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魔法科高校の劣等生 [Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei] (Novel) #5
The Irregular at Magic High School, Vol. 5: Summer Vacation Arc +1
After being thrown head first into the Monolith Code matches, Tatsuya cleverly perseveres while Miyuki concludes an immaculately beautiful Mirage Bat performance. The Shiba siblings have brought First High to the brink of all out victory in the Nine School Competition but then the criminal organization, No Head Dragon, ramps up their disruptions and provokes the wrath of Tatsuya. After putting his beloved sister in harm's way, Tatsuya explodes with the rage and power of an angry demon god.
280 pages, Paperback
First published April 10, 2012
About the author
Tsutomu Sato
152 books150 followers佐島勤 / Tsutomu Sato / Tsutomu Satou
Author of 魔法科高校の劣等生 / Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
Author of 魔法科高校の劣等生 / Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
July 4, 2023
I like the collection of stories between the Nine Schools Competition and the start of the year after the holidays. It ties it all nicely.
October 8, 2026
The author's blatant favouritism towards the female cast has reached a new level of simping. It was already established that girls dominate the student council, with Mari heading the disciplinary committee and eyeing Kanon as her successor. In Volume 4, the boys' overall performance during the Nine School Competition single-handedly sandbagged First High's points total and the rookie Monolith Code, apparently the main event of the day, was overshadowed by Mirage Bat. But Volume 5 ups the ante by making a fool of virtually every male character besides Tatsuya whenever they get a chance to shine, whether intentionally or not.
An example of this being intentional can be seen with Hagane, who, despite protecting Eimi, ends up grovelling before her simply for deducing the mechanics behind her family's secret technique. While Hagane is engaging the aggressors, Eimi's decision to use Magic Bullet Tathlum instead of another attack just to show off, along with her unnecessary announcement of the technique's name afterwards is ignored. His impressive analysis becomes an excuse to humiliate and browbeat a male character for comedic effect. Hagane is then left to clean up the mess, as though responsibility rests entirely on his shoulders as an employee rather than with the incompetent dragging others into her family's internal conflict.
A case where this is unintentional can be seen with Morisaki. He risks his life protecting a young woman known as 'Rin' as she attempts to rendezvous with an acquaintance, refusing to press for answers even as the situation becomes increasingly dangerous. As if this juvenile white-knight fantasy is not bad enough, she is revealed to be Sun Meiling, the adopted daughter of No-Head Dragon's assassinated leader. Put the clown makeup on, Morisaki, because you successfully aided the heir of an international crime syndicate simply because she was cute. Unfortunately, women get away with murder—literally—even when they are not attractive, so the realism is hard to dispute. However, her command forbidding the surviving remnants from seeking revenge against the Japanese government due to the 'chivalry' shown to her by a schoolboy completely undermines the seriousness of the political worldbuilding. The author must have realised that following through with the logical consequences of Morisaki's negligence would have butchered his future plans.
Another example of similar mistreatment lies in the explanation for Japanese society's return to premarital chastity. Rather than drawing on the worldbuilding revolving around the need to preserve strong magical bloodlines, existence of hereditary abilities and strategic value and scarcity of trained magicians as national assets, the author attributes this traditionalist resurgence to late 21st-century women finding it fashionable to lead men on and blue-ball them before gossiping about it together. Although the narration presents this as a general social trend, it is illustrated through lunchtime chitchat among a small group of privileged girls in the student council, leaving it unclear how representative it is of wider society. It wastes an opportunity to explore whether this trend holds up in non-magical society and, if so, why, given the lack of a magical rationale. Meanwhile, Tatsuya sits through their babble like a sexless robot, which he practically is, to finish the sorry punchline.
