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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Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

Now that the translation for Volume 12 is finished, I suspect that this forum is about to resemble a ghost town until Volume 13 is released, which doesn't appear to be happening any time soon. That being the case, now seems like the perfect time to ask a question that's been on my mind for a while, namely, which arc(s) of Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei do people think is the best.

I've come to the tentative conclusion that two of the arcs are pretty good and the others...less so. However, from some of what I've read I suspect others might have a differing opinion, and I want to confirm or deny it. I'm kind of curious: which arc(s) do you think are the best? For reference, here are the arcs so far:
1) Enrollment Arc
2) Nine Schools Competition Arc
3) Yokohama Disturbance Arc
4) Reminiscence Chapter
5) Visitor Arc
6) Double Seven Chapter

I've left off the Summer Holiday Chapter because the translation's still incomplete and the book itself is rather disjoint in its content, i.e., it doesn't follow a single story. But if it's among your favorites, feel free to chime in and let me know. In fact, feel free to chime in with the reasons why any particular arc is your favorite. I've included a poll for quick summary purposes, but I'm more interested in the reasons why people like (or dislike, for that matter) a particular arc rather than just that they do.

I understand that 'best' and 'favorite' aren't always the same; maybe you recognize that one arc is really well-written, but for some reason it just didn't click for you. If you're not sure whether or not to vote for a particular arc, ask yourself if you would recommend it to a friend who was interested in fantasy, assuming the arc stood on its own. The poll is multiple-selection, so you can vote for as many of the arcs as you deem fit. I'll add my selections in a day or two, once I finish Volume 12.
Last edited by The_Great_Galendo on Sun Oct 05, 2014 5:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Mahesvara »

I love all of the arcs, but my favorite is easily the Yakahoma Distrubance Arc. I can't tell you how many times I've read the scene where Major Kazuto takes Tatsuya away or when Tatuya heals Isori and Kirihara. The pacing, action, and story all seemed to join so well. Besides who can forget that ending! Tatsuya tapping into his divine powers is one of the most memorable moments of the serries. This arc is also a turning point as now many events revolve around it's climatic end. Lina and the Stars wouldn't have showed up if not for the events at Yokohoma. In the last arc, Double Seven, we saw how this event affects domestic politics and beliefs of magicans. Yokohoma to me is like an apex for witch this serries will expand around for some time to come.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by popocatepetl »

I like the 9 School Competition arc because it is the first time Tatsuya's awesomeness is directly revealed for me.

I also like the action-packed Yokohama arc because of its intensity, though it starts slow.

Finally, I like the Visitor arc because it has some interesting character developments and the deepening of relationships (such as Lina-Tatsuya, Erika-Tatsuya, Miyuki-Tatsuya), especially the part where Miyuki asks
"Onii-sama......why did you feel you had to help Lina? Is it because......you have special feelings concerning her?"
There are various things like meddling in Tatsuya's things and revealing that she has an issue with him reaching out to Lina (in what way? I don't know) among other things.
If only the finest birds in the forest dared sing, how quiet the forest would be.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

Thanks to all those who've responded; I enjoy seeing what people think. I'm a bit later replying than I thought I'd be, but I had to review the earlier part of the Nine Schools Arc to make sure my memory wasn't playing too many tricks on me. Anyway, here's my rankings for all the arcs, from best to worst, with a few notes on why I liked/disliked that particular arc attached:

1) Nine Schools Competition Arc
2) Double Seven Chapter

I think these are the best, and it's pretty close between them. The Double Seven Chapter loses points for not really being a complete story. It's setting up conflicts for future novels, but it's not really telling its own story. On the other hand, it gets most of those points back again for providing exactly what the series needed at this point in time: conflicts that can't just be solved by repeated applications of Mist Dispersal (actually, IMHO, this is exactly what the series needs at every point in time, and part of what makes the Nine Schools Competition so great, but I digress). The Double Seven Chapter also has probably the best pacing of any arc; there are very few boring/pointless/stupid scenes, Tatsuya breaking into what's-her-name's room being the notable exception, while by comparison the Nine Schools Arc tends to drag at several places outside the competition itself. The Nine Schools Arc still comes out on top, though, by a small amount.

