You may have noticed I’ve fallen behind on everything and haven’t even picked up a fourth or fifth show yet. This is because I’m moving across the county next week. I have a ton of packing to do, probably won’t have Internet access this weekend, will be spending the next week in Canada, and then will be settling in in a new town and a new job. So basically I’m probably going to fall behind blogging. Sorry about that, this has been a hectic summer, but in a few weeks I’ll hopefully settle back into a routine.

And for those wondering, I’m planning to pick up Zankyou no Terror. Eventually…

Anyway, Mahouka. I can’t wait to start this episode.

• Great, we’re already into the main meat of this show: explaining magical gibberish.

• What a dumb question. Dude, where have you been the past ten episodes? Of course Tatsuya has a strategy. An unbeatable strategy too.
• Tatsuya can’t say with confidence that he could beat his opponents single-handedly. Finally a difficult trial for Tatsuya’s team to overcome! Tatsuya is such a tragic, flawed protagonist who worked hard to overcome his shortcomings and earn the privileges of the aristocracy, yet sadly he was overlooked due to unfair government interference in selecting the nobility.

• Here comes his Imouto to tell him how great he is.
• Hilarious. They’re wearing clothes. This show has such a poignant sense of humor.

• Anybody who wasted their time watching the past ten episodes, that’s who.

• What took you so long to realize how amazing Tatsuya is, you old geezer? You had to spend more than ten seconds in the same room with him?
• All these epic tournament start graphics which look like they’re from 90s arcade games and fast pan shots on the teams, pretending like anyone actually cares.
• Pew pew! Pew pew! Two guys are looking into each others eyes and firing guns into the sky. If this isn’t exciting I don’t know what is.

• If the world were just, Tatsuya would be course 0.
• Apparently Tatsuya has another power he hasn’t shown us yet. Elemental Sight. Whatever that is. Like anybody cares.
• Oops, Tatsuya’s gonna die. Haha like that could happen.
• Tatsuya’s shooting these holes in the air while flipping upside down and all over the place because… because… because…
• Of course, the only way Tatsuya can lose is if his opponents break the rules.
• Oh right, Tatsuya’s an immortal robot. Almost forgot. Silly me.
• And of course the president has to be told to shut up and apologize to the man. Since, you know, she’s a woman.
• Oh, so Tatsuya’s brain is faster than a computer. Or something.
• I don’t really understand why the one guy’s spell was against the rules, but shooting people with lightning  bolts and giving them concussions is fine and dandy. Whatever.
• Leo is a hunk.

• …

  …

  OH MY FUCKING GOD FUCK THIS FUCKING SHIT. TATSUYA CAN READ FUCKING LIPS? IS THERE ANYTHING THIS ROBOT BASTARD CAN’T DO?!!!

Well that was the best episode of the past arc by far, by virtue of something finally fucking happening.

If you aren’t actually watching show, it’s hard to describe how painful this arc really was. But every single episode was the exact same. Some random characters we don’t give a shit about compete at some dumb magical sport we don’t give a shit about. They win because of Tatsuya’s magic. A third of the episode is spent describing magical gobbly-gock we don’t give a shit about, while another third is spent describing how awesome Tatsuya is which we already fucking know.

The first arc was bloody awful, but compared to this, things were great back then. How could anyone ever possibly like this crap?

I don’t think it’s fair to blame the light novel entirely either. Even if this is exactly what happened in the light novel, you’d have to be an idiot to adapt it like this.

I hate to say it, but I honestly think I could have done a better job directing this show, with zero knowledge of how to do so. Even speaking in only my broken second year Japanese… This is just ridiculously awful. It’s on an entirely different level from other shows I’ve hated on like Sword Art Online, Horizon, Guilty Crown, Who is Imouto, and others. The creators just don’t give a crap and are calling it in.

I’d rather watch Shining Hearts: Bread of Happiness than this.