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

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Lina is back at her apartment, relaxing after a shower. She reflects on Tatsuya’s past comment. He’d said if she ever wanted to stop being a soldier, he might be able to help. Lina muses about what he really meant by that, and whether or not she wants to continue carrying out the duties expected of her station as Sirius.

At school, there’s a festive air as the students enjoy a party to celebrate graduation.

Tatsuya works at a nearby cafe, and thinks back on the recent events dealing with the parasites. Honoka, Mikihiko, and Mizuki were distressed and apologetic about losing the sealed parasites. The group as a whole is apparently unaware of Ayako Kuroba and Kudou Retsu’s involvement. Tatsuya is surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing.

When he returns from his flashback, he’s joined by Miyuki, and shortly Mayumi, Mari, and Juumonji as well. The girls question why he was absent from the festivities. Lina rushes over call Tatsuya out for not helping set up, but Miyuki jumps to her brother’s defense.

Miyuki then informs Tatsuya of Lina’s dramatic efforts of providing entertainment for the event: jumping on stage to perform with the band. Mari and Mayumi compliment her performance, much to the American’s embarrassment.

Honoka, Tatsuya, and a few other students gather to greet Shizuku when she returns from the USNA. Erika teases her about having “experiences she wasn’t supposed to have”. But the deadpan exchange student ignores her, and informs Tatsuya she has a lot to tell him.

But before the group can depart, Tatsuya notices Lina heading off to catch her flight. He and Miyuki catch up with her. They notice her pile of souvenirs, and she thanks them for everything. When Tatsuya retorts, “don’t you mean sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you?” she throws it back, saying he remained ruthless.

Miyuki explains she won’t be saying goodbye just yet, since she knows this won’t be the end. She reveals she considers Lina a rival, and instead opts to say she’ll see her soon.

Cut to a school where a young girl sits alone. A squad of soldiers attack the building, and she fends them off with ease. Maya Yotsuba, watching the incident onscreen, confirms she’ll be choosing “this one.”

The new school session has started, and the students are settling back in to their routines. Shizuku, Honoka, and Miyuki chat excitedly about an upcoming party.

Two mysterious twins get off the train in Tokyo. The boy grumbles about their job being one day before the entrance ceremony, but his sister teases him about how excited he was since their trip may mean he gets to see Tatsuya.

Maya ushers her new employee into her office. She gives a bit of background before explaining the job. A radical magical supremacist group appears to be planning an attack on Tokyo Offshore Tower, Japan’s first hyperbuilding, and the site of a large party. Maya instructs Sakurai Minami (voiced by Emi Lo, of Appare-Ranman! fame) to be Hayama’s bodyguard for the event. Sakurai agrees.

Our take:

I was naively optimistic when the beginning of the episode focused on Lina. Her struggle with the psychological toll of being Angie Sirius is (by and far) the most interesting part of this series. Unfortunately the episode couldn’t just focus on her story, because of *heavy sigh* yep, Tatsuya.

This time he’s shirking his duties for graduation party planning. Or at least, that’s what Lina claims. According to Miyuki, they’d agreed that Lina was short term student council, while Tatsuya wasn’t. Who’s supposed to be doing what is a moot point. But I’m still left wondering whyyyy is everyone always so desperate to have him around? I!!! DON’T!!! GET IT!!!

It’s also weird that Lina is SO embarrassed when Miyuki tells Tatsuya about her performance. Wouldn’t he have seen it in person if he’d been at the party? So confus.

Ok, ok. There’s a few good things this episode, like Lina being a stereotypical weeb. “Japanese culture is so cool and fascinating!” she exclaims while dancing in front of a colorful drawing featuring some of the country’s most recognizable symbols.

I believe this is also the first time in this arc we hear Mari’s voice. Amber Lee Connors (you may know her as Baccarat from One Piece Film: Gold) gives a silky smooth vocal performance that can soothe over even the weirdest of scenes (and trust me, it is a WEIRD scene) so it’s unfortunate she doesn’t get more lines in this season.

Oh, and the training scene/test scene/whatever that was with the isolated magician that Maya’s recruiting or whatever has some serious Red Sparrow vibes. It’s intriguing, intense, and definitely draws me in. But it’s regrettably cut short so the episode can get back to Miyuki fawning over Tatsuya.

But hey, at least we get even MORE weird siblings this week, and a Tatsuya fanboy to boot! And the most interesting, critical information is left to be crammed into the last three minutes. But it’s just the introduction of a brand new character and her assignment against a magical terrorist group, no big deal.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the (multiple!) terrorist groups, pro-magic vs. anti-magic factions, the ruling families and “extras”, various political intrigue with tons of ulterior motives, and views on society’s view of magic is a lot more interesting than Tatsuya’s love life.

At least there’s just a few more episodes to go. There’s still a ton of mysteries to be explained: what Tatsuya’s motivation was for Scorched Halloween, who knows he’s responsible for it, how his nerd ass could ever be considered a “low performing student” when all he does is obsess about magic, what’s going on with the parasites, and whether or not Lina will continue working under the mantle of Angie Sirius.

This all remains to be explored. And I’m going to guess we’ll have to wait until the last five minutes of this season for that to happen.