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Magic-kyun! Renaissance (TV).




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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1657
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 5:45 pm Reply with quote


Magic-kyun! Renaissance (TV)

Genres: Magic, Romance
Themes: Reverse Harems

Plot Summary: A world where art becomes magic. In this world, people who can inspire passion with their Magic Arts are called Artistas, and are employed in show business. In Hoshinomori Private Magical Arts High School, where Artistas are taught, a strange new student named Ohana Aigasaki transfers into the school. Ohana is placed on the planning committee for the school's yearly Hoshinomori Summer Festa cultural festival. She spends her romantic school life with six other boys who aim to become entertainers in the future and alongside Ohana, to be the school's Artista Prince and Princess, only chosen once a year.
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I didn't see a topic for this, so I made one.

I have to say that I'm really enjoying this so far. Kohana actually seems like a character and not a self insert. I like the designs for the guys and the main guy doesn't annoy me.

I was surprised that instead of focusing on a new guy, episode 3 centered on character development for Kohana.

And I don't know about anyone else, but I suspect that spoiler[Todo sensei is actually Kohana's father. She didn't say that her father was dead, just not there. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but Todo holds out his hand to catch one of the falling petals, but misses at the last second.]
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 5:48 am Reply with quote
Episode 3

From now on she is going to have to make sure she practices flower arrangement outside, or risk further collateral damage.

The series kind of reminds me of Mikagure School Suite, an anime where the students have magic powers based on the various culture clubs they belong to
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Neko-sensei



Joined: 19 Jan 2007
Posts: 283
PostPosted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 10:53 pm Reply with quote
This is a shockingly well-produced series—I'm very glad I didn't reflex-drop it 13 seconds in. I love the attention put into the little details of life on the (impossible, absurd) campus: the way students generally carry the accouterments of their Arte (from video cameras to instrument cases to sketchbooks) and are used to fill backgrounds with a delightful sense of busyness; the meticulous application of light, a central motif of the series, appropriate to the time of day and the environment (in episode 3, just check out what happens when Aoi opens the window of Kohana's cell, or contrast the fountainside location's appearances after school and at midday); the obvious care taken in depiction the nuts and bolts of each Arte's performance (especially the flower arrangement).

Beyond the rewarding visual design and exemplary direction, the show is just really solidly constructed. Episodes two and three in particular are nicely resonant: in episode 2, Kohana gently nudges Aoi out of his isolation by the simple application of kindness, good advice, encouragement tempered by gentle criticism, and anchovy-vegetable-juice cream buns. She shows Aoi that merely having someone to hold you accountable to yourself makes all the difference. In episode 3, Aoi returns the favor—clumsily, self-consciously, yes, but in perfect keeping with his character, and without making the action feel like it's Kohana's "reward" for tripping the right flags. It's a beautiful moment about the way every act of compassion towards another is also an act of compassion towards yourself, and it results in the most satisfying possible efflorescence of Kohana's power.

Take it from someone as far outside the show's target audience as it's possible to be—this show's worth your time! What an odd, interesting excursion for Sunrise...

(Concerning speculation: spoiler[ Todo intentionally pulls away from the petal, as if he considers himself unworthy. It's not impossible he's Kohana's dad, but I'm leaning towards his being a romantic rival for Kohana's mother who feels that her death is somehow his fault.])
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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1657
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Wed Oct 19, 2016 1:13 pm Reply with quote
^
Wow, you've worded what I like about the series much better than I ever could. I'm still disappointed the show didn't get enough reviews to get weekly reviews.

As for your speculation, it's an interesting theory that I never considered.
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phia_one



Joined: 15 Jan 2012
Posts: 1657
Location: Pennsylvania
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:25 am Reply with quote
So this show hasn't gotten much love, huh? Oh well...

I have to say that I'm still impressed by this show. Kohana remains to be a better heroine than most of the otome anime I've seen (though she doesn't beat Yui from Kamigami no Asobi).

I was laughing so hard during the Prince Competition because Juri just seemed to be making up the rules as she went along.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15462
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Dec 26, 2016 8:09 am Reply with quote
Episode 13 (finale)

Okay, I am going to preface my review by saying that I did not hate the show, in fact I think that it started quite strongly, but it just did not end really strongly. This can be largely attributed to how the show was kind of working its way to a central event where clearly we would have a major piece of conflict with Ichijouji, but the show kind of fell on its face where the impact is all lost from it. Ichijouji seems to have all of his character development suddenly, without any real impact from Kohana, and it feels like it just passes and suddenly there is no conflict. That is until near the end we have this sudden big problem where apparently Kohana has to leave the school because she tries too hard or something, it does not really make any sense rather than saying that she is going to focus too much on her art over other parts of her life. The foreshadowing for it is terrible as although she does flower arranging often, she generally seems to have a better balance at it, especially over how the boys were earlier in the series. It is just kind of stupid in how she then becomes a sleeping beauty.

I actually was bored and annoyed at the end of the show as it felt like she was more of an audience stand in. You know that pillow boy anime, the one anime boys are just supposed to speak generic words of encouragement at the female viewer? It kind of felt like that, and it makes me feel uncomfortable, I am sure that it would not be such a problem to others but it just felt like it undid Kohana as a character as each boy does their generic speech one after the other to the comatose girl in the bed, and then they each use what makes them special. But really it kind of never felt quite earned with her character, as she did not feel fully involved in helping each arc, or maybe I partially feel like that from tuning out when each boy went into song mode when their arc was apparently being passed. I did not in general dislike them, some of the traits irked me a little, well except for Ichihouji who I hate and dislike how towards the end he was stealing main boy role like he had not been a jerk for the majority of the show. Suminomiya all the way!

I rate it So-so (5/10), I wanted to like it more, but it did not quite feel like it delivered, like on taking advantage of her personality outside of a few arcs. Times she did take initiative were good, like saying that picture was good, or how she wanted to meet the student requests, but actually moving it so how she was responsible for their growth and worth grateful feelings, felt flawed. Kiss Him, Not Me was clearly the better show this season in terms of reverse harems, in comedy, in general characters and their development, and in no singing. I would like to hear about the singing thing, Dance with Devils did it too, only that was entertaining because it was so gosh darn silly. Is it attractive to pop up in the show?

@phia_one
Yeah the prince competition actually was, especially with Juri running with arbitrary rules and the judging. Maybe underutilised character and scenes. To pic another series, it is kind of like what Kamigami no Asobi did fairly often.
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