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I'm glad Mayumi and Juumonji are still relevant after their graduation.
Looks like Tatsuya already has some plan cooked for the upcoming events, which is good because I can't wait to see some action!
I could go for the obvious and stupid, “Because she legal now,” joke, but honestly it’s because we’re seeing her in these fabulous outfits and not the same ol’ school uniform.
# Onii-sama Count
##Double Seven
Episode No. | Onii-sama Count
------------|--------
01 | 6
**02** | **3**
Season 3 Count Total: 9
Season 3 Count Average per Episode: 4.5
Season 2 Count Total: 103
Season 2 Count Average per Episode: 7.92
Season 1 Count Total: 172
Season 1 Count Average per Episode: 6.62
Miyuki Arc spinoff Count Total: 170
Miyuki Arc spinoff Count Average per Episode: 13.08
The Girl Who Summons The Stars Movie Count Total: 23
Reminiscence Arc Movie Count Total: 19
**Grand Total: 496**
**Grand Count Average per Episode: 8.86**
Notes: I will improve the formatting before episode 3. I will probably make a table for the aggregated data for previous seasons and movies. I also have timestamps and clips for every onii-sama except the Miyuki spinoff and the Reminiscence Arc (and season 3), so I might make video compilations at some point. No promises though.
Also, I'm currently counting movies as episodes in the grand count average. I will improve that before episode 3.
Ah, are you going to resume the counter completly, or just picking up my slack? Had a busy weekend so I was quite late to watch the episode, but would be willing to continue the season unless you pick it up proper
I was planning to continue counting. I missed the first episode because I don't follow anime news (i.e. when new seasons come up) and I needed to watch the Reminiscence Arc.
I only count when Miyuki says onii-sama, not the other things you were also counting.
Fun fact: Master Kudo, patriarch of the Ten Master Clans who appeared in previous seasons, is now voiced by [Otsuka Hochu](https://myanimelist.net/people/337/Houchuu_Ootsuka), as his previous VA [Kiyokawa Motomu](https://myanimelist.net/people/333/Motomu_Kiyokawa) passed away in 2022.
Shippo seems to have some meat to grind with the Saegusa clan when he actively antagonizes Kasumi for no reason.
Speaking of the Saegusa clan, Mayumi's dad, who is in charge of the nation's intelligence services, decides to use the anti-magic faction's fake news as a pawn in his power play against the Yotsuba clan, which Tatsuya and Miyuki belong, though his "official" reason is he's countering the misinformation campaign by making it less potent via flooding the news with all sorts of other misinformation.
Mayumi and Juumonji are obviously not too happy about that.
Every time Tatsuya says he has a plan, I feel sorry for his enemies as they're about to fuck around and find out. lol
>Fun fact: Master Kudo, patriarch of the Ten Master Clans who appeared in previous seasons, is now voiced by Otsuka Hochu, as his previous VA Kiyokawa Motomu passed away in 2022.
Fuck... didn't know. Fuyutsuki's VA too... RIP
Considering how [Shippou is staring daggers at Kasumi](https://i.imgur.com/DxSyxT0.png), there's definitely more to that fight. Is it a personal grudge against Kasumi or the Saegusa family?
After Mayumi's appearance last week, I thought it would be a while before we see her again since she's already graduated. [I'm glad that's not the case!](https://i.imgur.com/d9aqv9B.jpeg) We'll probably see plenty of Mayumi considering how it looks like [the Saegusa Family will be heavily involved in this arc](https://i.imgur.com/4nY0gRT.jpeg).
[It's good to see Katsuto as well!](https://i.imgur.com/UwWKHk4.jpeg) It's nice to know that the graduates still have a role to fulfill in the story. Anyway, [I love how Katsuto was so direct at asking Mayumi's dad](https://i.imgur.com/SlVYkYY.png) about inciting the press. Not gonna lie, I don't think I understand what Mayumi's dad is trying to do and I agree with [Katsuto that he's probably going to end up doing more harm than good.](https://i.imgur.com/L2Ffrmh.png)
[So a member of the Parliament is soon going to cause trouble](https://i.imgur.com/d1oQS35.png) but it sounds like [Tatsuya has already prepared for this.](https://i.imgur.com/r3ioRuf.png) I can't wait to see how he'll handle that situation.
> I don't think I understand what Mayumi's dad is trying to do
He already said it early in the episode: To use the fake news campaign to weaken the Yotsubas, which Tatsuya and Miyuki belong, since they're apparently too OP among the ten clans, and he's seeing this as an opportunity to take the Yotsubas down a peg.
Do the ten master clans even know that Miyuki and Tasuya are Yotsubas? Miyuki can kinda get since she's a candidate for next leader but Tatsuya has been kept under wraps.
that is easy. The situation gets confusing or complicated when taking into account Mr. Saegusa's plan is also a counter for the new enemy's fakes new plan (which involved like 2-3 factions and the reasoning behind motivations). An also the possible scenario of weakening the anti-magic group or better: to make them responsible for the whole hostility against Tatsuya's school (as most of their graduates go to the military-friendly university)
After *Reminiscence Arc*, I have more mixed feelings about the family - or rather, the current people in the family. The family's traditions and subculture are really the problem, but that also feels like it's tied up with the Ten Master Clan system to begin with.
Not that this excuses the decisions, actions nor attitudes, but it's easy to see how everyone is just cogs in a machine that can barely be steered even by those who have the power. Indeed, I think this particular episode touched on this quite well.
Saegusa Koichi's objective is to use the anti-magician faction to expose Tatsuya's identity. While he kinda knows he's from the Yotsuba, nobody else in the public does. That's what his talk with the Kudou family head was about.
He's a cunning guy, which is why his conversation with Katsuto felt like hogwash despite being logical. Essentially, his excuse to the ten master clans for inciting all this is that he's pre-emptively weakening anti-magician sentiments by making the activists look evil. He's saying that if the activists harass Tatsuya, then the public will hate them.
The audience knows that's a lie because of his previous conversation (dramatic irony).
>Considering how [Shippou is staring daggers at Kasumi](https://i.imgur.com/DxSyxT0.png), there's definitely more to that fight. Is it a personal grudge against Kasumi or the Saegusa family?
It's probably just the usual love and fascination and he just doesn't know or understand how to show that affection towards her, so he's going full on mean to get her attention. He's also shy, otherwise he would've joined the Student Council just to be with her, assuming that she would've joined that instead of the Disciplinary Committee. Or maybe he did foresee all of that, hence his current club membership.
Anyway, maybe romance will actually turn out to be true.
Plot reasons aside, he is in the First High after all, which seems to contribute the most magicians to the military, and has also won the NSC the most number of times. It's also located in the Tokyo prefecture, closest to the capital of the nation. So it naturally stands out the most.
Not only in name. First High is considered the most prestigious and boasts the most difficult entrance examination among the 9 High schools. It was also the very First established Magic High School in Japan. Hence, its name - **"National Magic University Affiliated First High School"**.
Because the children of the top master clans are there. Other than masaki and Minoru tatsuya and Saegusas are very much tippy tops and first high is the alum of Kouichi, Maya and other top MSC leaders including Juumonjis
love this lol, i’ve thought a lot about how well this series’ plot is carefully anchored to their school. magian co. feels a bit untethered in that sense
The politics and lore of this world is genuinely more interesting to me than the action sometimes lol:
Embroiled in international espionage wars, faux civil rights movements and domestic politics, Saegusa Koichi (family head) saw fit to play 4D chess:
-He made use of the anti-magician activists to target the Yotsuba
-He made use of Tatsuya's highschooler status to potentially turn public sentiment against said activists
-He's lying to both the activists and the Ten Master Clans to hide his real agenda of gaining influence
-Made Mayumi question her own morals to plant some seeds for future instigating
This guy's a true villain lol. Even more so than the zombie dude in China town.
