Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

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Which story arc(s) are the best?

Enrollment Arc
0
No votes
Nine Schools Competition Arc
27
28%
Yokohama Disturbance Arc
35
36%
Reminiscence Chapter
9
9%
Visitor Arc
18
18%
Double Seven Chapter
7
7%
Steeplechase Chapter
2
2%
 
Total votes: 98

The_Great_Galendo
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

Okay, now that Volume 13 has been translated in its entirety, I'm going to reset the poll so that people can choose it as one of their favorites. But because I hate losing any information, I'm also going to record the current poll results here for posterity:
Spoiler! :
Out of 80 total votes, the results for each arc are as follows:
Enrollment Arc 3 votes (4% of total)
Nine Schools Competition Arc 34 votes (43% of total)
Yokohama Disturbance Arc 25 votes (31% of total)
Reminiscence Chapter 6 votes (8% of total)
Visitor Arc 5 votes (6% of total)
Double Seven Chapter 7 votes (9% of total)
With luck, I'll have the poll updated in a few minutes. I'll re-cast my own vote and add my thoughts on Volume 13 once I read it (probably in a week or so).
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by chowbish »

I say 9SC, I like all the tactics and OMG moments all the characters had with Tatsuya Shiba.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by TheRougeReader »

I will say the best arc for me would be "Nine School Competition" as that was the first time we were able to truly see just how awesome Tatsuya can be.
After that would be a tie between "Yokohama" and "Reminiscence". Well Yokohama for the obvious action and Reminiscence because it showed the past of Tatsuya and Miyuki that I had been dying to know at that time.
Then"Enrollment" , "Double Seven" and "Steeplechase" in order.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

Having now read volume 13, I can say that it's about on par with the Yokohama Disturbance arc, which puts it about 4 or 5 in my ranking of Mahouka arcs. That's the lower side of average, for those who don't feel like looking up my old rankings. Here are my thoughts on the volume itself:

4.5) Steeplechase Chapter

The good news is that the author's ability to write scenes is maintained here. Much like the Double Seven chapter, there are very few pointless, dull, or stupid scenes. The main problem is that the entire novel seems pointless. Each scene might have a point, but the entire novel doesn't. No meaningful new characters were introduced, no meaningful new character interactions developed. The world as a whole, as far a we the readers know, is pretty much exactly the same at the end of the book as it was at the beginning. (I guess if the Kudou still have the parasite dolls and continue their development, that's a slight difference from the end of the previous volume. But it's not much.) Honestly, the novel is marked much more by what it's missing than by what's in it -- the descriptions of the Nine Schools' Competition perhaps foremost among them. Having Honoka's entire event reduced down to two or three sentences -- and Miyuki's barely got that many paragraphs -- was a sharp and disappointing contrast to the previous 9SC. Even the new events, Shield Down and Row and Gunner, barely got any coverage. The book comes out feeling like it's missing about thirty thousand words, much to its detriment.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Sashiko »

The Great Galendo wrote:
No meaningful new characters were introduced
and
the entire novel seems pointless
As someone who has read volume 14, I do not agree with these statements. Volume 13 lays the foundation for volume 14. I know that it is not obvious now (because no translated chapters of volume 14 have been posted yet) but, volume 13 does further the general plot and introduces characters and developments that have importance.

Sashiko
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Riddam »

I thought it was fairly easy to see the novel set up for upcoming events, compromising the positions of Kudou and Saegusa as well as meaningfully involving Tatsuya and Miyuki in clan politics.
I was actually worried, seeing the 9SC come up so quickly after the last one. Firstly I thought Satou might have run out of stuff to write and the reason for having the 9SC happening so soon was to provide cheap thrills and to buy time. Second I was starting to get worried about the direction the story is going action-wise, seemed like it was too much.

Knowing that the volume and the 9SC will be supplemented by 1-2 side story volumes makes it all completely fine with me. In terms of development, it's actually one of the better volumes, and as such one of my favorite overall.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

Sashiko wrote:The Great Galendo wrote:
No meaningful new characters were introduced
and
the entire novel seems pointless
As someone who has read volume 14, I do not agree with these statements. Volume 13 lays the foundation for volume 14. I know that it is not obvious now (because no translated chapters of volume 14 have been posted yet) but, volume 13 does further the general plot and introduces characters and developments that have importance.

