Impression
It really should have come as no surprise that the car incident was resolved without any casualties bar the driver – especially when the target was a bus full of some of the most talented magicians of the generation. Also, Tatsuya was around too. It was awful watching Miyuki name-drop Gram Demolition at this point in time – she didn’t have to. Like “BS Magician”, it’s another term that’s been brought up and ignored, although this time I agree there’s a better time and place to explain it. So Madhouse shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place – it just makes for awkward writing, especially as it was by no means necessary. Anyway, magic in the Mahoukaverse tends to rewrite one particular phenomena in the real world – there isn’t a magic sequence that can both stop the car and the fire, for example. So everyone trying to do different things at the same time without any coordination is a recipe for disaster – which is what Kanon failed to realize. These terrorists seem to be really intent on sabotaging the 9SC for whatever reason – they’ve already resorted to a suicide attack and thievery before the event’s even started!
Hopefully Kudou Retsu (the “Patriarch” of the Ten Master Clans) wasn’t alluding to anything deeper in his opening statement – that had he been a terrorist, the best and brightest of the next generation’s magicians would all be dead. Naturally, Tatsuya was one of the five people who noticed his little party trick. This sort of thing is what Hattori was referring to in mentioning the importance of “skill as a magician” alongside magic power – sheer strength, while useful, isn’t enough. But yeah, if last week’s exposition wasn’t enough for you, guess what? Literally everything was exposition today! They managed to sneak in all the characters not good enough to join the 9SC as staff members – from Erika and Mikihiko to Mizuki and Leo. Gotta keep them involved somehow. The fact that the Chiba and Yoshida families forced Erika and Mikihiko there does have a bit of relevance, I suppose – it reinforces the idea of lineage being a really big thing in the Mahoukaverse. Mikihiko’s clearly finding his feet after being disgraced in an incident in the past, landing him in Course 2 as a result despite his hereditary advantage – I bet his parents weren’t too happy about that.
There’s not a lot of forward movement with this arc yet – it’s sort of meandering along, and the only reason I’m sort of okay with it is because I’m familiar with the source material. For someone who’s an anime-only viewer, I’m thinking it must be pretty damn frustrating to watch all the trundling while having to listen to LN readers (including me, admittedly) saying it’ll get better soon – although it actually will. Probably. They haven’t even mentioned all the events yet – Mayumi’s Speed Shooting made a passing comment for the first time today. Actually, I don’t think they’ve even explained the structure of the competition. I know Miyuki said there were a couple of days until the Newcomers Divisions’ events (limited to first-years only) start, but iirc this was the first time they’ve even mentioned a split between the Newcomers and Official Divisions in the anime, which I won’t go into further in case they decide to actually explain it properly in the future. The icing on the cake must have been the yuri bath scene though – rainbows were straighter than Subaru in that scene. I was about as excited as Shizuku was. Actually, I definitely warmed to Shizuku this episode – her pettanko was like a ray of light amidst all the boobs. May Tatsuya bless her.
Although the prize for best joke absolutely has to go to Miyuki.
Pfft… I don’t know how she does it with a straight face. That was like… better than Britain’s great pre-war joke.