Most of the short stories themselves also feel rushed, with underdeveloped subplots and unsatisfying conclusions. In the opening story, although Honoka's crush was already obvious, the lack of meaningful progression or interaction between the two leaves little reason to be emotionally invested in her confession. Tatsuya inevitably rejects her with an explanation that is surprisingly truthful, yet would seem like absolute nonsense to anyone unfamiliar with his past. Honoka even acknowledges how strange it sounds but suppresses any doubt or curiosity despite the startling revelation that the man she supposedly loves is mentally handicapped, if only emotionally. The author, once again, refuses to engage sincerely with the consequences of the situations he creates. Instead of allowing the heartbreak to produce any lasting disappointment, jealousy or tension, he immediately defuses any potential drama so the story can return to its familiar status quo: Honoka as a fawning puppy and token rival to Miyuki, perpetually reduced to a comic device for provoking Miyuki's jealous-little-sister antics until she 'falls in love with someone else'. How demeaning.
The story focusing on Masaki and George is far more tolerable by comparison, even though the latter's backstory is lazily generic. His parents were killed in an invasion before he was rescued and supported by the Ichijou family, which certainly provides a logical explanation for his loyalty and gratitude but does the bare minimum required to justify that relationship. It is harmless, safe and therefore boring, bringing nothing new to the table, which seems to be the author's MO. The accompanying lolicon misunderstanding further substantiates this accusation. Akane is the one pursuing George—albeit in a very G-rated manner—and he never reciprocates her advances, yet Masaki entertains the insinuation despite the mutual trust they share. Not only is the gag an extremely safe attempt at edginess, but the 'misunderstanding' also cheapens the bond this chapter is meant to highlight, all to make another male character the butt of a joke.
The chapter 'Memories of the Summer' offers very little and essentially serves as yet another reminder that Miyuki is impossibly beautiful and Tatsuya is an unstoppable badass. These characteristics have been made abundantly clear in the preceding volumes and their continued emphasis is starting to grate, especially when situations are contrived merely to showcase them rather than arising incidentally.
The final chapter, centred on the student council election, is the longest and most consequential of the short stories, serving as a bridge to the next volume and, ironically, proving the most disappointing. The author begins by exaggerating Azusa's insecurity, despite ranking second in her year, to manufacture an obstacle surrounding an otherwise straightforward succession—even if her temperament hardly suits leadership. Tatsuya then resolves the matter by bribing Azusa with a pre-release flight device, exposing how contrived the setup is: this artificial dilemma exists merely to confirm her suspicions that he is Taurus Silver.
Then there is Mayumi's proposal to abolish the restriction preventing Course 2 students from attaining student council positions. The opposition faction is an utterly shallow plotline despite the narrator's claim that its members had begun organising behind closed doors before summer vacation, with no insight into their hierarchy, motivations, representatives or ideology. The only named member is Asano, whose increasingly desperate aspersions pose no substantial challenge to repealing a long-standing rule, enabling Mayumi to appear composed, intelligent and righteous—the winner by default.
What makes this worse is that Mayumi's argument is effectively 'elitism bad' without any effort made to justify it. Much like the way left-leaning liberals tend to present their moral positions, this egalitarian policy is treated as an absolute principle that is self-evident, with nobody daring to question the underlying premise. It feels like the author is inserting himself and subtly distorting her character, since she is generally kind and not overtly discriminatory. But her condemnation of elitism within the school inadvertently becomes a critique of wider magical society, which explicitly values differences in magical ability and uses those differences to shape its educational institutions and social hierarchy. Mayumi herself belongs to one of the Ten Master Clans and directly benefits from that system. Beyond this, she acknowledged in Volume 4 that Course 1 and 2 students are not equals:
Even if one successfully argued that repealing the restriction in favour of a purely merit-based system is a better way to ensure the student council represents the cream of the crop, there is no practical need for this reform. Course 1 placement already serves as a merit-based filter, as demonstrated by the first-year examination results in Volume 3, where Course 1 students occupied all twenty positions in both the practical-only and overall rankings, with only four Course 2 students identified among the top twenty in the theory-only rankings. So while course placement is primarily determined by practical proficiency, the narrative indicates that this generally corresponds with stronger theoretical understanding. Thus, the only real beneficiaries of this reform are outliers like Tatsuya, a product of Yotsuba human experimentation, and Mikihiko, a prodigy on track for Course 1 before a sudden but temporary decline in his magical abilities. A more sensible approach would be to make it easier for exceptional Course 2 students to transfer into Course 1 rather than pushing what amounts to superficial moral posturing in a world incompatible with such virtue-signalling. The Course 1/2 divide provides a clear, standardised distinction separating the wheat from the chaff and motivates those at the top not to rest on their laurels; after all, a place among the school's elite should remain a highly exclusive privilege.
