Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well if you live in the west your school year is almost up and summer is around the corner. But if you live Japan your school year is just around the corner. Japan’s school year has also been irregular for me, just like another anime, The Irregular at Magic High School. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since the first season aired (oh God~). Despite being met with fair criticism everyone still praised the series for blending magic with sci-fi and giving us an OP lead. In the fall of 2019 a second season was announced and in 2020 we got it at a time when we needed anime the most. The anime had a number of things going against it. First off, the passage of time. It had been 6 years at this point since the first season aired (oh God~) so would anybody remember it. Second, there would only be 13 episodes instead of 25 like last season. Finally, a different studio. During this time Madhouse had fallen from glory and a lot of their anime was mid. Keeping to company policy, Madhouse opted not to produce a second season and thus the anime was handed off to 8bit Studios who in all fairness were on a roll after the success of Reincarnated as a Slime, but even they were feeling the effects of the pandemic. So with all these things going against the anime, how did it turn out? Let’s enroll to find out. This is The Irregular at Magic High School S2.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Howling” by ASCA. Overall, I thought the song was okay. I like the mislead at the beginning and it picks up the pace only to return back to normal. The main problem I have with this song is that it sounds a bit too generic. Not from an instrumental perspective but from a lyric perspective.
Our ending is “Namonai Hana” by Miki Satou. It’s a beautiful song. Miki’s voice is very soothing and angelic that you get swept away in it. Nothing more to say it’s just a good ending that will put a smile on your face.
Episodes 1-4
The season opens up on Christmas Eve where Tatsuya and others are having a Christmas party as well as a farewell party for Shizuku who is going to study in America as part of a foreign exchange program. Taking her spot will be a new girl her named Lina, a military officer. She’s been sent to find and investigate Tatsuya because of him destroying a US base completely (oh that was just him sneezing. It wasn’t an act of war). On the first shrine visit of the new year, Lina gets spotted by Tatsuya and the others where she stands out like a sore thumb (aside from her outfit which is outlandish for a shrine visit, the girl has a stereotypical American blond look). Lina goes to school and meets Tatsuya and the others where she quickly becomes friends with everyone and Tatsuya knows that she’s a spy sent to investigate him (yeah no offence, but she sucks as a spy. She almost gave herself away like twice in the span of two days). Things get interesting when she tries to attack Tatsuya in the hallways only to fail (scene here: https://youtu.be/ZyjG9V1VSJw?si=BbdVvt2c1TcDfmfQ, do I hear three times?) and Tatsuya warns her not to test him again like this (otherwise he’ll try next time). Lina receives a call later on from her superiors telling her to drop her investigation on Tatsuya and focus on a new mission which involves some fugitives in Tokyo.
In episode 2 strange murder incidents have been happening all over the city with the murdered victims having 10% of the blood from their bodies drained. This murder incident also seems to be happening in America as well (so, we got a case of vampires being on the loose or politicians are literally sucking the lifeblood from the world). Later on, US agents encounter one of the vampires and fight him where their attacks keep getting deflected. Leo also fights against a vampire where he has his spirit energy drained and passes out. Mikihiko suspects that Leo’s spirit energy was drained by a parasite spirit and sure enough it was. According to Mikihiko the amount drained from Leo should have put him down and out but he’s still able to sit up and talk with everyone (he ain’t human). This vampire thing gets more serious (and confusing but that’s kind of the norm of this series) as according to Miyuki the people who were attacked were all magicians who have helped out her family in the past. At the request of her father, she’s now calling for an alliance between her family and Jumonji’s family which he accepts.
We get some more action in episode 3 as Erika and Mikihiko go out in the hopes of avenging Leo. They find Lina in her disguise in the park fighting against one of the vampires where she manages to bring him down (screw steaks, garlic, and holy water. All you need is a good magic bullet through the chest to get the job done). Lina tries to go after the second vampire but Erika and Mikihiko attack both of them. Lina is shocked at how strong Erika is (well she is a member of Tatsuya’s inner circle, so she has to be) and Mikihiko gets saved by Tatsuya. The vampire retreats as does Lina from having her identity discovered (scene here: https://youtu.be/py1nC1rEdq8?si=Gfng-kgbKR9ruR6A). Later on, Tatsuya gets asked by Mayumi and Jumonji to join their investigation which he says yes to. Near the end of the episode, Tatsuya confronts Lina and the other vampire where this time he takes the vampire down and exposes Lina’s true identity.
Nothing much happens in episode 4 (except for a lot of talking that’s really hard to follow. Again, that’s to be expected from this series). Because Tatsuya knows Lina’s true identity he now has to die (yeah, good luck with that), but Miyuki won’t allow that to happen. She challenges Lina to a one-on-one fight where if Miyuki wins Lina will answer all of Tatsuya’s questions. The two girls have a short fight which Tatsuya interrupts to stop them from killing each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/k7KGTPs0Jo8?si=6RMxeclLiORDHZCA. Boo~, let them fight). Lina accepts this as a defeat and agrees to answer Tatsuya’s questions, but only yes or no questions. After this, Tatsuya shares what he learned with the others which is the men they’re after are former magicians of the US military (I thought that was obvious).