3) Enrollment Chapter
4) Yokohama Incident Arc

These are the average Mahouka arcs, and again, they're pretty close. The Yokohama Incident Arc loses out though, by virtue of the fact that it takes soooo long to get going. Basically everything leading up to the Thesis Competition is pretty dull, and the competition itself only gets good when the bombs start falling. Most of the stuff leading up to it (primarily regarding the magic pot that Tatsuya got hold of, and everything to do with sabotage-chick) is incredibly dull and often stupid, although the Mari/Mayumi/Tatsuya fight scene against the White Tiger guy is pretty good. Even once the arc starts getting going, though, it spends way too much time on newly introduced characters that frankly I have no reason to care about (if I could remember their names, I'd give examples, but the fact that I still don't know their names several books later speaks volumes about their importance).

5) Reminiscence Chapter

This one is more disappointing than bad, actually, but the sheer number of coincidences (see, e.g., the brawl between Tatsuya and one of the 101 members and the submarine attack on the sailing ship) and the swift and sudden 180 that was Miyuki's behavior towards Tatsuya make the novel read more like a cheap romance novel than anything else. This story had the potential to be much better, but failed to realize that potential. I think the series as a whole would have been better if this book had just never been written, instead leaving the details up to the readers' imaginations.

6) Visitor Arc

A complete summary of everything that's wrong with this arc would take about twice as much space as what I've already used, so I'll just content myself with saying that the entire premise is ludicrous: Lina's position as Stars' leader is absurd; the supposed reasons for sending her to Japan are asinine; her behavior once there swings between idiotic and sociopathic; and finally, space alien monsters from another dimension are an absolutely terrible choice of villain. I like this arc even less than I do the Reminiscence Chapter, and I think the series would have been better if that one hadn't been written, so that should give some idea of just how terrible I think this one is. I almost quit reading the series thanks to this arc, though in retrospect I'm glad I gave it one more book.

Now, here's to hoping that the upcoming Nine Schools Arc will be as good as the first one was.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Ulrick »

Here for me.

1) Nine Schools Competition
2) Double Seven
3) Yokohama Incident
4) Reminiscence
5) Enrollment
5) Visitor Arc
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by pampz21 »

For me the favorite arc is Nine School Competition:
Because of a certain maido, certain words and crossed paths.

Best arc would be Visitor chapter:
Bcuz she realize here own emotion that had been developing that cant be control anymore!

Arcs that I like was the enrollment and Yokohama:
I like those Enrollment arc because its there fateful encounter, a friend that will always be by your side; and what I like about Yokohama was a certain call that made your friends doesnt want to be near you anymore#!

Meh arcs would be Reminiscence and Double Seven
A certain girl's less screen time; and due to it being mostly flash back
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Rava »

I'm going to say that I like Double 7 the most out of the existing arcs, so far.

It's the first arc where Mayumi, Katsuto and Mari aren't forced into the limelight, so to speak, and Tatsuya and Miyuki can be focused on more, but it's not as overbearing as the Reminiscence volume where it's JUST Tatsuya and Miyuki with Tatsuya letting loose as much as possible.

At the same time, it's also because it's the latest arc that it can do this, because it doesn't have to introduce all the older characters that we're already familiar with.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by nr42 »

Enrollment : pretty good, although most of the "magic :wink: " of not knowing what Tatsuya can do is gone upon reread after reading the other arcs

Nine Schools : definitely the best arc, contains action, an array of different characters doing (unique) magic, some Tatsuya x Miyuki and of course Tatsuya kicking some serious ass

Summer Holiday : decent intermediary, not that interesting in and of itself but gets annoying issues out of the way (2nd course students allowed in student council, Azusa becomes prez, Honoka confesses (although he could have wrapped that up a bit better),...)