An example of this being intentional can be seen with Hagane, who, despite protecting Eimi, ends up grovelling before her simply for deducing the mechanics behind her family's secret technique. While Hagane is engaging the aggressors, Eimi's decision to use Magic Bullet Tathlum instead of another attack just to show off, along with her unnecessary announcement of the technique's name afterwards is ignored. His impressive analysis becomes an excuse to humiliate and browbeat a male character for comedic effect. Hagane is then left to clean up the mess, as though responsibility rests entirely on his shoulders as an employee rather than with the incompetent dragging others into her family's internal conflict.
A case where this is unintentional can be seen with Morisaki. He risks his life protecting a young woman known as 'Rin' as she attempts to rendezvous with an acquaintance, refusing to press for answers even as the situation becomes increasingly dangerous. As if this juvenile white-knight fantasy is not bad enough, she is revealed to be Sun Meiling, the adopted daughter of No-Head Dragon's assassinated leader. Put the clown makeup on, Morisaki, because you successfully aided the heir of an international crime syndicate simply because she was cute. Unfortunately, women get away with murder—literally—even when they are not attractive, so the realism is hard to dispute. However, her command forbidding the surviving remnants from seeking revenge against the Japanese government due to the 'chivalry' shown to her by a schoolboy completely undermines the seriousness of the political worldbuilding. The author must have realised that following through with the logical consequences of Morisaki's negligence would have butchered his future plans.
Another example of similar mistreatment lies in the explanation for Japanese society's return to premarital chastity. Rather than drawing on the worldbuilding revolving around the need to preserve strong magical bloodlines, existence of hereditary abilities and strategic value and scarcity of trained magicians as national assets, the author attributes this traditionalist resurgence to late 21st-century women finding it fashionable to lead men on and blue-ball them before gossiping about it together. Although the narration presents this as a general social trend, it is illustrated through lunchtime chitchat among a small group of privileged girls in the student council, leaving it unclear how representative it is of wider society. It wastes an opportunity to explore whether this trend holds up in non-magical society and, if so, why, given the lack of a magical rationale. Meanwhile, Tatsuya sits through their babble like a sexless robot, which he practically is, to finish the sorry punchline.
Most of the short stories themselves also feel rushed, with underdeveloped subplots and unsatisfying conclusions. In the opening story, although Honoka's crush was already obvious, the lack of meaningful progression or interaction between the two leaves little reason to be emotionally invested in her confession. Tatsuya inevitably rejects her with an explanation that is surprisingly truthful, yet would seem like absolute nonsense to anyone unfamiliar with his past. Honoka even acknowledges how strange it sounds but suppresses any doubt or curiosity despite the startling revelation that the man she supposedly loves is mentally handicapped, if only emotionally. The author, once again, refuses to engage sincerely with the consequences of the situations he creates. Instead of allowing the heartbreak to produce any lasting disappointment, jealousy or tension, he immediately defuses any potential drama so the story can return to its familiar status quo: Honoka as a fawning puppy and token rival to Miyuki, perpetually reduced to a comic device for provoking Miyuki's jealous-little-sister antics until she 'falls in love with someone else'. How demeaning.