Episodes 5-8
In episode 5 we find out that vampires (or parasites as they’re calling them now) are the result of an experiment America was conducting on creating black holes and harnessing their power (are you trying to destroy the world?). The conversation soon moves on to dimensions and the possibility of the blackholes collapsing them and allowing magic to spew into the world at an uncontrollable rate which could possibly destroy the world (https://youtu.be/2-WPlvZguZ4, don’t look at me, look at the author). The next day at school a parasite attacks them where we see it’s Lina’s friend Mia. They manage to freeze her (https://youtu.be/nC8zz95rm8s) but she turns into magic and tries to find her next host (scene here: https://youtu.be/SEU6aUqEOkI?si=N7bR8afmVwmhtNy9). The parasite seems to be aiming for Erika and nobody can see it as it’s in another dimension. Mizuki takes off her glasses and is able to find the parasite where they manage to attack and scare it away.
For the first half of episode 6 we find out that America botched up a black hole experiment (you dun fucked it up). The media bashes them in an etiquette way, but Tatsuya knows what they’re really after, expulsion of magicians. Tatsuya wonders how such confidential information got out and Lina believes it was the work of the Seven Sages a very secretive group that works for the US government but not even they know who they are or what they look like. All we know for sure is that they are a group that delights in committing crime and may be behind the parasites (I would be surprised if they weren’t). In the second half it’s Valentine’s Day and the ladies of this anime are giving chocolate to Tatsuya. Even Miyuki creates a special dinner for her brother and I can’t help but wish they weren’t related (oh trust me, we all do. Scene here: https://youtu.be/KokenqpaRxY?si=0-cp-xVswHwvUD_Y).
Alright, we actually get an easy-to-follow and interesting episode for episode 7. We see that Lina is given orders to apprehend Tatsuya as the US army is convinced that he’s the one responsible for destroying their base (which he totally was, so no love lost there). Before that though, Tatsuya and the others discover that the parasite from a few episodes ago has taken over the body of Pixie a humanoid robot. However, rather than be hostile towards the group, the parasite instead hugs Tatsuya claiming that it wants to serve him. So why is the parasite in love with Tatsuya (I mean beside the fact that he is God and every girl in this anime wants to get inside his pants)? Well apparently the parasite is under the influence of Honoka’s thought waves and since Honoka has a huge crush on Tatsuya, the parasite is acting on those to create its own ego (and embarrassing Honoka in the process. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6Gfe154BXT4?si=dVjk2ympTdZlgJAv). In the second half, the US army and Lina attack Tatsuya at the coffee shop. He easily defeats the enhanced soldiers and even defeats Lina. He did lose in arm in the fight (tis but a scratch), but he quickly regenerated it to defeat Lina (scene here: https://youtu.be/D9De7uxAfz4?si=UiedEq11lOyzNtw8). After defeating Lina, he took out the back up soldiers, copied and deleted all of their data, and even healed up Lina.
Well episode 8 starts off with them confirming that Miyuki wants to have sex with Tatsuya (scene here: https://youtu.be/qyTgiqbX7Xk?si=QAu7CZvIQNGAdpwZ, called it! But let’s be honest, we all knew it). After that, Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka and Pixie head to Aoyama Cemetery to confront the parasites who have been looking for Pixie this whole time (scene here: https://youtu.be/M9X7Hr4DSJs?si=rCiT3IGQu4RYXBcx). On their way there, we see the Americans are trying to capture Tatsuya again (Neo: These guys just don’t quit. (Nitsuj): We’re Americans. We don’t quit just because we’re wrong. We just keep doing the wrong thing until it turns out right), but Honoka puts them to sleep (way to show off). Tatsuya and the others reach the cemetery where the parasites are there, and their talks quickly fall apart resulting in a fight. Tatsuya goes for a different approach in defeating the parasites by destroying the heart of their hosts (that’s cold man). Miyuki continues to freeze them solid and even Pixie gets a chance to show her moves (through the power of love).
Episodes 9-13
Episode 9 opens up with Tatsuya and the others catching the parasites and Pixie passing out from unleashing large quantities of psychokinetic energy. Erika, Leo and Mikihiko arrive onto the scene and help the others take the parasites to Mikihiko’s (good luck explaining that to the parents). Tatsuya, Miyuki, Honoka and Pixie leave before the police arrive where Tatsuya pieces together that Honoka unintentionally transferred magic in Pixie by touching her hair ornaments which were a gift from Tatsuya (how bad does she want that Tatsuya pie?). Back with Éclair and the others, a third party shows up and captures the parasites for themselves. They tell Tatsuya this the next day and we find it was Section Three of Japan’s Ground Defense Force. Since there are rumors that this division has close ties to Mayumi’s family, he goes to her to deliver a warning she needs to pass on to her father (I imagine he’s a scary man). Unfortunately, that warning doesn’t matter as the parasites were killed by Lina. Tatsuya then receives a video message from Raymond Sage Clark, one of the Seven Sages. He explains to Tatsuya that the person behind the anti-magic movement in the states is a man named Gide, the leader of Blanche as well as a member of the Seven Sages who aren’t really an organization but instead a group people who have access to a system called Hlidskjalf (the vantage point where Odin could see everything from the cosmos). Just like the name implies, it’s a global monitoring system that collects data on everyone and everything and nobody can stop it (my God, it’s Google fully realized. It’s a super Google). Hlidskjalf decides who the operators are and only the Seven Sages know how it uses (it’s the I’m feeling lucky button). Getting back on topic, Raymond explains that because Tatsuya and the others took out the Japanese branch of Blanche as well as the No-Head Dragons which were associates of Gide, he no longer had any contacts or influence in Japan. So, he arranged for the parasites to enter Japan in order to cause chaos and rebuild his spy base in the country. Gide is now trying to destroy magic through social means which would open the door for the Great Asian Alliance to come in and take over the world which is something Raymond wants. He now wants Tatsuya to destroy all the parasites by luring them to the school which is where he and Lina will take them all out.
