The Irregular at Magic High School

The first 3 episodes seem muddled and confusing and may discourage some viewers. Western viewers will find the passionate love between the starring brother and sister rather disturbing. (As a side note, the anime series does not explain that the brother and sister are genetically engineered to be bonded and are not normal siblings.)

Once the series begins its story arcs, we have engaging stories, complex battles and technical strategizing. The plots involve magical-science theory, espionage, gangsters, and foreign invasions. The fighting becomes more intense and eventually rather gory. Depending on the magic used, some bodies simply vanish, while others may explode in a shower of blood and body parts.

I hope this gives you the info you need to decide whether to watch this or not. I expect some will love it and others will hate it!

When I searched for new anime to watch, the lead character of this show popped up many times as not only a great hidden power character but one that was just cool. And he is. His confidence or lack of emotional display rather, may give the impression he is overpowered but he is not though it is implied he could potentially reach that plateau, but so could dozens of others with the same kind of great powers he has. This anime shines mainly because it is anything but an atypical nor overly clichéd anime yet it brilliantly skirts the surface of many anime icons and popular genres without falling into those tired clichés that so often fill each of those genres. It does some of them in a rather skillful reverse gimmick like the harem theme. He is so socially awkward and unskilled such a thing does not even cross his mind but he is so smart and good at magical programming that he attracts girls' interests and guys as friends. Or the magic power theme, he has great and diverse power but he is not allowed to show it even if he wanted to which he doesn't since he isn't a showboat. His sister is essentially the princess of her class/grade but she is so dependent upon her brother she lacks confidence to take advantage of that position. He is a top notch martial artist as well but he doesn't flaunt it like in many other martial art focused anime. Characters are a bit more realistic who all have some flaws but not something so detrimental or unrealistic that could spoil the appeal of the anime or the main characters. You can see many themes portrayed in one way or another in the series like: High school; magic; mecha; espionage; martial arts; gunfights; sword play; sports; and more. The major drawback is the uneasy brocon aspect of Miyuki, which she always denies. It could do with a more in depth back story explanation that is only hinted at in the opening sequence. It does seem unfinished because it needs another 2 or 3 seasons. At the end we are left wondering how the others would react to all this new information and never quite get that satisfied probably because the studio must have planned more seasons and did not prepare an ending to slip in if no additional seasons were to be forthcoming. It is however one of the best animes, despite a few flaws, I have ever seen in part because it isn't the same as most and has few if any tired repetitive clichés. It is one of the few animes, I can also watch over and over or even more than once without getting overly bored or tired of it.

The Irregular at Magic High School is an interesting display of very creative high tech magic, which is to say, magic which is brought into the science fiction realm and treated as if it had rules and formulae and can be modified by skilled technicians, which they call "magic engineers." A lot of the series time is spent delving into the mechanics of augmenting the magic, but then it is Magic High School, and the rest of the time is spent displaying the magic at work. The first part of the series dwells on integrating the irregular, Tatsuya, who is the major character, into the high school. He is a pretty cool character in every sense of the word: powerful, unflappable, dependable. He and his beautiful younger sister, Miyuki, who is also a powerful magician, have a very close relationship, which doesn't quite ever descend into inappropriateness, but the sister does always show her powerful feelings for her brother. Could it work into something more, possibly, but it never happens in the series, and we're left with two siblings who care deeply for each other. The second half of the series is spent with the good guy magicians fighting off bad guy other people, although we're never quite sure why the bad guy people are that committed to wiping out the magicians - probably just because they're magicians! The leads to lots of action, fighting, & battle scenes that are entertaining and fairly well done. It never gets heavy and one is left with an interesting show that moves along nicely with lots of action and creative sci-fi concepts, which is unusual for a story with magic in it. Definitely worth watching.

I felt this anime could've had a lot more going for it. It has a good basis for a story but it comes off as cold and confusing. The hero isn't relatable to the viewer at all but somehow we are meant to pity him for not being able to cast practical magic like his sister. The interactions between the students are extremely cringe worthy and most of what they have to say embarrasses the hell out of them. Half of the episodes get in depth at all the mechanics of spell casting which might entertain some viewers but left me bored and surfing the web while waiting for a more interesting part of the episode to arrive.

I would only recommend this anime to people who are into the technical aspect of science fiction, otherwise I'd stay clear of this one.

High school students with magical abilities are a dime a dozen in anime these days, but this show made you care about the characters, and their magic was unique and interesting.

Tatsuya and Miyuki Shiba are new students at 'First High School', a school of top level magicians, set a few hundred years in the future. Miyuki is a 'Bloom', a top level magician (in the best magician school), while her older brother, Tatsuya, is a 'weed', a lower class of magician. Initially, Tatsuya, and most other 'weeds' are ostracised due to their limited ability to wield magic. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Tatsuya's magic wielding ability is anything but limited...

I really liked this show, but think it might be best to view multiple episodes at a time, as I watched it each week and seemed to forget what happened last week and was surprised by each episode. The characters all have distinct personalities and looks, but I did get confused occasionally, especially towards the end. Plus, the show seemed accessible to all ages, yet the last few episodes were very violent and maybe too much for young kids. Anyway, it's pretty cool...check it out