“Macademi Wasshoi!” or otherwise known as “Magician’s Academy” might not strike hysteria in the hearts of the Westerners, but in Asia this seems to be bomb. “MW” has started as a light novel series written by Ichirō Sakaki and then evolved into two manga adaptations before being adapted as a 12 episode anime series. It has walked quite the long way and after watching the anime I know exactly why…“Magician's Academy" revolves around Takuto Hasegawa, who attends a magic academy that is not marked on any map. During a summoning spell exam, he accidentally creates a girl named Tanarotte, who happens to hold enough magical power to destroy his country, but fortunately Tanarotte professes undying loyalty to her "creator."”
The premise is simple enough to be executed in 12 episodes, which are semi-tied up with a plot line revolving around Tanarotte’s existence and unknown allegiance to neither the demons nor the gods. This is a strange choice for me, since whenever I go searching for an anime I rarely pay attention to children or the shown art style. But I guess my instincts have picked the right one, because with episode 1 I was hooked. It may be featuring middle school students, but the genre is actually seinen [targeted group is 18-30] and comedy.
Now Japanese don’t do comedy the way normal people do it. For some reason they have to mix profanity, sex and embarrassment and the fact that they are dealing with such characters is one extra laugh. Every subject from masochism, homosexual relationships, to female mega robots that shoot rockets from their breasts to girls fighting with swords and two ton press powered punches is covered. All this laced with masterful slapstick animation promises a great laugh, if you have a somewhat twisted sense of humor. I am happy to have one.
The outrageous doesn’t end with the sexual undertone. The series is a somewhat parody of a typical paranormal series featuring students and a secret magic academy. The characters and the story line are put in straitjackets and then locked up in absurdity. I will probably ruin the experience for anyone, who would like some diversity in what the anime world has to offer so I shall remain silent. Of course be noted that there is no explicit visual material apart from one character and most of it is either hinted or not shown. So it’s pretty much on the border.
Nevertheless I had a tremendous time and every once in a while people need a different kind of laugh, which can be delivered by the crazy Japanese.
8 comments:
Looks (and sounds) a lot like the Disgaea series, which I love.
Sounds cool enough. Must research! Thanks for stopping by.
Whoa, you've never heard of Disgaea?? ALL Nippon-Ichi releases are must-haves for Japanophiles.
Check out Disgaea 1,2 and 3, Phantom Brave and especially Makai Kingdom, all on the PS2 except for Disgaea 3 (ps3). They also did a short OVA run based on Disgaea 1's storyline, but it's better to just play the game.
Oh, it's a game series. *understanding flashes* Since I do not own a PS of any kind or any other machinery connected to games I am not into the scene. My fingers cannot connect with my brain and I suck major.
Ah, well, these are strategic RPG's and don't require any complicated finger-work. Lots of brain work, perhaps, but there's no fancy button pressing involved.
Great to hear. By the way, do you have a skype IM program?
Not that I know of... the non-EU world isn't as familiar with Skype (I've only heard about them because they're a client of my company's services). I do use AIM (exesforeyes112) and MSN (tnewton102@hotmail.com), though.
I registered in MSN and added you so you know.
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