English Dub Review: The Irregular at Magic High School “Visitor Arc III”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

We open with Tatsuya getting his ass kicked by his martial arts teacher, Kokonoe Yakumo. After the intro sequence, his master Yakumo explains his new technique, the Cocoon Water Mirage, is a move designed to deceive supernatural creatures. Yakumo further claims that facing off against such being is not uncommon, despite Tatsuya’s protests, and even tells him that the spirits Mikihiko communicates with are supernatural beings. Tatsuya asks if the parasites that are behind the “vampire” attacks are “not of this world”, which Yakumo reasons is possible. Back at school, Honoka calls Shizuku so Tatsuya can gather some information from her about the reported similar attacks in the USNA. Tatsuya asks her to ask around, as he suspects the criminal behind the attacks came from America, but warns her to be careful. That evening, Mikihiko and Erika are walking home, while at the same time Sirius is chasing one of the parasites, Deimos, with the help of Silvie to track the creature. They head to Ueno Park, and end up with Mikihiko facing off against Deimos while Erika attacks Sirius, unbeknownst to the American agent’s identity as her classmate, Lina. Deimos starts channeling Mikihiko’s lightning, and thankfully, Tatsuya shows up just in time to shut down the situation with a highly identifiable magic gun. Lina freaks out internally about the hidden strength of her classmates on the drive home. Meanwhile at the Shiba residence, Tatsuya has reached out to Aunt Maya via video call to ask about how the Kudou family’s “Parade” spell. He suspects it can be used as a shield, and also a disguise. Aunt Maya brushes him off, saying transformation magic is impossible, but Tatsuya insists it’s some sort of spell that can evade his sight, and requests reinforcements. Aunt Maya gives him permission to contact Major Kazama, and comments that the younger Kudou brother (Lina’s grandfather) was more skilled at using the Parade spell. At school, Juumonji Katsuto and Saegusa Mayumi meet with Tatsuya about the vampire attacks, and eventually agree to share what they know in exchange for his help. They tell him there’s multiple vampires, and also a third party interfering with their hunts. Juumonji asks him to go on his own and report back with his findings. Tatsuya tracks Sirius using software from Kazama, and leaves to confront her. Miyuki stays home, and after hearing the doorbell ring, sees Yakumo outside. Tatsuya catches up to Sirius, takes down the parasite she’s chasing, and dismantles her Parade spell, revealing her identity as Lina.

Our Take

Ok, this series is still as confusing as hell and feels like it shifts genres every five minutes, but it *was* slowly drawing me in with the folklore/yokai/vampire/demon parasite angle and action scenes. Then it basically immediately pushed me back out with the blatant sibling romance storyline. Call me Lemongrab, because that shit is UNACCEPTABLE. In addition to just being so weird and gross, it further adds to the already considerable character confusion because like, is Tatsuya the main bad guy here? He seems to be doing a lot of on-screen detective work for a villain, but we can’t possibly have a “conflicted but ultimately redeemable antihero” who wants to bang his sister, right? Right!?

If it’s at all possible to ignore that puke-inducing relationship situation, the positives for this series and episode in particular remain the audio and visuals. There some quality background nature-y scenes, particularly the flowers at (or nearby) the temple, and the action showdowns at Ueno Park are fluid and impressive as hell. I will say it wasn’t obvious that these incidents were all happening at Ueno Park until I did some extra reading. That would be like assuming that any scene that takes place not surrounded by skyscrapers in New York is happening at Central Park. Like, yeah, safe assumption, but also: there’s other fucking parks. The score remains surprisingly underrated, deftly creating tension with industrial electronic background interludes, while the opening theme, “Howling” by ASCA, is excellent at creating hype from the very beginning (even if the guitar riff reminds me of HT, the opening theme from Trigun, which naturally results in me wanting to rewatch Trigun.) The closing theme, “Namonai Hana” is a bit flowery (puns!) for my taste, but such is often the case with anime end themes.

The weak part remains the writing, or more likely, sloppy adaptation from original “light novel” format. It is NOT clear what’s happening without reading Wiki summaries, in part because so much is crammed into short amounts of time, and in part because I guess demon/spirit hunting was maybe established earlier in the series? Personally, I super confused about why Mikihiko and Erika jumped right in and started attacking both Angie Sirius *and* Deimos, after I read the Wiki summary I found out they were out parasite hunting, which makes quite a bit more sense than high school students just walking home at night armed to the teeth. Remember kids, always be prepared when you go out looking for supernatural trouble! Additionally, I know Tatsuya’s supposed to be crazy skilled and able to detect spells easily, but did he already know Angie Sirius was Lina? And if so, what was the point of revealing her identity, rather than just telling her to back off? I do kind of appreciate cutting right to the point rather than a game of cat and mouse, but…where does this arc go from here? I’m hoping for a bit more backstory or explanation as to why a high school student is the USNA’s “secret weapon” who also managed to get her cover blown less than a month in at her new assignment in Japan, or a “team up to hunt the vampires” approach, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how things progress.