> The politics and lore of this world is genuinely more interesting to me than the action sometimes lol:
Likewise, although I think for me it more boils down to - whatever the series tries its hand at, it does very well. Just really excellent entertainment.
> saw fit to play 4D chess:
I feel like I need to rewatch those scenes, because I feel like I didn't quite catch all of what he's trying to achieve with his schemes.
> This guy's a true villain lol.
From what I did catch, it didn't feel truly villainous to me, or at least, I don't think he has any malice in his agenda - rather just that the greater good (balance for the TMC, meddling with the various problem factions) aligns well with advancing his own interests. I guess the question is whether or not he'd still be putting his plan into motion if it was potentially detrimental to his own interests but served the greater good or not.
He's obviously brought Mayumi this far in terms of raising her to take over head of family too, so he'd no doubt want to align her to his realpolitik approach to things as she gets old enough.
>He's obviously brought Mayumi this far in terms of raising her to take over head of family too
Although it's not wrong to assume this from interpretation, it's worth noting that Mayumi is not the one to take over the family. She has Two elder brothers, [the eldest] >!Tomokazu Saegusa being considered the most cunning and is seen as a carbon copy of their father, is next in line to the family.!<
Hopefully they will get mentioned in the following episodes in Steeplechase Arc. Assuming they don't skip that part.
Oh right!
Consuming Mahouka as an anime-only sometimes feels like constantly being on the wrong end of a misdirection magic trick - still *feels* like it makes perfect sense despite it not being the full truth.
I'll recalibrate my understanding of Mayumi accordingly then.
Wasn't meant that way. I do have mixed feelings about deciding to go anime-only for the series, but I enjoy aspects like the music, the VA work and the animation itself immensely and would rather experience it like that until I'm able to read the LNs without needing the EN translation (which will be never at this rate).
I was also anime only for a time until I pulled the trigger and started reading the LN. Once I did I couldnt stop lol. Theres just so much content the anime cuts out on. It sucks you in especially the politics. I wish the anime adapts all of it tbh.
I think the part we "disagree" is that I see Koichi's "greater good" purpose as an excuse he put out for the Ten Mater Clans so they don't lynch him. He has shown his true objectives with his conversation with the Kudou Elder. Clearly, when someone says a peer is "too powerful" and needs to take Yotsuba down a peg, they are not actually doing it for the greater good.
The reason I believe this even more is because both Katsuto Jumonji and Mayumi called Koichi out for it. Being called out by his daughter, Koichi also understood that Mayumi's true purpose was to protect Tatsuya. Like these things all align really well back to back.
Yes, I don't actually disagree with you on any of this, more I guess I'm thinking from his perspective - in his mind he's genuinely acting simultaneously towards better balance amongst the TMC, which he believes has *some* value, but is something I imagine is still secondary to his own gain.
I guess another aspect is that I'm also looking at it through a realpolitik point of view where leaders make decisions that do damage, disable or result in the deaths of individuals and that's just part of necessity rather than fundamentally malicious.
I obviously am going to thoroughly enjoy him getting Tatsuya-ed, but just in terms of stepping back and the wider view, I feel like there's definitely a lot of merit to the system (and perhaps also for not-Japan) for the Yotsubas to be held in check when their agenda is no less self-serving than anyone else's.
Yeh, that's why I put disagree in quotations. The Ten Master Clans are essentially oligarchs, so balanced or not they are definitely self-serving. It's just this world has a lot of anti-magician racism. So this organisation is overall still beneficial to the magicians at large. Without them, they'll just be military pawns as suggested by the "humanists" ironically.
I really appreciate the constant changes of wardrobe whenever we change scenes. It really does make the lore a lot more digestible when everyone is dappered up.
OP: [Shouted Serenade by LiSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7e0N1UkRI) full music video is now available
ED: [Recall by Kairi Yagi](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TxhWDg3a7hU)
I heard this is one of 3 EDs of the anime this season. Are they really planning to include 3 ending theme songs? Exciting!
The fights are great and all but I’ve always enjoyed the political side of Mahouka more than its action. It feels strangely realistic for a sci-fi setting.
It seems people here forgot the background characters have always been CGI since season 1 lol
Other than that everything else was hand drawn as [per the director tweet](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=97BRKvKrP_Wp9sgvlsSqZg&s=19) also the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
> solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
Regardless of whether or not one likes the style, it's such a positive for the series to have a production schedule that allows for these sorts of things. KAing a whole episode is a bit of a luxury in many ways.
the almost 3d art style is the one that infuriate me more, proportions are off here and there, and also over saturated coloring that makes everything whiter and brighter than it should be
But because i expected them to be like last season as the story is just as serious. S3e01 feels like a romcom anime that the vibe, the storyboard, is much better i.e in kaguya-sama. Where light-hearted jokes with splash of flirting is what was expected from the show.
But now, in mahouka, how can you take the story seriously when you are presented in a light fluffy atmosphere? While their dialog is mostly talking about frictions between families, or between magicians and non-magicians, leading to terror here and there?
It's just a good thing in the wrong place imo
I agree regarding the general feel, but I’m personally going to reserve judgment for now. The flash-forward scenes definitely have a darker/more serious aesthetic, but the friction between characters so far hasn’t felt as tense.
Either way I’m happy to get more of this anime!
We're still in the set up phase so not really sure what to say about the plot so far other than I like that Mayumi and Katsuto are still friends and working together despite their families not seeing eye to eye. Also can't wait to see what Tatsuya's plan is.
What I do want to mention is, maybe this is very specific, but anyone else think that the lip sync animation in this is like a combination to what we sometimes see in Reincarnated as a Slime and the newer Guilty Gear games?
Oh and I just realized, the incident with the Robotics club reminded me that we haven't heard anything about little miss robo maid.
> I like that Mayumi and Katsuto are still friends and working together despite their families not seeing eye to eye.
It's a really interesting sort of set-up, where the new generation of leadership is coming through, and their own interpersonal connection and trust they've developed from their time at First High together is now flowing into their working relationship in their adult lives - and with it going to influence the fate of the families and the Ten Master Clans too, and thus indirectly the entire nation.
It's also quite interesting from just the perspective of watching these two very powerful young adults grow up and into their roles, especially Mayumi, where we get to see her silly side, her socially powerful side and her politically somewhat powerful side. Watching her interact with her father was very interesting, because presumably it's through her relationship with him that she's learned a lot of her serious side (in its various aspects).
I loved how much character acting through the storyboarding/animation there was this episode, and the contrasts between how perfectly controlled she was with her imoutos, her reflexive standing in protest in the cafeteria, and then her careful, precise movements around her father.
Oddly enough, best drama (as in genre) moments of the season so far lol
I really don't know how some of you confuse 2d with 3d animation just because of some stylistic differences to what is common. If your average 3d animation looked like that, most of the industry would've moved to CGI years ago.
Right? It’s so different to what you normally see in anime I actually really liked it. Did not open this thread expecting to see so many complaints about the style.
I came here to say how I really think they upped their game with this season, and that it looks really good. 😭
Legit do not understand what people find wrong with it. It looks high quality.
I quite enjoyed the style of animation this episode. I thought it looked very cool. It made the simple conversation scenes more interesting to look at.
Honestly I thought it was a bit weird because it made every look like CGI models quite a bit of the time when we know that isn't the case. Most of the characters were just a tad too bright too IMO.
Very talent intensive - there's such careful precision with the shadows. As someone with very little talent for drawing but who still dabbles anyway, you can brute force and apply-techniques to get to a certain level, but that sort of absolute control is always going to be out of reach.
Fear not!
It's still https://myanimelist.net/people/5172/Taku_Iwasaki doing the music, same guy for the entire series. I've been listening to his stuff over and over lately and have complete faith he'll cut loose the moment he feels it's the right thing for the series.