Yokohama Disturbance : very slow start, some good ass kicking, went a little bit to easy though: no casualties despite being attacked by professional soldiers in a tunnel,etc. The enemy soldiers in general appeared to be quit weak.

Reminiscence : I found the realism of battle (good guys dying, enemies actually being able to fight) better than that of the Yokohama Disturbance. The ease with which they got close to Kazama and the soldiers(and gained access to military equipment) was a bit of a stretch though.

Visitor : assigning a combat magician to a spying mission, assigning your high commander to a spying mission, assigning an untrained child to a spying mission, assigning someone whose identity is supposed to remain a secret to a covert mission, making a child your high commander, ... :( :x :evil: apart from that the story was interesting.

Double Seven : not much real action, some interesting new characters though and a nice teaser at the end
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Zuruumi »

I have to agree with our grading, though about the gaining acces to the military grade equipment, don´t forget they were with the head of Yotsuba, one of the two most influential families. In a way they have much more power than ministers etc. And also, Kazama is the kind of man who doesen´t really care much for military regulations. The pistols were I think somethink like his own project and after that when Tatsuya went to fight he needed anyone who could fight (also he has seen Tatsuya´s power and was regretting what happend to the other two) so it wasn´t so much of a stretch.
Last edited by Zuruumi on Mon May 19, 2014 3:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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nr42
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by nr42 »

I reread the part and I agree. He showed enough skill to warrant their thrust. Although I doubt Kazama knew he was a Yotsuba.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by SkyZenith »

Now that we have another arc coming up are we going to reset the poll?
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by The_Great_Galendo »

SkyZenith wrote:Now that we have another arc coming up are we going to reset the poll?
While I'm not opposed to updating or resetting the poll to reflect the new arc, I think it's a bit too early to do that yet. None of the current arc has been translated into English yet, and even in Japanese the arc (I suspect) is not yet finished. So it's pretty much impossible to compare its quality against the other arcs in a meaningful fashion, at least at the present moment in time.
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Tor »

Huge fan of the Nine Schools and Yokohama Incident volumes, whilst the Enrolment arc was a great introduction to the series.

I've never been a huge fan of flashbacks, so relatively biased against the Reminiscence volume.

Found the Visitor Arc pretty disappointing to be honest - although I'm not really sure why. 007 arc was good though.

So my order:

1) Nine Schools Competition
2) Yokohama Incident
3) Enrolment
4) 007
5) Reminiscence
6) Visitor
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Viole1369 »

Nine school at top
Yokohoma close second

Now for what I liked in others
Remi - Sakurai, She alone made reading pleasurable. Lovable character and I was quite sad at her ending :cry: + the bonus chap was neat and we got to see adorable twins so win win.
Visitor - Dragged out- I love long ass stuff :mrgreen: ,Lina was nice addition and probably 2nd closest girl to tats after mayumi >_>. The plot story was nice and we had more involvement of 10 clans then ever before.
Enrollement - Good introduction, Though they should have intro miki aswell and little less on action :3
007- Nice setup for 2nd year
FINALLY gave me few chars to hate, Shippou and Koichi( All saegusa except sisters can die) >_>
and the Duel at end, God that was fabulous.
Summer holidays
I skipped morisaki, because bleh
Liked beach and SC elections one
Miyuki one was meh
and Ichijou one was hella good addition. His sisters rock xD

Though Im probably the only one who thinks this, We need little more hattori exposure :3
I mean guy hasnt been shamisen to tats since beatdown and occasionly helps him + is dutiful person
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Re: Favorite Mahouka story arc(s)

Post by Zuruumi »

Well at least as far as Lina go, I think we will se her soon again. I am looking forward to that a bit.
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