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Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Irregular at Magic High School: Reminiscence Arc
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T.Silver
Posts: 163 |
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Good review, but you were off by one thing. Tatsuya wasn't faking opening up and being friendly with others, namely his cousins. It was of the shocking reveals for Miyuki to learn that he isn't emotionless. Miya says it herself that rather his emotions, the strong urges tied to those emotions were purged, save for Miyuki.
Last edited by T.Silver on Mon Jan 03, 2022 8:05 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4613 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I think there were a couple interesting revelations in the story of Tatsuya's abilities.
His emotions "had" to be sacrificed for him to gain his extremely powerful calculation abilities, which compensate for his lack of traditional ability. But I'd say the review misses one thing. When Miyuki asks her mother if she was the one to perform the procedure to remove her son's emotions, she admits to it, implying that only her own unique abilities would be able to accomplish the task, but Miyuki actually has an empathetic response to her mother, saying something like "Tatsuya wasn't the only one who lost his emotions in the procedure." This should also bring you to the conclusion that she wasn't really as willing as she plays it off, but that she forces herself to be heartless to survive, so she doesn't break down herself. There are some important messages in the show about presenting a façade to others. It makes me wonder if her façade is also secretly an attempt at protecting others from a similar fate. It actually seems strange that she supports and expresses such extreme distaste and even disgust at her son's abilities. She calls them fake and disgraceful but could you imagine what might be the result of her normalizing his condition? What she actually has done is create one of the greatest cheat magicians ever- but the cost was practically (she believes) the loss of her son's humanity. If she were to declare it a success and support her son the result might actually be others being subjected to the same procedure. It could actually be explained away as a sacrifice, call her son an abomination so others aren't created. It's also important to note that Tatsuya did not lose all of his emotions, rather his emotions are dulled and he's can only feel strong emotions when they involve his sister. This is actually an important thing in the second season. Tatsuya seems to also believe he "only" has emotions for his sister but Miyuki surprises him when she points out that he definitely shows affection for his friends, that he shows clear evidence that he wants to protect and care for them as well. He genuinely didn't realize that he was doing so. I think that was a much more important moment than realized and the emotional climax of the series must involve him reconnecting to the emotions he thought he lost. |
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andramus
 Posts: 170 |
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I get that Tatsuya is basically a harem protagonist and that having a little sister as part of his harem is pretty much a box-ticking exercise but after seeing this OVA Miyuki's incestuous feelings for her brother make a lot more sense to me from character standpoint.
The topic of genetic sexual attraction has come up a few times in media I've consumed over the years in fiction and reality ie. an episode of Law & Order SVU or a segment of a current affairs program. From what I understand it occurs most frequently between relatives who have been estranged and reconnect or connect for the first time in years. Part of the reason being that a lot of emotional barriers against those type of feelings are developmental and a product of growing up together. Which is why adoptive siblings often feel similar revulsion about having any kind of sexual relationship. Miyuki may not have been physically distanced from Tatsuya but she was emotionally distanced from him for so long that he was like a stranger to her. They never had the kind of relationship where she would have developed the usual emotional barriers to incestuous feelings. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18212 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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It's called the Westermarck effect, and it was explored much more thoroughly in the outstanding 2004 anime series Koi Kaze. Anyway, while I'm not a fan of this franchise, I do at least follow it in anime form, so I guess I'll try to check this out before the Winter '22 season gets rolling. |
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