It’s the battle of the parasites in episode 10. Just like Raymond said the parasites arrived at the school and Tatsuya along with his friends and Lina take them out. Unfortunately, Lina’s method is different from Tatsuya’s method (we should have had a meeting before hand). You see Tatsuya’s method is to knock them out and use Mikihiko’s powers to seal them in the body so they can’t escape. Lina’s method is to just kill the host and allow the parasite to escape (wow, you are just failing hard these last few episodes). Lina’s method eventually comes back to haunt the group as the remaining parasites combine and try to reclaim the parasite in Pixie where no magic apparently seems to be working on them (way to fuck us over Lina). Thankfully, Tatsuya and Miyuki combine their powers to create lunar magic which is something said to be impossible in this world (and something they don’t do a good job explaining. Seriously, you talk about so much pointless stuff and this is the stuff you choose to skip over? What are your priorities?). The lunar magic destroys all the parasites making their mission complete except for two which are sealed and now in the hands of the Yotsuba clan (Tatsuya and Miyuki’s family clan I believe) and Kudou who found out about the parasites thanks to his granddaughter who was working with Lina on the investigation. Tatsuya offers Lina a way out of the US military, but she says no despite really wanting to leave the military life herself (the girl is bipolar).
In the first half of episode 11 it’s graduation time for the third years (which means it’s time for Tatsuya to assume his place as the next student council president. Tatsuya for president). We also get the return of Shizuku and the departure of Lina (she left just how she came in. By complete surprise and without a word). In the second half, we get to meet a few new characters as well as start the new semester. The new characters are a young boy named Fumiya, another member of the Yotsuba clan who looks up to Tatsuya (a disciple eh? Well he chose a good person to follow) and the other one is a girl named Minami who gets hired by the Yotsuba clan as a maid because of her incredible magic skills. She gets assigned to bodyguard duty for a party happening at the Tokyo Bay Tower. Evidence has been discovered that a radical group called the New Breed Front (which was not in the novel making this an anime only storyline) will attack the party and Minami is to be on standby in case something goes wrong.
In episode 12 Tatsuya and Miyuki go to the party at the Tokyo Bay Tower with Shizuku and Honoka (taking three girls on a date. Just what I’d expect from Tatsuya). Sure enough the New Breed Front attack the tower but are quickly taken out by Fumiya however, the New Breed Front already infiltrated the tower months ago as magicians in charge of maintaining the tower (next time do a background check). They knock out the guards, take control of the tower, and tell everyone about the terrible treatment the magicians were receiving while working in the tower. They now plan to set off a bomb in 1 hour and tell everyone not to interfere or they’ll set it off immediately.
So nothing much to say about the final episode. Tatusya, Miyuki, and Minami catch the terrorists and save the tower from collapsing (well I say these three but it was all Tatsuya. He truly is our savior in anime form). After this, the start of the new school term starts (scene here: https://youtu.be/YAkOrBILHpM?si=2bFFbGpClNzX0P72) with Minami transferring to the school as a freshman and moving in with Tatsuya and Miyuki.
Final Thoughts
Alright I’ll keep this brief. This season of Irregular High School isn’t all that great but I wouldn’t call it bad either. Just like the last season the main problems with this season is that they talk too much instead of show, the story can be hard to follow at times as they add in different plot threads that nobody really cares about or can keep track of because of everything else that’s going on. The new character Lina doesn’t leave that much of an impact on me. Her rivalry with Tatsuya and Miyuki amounted to nothing and we really don’t learn that much about her to develop a connection with her. When she left I honestly felt nothing for her. The action scenes are still good, the music is good as well, and even though the animation took a downgrade this season I think it still looks good. Sadly, there wasn’t much development on the part of the characters this season other than confirming the fact that Miyuki wants a piece of that Tatsuya pie which we all knew. I wanted to learn more about Tatsuya and Miyuki’s family situation. What’s the story there? Why is Tatsuya looked down upon despite the fact that he’s probably stronger than anyone in the clan?
Final Score
The final score for Irregular High School S2 is a 5/10. A big step down from last season. Even fans of the light novel have admitted this season was dull and as an anime-only watcher I have to agree with them. The next season will be next up and I really do hope they stop telling and just show, and work on exploring and developing the characters more. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.