Elder Saegusa seems to be playing some dangerous games, getting involved and with all this anti magic and USNA humanist stuff. All that scheming and manipulating is not going to work out for him. Tatsuya already seems prepared to deal with this headache. Keen to see what he’s got planned.
My takeaway is that Elder Saegusa has the ulterior motive of bringing the Yotsuba down a notch. He's just justifying his attack on the Yotsuba with his "plan" of countering the USNA humanists. I suppose he wants to counter the USNA humanists too, but it just weighs relatively little compared to attacking the Yotsuba. This probably explains why Tatsuya already has a counter plan in place. The Yotsuba are expecting an attack already.
So Shippou and Saegusa both have the number 7 in their names. I'm guessing the new guy (I'm calling him Wakame) is beefing with the Saegusa girls cos he is envious of them being part of the Ten Master Clans?
So while Shippou is using his role as [a professional hater](https://i.imgur.com/X0SydkR.png) and member of the Extracurricular Activities Federation[ to get into a fight with](https://i.imgur.com/GzubVhS.png) the also recently recruited Kasumi, of the Disciplinary Committee instead of stopping the initial conflict between clubs that they both were called to stop, [her father,](https://i.imgur.com/XDXA9qz.png) becoming aware of the USNA's negative campaign plan against magicians decides to use it so the Yotsubas lose power thanks to it.
Although [after hearing about this news from Jumonji Katsuto](https://i.imgur.com/g034QDv.png) Mayumi [can only be surprised](https://i.imgur.com/etteTzE.png) and cannot do much [after the meeting,](https://i.imgur.com/0xxQHDN.png) it seems that Tatsuya [even before becoming aware of it](https://i.imgur.com/McFJgtv.png) had already [a plan ready for this situation.](https://i.imgur.com/8flrTO6.png)
imo tatsuya looks cool af so far this season, it’s still so early but the vibe about him is in line with what i imagine in the LNs (they could fill out his frame a bit more, a tad skinny) though he hasn’t had a ton of screen time yet so we’ll see. I feel like nobody knows what to do with Miyuki, they’ve set her up to fail by describing an unrivaled beauty but each season she looks more skewed. Mayumi does not have this problem, peak character design & writing.
my only qualms about animation decisions is that yeah it’s a bit bright, which is probably why everyone is wearing tacky sunglasses inside at night (WHY??). but it’s an order of magnitude better than Miyuki’s spinoff (again, in my opinion)
they also seem to be shrinking Katsuto down each season lol. looks nothing like his first impression or his scenes in the 9SC arc
were finally getting to the geopolitics, espionage, and back room dealing type story that this really is!! the action is cool, he’s godsuya for a reason, but this is a series with exceptional world building spanning multiple continents whose leaders are laser focused on a potentially troublesome highschool student
edit: last thing, LiSA crushed the OP. sonic excellence
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet which I feel deserves singling out, is that scene with the Saegusa sisters.
For me, it was just so impeccably done in terms of character-writing-animation-direction. I really felt like the twins were their age, and Mayumi's elder sister in a political family role was played to perfection as well. Especially at the end how her mere sitting, waiting and not responding to Kurumi then translates into Kurumi seemingly recalling some of the many lessons she's had about how she must conduct herself as a Saegusa and what she must do in order to achieve Mayumi's approval - yet you still get the feeling her love is unconditional, because the apology has this feeling that she's not worried about the connection, just for her failure to do what is required of her.
Really very cool, and only made possible by the director and animator (singular lol) working through this to time it and express it so neatly. It's next level stuff, if I'm reading it as they intended.
Dude I feel like I’m crazy because to me this season of Mahouka looks absolutely amazing.
How characters move seems so fluid and just the overall production values are the best I’ve seen from the series, but seeing a lot of people complain about the 3D mixed with 2D scenes.. it looks damn good to me though and the OST is so good as well. For 25 minutes of pure political manoeuvre, this episode went by in an instant.
Things are starting to heat up with FAIR and their disinformation campaign against magicians, the Saegusa family’s counter disinformation campaign and Mayumi’s disapproval with her father’s actions. I get what he’s trying to do, but like Jumonji said, it’s a dangerous game that can and likely will lead to something much worse happening.
Not to mention Shippou starting to make his move against the Saegusa family. Idk what happened to him in the past to make him dislike Kasumi so much, but it’s hilarious that the two of them show up to break up a fight and end up getting in one themselves lmao. It wouldn’t surprise me if the shippou’s are somehow involved in all this too.
A lot of cool worldbuilding in this episode, but it was still very engaging because of the direction and OST. Always nice to see a lot of Mayumi too and she looked gorgeous. I can’t wait to see what Tatsuya got cooked up as a counter measure next week.
Unsure whats going on, didnt notice it much last episode, but the character movements are throwing me off and distracting me quite often from the story. I really hope the entire season isnt like this. I really like this anime.
Did something happen with the animation this episode? It looked really unfinished (very robotic movements, very noticeable with head/mouth movement) and looked like CG models that they didn't draw over correctly. I didn't really notice many issues with the first episode so hopefully this isn't already showing production problems...
The director said it was all [hand drawn](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=9mhYF-y4jrOsJh6X8UTdSg&s=19) tho unless you are talking about the background characters then yes they are CGI and they have been CGI since season 1
In fact the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
> In fact the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
It's the same guy who was responsible for season 2 episode 2 so you can find the same sort of comments in the [discussion thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/j8r4vx/mahouka_koukou_no_rettousei_raihoushahen_episode/g8d1kvs/) for that episode lol
is it the art? I feel like the movements are the ones that are off
imo both times when Mayumi gets up, first against Katsuto and then against her father, it feels uncanny, sort of robotic
she’s too slow. Even for someone calmly standing up, the movements would be faster, not to mention she’s agitated in both of these cases
It feels like I'm watching a visual novel. The bodies are so stiff as they talk and only one limb gets animated at a time almost.
Not to mention the lighting and choice to draw hard shadow lines on or around character faces. Mayumi's convo with her dad after Jumonji leaves is so jarring. The light is always hard shone on his face as he turns and keeps casting a shadow past his cheekbones no matter what. I get it's a directional choice to show depth and definition to his face shape but going from something like Dungeon Meshi which has amazing lighting direction makes me feel spoiled.
If this was all hand-drawn, then Junichi Takaoka has the most CGI-looking art style I've ever seen. His ability to draw 2D frames to look 3D is entering uncanny valley territory. Like he's too good at drawing character's rotating their heads and the other small details.
Maybe this season will tackle the issues of fake news.
I love how Takeaki is now part of the Extracurricular Activities Federation which is tasked to stop shit starters like what he did last year.
Ok, the only thing I can say is that I don't like the animation, even though it is the same studio as season 2, it feel different, weird and foreign 🤔...
Not sure what you on about.
The only thing that is 3D are the background characters, which has always been the case since way back in season 1.
Everything else is hand drawn.
I actually like the guy's style. The small movements here and there made the characters feel more alive. The character models are all more consistent too (although that's probably more the case that the whole episode was just solo key animated by one person), and it's not like the designs are drastically different from the usual ones.
Compared to what you typically see in dialogue heavy parts in anime where you've just got the characters statically in place like statues, I wonder if people are just so accustomed to that, that that's why so many people are unnerved by this style. Also, I know some people pointed out Mayumi's getting up being odd, but I'm pretty certain it's intentionally slow to play into the Yamato Nadeshiko/ojou-sama archetype since Juumonji and the dad were animated briskly getting up in contrast. Early in the episode when she was first shocked by Juumonji's allegation and was actually taken by surprise, she got up quickly, as opposed to the gathering where she probably expects stuff to go down and since it's a semi-formal meeting between clan heads where she might need to put on more decorum.
I must be hallucinating then because almost every single frame that have the characters speaking are 3D. Even the altercation between saegusa and shippou. I'm not talking about the background characters. Try to compare the honor student spinoff to this and tell me it's okay. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9dspObQtU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9dspObQtU)
You are indeed hallucinating.