Sashiko
I'm glad to hear that. Part of the reason I thought Double Seven was good was because I felt it was setting up plots and conflicts for future arcs, even though the story itself was a bit lackluster. Part of the reason I disliked Steeplechase was because none of those plots were developed, making it feel unimportant in the larger picture. It's nice to know that there was a point to it all. I'm not sure the series really needs more plot threads or secondary characters, or has the time to do them justice, and the exceedingly spartan way that the Nine Schools' Competition was treated in this volume doesn't fill me with a bunch of hope, but I'll hold off on further judgement for now.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by icehism »

The_Great_Galendo wrote:
I'm glad to hear that. Part of the reason I thought Double Seven was good was because I felt it was setting up plots and conflicts for future arcs, even though the story itself was a bit lackluster. Part of the reason I disliked Steeplechase was because none of those plots were developed, making it feel unimportant in the larger picture. It's nice to know that there was a point to it all. I'm not sure the series really needs more plot threads or secondary characters, or has the time to do them justice, and the exceedingly spartan way that the Nine Schools' Competition was treated in this volume doesn't fill me with a bunch of hope, but I'll hold off on further judgement for now.
Satou will be writing a side story volume to detail what happened during this 9sc's events. Even he knows that the tactics and etc were very fun to read.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by chowbish »

icehism wrote:
Satou will be writing a side story volume to detail what happened during this 9sc's events. Even he knows that the tactics and etc were very fun to read.

Nice, would be nice to read that once it comes out :D.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by TheRougeReader »

icehism wrote: Satou will be writing a side story volume to detail what happened during this 9sc's events. Even he knows that the tactics and etc were very fun to read.
Can you provide the source please...?
"I don't desire anything more from him. I won't even ask him to accept my feelings. In the end... I guess, love is the only word I could use to describe it." Shiba Miyuki
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by icehism »

TheRougeReader wrote:
icehism wrote: Satou will be writing a side story volume to detail what happened during this 9sc's events. Even he knows that the tactics and etc were very fun to read.
Can you provide the source please...?

http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index ... _Afterword
The story this time is not about the Nine Schools Competition, but surrounds the Parasi-Doll conspiracy, and since the focal point is the Steeplechase Cross-Country as the stage, most of the activity of the participants in the other competitions have been left out. While you can catch a glimpse of the various episodes unfolding not just during the matches but also in-between the matches, it was impossible to incorporate their sub-episodes.


And thus, I will be writing the sub-episodes occurring concurrently along with this 「Steeplechase chapter」 in the form of short stories. While it's not yet confirmed how many sub-episodes there will be and what form they will take, you should be able to find out more through the official twitter in the near future.
http://onehallyu.com/index.php?/topic/1 ... anslation/

-The publication of 'DOWL Masters' has just started a few days ago, from now on have you decided what kind of schedule will you follow for the publication of 'The Irregular at magic High School' and 'DOWL Masters'?

Tsutomu-sensei:It hasn't been decided clearly yet,but i think both series are going to be published in turns alternatively.When the 'Irregular at Magic High School' short stories become available ,'The Irregular at Magic High School' will continue.Judging from the present possibilities,i think that both the series will end about the same time,maybe,'DOWL Masters' will be completed a little earlier.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by TheRougeReader »

Oh thanks.. never read the Afterwords. Maybe I should start reading them :D
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

icehism wrote:Satou will be writing a side story volume to detail what happened during this 9sc's events. Even he knows that the tactics and etc were very fun to read.
Yeah, but the problem is that I don't particularly want a short story volume detailing the events that should have been included in the actual volume. For one, all the suspense is gone. Sure, some of the events never really had any suspense to them in the first place (Miyuki, for instance, was never going to lose Icicle Break), but a number of other ones could have gone either way. Honoka didn't have to come out on top in Mirage Bat. Mikihiko didn't have to win in Monolith Code. But now that we know they will, there isn't much room for wondering.

Another problem is that the side story volume format in general doesn't particularly appeal to me (or, I suspect, to most people). There's a reason why almost every television show will have multiple plot threads running at once -- dramatic tension, change of pace, shifting character focus, time filler, etc. -- rather than follow a single plot throughout, and that's because, nine times out of ten, the story works better that way. A book of competition event after competition event would get pretty old pretty quickly, I suspect. I know I didn't put it in the poll, but note how literally no one in this thread so far (or on these forums, as far as I know) has written in to say that they found the previous short story volume to be among their favorite volumes.

I'm not saying the stories shouldn't be written. They should have been, and they should have been included in the novel, even if it means spreading out the 9SC into two volumes like the previous one. Adding them after the fact...it might help a little, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Mahesvara »

The_Great_Galendo wrote:Another problem is that the side story volume format in general doesn't particularly appeal to me (or, I suspect, to most people).
Speak for yourself. I liked how the volume focused on the politics and schemes. I think that adding in the events would only have derailed and distracted from what was going on in this narrative. Unlike Volumes 3 and 4 that were about the 9SC and Tatsuya's experience in it, this volume is about a conspiracy centered around a single event. Besides, if you want sequential order so badly then read the side chapters when they are mentioned in Volume 13. There, problem solved.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Minru »

9SC for me, with Yokohama as second. liked almost all of 9SC but only last couple of chapters for Yokohama rocked as far as I am concerned.
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