This might be the most interesting (not the best, mind you) anime of the season. From the first few episodes we have a winning formula. Moé:check, tsundere:check, mahou tsukai ( 魔法使い = magic user ):check, consistent animation: check, great voice acting:check, and I could go on. Not only the production values, but the story itself is also interesting, with a touch of unusual timeline of storytelling. The show begins at episode 00, not 01, and the prologue tells us many things about the world of magic that is
Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou. I hear ya, it’s a long title, so I’ll just call it Yoku Mahou from now on.
The anime is an adaptation of a supposedly popular Shonen (Male) Light Novel in Japan written by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The seiyuu casts are decent. Haruka Tomatsu as Yumiko Christina Ichinose, expect lots of ‘desu wa’ accent and tsundere-ness. Ai Nonaka as Koyomi Morishita, pretty much the return of
Fuuko from Clannad! Then we have Minako Kotobuki that’s very talented in voicing a Yuki Nagato-ish character named Kaho Sakazaki, and some other seiyuus. Animation by Nomad is beautiful. The ‘feel’ of the original character designs by Miki Miyashita can be captured adorably by Makoto Koga, which is well known as the anime chara designer of Sola, ARIA, and Galaxy Angels.
Curious about t
he meaning of the title? Me, too. After some googling around, apparently,
gendai mahou (trans. –modern magic) is one among several kinds of magic that exists in the world of Yoku Mahou. It’s originated from something called
houten mahou (trans. –ancient magic). Not so clear about the differences between the two, yet, but this makes the magic world even more interesting to find out. So, ‘Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou’ can be roughly translated along the lines of: ‘I understand modern magic’. Oh the joy of weeaboo-ness.
Magic is defined as an a
ct of combining magical ‘codes’. By ‘codes’, I’m referring to programming codes, not some unreadable runes or divine mumblings. Everything in Yoku Mahou’s world has this 01011101-ish code that can be re-arranged (transforming), erased (deleting), and of course, written (evoking). Not the exact way as portrayed by the creator of the novel, but you get the idea. Need more reason to watch? In the first episode your brain will be exploded by Yumiko's
no-pan show, along every episode Koyomi will summon many
pans (tarai=flat round metal bowl), and of course,
pantsu (loosely described as: fanservice). A twist of humour here and there, some magic fights with fancy effects, and great OP & ED music to boot. I think I found my ‘Zero no Tsukaima’ fix for this season.
Haven't checked my Steam account for ages, besides great discounts, it also looks like Steam is getting a nice new addition: a free games sampler for Steam friends. 3 days of free TF2 gaming without the obligation to purchase. I just hope that the client download wouldn't take 2 days by its own.. LoL
