Forum - View topicSeven Magic High Schools Worth Enrolling In
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Hameyadea
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The Monogatari Series seems to be a good candidate.
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13224 |
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Both of these examples are people with powers attending an otherwise normal school. The specific criteria for this list is that the school itself must specialize in some sort of ability training. |
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VORTIA
 SubscriberPosts: 941 |
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In all honesty, ANN's staff these days are leaps and bounds better than they were 5+ years ago or so, but the anime review scene as a whole is still far too full of hypercritical, faux-sophisticated college lit professor types who somehow can't distinguish between capital "A" art films and pop entertainment intended to simply be fun. Being able to tell the difference and review each according to their own merits is something I consider a sign of a superior reviewer.
Sure! Zero no Tsukaima is an excellently crafted seinen LN take on Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, infusing pop fantasy elements into a story set in a thinly disguised medieval Europe with much of the associated cultural baggage, starring a pair of impetuous, insecure teenagers who are forced by circumstance to adapt to each others' cultural norms, question the world around them, and love each other for the imperfect beings they are. It's one of the best tsundere romances around, partly because Louise's abusive behavior is a product of a medieval society where beating servants is normalized, but mostly because both her and Saito grow into better people through their relationship. As for Mahoka, it's a neat setting with excellent cast of well-fleshed out characters that practically every American fan wrote off before they even watched it because of implied incest and Tatsuya's powerful abilities. The fact of the matter is that Tatsuya's difficulties dealing with his powers and the societal cage they place him in are far more interesting than popular Western works with OP protagonists, like Superman. |
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VORTIA
Subscriber Posts: 941 |
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Saito DOES tell Henrietta to kick rocks quite clearly in F, though, at which point most of the other girls take the hint. spoiler[He waffles a bit at first, because he's a 16 year old kid who's just been handed a title, a mansion, and riches galore, and initially it goes to his head, but ultimately he sets the Queen straight, because he doesn't want to hurt Louise.] Honestly, by the end I think it's clear Siesta's just flirting with Saito to fudge with Louise, she's not even making a serious effort by season 4 except when she can make Louise's teeth grind.
Exactly! Mahoka is not about "Can Tatsuya defeat X?" Mahoka is about "How can Tatsuya live a semblance of a normal life? Can society even allow him to do so?" 
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4469 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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Oh, I'm firmly on team Railgun as well. It's like a Japanese version of New Mutants, which was pretty much my second-favourite Marvel title as a mid-1980s tween (after Power Pack), and I'm specifying New Mutants over X-Men because New Mutants had much more of a focus on the academic life of the main characters as well as training. I'm not entirely sure why, but I just find it easier to relate to characters whose powers are explained as pseudoscience (re: ESPer/psychic powers) than characters whose powers are based in magic/occultism, at least within the "Raildex" universe. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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To be fair to the anime review scene, much critical review for most if not all entertainment mediums tends towards the artsy fartsy type, not just anime. Also one of them is actually a college English professor, though she doesn't seem to be the type that fails to distinguish between Art house works and more populist works. They are not a monolith and some have always hardly been that artsy type you so decry both in terms of choice of show and and the reviews themselves. I'm no fan of the jaded dismissal some of them show towards many populist works but I do not dismiss them in turn for it either. |
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Ali07
 Posts: 3333 Location: Victoria, Australia |
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I'm happy to see both Index and Railgun make the cut. I really enjoyed both, but I like Railgun a bit more due to it's side characters (Kongou is best girl).
Would've liked Chivalry of a Failed Knight to be a bit higher on the list. Not only because they set down a romance trail without really heading down the harem route, and that the couple is confirmed by the end, but I really enjoyed the story that unfolded as the season went on. And, I really felt the last few episodes were especially strong. The fact that Ikki's dad was a total bastard was a nice touch too. Familiar of Zero will always be one of my favourite tsun-romances, so I've no issue with it being number one in the magic high school category. |
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Cam0
 Posts: 4888 |
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He does? All I remember is spoiler[Henrietta suddenly kissing Saito and Saito doesn't push her back or anything. Louise sees them and gets devastated. While Saito is sulking and is like "I don't have the right to be with Louise anymore" (instead of chasing after her), Louise quickly realizes that she loves him too much and runs back to Saito (who basically cheated on her). Like in that situation Louise has to come back to Saito? Seriously?] Siesta's flirting spoiler[just gets extremely annoying because she lost 3 seasons ago. It reaches boiling point for me when Saito and Louise are getting intimate, but find Siesta hiding under the sheets who obviously interrupts their moment and tries to seduce Saito. Saito doesn't ever turn down the girls' advances even though he and Louise are pretty much officially a couple.] |
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Estelle the White Mage
 Posts: 51 |
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No mention of Trinity Seven?
That one would probably be my pick, assuming I was in the main character's shoes when I enrolled. And not one of the droves of students who get caught up in the latest dark magic escapade that swallows up everyone's souls who aren't top tier magicians.... |
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VORTIA
Subscriber Posts: 941 |
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Yeah, it was after that. Unfortunately, F suffered from having to compress something like 10+ novels into 13 episodes so it could all air before the author died, so that whole arc only got an episode as opposed to the whole season it probably deserved. |
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SnowyLightning44
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Yeah although Tatsuya is a pretty overpowered MC, I think that would be a pretty good magic high school choice (because it would be interesting to delve into technical path of magic rather than hold a wand/staff/nothing at all and being able to use magic
 )
So my second option would probably go to Soul Eater because even though the 'magic' bit of it is debatable, having to physically fight with a weapon and mental communicate with it would be the coolest of the lot for me (I guess a sound soul doesn't dwell within a sound mind and a sound body for nothing  )
And my third choice would probably go to A Certain Magical/Scientific Index/Railgun because even though it contradicts a a bit of what I said at the start using magic 'just like that' could come handy as well |
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mewpudding101
Industry Insider
 Posts: 2205 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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A little disappointing that the Toarus were entered as two separate entries (I love Toaru, don't get me wrong). I mean, who wouldn't want to be a student at Gakuen Alice, though? Besides the crazy management... (Gakuen Alice does have a high school division)
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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I think Mahouka is about how to be God. |
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Hellsoldier
 Posts: 753 Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol |
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When it comes to unoriginality and the same old archetypes over and over again, you bet having a horde of critics nailling down a mass amount of works of a given genre is well deserved. With that in mind, Sturgeon's Law says most of everything is crap, so... About Mahouka being on the list... Sure, the setting in and of itself is interesting. However, Jesus Tatsuya, whose personality has slight traces of ubermench mentality,, always, if you will, butt-kissed by all the bishoujo around him, is an annoying piece of work. The show is about nothing more than how ''awesome'' Tatsuya is. Having in consideration he has no qualms in killing, the fact that he is the center of the world spoiler[as Taurus Silver] and all factors previously mentioned, we have a Gary Stu. Add all of that to a directionless plot, and to blatant nationalism (Korea and China conglomerated and spoiler[ ready for a homeland attack... fascinating.] And last but not least, the amount of energy required to dismantle an entire body to the molecular level is extreme... and even if you could to that, that matter would still have to go there, rather than disapear. These are some of the problems with Mahouka, that should anull any interest in it. I will give RailIndex a try one of these days though. Same with Chivalry.[/b] |
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niknasr
Posts: 17 |
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Well, it's true when you say it like that.. |
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