04.27
So if you rub Tatsuya's head, does he spit in your eye?
So, is anybody else in the mood for dogmatic discourse on class issues that come from surely has to be a myopic viewpoint? That one speech at the end of the episode swallowed up what would have been just another bad entry, causing this anime to be painted as propaganda or whatever. There are many things that must be assessed when viewing Tatsuya’s speech on equality being a means to a contemptuous end, and how there is justification in the gap between median incomes. The first of which asks how Tatsuya can paint this Blanche movement in such a disdainful way. He just met a girl who complained about being discriminated against, and now he’s siding against her ideals because he thinks rallying against prejudice is just a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” tactic?
And I cannot really take Tatsuya’s speech seriously when he lives in a lavish apartment, with a doting sister and many connections to the elite. He sounds like one of those aristocrats who think the poor choose to be poor, believing that study and training are all it takes to establish a person’s rank. Because the faction of poor people definitely doesn’t include doctors or professors, right? And the people at this magic high school are definitely focused on studying, seeing as how we mostly seem them eat lunch and pick fights with one another. It just makes Tatsuya seem like he’s on his high horse judging those below him instead of working by their side. I know the show tries to balance that by saying he’s a lowly Weed, but everything he’s done in the last three episodes does not even hint that he could be underprivileged.
It feels almost as stupid as Code Geass in having who basically amounts to a noble complaining about the lower class’ ability to act, except even Code Geass depicted some aristocrats as only achieving their status purely through nepotism. Here, there’s nothing to make Tatsuya’s approach seem anything more than a strawman argument. He might have a stronger case once we see what Blanche has done so far, unless they’re portrayed as purely villainous who vouch for equality in name only. And from appearances that consist of a faceless guy running from Tatsuya and a shady Sugou clone, my hopes for a story that can depict class struggles without resorting to one-dimensional caricatures diminish ever so.
And I’d also like to believe this was a one-time occurrence in the show to be creepily political and deprecating on other people, but that’s another delusion. The nurse scene where Tatsuya ridicules the lady for not dressing in proper attire while close-ups of her breasts and thighs fill the screen give the wrong vibes. Digging up Susan B. Anthony’s grave and pissing on her bones would be subtler than what Mahouka does in that scene. Then you look at the society they’re in, where any change to the status quo is met with instant hostility, and this magic high school feels like a conservative smorgasbord. For all this Weed/Bloom talk, the behavior and actions of the students in this school lean to an order-driven stance. Everyone’s meant to be upbeat and adhere to the system, while students like Sayaka Mibu have to lurk in the corners if they require help. Eat from your bento boxes and smile quietly, while any challenges will be met with violence. And if you don’t have magic to fight back, I guess it’s stiff upper lip time.
And as an aside, when will they show off the magic and political corruption instead of exposit on the technicalities? You don’t need to explain for several episodes about how you shoot stuff out of your hands, especially since that explanation goes down the tube once Tatsuya pulls out a new ability. And if you’re going to say there’s a terrorist organization beneath the seams, then show why they’re terrorists or how they commit acts of terror instead of sit in a room and quietly discuss how evil they are. Literary theory lectures have more emotion to them than anything that comes out of Tatsuya’s mouth (or in, considering his reaction to the guy back there).