The story focusing on Masaki and George is far more tolerable by comparison, even though the latter's backstory is lazily generic. His parents were killed in an invasion before he was rescued and supported by the Ichijou family, which certainly provides a logical explanation for his loyalty and gratitude but does the bare minimum required to justify that relationship. It is harmless, safe and therefore boring, bringing nothing new to the table, which seems to be the author's MO. The accompanying lolicon misunderstanding further substantiates this accusation. Akane is the one pursuing George—albeit in a very G-rated manner—and he never reciprocates her advances, yet Masaki entertains the insinuation despite the mutual trust they share. Not only is the gag an extremely safe attempt at edginess, but the 'misunderstanding' also cheapens the bond this chapter is meant to highlight, all to make another male character the butt of a joke.
The chapter 'Memories of the Summer' offers very little and essentially serves as yet another reminder that Miyuki is impossibly beautiful and Tatsuya is an unstoppable badass. These characteristics have been made abundantly clear in the preceding volumes and their continued emphasis is starting to grate, especially when situations are contrived merely to showcase them rather than arising incidentally.
The final chapter, centred on the student council election, is the longest and most consequential of the short stories, serving as a bridge to the next volume and, ironically, proving the most disappointing. The author begins by exaggerating Azusa's insecurity, despite ranking second in her year, to manufacture an obstacle surrounding an otherwise straightforward succession—even if her temperament hardly suits leadership. Tatsuya then resolves the matter by bribing Azusa with a pre-release flight device, exposing how contrived the setup is: this artificial dilemma exists merely to confirm her suspicions that he is Taurus Silver.
Then there is Mayumi's proposal to abolish the restriction preventing Course 2 students from attaining student council positions. The opposition faction is an utterly shallow plotline despite the narrator's claim that its members had begun organising behind closed doors before summer vacation, with no insight into their hierarchy, motivations, representatives or ideology. The only named member is Asano, whose increasingly desperate aspersions pose no substantial challenge to repealing a long-standing rule, enabling Mayumi to appear composed, intelligent and righteous—the winner by default.
What makes this worse is that Mayumi's argument is effectively 'elitism bad' without any effort made to justify it. Much like the way left-leaning liberals tend to present their moral positions, this egalitarian policy is treated as an absolute principle that is self-evident, with nobody daring to question the underlying premise. It feels like the author is inserting himself and subtly distorting her character, since she is generally kind and not overtly discriminatory. But her condemnation of elitism within the school inadvertently becomes a critique of wider magical society, which explicitly values differences in magical ability and uses those differences to shape its educational institutions and social hierarchy. Mayumi herself belongs to one of the Ten Master Clans and directly benefits from that system. Beyond this, she acknowledged in Volume 4 that Course 1 and 2 students are not equals:
"It’s a fact that Course 2 students lag behind Course 1 students in magical ability... Test grades by themselves may not fully determine someone’s worth, but they are still a part of it."
Even if one successfully argued that repealing the restriction in favour of a purely merit-based system is a better way to ensure the student council represents the cream of the crop, there is no practical need for this reform. Course 1 placement already serves as a merit-based filter, as demonstrated by the first-year examination results in Volume 3, where Course 1 students occupied all twenty positions in both the practical-only and overall rankings, with only four Course 2 students identified among the top twenty in the theory-only rankings. So while course placement is primarily determined by practical proficiency, the narrative indicates that this generally corresponds with stronger theoretical understanding. Thus, the only real beneficiaries of this reform are outliers like Tatsuya, a product of Yotsuba human experimentation, and Mikihiko, a prodigy on track for Course 1 before a sudden but temporary decline in his magical abilities. A more sensible approach would be to make it easier for exceptional Course 2 students to transfer into Course 1 rather than pushing what amounts to superficial moral posturing in a world incompatible with such virtue-signalling. The Course 1/2 divide provides a clear, standardised distinction separating the wheat from the chaff and motivates those at the top not to rest on their laurels; after all, a place among the school's elite should remain a highly exclusive privilege.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2016
A much more lighthearted and fluffy part of the series, one which I enjoyed immensely. Both for the mental break from heavy plot and the amusement found in reading these short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and found myself laughing aloud many times throughout- Tatsuya you are a complicated one and it amuses me endlessly.