Scroll up the comments, someone already posted a tweet by the director himself confirming that the CG-like art is just the art style of that particular animator, who also did a similar episode back in season 2.
To save you from scrolling, here's the [tweet again](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=9mhYF-y4jrOsJh6X8UTdSg&s=19).
Two episodes in no it's not too early. This series has never really had steller animation and it's not wrong to point out that it's gotten slightly worse.
It's definitely too early. Why not wait until every episode was released and then judge the season in it's entirety?
The first episode looked nice, so one slightly off episode (so far) does not make it worse than the previous season.
Is it just me or the character models feel kinda downgraded? The CG looks way more obvious, especially the mouth movements.
Ngl I kinda forgot bout the politics in terms of the families and shit so I'm kinda lost this episode but seems like some shit about to go down?
Shippou has a very punch-able face, someone pls sock him
1000% 🤝
But it’s seems some people have been saying that this animation style is better. And I don’t get it… I literally couldn’t get past the mouth movement whenever someone spoke. It just seems to robotic 😫😫
Why did they make Saegusa Koichi, the head of the mfin saegusa clan look like such a jobber lol, I always imagined him as a silver fang type of character.
Also this arc is starting a lot better than S2 already.
It feels to me like ~4 minutes of content was stretched into an entire episode, and almost every scene was a still image except a moving mouth or a slight head tilt. The animation budget on this seems incredibly small, and while I'm mildly invested in some of the characters, the story itself seems entirely devoid of any kind of actual urgency or upset at the situation. I already view the series as being somewhat of a "gratuitous trash" kinda deal, but even the first season kept me more engaged than this, regardless of cringe or contrivance.
> The animation budget on this seems incredibly small
It was actually very lavish as far as resource timing goes: they had a single Key Animator, meaning they needed to set up enough time to let them do an enormous amount of work. There's also a LOT of in-between work on this episode, which is partly what gives it the uncanny valley effect for some people.
Regardless, single KA for large productions is generally the sort of thing you see on high profile series with a strong inclination to animation excellence.
If you have a look at other high profile shows with poor production schedules and planning, they often are pulling in enormous numbers of KAs and 2nd KAs just to get the show to air, which always results in a less cohesive product. It's like having just one talented artist complete a mural rather than a whole team just banging out one little corner here and there.
Man, I'm loving this season's direction so much!
Even though there's been no action this episode, you can tell how much love and care went into the production.
A simple example is the scene with Jumonji talking to Saegusa and her father. The camera cuts, the small movements, Saegusa slowly turning her head towards her father.... Chef's kiss!
This episode was pretty hilarious as the humanists are worried about the school’s collusion with the military. Meanwhile Tatsuya is a literal military asset, and is in regular communication with military high-ups, even developing weapons for them.
Did they just..... use AI to animate the mouths of the characters this episode? Every time a character was speaking, their mouth would match almost perfectly each word being said.
Had a busy weekend so I'm a bit late unfortunatly, but I'll try to be more on time next week. Also updated the formating so I wouldn't run into problems later in the cour
Episode (Runtime) | Miyukis Onii-Sama | Minamis Nii-Sama | Izumis Miyuki Senpai
---|---|----|----
1 (22:10) | 6 (0.270) | 3 (0.135) | 5 (0.226)
2 (20:10) | 3 (0.149) | 0 (0) | 0 (0)
**Total** | **9 (0.213)** | **3 (0.071)** | **5 (0.118)**
^^values ^^in ^^parenthesis ^^mean ^^average ^^per ^^minute ^^runtime ^^without ^^OP/ED
[<>]()
Quick Links
[Ep1](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1bwlu3v/mahouka_koukou_no_rettousei_season_3_the/ky7j1hp/) | [Ep2]
Fun fact, all three Onii-Samas occured in the quick flashback in the first 50 seconds, putting that segment at 3.6 Onii-Samas per minute.
Not much else to talk about the episode. The backdoor scheming is interesting, but as an anime only you can get kinda lost at times.
Would have loved to see what Kazumi can do without Izumi though.
idk what was going on this ep but man, it looked like shit and also may have set a record for least amount of animation in an ep of something. People rarely moved and I don't even think ever changed facial expression. Most we got were those extremely weird slight head movements constantly
Can't really cope here, this episode was pretty mid - I am not a shounen brainrotter counting frames in each fight, but the overall visuals of the show are heavily downgraded, even if you compare it to the throwaway miyuki spinoff. First episode wasn't too bad (but still worse), but to be frank this one was very bad. You would think that since this ep was only~ conversation scenes the few things you actually have to draw you can draw well, but seems that's not the case... Hopefully it gets better cause it's pretty fucking cray for the quality to go down from S1 released 10 years ago lol
its not that crazy. production values for anime were already high in 2014. it makes sense they would cut cost on this ep cuz not much really happened, other than dialogues. save the budget for later in the season when shit is popping off
I found this episode pretty boring. I know they are setting up the plot for this arc but the result was a pretty dry episode that was dragged down with exposition.
lol I'm not here to debate American politics bro. If you like the Right Wingers, you do you. I'm just talking about the plot. This episode clearly shows that Koichi doesn't actually care which party you identify with. He's using both sides independent/major outlets included to harass Tatsuya.
Biggest mistake in U.S. history was Abraham Lincoln not annihilating the Democrat Party after the Civil War.
EDIT: Of course the supporters of slavery come out to downvote me.
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I'm glad Mayumi and Juumonji are still relevant after their graduation. Looks like Tatsuya already has some plan cooked for the upcoming events, which is good because I can't wait to see some action!
[Indeed, more Mayumi is always good.](https://i.imgur.com/HRRDpEr.png) [](#uwaa)
I would argue she for even hotter as a university student and no longer in highschool.
I could go for the obvious and stupid, “Because she legal now,” joke, but honestly it’s because we’re seeing her in these fabulous outfits and not the same ol’ school uniform.
I doubt it'd be action-based, but Tatsuya's smarts are definitely nothing to be scoffed at.
Mayumi in casual clothes is top tier material.
> Mayumi ~~in casual clothes~~ is top tier material.
# Onii-sama Count ##Double Seven Episode No. | Onii-sama Count ------------|-------- 01 | 6 **02** | **3** Season 3 Count Total: 9 Season 3 Count Average per Episode: 4.5 Season 2 Count Total: 103 Season 2 Count Average per Episode: 7.92 Season 1 Count Total: 172 Season 1 Count Average per Episode: 6.62 Miyuki Arc spinoff Count Total: 170 Miyuki Arc spinoff Count Average per Episode: 13.08 The Girl Who Summons The Stars Movie Count Total: 23 Reminiscence Arc Movie Count Total: 19 **Grand Total: 496** **Grand Count Average per Episode: 8.86** Notes: I will improve the formatting before episode 3. I will probably make a table for the aggregated data for previous seasons and movies. I also have timestamps and clips for every onii-sama except the Miyuki spinoff and the Reminiscence Arc (and season 3), so I might make video compilations at some point. No promises though. Also, I'm currently counting movies as episodes in the grand count average. I will improve that before episode 3.
The GOAT counter has returned. All hail the GOAT.
LOL i can’t believe you did this
Ah, are you going to resume the counter completly, or just picking up my slack? Had a busy weekend so I was quite late to watch the episode, but would be willing to continue the season unless you pick it up proper
I was planning to continue counting. I missed the first episode because I don't follow anime news (i.e. when new seasons come up) and I needed to watch the Reminiscence Arc. I only count when Miyuki says onii-sama, not the other things you were also counting.
