? A far right-wing highschool lunatic?)..i suggest you burn all Hollywood movies DC/Marvel comics or you read the history of our kind again or just the 20 century, will be enough. here a example. Hollywood 80 90 the bad russian and the good american
and now the bad chinese and good american and in Animes a japan scool kid saves the world
thats what you get. im not a fortune teller but i think the wolrd will not change in 2095 so yeah contrys have still something like geopoletiks and when a near by contry gets a intell that the other contry has a posebility of a military major balance shift sure they will just watch look and at the history of japan and chinese ther are sure best firends like real buddys in WW II
so i suggest you watch fantasy with giants dragons or elfs because in the real wolrd we have still contrys and they what to keep themselfs save are all the ideas good sure not but its the human nature and when you dont get it you are a shutin without the conncetion to the real wold and i mean the real wold not facebook and anime forums or you just a ignorant humancreature
sry for my nightmare english nad have a good day :)
Yamatoland is sooooo great, everyone else are evil invaders or backstabbing witch hunters. who are just jealous because they can’t even beat Yamatoland’s school kids. You know, it does sound like deep or realistic geopolitics.
lulz, you’re hilarious man. Keep thinking on your plane of thought.
So there’s absolutely nothing suspicious about the writer ragging on the Chinese? Oh, I didn’t know that anime HAD to have political messages and propaganda.
No, the writer is a right-wing nutjob who I’m pretty sure knows shit all about politics. He’s probably just 2ch racist.
Why Mahouka fanboys are such disgusting people :/
Bigotry, Xenophobia, Racism=okay, it’s “human nature”=)!
Political proselytism disguised as entertainment media(and selling racist crap)=okay, it’s very common on (bad) american movies, too=)!
If you don’t like that, you don’t have a “life”, and this disgusting dogshit are “all the ideas that keep countries safe”…why?!
Never seen such blatant racism in anime before. Not to mention some kind of otaku harem show. Weird.
Well said.
Do you follow the Tumblr in Action subreddit? You seem like you do.
Nah, but I’ve heard of the place. Mocking the ridiculousness on Tumblr isn’t exclusive to “Tumblr in Action,” though.
Thank you for the coverage. It’s hilarious to read. Why is this show popular?
Mahouka is racist to the Chinese. It’s the most racist anime I ever watch.
I think mahouka is not a racist to chinese. Because japan and china’s relation is just america and russia
And as we all know, the US and the Russians were never racist towards each other!
The irony is that Japan in fact did all those things and more, including participating in a world war and committing civilian massacres and mass war rapes during their invasion of China in World War II.
I admit that this show portrays Chinese guys as the boogymen too much. But, seriously? I can’t even count the American movies and TV shows that exist that did the same (and worse). Take a look at 24 and see just how this pales in comparison.
So? Other media are racist, so it’s okay for this show to be racist as well? Is that your excuse?
No, that’s not what I’m saying.
From what I understood from watching this show is that the second “arc” to the last one in the anime are all one big arc in which the Chinese intelligence are the “villains”. So I didn’t think too deeply into it.
I have never read the LNs of Mahouka so I’m not sure if the author uses the same portrayal of the Chinese throughout. If he does, then he is indeed as much of a racist as the guys that make almost every Marvel/DC comics and many other American media (I doubt he can top the creators/writers of 24 though).
The Chinese were portrayed as bad guys from the very first arc of the anime.
And I don’t know why you keep bringing up American comic books and movies as if they’re relevant to the discussion.
Here is another blog by other people who also think Mahouka is racist against the Chinese
My mistake. I mean this one.
http://thedarksideofequality.blogspot.com/2014/09/mahouka-koukou-no-rettousei-is.html
It’s FICTION, people. Chinese people who watch it were not really offended by it, why the hell do you need to blow it up to their face and make an issue out of a non-issue. It’s war in the story, what do you expect? Portraying Chinese invaders as Heroes coming to liberate the poor Japanese souls by killing and bombing them to bits and pieces so they can go to Heaven faster? Yeah, that will help this show a lot!
It’s so amusing seeing all these people getting all butthurt over Mahouka. Sure, it’s right-wing nationalistic drivel. And looking at all the right-wing nationalistic drivel coming out of China these days (around 200 anti-Japanese films produced per year for chrissakes), I think the Japanese deserve to push back a little. Plenty of Chinese films portray the Japanese as irredeemably evil villains who get slaughtered in droves by heroic Chinese soldiers, yet whenever the Japanese engage in this kind of chest-thumping (the kind that is so over-the-top ridiculous it almost crosses the line into parody), they get vilified for it.
But sure, stay buttmad, you self-righteous hypocrites. Hahahaha.
Mahouka sucks and the truth is uncomfortable to your rear end, right?
So you push back “Triump of the Will” with another nationalistic drivel glorifying your side?
“around 200 anti-japanese films produced per year” – Where did you get this obviously bogus number?
And the anti-japanese dramas are regularly mocked by c-netizens themselves.
This anime is trash, get over it.