December 10, 2019
Interesting one. This is actually an anthology of short stories set over the summer holidays. The most interesting aspect is that they cover time which isn't in the anime, including the election of Nakajo as student president and so Miyuki as the VP. It also gives us a semi-resolution to the 'Honoka loves Tatsuya' plotline which kind of drifts about in the anime, never getting anywhere.
So, three stars rather than more or less? Well, when it comes right down to it, I only really enjoyed the last story, which covers the start of the autumn term and the election. Asuza Nakajo, resident loli and terribly timid student council secretary, is destined to be president but doesn't want to be. Until Tatsuya says he can persuade her and promptly bribes her into doing it. I really wish they'd put that into the anime since even the illustrations done for the book make the scene stand out as a light moment. The first story would have been a filler episode at the beach, except that it's a canon part of the story and so not filler. It features swimwear, Tatsuya being a plank, and Honoka revealing her feelings for him.
The remaining stories are basically about secondary characters (aside from one fluff piece about the Shiba siblings). Morisaki gets his own story which actually introduces what could be a quite important character. In the anime, Morisaki comes across as a total asshole. In the books so far, he's come across as a total asshole, but worse. In this story, he's gallant and something of a hero, yet he still manages to be an asshole inside his head. It didn't really improve my opinion of him. There's also a story about Amy/Eimi, the ruby-haired girl from Course 1 who is mostly known as one of the characters from the Nine Schools Competition Arc. And it really is basically filler. Not bad, but easily forgotten. I feel like there's another story I've missed, but if there is, I've forgotten it in a couple of days.
So, this is a book to read to fill in some gaps (it all happens between the Nine Schools and Yokohama arcs of the anime and books), and to be complete. It's not bad. It's not great. Except for the Nakajo scene. That's great.
So, three stars rather than more or less? Well, when it comes right down to it, I only really enjoyed the last story, which covers the start of the autumn term and the election. Asuza Nakajo, resident loli and terribly timid student council secretary, is destined to be president but doesn't want to be. Until Tatsuya says he can persuade her and promptly bribes her into doing it. I really wish they'd put that into the anime since even the illustrations done for the book make the scene stand out as a light moment. The first story would have been a filler episode at the beach, except that it's a canon part of the story and so not filler. It features swimwear, Tatsuya being a plank, and Honoka revealing her feelings for him.
The remaining stories are basically about secondary characters (aside from one fluff piece about the Shiba siblings). Morisaki gets his own story which actually introduces what could be a quite important character. In the anime, Morisaki comes across as a total asshole. In the books so far, he's come across as a total asshole, but worse. In this story, he's gallant and something of a hero, yet he still manages to be an asshole inside his head. It didn't really improve my opinion of him. There's also a story about Amy/Eimi, the ruby-haired girl from Course 1 who is mostly known as one of the characters from the Nine Schools Competition Arc. And it really is basically filler. Not bad, but easily forgotten. I feel like there's another story I've missed, but if there is, I've forgotten it in a couple of days.
So, this is a book to read to fill in some gaps (it all happens between the Nine Schools and Yokohama arcs of the anime and books), and to be complete. It's not bad. It's not great. Except for the Nakajo scene. That's great.
January 22, 2018
I want to preface this review by saying I absolutely love the way Sato-sensei writes his narration. I cannot being to tell you with words how enjoyable it is to read for me. That being said this is probably my least favorite of the volumes so far; I'm not sure it it's just how he approaches short stories or what but I just didn't feel the same sort of feeling of being enamored that I have with previous volumes. regardless it's still a very solid entry
4.2
4.2
December 26, 2019
I loved this short stories collection. The diversity of its stories brings life to the other important characters in this series. Getting to know the other characters certainly brings dimension to the story. Revealing Katsuto's spontaneity, versus Tatsuya-sama's intent, showing the adoration of Cardinal George and the depth of Mayumi's personality being an heir of the Saegusa. Beautiful. I will definitely read this again!