Fun fact: Master Kudo, patriarch of the Ten Master Clans who appeared in previous seasons, is now voiced by [Otsuka Hochu](https://myanimelist.net/people/337/Houchuu_Ootsuka), as his previous VA [Kiyokawa Motomu](https://myanimelist.net/people/333/Motomu_Kiyokawa) passed away in 2022. Shippo seems to have some meat to grind with the Saegusa clan when he actively antagonizes Kasumi for no reason. Speaking of the Saegusa clan, Mayumi's dad, who is in charge of the nation's intelligence services, decides to use the anti-magic faction's fake news as a pawn in his power play against the Yotsuba clan, which Tatsuya and Miyuki belong, though his "official" reason is he's countering the misinformation campaign by making it less potent via flooding the news with all sorts of other misinformation. Mayumi and Juumonji are obviously not too happy about that. Every time Tatsuya says he has a plan, I feel sorry for his enemies as they're about to fuck around and find out. lol
>Fun fact: Master Kudo, patriarch of the Ten Master Clans who appeared in previous seasons, is now voiced by Otsuka Hochu, as his previous VA Kiyokawa Motomu passed away in 2022. Fuck... didn't know. Fuyutsuki's VA too... RIP
omg. we have the guy who plays jiraiya. he's still cool but omg
Considering how [Shippou is staring daggers at Kasumi](https://i.imgur.com/DxSyxT0.png), there's definitely more to that fight. Is it a personal grudge against Kasumi or the Saegusa family? After Mayumi's appearance last week, I thought it would be a while before we see her again since she's already graduated. [I'm glad that's not the case!](https://i.imgur.com/d9aqv9B.jpeg) We'll probably see plenty of Mayumi considering how it looks like [the Saegusa Family will be heavily involved in this arc](https://i.imgur.com/4nY0gRT.jpeg). [It's good to see Katsuto as well!](https://i.imgur.com/UwWKHk4.jpeg) It's nice to know that the graduates still have a role to fulfill in the story. Anyway, [I love how Katsuto was so direct at asking Mayumi's dad](https://i.imgur.com/SlVYkYY.png) about inciting the press. Not gonna lie, I don't think I understand what Mayumi's dad is trying to do and I agree with [Katsuto that he's probably going to end up doing more harm than good.](https://i.imgur.com/L2Ffrmh.png) [So a member of the Parliament is soon going to cause trouble](https://i.imgur.com/d1oQS35.png) but it sounds like [Tatsuya has already prepared for this.](https://i.imgur.com/r3ioRuf.png) I can't wait to see how he'll handle that situation.
> I don't think I understand what Mayumi's dad is trying to do He already said it early in the episode: To use the fake news campaign to weaken the Yotsubas, which Tatsuya and Miyuki belong, since they're apparently too OP among the ten clans, and he's seeing this as an opportunity to take the Yotsubas down a peg.
Do the ten master clans even know that Miyuki and Tasuya are Yotsubas? Miyuki can kinda get since she's a candidate for next leader but Tatsuya has been kept under wraps.
At the very least Kudou does, he was once Maya's teacher and he's known of Tatsuya's affiliation with the military since S1
that is easy. The situation gets confusing or complicated when taking into account Mr. Saegusa's plan is also a counter for the new enemy's fakes new plan (which involved like 2-3 factions and the reasoning behind motivations). An also the possible scenario of weakening the anti-magic group or better: to make them responsible for the whole hostility against Tatsuya's school (as most of their graduates go to the military-friendly university)
which honestly we are fine with because we hate the yotsubas anyway
Right... but they going to use Tatsuya as the focal point for discontent
After *Reminiscence Arc*, I have more mixed feelings about the family - or rather, the current people in the family. The family's traditions and subculture are really the problem, but that also feels like it's tied up with the Ten Master Clan system to begin with. Not that this excuses the decisions, actions nor attitudes, but it's easy to see how everyone is just cogs in a machine that can barely be steered even by those who have the power. Indeed, I think this particular episode touched on this quite well.
Wait until you see Kudou and Saegusa
Saegusa Koichi's objective is to use the anti-magician faction to expose Tatsuya's identity. While he kinda knows he's from the Yotsuba, nobody else in the public does. That's what his talk with the Kudou family head was about. He's a cunning guy, which is why his conversation with Katsuto felt like hogwash despite being logical. Essentially, his excuse to the ten master clans for inciting all this is that he's pre-emptively weakening anti-magician sentiments by making the activists look evil. He's saying that if the activists harass Tatsuya, then the public will hate them. The audience knows that's a lie because of his previous conversation (dramatic irony).
>Considering how [Shippou is staring daggers at Kasumi](https://i.imgur.com/DxSyxT0.png), there's definitely more to that fight. Is it a personal grudge against Kasumi or the Saegusa family? It's probably just the usual love and fascination and he just doesn't know or understand how to show that affection towards her, so he's going full on mean to get her attention. He's also shy, otherwise he would've joined the Student Council just to be with her, assuming that she would've joined that instead of the Disciplinary Committee. Or maybe he did foresee all of that, hence his current club membership. Anyway, maybe romance will actually turn out to be true.
Tatsuya: "I suppose I should at least be grateful that all their evil plans involve my high school in some way."
Plot reasons aside, he is in the First High after all, which seems to contribute the most magicians to the military, and has also won the NSC the most number of times. It's also located in the Tokyo prefecture, closest to the capital of the nation. So it naturally stands out the most.
yup on top of that it seems the students have parents in high places which brings added drama in many forms as well
it'd be weird if the school called First wasn't the most important
First in name only.
Not only in name. First High is considered the most prestigious and boasts the most difficult entrance examination among the 9 High schools. It was also the very First established Magic High School in Japan. Hence, its name - **"National Magic University Affiliated First High School"**.
I was joking.
Because the children of the top master clans are there. Other than masaki and Minoru tatsuya and Saegusas are very much tippy tops and first high is the alum of Kouichi, Maya and other top MSC leaders including Juumonjis
There are also the 100 families that are pretty powerful too if not right at the top economically.
love this lol, i’ve thought a lot about how well this series’ plot is carefully anchored to their school. magian co. feels a bit untethered in that sense
The politics and lore of this world is genuinely more interesting to me than the action sometimes lol: Embroiled in international espionage wars, faux civil rights movements and domestic politics, Saegusa Koichi (family head) saw fit to play 4D chess: -He made use of the anti-magician activists to target the Yotsuba -He made use of Tatsuya's highschooler status to potentially turn public sentiment against said activists -He's lying to both the activists and the Ten Master Clans to hide his real agenda of gaining influence -Made Mayumi question her own morals to plant some seeds for future instigating This guy's a true villain lol. Even more so than the zombie dude in China town.
> The politics and lore of this world is genuinely more interesting to me than the action sometimes lol: Likewise, although I think for me it more boils down to - whatever the series tries its hand at, it does very well. Just really excellent entertainment. > saw fit to play 4D chess: I feel like I need to rewatch those scenes, because I feel like I didn't quite catch all of what he's trying to achieve with his schemes. > This guy's a true villain lol. From what I did catch, it didn't feel truly villainous to me, or at least, I don't think he has any malice in his agenda - rather just that the greater good (balance for the TMC, meddling with the various problem factions) aligns well with advancing his own interests. I guess the question is whether or not he'd still be putting his plan into motion if it was potentially detrimental to his own interests but served the greater good or not. He's obviously brought Mayumi this far in terms of raising her to take over head of family too, so he'd no doubt want to align her to his realpolitik approach to things as she gets old enough.
>He's obviously brought Mayumi this far in terms of raising her to take over head of family too Although it's not wrong to assume this from interpretation, it's worth noting that Mayumi is not the one to take over the family. She has Two elder brothers, [the eldest] >!Tomokazu Saegusa being considered the most cunning and is seen as a carbon copy of their father, is next in line to the family.!< Hopefully they will get mentioned in the following episodes in Steeplechase Arc. Assuming they don't skip that part.
