English Dub Review: The Honor at Magic High School Episodes 7 & 8
Overview
“Arithmetic Chain”
The Nine Schools Competition begins, and Shizuku goes head-to-head with Shiori in the Speed Shooting tournament. Shiori utilizes the “Arithmetic Chain” magic sequence which allows her to perform mathematical calculations faster than a supercomputer…
“Hell of Ice and Flames”
The trials of the new ones continue, and Isshiki Airi is distinguished by his lightning speed. But High School 1 is not left out, and Miyuki will finally be able to show the extent of her powers…
Our Take
For episode 7, it seems Third High also ran into some problems of their own involving one of their players. Touko being one of the highlights displayed some great skill in her match along with good sportsmanship, so I guess she wasn’t just all talk. Shizuku was also able to show off her skills in Speed Shooting. Shiori was incredible with her abilities though thanks to Tatsuya’s strategy, things went well for Shizuku despite Honoka’s imagination soaring too high in unusual ways…
As for episode 8, it further continued the proceedings but also included tennis and ice pillars. To the surprise of no one, Miyuki still has a strong presence, but on the other hand, I think Eimi got perhaps a bit too excited. Then again, she seems to be always energetic in this arc already. Yet, the plot was a mixed bag in places. Sure there are rules & regulations in place, but the organizers clearly don’t care about fairness, and basically want their magical athletes to display their power, adaptability, and ingenuity. It also felt like they were adopting Videogame RPG-like mechanics into the mix with what looks like a turn-based battle system.
While episode 7 had its moments, it was also flawed in its own way. The nine-school competition continues with a bit more background details and new characters. However, it still fell victim to a lot of the reused Tatsuya-centric cliche jokes here and there. Plus, some of the episode’s magical sports segments felt all over the place, and for some reason. As for episode 8, it picks things up immediately with newer events. But I never really understood the ice pillar break event. Not only does it not make any sense in terms of demonstrating magic power, but it’s also incredibly bland on a visual level. In a series where things happen in such an unorthodox way where the magic is used mostly as spectacle, we should be used to this shit by now. But I’m hoping this will actually lead to something bigger as they both feel like passable episodes despite being filler.
