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

Overview (Spoilers Below):

We open with Sylvie being discharged, and Lina getting told to step up her game by Colonel Virginia Balance. Meanwhile, Tatsuya is working with his teacher Kokonoe to develop a spell to directly attack a parasite. He struggles, but Miyuki compliments him on his ability to make ideas a reality. When the siblings return home, the news confirms Shizuku’s info about the black hole letting in an inter-dimensional demon, but spins it into a magic regulation issue as well. Tatsuya realizes a magician purge is the real goal. He and Miyuki meet with Lina to discuss. She brings up the Seven Sages, a mysterious fringe group, that even she doesn’t know much about. Tatsuya wonders if they’re linked to the humanist movement, but Lina asserts they commit crimes just for the thrill. Tatsuya muses that he hadn’t seen Honoka, to which Miyuki replies that she went home early. The two are deep in discussion before Lina butts in, commenting that Honoka seemed stressed about giving Tatsuya chocolates the next day. Miyuki asks who Lina will be giving chocolates to, but the American declines to say. The next day, Honoka walks to school with Tatsuya and Miyuki, and requests a moment of his time to give him Valentine’s chocolates while Miyuki goes on ahead. He gives her hair ties (I think?) which she says she’ll treasure forever, sending out a wave of happiness that seems to activate a mysterious figure wearing a maid outfit in the dark. When Tatsuya returns to class, he’s greeted by Leo, who’s back from the hospital. Mizuki gifts Tatsuya, Leo, and Mikihiko friendship chocolates, to Mikihiko’s distress. Erika teases Leo about getting out early in order to cash in on the chocolate gifts. She goes on to tease Mikihiko about his mostly female students, presumably in an attempt to get him to confess his feelings for Mizuki. Tatsuya receives heaps of gifts from the freshman girls, and generally there’s romance in the air. Saegusa gifts some exceptionally bitter chocolates laced with coffee, and Tatsuya asks her to step away to discuss the parasite. Miyuki treats her brother to an elaborate homemade chocolate-based dinner to celebrate the holiday. Lina regrets not being able to give Tatsuya friend chocolates, and Colonel surprises her at home.

Our take:

This episode opens with some sem-satisfying explorations of a few of the lingering questions from previous episodes, like “are there any repercussions due to Lina’s cover being blown?” and “do other people know about the black hole experiment that brought the parasite to this world?” and even “how is magic regulated in this world?” before descending into Valentine’s Day chocolate-giving drama.

Unfortunately, with Sylvie being relieved of her post, we won’t be hearing much more from Rebeka Thomas in this series, which probably means it’s time to rewatch The Promised Neverland to hear her as Krone. Not that he can replace her, but it’s great to hear Mick Lauer as Leo again, even if my association with him as grumpy cat demon Husk is 1000x stronger after the the Hazbin Hotel panel. Though she doesn’t get quite as many lines as last episode, it’s also great to hear more of Xanthe Huynh as Mizuki, while Erica Mendez as Erika always make for entertaining scenes. They have such an interesting dynamic, and I’m excited to see how it develops through the rest of this arc. While most of the giggly romance lines are decidedly uninteresting, Maureen Price (you may recognize her as Mast Cell from Cells at Work) turning up the saccharine noises while forcing boys to choke down baking chocolate is worth at least cracking a smile for.

We’re six episodes in, and unfortunately, the romance plot lines aren’t getting any less creepy, but thankfully there’s just over a handful of episodes left to go. I’m desperately hoping, considering there’s plenty of other questions to be answered (and new things cropping up all the time! Like, what’s with the weird robot/golem maid? Who’s Virginia Balance, really? What does Lina have to do to reestablish herself as USNA’s secret weapon? Will there be a magician purge, and what does that entail? Literally everything about the Seven Sages seems worth exploring???) that there will be mostly action and mystery solving through the remainder of this arc. But unfortunately, that all remains to be seen.