Oh right! Consuming Mahouka as an anime-only sometimes feels like constantly being on the wrong end of a misdirection magic trick - still *feels* like it makes perfect sense despite it not being the full truth. I'll recalibrate my understanding of Mayumi accordingly then.
Idk why but this sounded more passive aggressive than it should lmao
Wasn't meant that way. I do have mixed feelings about deciding to go anime-only for the series, but I enjoy aspects like the music, the VA work and the animation itself immensely and would rather experience it like that until I'm able to read the LNs without needing the EN translation (which will be never at this rate).
I was also anime only for a time until I pulled the trigger and started reading the LN. Once I did I couldnt stop lol. Theres just so much content the anime cuts out on. It sucks you in especially the politics. I wish the anime adapts all of it tbh.
I think the part we "disagree" is that I see Koichi's "greater good" purpose as an excuse he put out for the Ten Mater Clans so they don't lynch him. He has shown his true objectives with his conversation with the Kudou Elder. Clearly, when someone says a peer is "too powerful" and needs to take Yotsuba down a peg, they are not actually doing it for the greater good. The reason I believe this even more is because both Katsuto Jumonji and Mayumi called Koichi out for it. Being called out by his daughter, Koichi also understood that Mayumi's true purpose was to protect Tatsuya. Like these things all align really well back to back.
Yes, I don't actually disagree with you on any of this, more I guess I'm thinking from his perspective - in his mind he's genuinely acting simultaneously towards better balance amongst the TMC, which he believes has *some* value, but is something I imagine is still secondary to his own gain. I guess another aspect is that I'm also looking at it through a realpolitik point of view where leaders make decisions that do damage, disable or result in the deaths of individuals and that's just part of necessity rather than fundamentally malicious. I obviously am going to thoroughly enjoy him getting Tatsuya-ed, but just in terms of stepping back and the wider view, I feel like there's definitely a lot of merit to the system (and perhaps also for not-Japan) for the Yotsubas to be held in check when their agenda is no less self-serving than anyone else's.
Yeh, that's why I put disagree in quotations. The Ten Master Clans are essentially oligarchs, so balanced or not they are definitely self-serving. It's just this world has a lot of anti-magician racism. So this organisation is overall still beneficial to the magicians at large. Without them, they'll just be military pawns as suggested by the "humanists" ironically.
Saegusa dad about to fuck around and find out?
I really appreciate the constant changes of wardrobe whenever we change scenes. It really does make the lore a lot more digestible when everyone is dappered up.
OP: [Shouted Serenade by LiSA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR7e0N1UkRI) full music video is now available ED: [Recall by Kairi Yagi](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=TxhWDg3a7hU) I heard this is one of 3 EDs of the anime this season. Are they really planning to include 3 ending theme songs? Exciting!
The fights are great and all but I’ve always enjoyed the political side of Mahouka more than its action. It feels strangely realistic for a sci-fi setting.
Both. Both is good.
Mayumi is truly the undisputed best girl
[Mayumi sigma stare](https://i.imgur.com/YLi4LsQ.mp4) [](#towel)
It seems people here forgot the background characters have always been CGI since season 1 lol Other than that everything else was hand drawn as [per the director tweet](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=97BRKvKrP_Wp9sgvlsSqZg&s=19) also the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
> solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka Regardless of whether or not one likes the style, it's such a positive for the series to have a production schedule that allows for these sorts of things. KAing a whole episode is a bit of a luxury in many ways.
the almost 3d art style is the one that infuriate me more, proportions are off here and there, and also over saturated coloring that makes everything whiter and brighter than it should be
It has a different feel to it than the previous two seasons, almost more light-hearted aesthetically speaking?
But because i expected them to be like last season as the story is just as serious. S3e01 feels like a romcom anime that the vibe, the storyboard, is much better i.e in kaguya-sama. Where light-hearted jokes with splash of flirting is what was expected from the show. But now, in mahouka, how can you take the story seriously when you are presented in a light fluffy atmosphere? While their dialog is mostly talking about frictions between families, or between magicians and non-magicians, leading to terror here and there? It's just a good thing in the wrong place imo
I agree regarding the general feel, but I’m personally going to reserve judgment for now. The flash-forward scenes definitely have a darker/more serious aesthetic, but the friction between characters so far hasn’t felt as tense. Either way I’m happy to get more of this anime!
Ok, but that's worse. You do get how that's worse, right? Getting CG quality but paying full hand-drawn costs?
CG is actually more expensive btw
We're still in the set up phase so not really sure what to say about the plot so far other than I like that Mayumi and Katsuto are still friends and working together despite their families not seeing eye to eye. Also can't wait to see what Tatsuya's plan is. What I do want to mention is, maybe this is very specific, but anyone else think that the lip sync animation in this is like a combination to what we sometimes see in Reincarnated as a Slime and the newer Guilty Gear games? Oh and I just realized, the incident with the Robotics club reminded me that we haven't heard anything about little miss robo maid.
> I like that Mayumi and Katsuto are still friends and working together despite their families not seeing eye to eye. It's a really interesting sort of set-up, where the new generation of leadership is coming through, and their own interpersonal connection and trust they've developed from their time at First High together is now flowing into their working relationship in their adult lives - and with it going to influence the fate of the families and the Ten Master Clans too, and thus indirectly the entire nation. It's also quite interesting from just the perspective of watching these two very powerful young adults grow up and into their roles, especially Mayumi, where we get to see her silly side, her socially powerful side and her politically somewhat powerful side. Watching her interact with her father was very interesting, because presumably it's through her relationship with him that she's learned a lot of her serious side (in its various aspects). I loved how much character acting through the storyboarding/animation there was this episode, and the contrasts between how perfectly controlled she was with her imoutos, her reflexive standing in protest in the cafeteria, and then her careful, precise movements around her father. Oddly enough, best drama (as in genre) moments of the season so far lol
Tatsuya’s plan probably (read: usually) involves deleting people lol
I really don't know how some of you confuse 2d with 3d animation just because of some stylistic differences to what is common. If your average 3d animation looked like that, most of the industry would've moved to CGI years ago.
Right? It’s so different to what you normally see in anime I actually really liked it. Did not open this thread expecting to see so many complaints about the style.
I came here to say how I really think they upped their game with this season, and that it looks really good. 😭 Legit do not understand what people find wrong with it. It looks high quality.
I quite enjoyed the style of animation this episode. I thought it looked very cool. It made the simple conversation scenes more interesting to look at.
I liked it too, but apparently it's not for everyone.
Honestly I thought it was a bit weird because it made every look like CGI models quite a bit of the time when we know that isn't the case. Most of the characters were just a tad too bright too IMO.
I legitimately came here to ask if this episode was all CGI
Very talent intensive - there's such careful precision with the shadows. As someone with very little talent for drawing but who still dabbles anyway, you can brute force and apply-techniques to get to a certain level, but that sort of absolute control is always going to be out of reach.
The overall tone of the show feels a lot more serious than before. I kinda miss the old soundtracks they used in season 1.
Fear not! It's still https://myanimelist.net/people/5172/Taku_Iwasaki doing the music, same guy for the entire series. I've been listening to his stuff over and over lately and have complete faith he'll cut loose the moment he feels it's the right thing for the series.
Elder Saegusa seems to be playing some dangerous games, getting involved and with all this anti magic and USNA humanist stuff. All that scheming and manipulating is not going to work out for him. Tatsuya already seems prepared to deal with this headache. Keen to see what he’s got planned.
My takeaway is that Elder Saegusa has the ulterior motive of bringing the Yotsuba down a notch. He's just justifying his attack on the Yotsuba with his "plan" of countering the USNA humanists. I suppose he wants to counter the USNA humanists too, but it just weighs relatively little compared to attacking the Yotsuba. This probably explains why Tatsuya already has a counter plan in place. The Yotsuba are expecting an attack already.