December 25, 2020
This was a different experience from the other volumes but it was a fun read. The short stories in general were interesting and added little insights and more depth into some of the side characters like Morisaki. However my main gripe with this volume is that I hated a single short. That being the Amelia In Wonderland story. It's hard for me to explain but the whole premise seemed extremely forced. However that didn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the volume.
April 10, 2024
a collection of short stories, with some being vastly better than others, this was an overall enjoyable volume, if a bit tedious to read at times. My Favourite parts include Honoka and Tatsuya in "Summer Vacation", Tatsuya and Miyuki in "Memories of Summer", and the entirety of the student council election, which I had expected to be boring, given its anime adaptation.
September 12, 2017
This author - if he's not spouting weird educational theory or terrible technobabble, he's judging how girls "should" act and phrasing it as "how they are in the future."
Full, less judgemental review eventually appearing on ANN.
Full, less judgemental review eventually appearing on ANN.
May 1, 2020
Phát cuồng từ anime Mahouka Koukou no Retsu..., đặc biệt là fan 2 anh em nhà Shiba. Nên bất chấp cho full 5*. Truyện cũng giải thích được nhiều phần anime không thể làm hết.
Là tác phẩm đáng đọc đối với fan light novel thể loại phép thuật công nghệ.
Là tác phẩm đáng đọc đối với fan light novel thể loại phép thuật công nghệ.
April 28, 2021
Several short stories, some about Tatsuya, some about others. I liked all of them, but only the last shows us a bit of things to come. A good filler, entertaining to read, but I prefer longer stories ;)
June 24, 2017
A really good read although I thought it was too lengty.
September 6, 2018
Nice to read some scenes I never got to experience in the anime.
August 28, 2020
This was really a refreshing story.
November 12, 2020
Nice read, stories and characters.
Several stories that introduce and developed some characters that had an appearance in previous volumes. The author looks deeper in the characters and their relations, bringing to this series a solid cast of characters with great personalities. Some changes in the story that for sure will be reflected in future volumes. A solid book, easy to read and really enjoyable.
Several stories that introduce and developed some characters that had an appearance in previous volumes. The author looks deeper in the characters and their relations, bringing to this series a solid cast of characters with great personalities. Some changes in the story that for sure will be reflected in future volumes. A solid book, easy to read and really enjoyable.
November 22, 2020
Idea
Many ideas on this LN. A lot of short stories too.
It is a very good option to deepen the story of the main characters and also side ones without diverging from the main story line.
Execution Macro
I would say that on a macro-level it was kind of hindered/restrained it is not so fluid as others.
Execution Micro
The explanation for being hindered/restrained is that there a lot of details and new information about the characters and also scenery explanations.
All-in-All
It was ok. It took me some time to read (compared to other LN) due to not being fluid.
Many ideas on this LN. A lot of short stories too.
It is a very good option to deepen the story of the main characters and also side ones without diverging from the main story line.
Execution Macro
I would say that on a macro-level it was kind of hindered/restrained it is not so fluid as others.
Execution Micro
The explanation for being hindered/restrained is that there a lot of details and new information about the characters and also scenery explanations.
All-in-All
It was ok. It took me some time to read (compared to other LN) due to not being fluid.
January 30, 2015
This one seemed to be one of those books that was filled with side stories that may or may not have anything to do with the main plot. They might come up or they might not. Mostly I think to give the reader a chance to see the characters in a different setting.
March 19, 2014
Fun summer. =D
January 30, 2015
Some stories pretty interesting, some not so much. Glad to see there's development and background on supporting characters.
January 7, 2016
I really enjoyed this relaxed book between all the fights :)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews