They may have lost this battle but the war is not over yet
Summary of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei Episode 5
- In the previous episode Tatsuya was attacked, there was rumours spreading about him and he got his sister jealous several times. There is also unrest among the 2nd course students.
- Summary of Episode Five: Tatsuya and Sayaka have another talk and we learn she hasn’t given enough thought to her demands. Soon after he leaves, some students take over the broadcasting room and voice their demands over the loudspeakers. The student council convenes and after Tatsuya talks on the phone to Sayaka, manage to break into the room and restrain her accomplices. The president agrees to have an open debate concerning their demands and issues on the next day. This debate ends with her defeating her opponents, but gunmen belonging to Egalité suddenly attack the school. Members of the student council ward off some of the attacks and Tatsuya leaves to check on the status of the other school buildings.
My Impressions
- I’m starting to like Mizuki less and less. This episode starts with what seemed to me as her sucking up to Tatsuya. She goes on with a cute but ultimately embarrassing speech about having goals and not caring about grades and stuff. It didn’t help that the background music was also annoying me.
…why on Earth would you want to approach him anyway?
On the other hand I liked Tatsuya’s pragmatic approach to the whole issue of discrimination of 2nd course students: he doesn’t really care how others see him as long as he gets what he wants. Having to retry the magic practice two times to pass doesn’t even faze him.
And we also get a flashback of his past featuring a lady with a sinister smile.
- Sayaka felt as if she were controlled from behind the scenes. She said she had thought over what her group wanted from the school, but when Tatsuya asked what exactly do they want, she had no answers. Her situation reminded me of people yelling into loudspeakers in protests or rallies, screaming that this or that should step down from government. But if someone was to ask these people, “Okay, and what do you propose to do after that?”, they couldn’t come up with any definite steps. She’s just throwing around big words.
- It is nice to see a series build on cultural conventions or linguistic phenomena, and this episode had both. The first instance was Mizuki believing Tatsuya was only downplaying his abilities when he told others he sucked at practical magic skills, as per the custom for Japanese to downplay their achievements. No wonder she was surprised to find that Tatsuya actually sucked at practical skills. But the second instance was even better. It happened when he Tatsuya was on the phone with Sayaka, assuring her safety in case the broadcasting room was breached. Due to the ambiguity in Japanese, it is not clear to her that when he said sempai he meant her only. She thought he meant all the upperclassmen and accused him of going back on his words.
- This episode had nothing of the sweet sibling love we have witnessed in previous episodes, but it doesn’t mean Tatsuya is free from the jealousy of his sister. It was quite funny to see her eyebrows twitch when her brother got on the phone with another girl.
Having a girls phone number is a no-no, and you should’ve known it.
One can only imagine the amount of freezing or other punishment he was subjected to after school. Or the amount of doujinshi that’s going to use this scene as their starting point.
- I’m not sure why the leader of the kendo club is so intent on having Mizuki on board. Or maybe he was just waiting for an occasion when Tatsuya also popped up and engage with him in a conversation? He did say before to Sayaka that his shady organization has to have Tatsuya with them.
- The public debate was mostly a letdown. I mean that members of the so-called Sympathiser Alliance attacked the student council president, Mayumi, so vehemently at first, but after her inspiring speech the students burst out in applause and the attackers are stunned in silence? Come on, this is just not realistic. Anyone who has watched presidential debates on TV knows that people with opposite points of view don’t give up so easily.
I’ve won! I’ve won the argument! Well that was easy.
- The slightly pervy martial arts instructor makes a comeback and I was surprised to see he has the means to investigate the backgrounds of people – in this case the leader of the kendo club.
- Some people are really bad at letting go. Take for example Morisaki, who still bears some resentment towards Tatsuya.
Kind of expected him to snort in contempt at Tatsuya. Grow up, would you…
- This episode was a step up from the previous ones in my book, though not without some gripes. I’m curious to see how the attack on Magic High will turn out.