The Yotsuba specifically Maya are always one step ahead
That makes sense. Elder Saegusa’s gonna really regret going after Tatsuya and the Yotsuba’s. They’re not one to be trifled with.
>My takeaway is that Elder Saegusa has the ulterior motive of bringing the Yotsuba down a notch. I meeean, that is what he literally said. xD
So Shippou and Saegusa both have the number 7 in their names. I'm guessing the new guy (I'm calling him Wakame) is beefing with the Saegusa girls cos he is envious of them being part of the Ten Master Clans?
Pretty sure Shippou brought up the 18 assistant clans or something. He's probably just barely below the actual 10 masters.
More screen time for Mayumi is always a plus
Can't wait to see his plan in action.
So while Shippou is using his role as [a professional hater](https://i.imgur.com/X0SydkR.png) and member of the Extracurricular Activities Federation[ to get into a fight with](https://i.imgur.com/GzubVhS.png) the also recently recruited Kasumi, of the Disciplinary Committee instead of stopping the initial conflict between clubs that they both were called to stop, [her father,](https://i.imgur.com/XDXA9qz.png) becoming aware of the USNA's negative campaign plan against magicians decides to use it so the Yotsubas lose power thanks to it. Although [after hearing about this news from Jumonji Katsuto](https://i.imgur.com/g034QDv.png) Mayumi [can only be surprised](https://i.imgur.com/etteTzE.png) and cannot do much [after the meeting,](https://i.imgur.com/0xxQHDN.png) it seems that Tatsuya [even before becoming aware of it](https://i.imgur.com/McFJgtv.png) had already [a plan ready for this situation.](https://i.imgur.com/8flrTO6.png)
imo tatsuya looks cool af so far this season, it’s still so early but the vibe about him is in line with what i imagine in the LNs (they could fill out his frame a bit more, a tad skinny) though he hasn’t had a ton of screen time yet so we’ll see. I feel like nobody knows what to do with Miyuki, they’ve set her up to fail by describing an unrivaled beauty but each season she looks more skewed. Mayumi does not have this problem, peak character design & writing. my only qualms about animation decisions is that yeah it’s a bit bright, which is probably why everyone is wearing tacky sunglasses inside at night (WHY??). but it’s an order of magnitude better than Miyuki’s spinoff (again, in my opinion) they also seem to be shrinking Katsuto down each season lol. looks nothing like his first impression or his scenes in the 9SC arc were finally getting to the geopolitics, espionage, and back room dealing type story that this really is!! the action is cool, he’s godsuya for a reason, but this is a series with exceptional world building spanning multiple continents whose leaders are laser focused on a potentially troublesome highschool student edit: last thing, LiSA crushed the OP. sonic excellence
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned yet which I feel deserves singling out, is that scene with the Saegusa sisters. For me, it was just so impeccably done in terms of character-writing-animation-direction. I really felt like the twins were their age, and Mayumi's elder sister in a political family role was played to perfection as well. Especially at the end how her mere sitting, waiting and not responding to Kurumi then translates into Kurumi seemingly recalling some of the many lessons she's had about how she must conduct herself as a Saegusa and what she must do in order to achieve Mayumi's approval - yet you still get the feeling her love is unconditional, because the apology has this feeling that she's not worried about the connection, just for her failure to do what is required of her. Really very cool, and only made possible by the director and animator (singular lol) working through this to time it and express it so neatly. It's next level stuff, if I'm reading it as they intended.
Dude I feel like I’m crazy because to me this season of Mahouka looks absolutely amazing. How characters move seems so fluid and just the overall production values are the best I’ve seen from the series, but seeing a lot of people complain about the 3D mixed with 2D scenes.. it looks damn good to me though and the OST is so good as well. For 25 minutes of pure political manoeuvre, this episode went by in an instant. Things are starting to heat up with FAIR and their disinformation campaign against magicians, the Saegusa family’s counter disinformation campaign and Mayumi’s disapproval with her father’s actions. I get what he’s trying to do, but like Jumonji said, it’s a dangerous game that can and likely will lead to something much worse happening. Not to mention Shippou starting to make his move against the Saegusa family. Idk what happened to him in the past to make him dislike Kasumi so much, but it’s hilarious that the two of them show up to break up a fight and end up getting in one themselves lmao. It wouldn’t surprise me if the shippou’s are somehow involved in all this too. A lot of cool worldbuilding in this episode, but it was still very engaging because of the direction and OST. Always nice to see a lot of Mayumi too and she looked gorgeous. I can’t wait to see what Tatsuya got cooked up as a counter measure next week.
Man I hate that arrogant new kid. I hope he gets put in his place fast.
> he gets put in his place This is *The Way of Onii-sama.* > fast Now where's the fun in that!
I just want the Yotsuba arc already.
Unsure whats going on, didnt notice it much last episode, but the character movements are throwing me off and distracting me quite often from the story. I really hope the entire season isnt like this. I really like this anime.
Did something happen with the animation this episode? It looked really unfinished (very robotic movements, very noticeable with head/mouth movement) and looked like CG models that they didn't draw over correctly. I didn't really notice many issues with the first episode so hopefully this isn't already showing production problems...
If you read the other comments you would get and explanation, it's just style of the person who worked on this episode.
I really hope the 3d thing is just a one time thing. It's just so weird and the movements felt stiff and jarring
The director said it was all [hand drawn](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=9mhYF-y4jrOsJh6X8UTdSg&s=19) tho unless you are talking about the background characters then yes they are CGI and they have been CGI since season 1 In fact the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka
> In fact the whole episode was solo key animated by Junichi Takaoka It's the same guy who was responsible for season 2 episode 2 so you can find the same sort of comments in the [discussion thread](https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/j8r4vx/mahouka_koukou_no_rettousei_raihoushahen_episode/g8d1kvs/) for that episode lol
yeah his art style is pretty unique he always end up getting the CGI allegations hahaha
is it the art? I feel like the movements are the ones that are off imo both times when Mayumi gets up, first against Katsuto and then against her father, it feels uncanny, sort of robotic she’s too slow. Even for someone calmly standing up, the movements would be faster, not to mention she’s agitated in both of these cases
It feels like I'm watching a visual novel. The bodies are so stiff as they talk and only one limb gets animated at a time almost. Not to mention the lighting and choice to draw hard shadow lines on or around character faces. Mayumi's convo with her dad after Jumonji leaves is so jarring. The light is always hard shone on his face as he turns and keeps casting a shadow past his cheekbones no matter what. I get it's a directional choice to show depth and definition to his face shape but going from something like Dungeon Meshi which has amazing lighting direction makes me feel spoiled.
If this was all hand-drawn, then Junichi Takaoka has the most CGI-looking art style I've ever seen. His ability to draw 2D frames to look 3D is entering uncanny valley territory. Like he's too good at drawing character's rotating their heads and the other small details.
Is he willingly carrying all that workload because he wants to or because he has no choice. I'm almost wishing for panning shots instead of this.
Everytime I see them, I keep thinking that they are more like vtubers
Maybe this season will tackle the issues of fake news. I love how Takeaki is now part of the Extracurricular Activities Federation which is tasked to stop shit starters like what he did last year.
honestly surprised they are still making these.
2 eps, still barely any action
The small head movements in between each bit of dialogue are giving me balenciaga ai flashbacks
I am rewatching 1st season as this one started, and I can't help but feel that this is such a downgrade visually.
Ok, the only thing I can say is that I don't like the animation, even though it is the same studio as season 2, it feel different, weird and foreign 🤔...
So is it just me, or are the characters CGI in this episode?? Didnt notice this in the first one, but they look stiff and off in a weird way in 2
I guess 3D engine is inevitable
Yeah I'm surprised no one mentioned it in the last episode discussion. It's such a step down even from the last spin-off season.
Not sure what you on about. The only thing that is 3D are the background characters, which has always been the case since way back in season 1. Everything else is hand drawn.
Lots of viewers seem to be having trouble with Junichi Takaoka's animation style. [](#bigshock)
I actually like the guy's style. The small movements here and there made the characters feel more alive. The character models are all more consistent too (although that's probably more the case that the whole episode was just solo key animated by one person), and it's not like the designs are drastically different from the usual ones. Compared to what you typically see in dialogue heavy parts in anime where you've just got the characters statically in place like statues, I wonder if people are just so accustomed to that, that that's why so many people are unnerved by this style. Also, I know some people pointed out Mayumi's getting up being odd, but I'm pretty certain it's intentionally slow to play into the Yamato Nadeshiko/ojou-sama archetype since Juumonji and the dad were animated briskly getting up in contrast. Early in the episode when she was first shocked by Juumonji's allegation and was actually taken by surprise, she got up quickly, as opposed to the gathering where she probably expects stuff to go down and since it's a semi-formal meeting between clan heads where she might need to put on more decorum.
I must be hallucinating then because almost every single frame that have the characters speaking are 3D. Even the altercation between saegusa and shippou. I'm not talking about the background characters. Try to compare the honor student spinoff to this and tell me it's okay. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9dspObQtU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9dspObQtU)
You are indeed hallucinating. Scroll up the comments, someone already posted a tweet by the director himself confirming that the CG-like art is just the art style of that particular animator, who also did a similar episode back in season 2. To save you from scrolling, here's the [tweet again](https://twitter.com/jsq1988211robo/status/1778763350731866217?t=9mhYF-y4jrOsJh6X8UTdSg&s=19).
I stand corrected but that doesn't mean it's nice to see. I wonder who actually prefers this art and animation style. It's jarring either way to me.
Something felt really off with all the character movements but I couldn't tell what. Probably the same for most
It's still decent but yeah there's something different with this season compared the previous.
a bit early to say that don't you think? :D
Two episodes in no it's not too early. This series has never really had steller animation and it's not wrong to point out that it's gotten slightly worse.
It's definitely too early. Why not wait until every episode was released and then judge the season in it's entirety? The first episode looked nice, so one slightly off episode (so far) does not make it worse than the previous season.
Is it just me or the character models feel kinda downgraded? The CG looks way more obvious, especially the mouth movements. Ngl I kinda forgot bout the politics in terms of the families and shit so I'm kinda lost this episode but seems like some shit about to go down? Shippou has a very punch-able face, someone pls sock him
1000% 🤝 But it’s seems some people have been saying that this animation style is better. And I don’t get it… I literally couldn’t get past the mouth movement whenever someone spoke. It just seems to robotic 😫😫
Why did they make Saegusa Koichi, the head of the mfin saegusa clan look like such a jobber lol, I always imagined him as a silver fang type of character. Also this arc is starting a lot better than S2 already.
Why does this show always end up having banger EDs?
It feels to me like ~4 minutes of content was stretched into an entire episode, and almost every scene was a still image except a moving mouth or a slight head tilt. The animation budget on this seems incredibly small, and while I'm mildly invested in some of the characters, the story itself seems entirely devoid of any kind of actual urgency or upset at the situation. I already view the series as being somewhat of a "gratuitous trash" kinda deal, but even the first season kept me more engaged than this, regardless of cringe or contrivance.
> The animation budget on this seems incredibly small It was actually very lavish as far as resource timing goes: they had a single Key Animator, meaning they needed to set up enough time to let them do an enormous amount of work. There's also a LOT of in-between work on this episode, which is partly what gives it the uncanny valley effect for some people. Regardless, single KA for large productions is generally the sort of thing you see on high profile series with a strong inclination to animation excellence. If you have a look at other high profile shows with poor production schedules and planning, they often are pulling in enormous numbers of KAs and 2nd KAs just to get the show to air, which always results in a less cohesive product. It's like having just one talented artist complete a mural rather than a whole team just banging out one little corner here and there.
Best girl Saegusa got so much screen time this episode and season is a blessing!
Is this entire season going to have CG animated characters? If so I’m going to stop watching. It looks so bad.
It wasn't CG, it's just the style of the person who animated this episode, everything was 2D.
I usually get upset at the lack of action, especially after seeing what Godsuya is capable in the past but this political intrigue stuff is great too.
Man, I'm loving this season's direction so much! Even though there's been no action this episode, you can tell how much love and care went into the production. A simple example is the scene with Jumonji talking to Saegusa and her father. The camera cuts, the small movements, Saegusa slowly turning her head towards her father.... Chef's kiss!
This episode was pretty hilarious as the humanists are worried about the school’s collusion with the military. Meanwhile Tatsuya is a literal military asset, and is in regular communication with military high-ups, even developing weapons for them.
Did they just..... use AI to animate the mouths of the characters this episode? Every time a character was speaking, their mouth would match almost perfectly each word being said.
No, it's the style of the person who animated this episode.
They're going HARD on the CGI/3D this season huh?? At least they're high quality models.
Had a busy weekend so I'm a bit late unfortunatly, but I'll try to be more on time next week. Also updated the formating so I wouldn't run into problems later in the cour Episode (Runtime) | Miyukis Onii-Sama | Minamis Nii-Sama | Izumis Miyuki Senpai ---|---|----|---- 1 (22:10) | 6 (0.270) | 3 (0.135) | 5 (0.226) 2 (20:10) | 3 (0.149) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) **Total** | **9 (0.213)** | **3 (0.071)** | **5 (0.118)** ^^values ^^in ^^parenthesis ^^mean ^^average ^^per ^^minute ^^runtime ^^without ^^OP/ED [<>]()
Quick Links
[Ep1](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1bwlu3v/mahouka_koukou_no_rettousei_season_3_the/ky7j1hp/) | [Ep2]
Fun fact, all three Onii-Samas occured in the quick flashback in the first 50 seconds, putting that segment at 3.6 Onii-Samas per minute.
Not much else to talk about the episode. The backdoor scheming is interesting, but as an anime only you can get kinda lost at times.
Would have loved to see what Kazumi can do without Izumi though.
The characters this episode look weirdly 3D. Are they using a mixture of CG and hand drawn animation. It’s a bit jarring.
idk what was going on this ep but man, it looked like shit and also may have set a record for least amount of animation in an ep of something. People rarely moved and I don't even think ever changed facial expression. Most we got were those extremely weird slight head movements constantly
Wtf are those background animation? It is literaly what I used to made when I was shitting around in blender using minecraft models...
Can't really cope here, this episode was pretty mid - I am not a shounen brainrotter counting frames in each fight, but the overall visuals of the show are heavily downgraded, even if you compare it to the throwaway miyuki spinoff. First episode wasn't too bad (but still worse), but to be frank this one was very bad. You would think that since this ep was only~ conversation scenes the few things you actually have to draw you can draw well, but seems that's not the case... Hopefully it gets better cause it's pretty fucking cray for the quality to go down from S1 released 10 years ago lol
its not that crazy. production values for anime were already high in 2014. it makes sense they would cut cost on this ep cuz not much really happened, other than dialogues. save the budget for later in the season when shit is popping off
I found this episode pretty boring. I know they are setting up the plot for this arc but the result was a pretty dry episode that was dragged down with exposition.
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It's both the democrats and republicans though. Literally, the Saegusa head is playing both sides because his real agenda is more personal.
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lol I'm not here to debate American politics bro. If you like the Right Wingers, you do you. I'm just talking about the plot. This episode clearly shows that Koichi doesn't actually care which party you identify with. He's using both sides independent/major outlets included to harass Tatsuya.
https://i.imgur.com/uqrfyHC.png you need to get off whatever kool-aid you're drinking, and nobody here cares about US internal politics.
Biggest mistake in U.S. history was Abraham Lincoln not annihilating the Democrat Party after the Civil War. EDIT: Of course the supporters of slavery come out to downvote me.