(L) Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou

[Greenish Growth]

Yeah, I liked the characters and their interactions, but I didn't find the storyline to be terribly exciting. If I like and care about the anime's characters I can endure a lot of mediocrity though (even in the storyline).

I think this was another example of an anime where the characters deserved a better anime screenplay.

Oh well...if I like a storyline and dislike all the characters that's even worse for me. Then the anime becomes unwatchable because I could care less what happens to any of them.

[Midonin]

It was still a fun little ride. The world was well-established, and while it was kind of a low-key series, I liked watching it every week. Even Soushirou got his chance to shine, and the hand puppet segments, as obvious as they were about their shilling, were a nice little bonus.

[Malkuth]

I finally managed to watch the last episodes ... dunno, guys, I really like the show, characters (especially Misa and Yumiko) are really interesting despite fitting into stereotypes, still they play out very well with this kind of plot ... same goes for all the cast. I mean it's not like you see every season a well done story, even unoriginal. It enjoyable and bottom-line is that if you can do a recipie well, you don't try to innovate and risk ruining, you just do what you're best at

[Nvis]

I still love those character designs.

[Kariko]

Just finished last episode,

Spoiler for Final Thoughts::

I had started this on a whim without really knowing what it was about. It was a nifty little show. Nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed it.

The characters were all over the place. Misa was awesome from start to finish although a little confusing near the end. (Did she die or not?) Usually I'm not too into the "Glasses" type, but I can make an exception for her. xD Soshiro was kinda thrusted into the story in a bad way though. He was just a side character for most of the show and then they decided to make him a main in the last 3 eps. He was pretty badass when he got to shine though. xP

Koyomi was annoying from start to finish though. The little ED scene at the end was cute but otherwise, I disliked her the whole show.

I'm taking Programming Intro this semester at school and watching this anime's concept of magic fused with coding was pretty neat. After that one puppet show ending where they told us the episode names were based off of programming terms, I went and looked up some of em and it was true. The main ideas of each episode also related to the term in some way (more or less). Ex. The last episode's name (TMTOWTDI) stands for a programming style called "There's More Then One Way To Do It", fits the ending somewhat. A nice touch for the producers to do.

I wish there was more work put into the series, I really liked the concept with Traditional Magic and Modern Magic. Sadly, the only "story" that took place happened in the last 3 episodes and it was mediocre.

Overall, I'll give Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou a 7/10. The Opening song is awesome indeed btw.

[Fishfood1]

the characters for the shows are interesting overall, but the plot is "meh" for me since the first few epis were more about the past interactions between koyomi and yumiko, leaving very short time for the show to develope a plot. by the time the plot did get picked up, its kinda late.

maybe another season would be better since the character's background/past are filled, so we just need more plot.

another problem with this show is the lack of combat magic varieties. it seems like the main attack is summon flying swords... it kinda got boring after a while.

and koyomi really need to learn to master some new spell/code beside summoning wash basin

[Deathkillz]

The final episode was surprisingly entertaining to watch and did well in ending what was really an average series. They never got around to explaining what made Koyomi so special and the plot was rather lacked focus but at least it was a good solid ending to the series.

6-7/10 for the series

[MetaFire]

Marathoned the whole series on crunchyroll. I thought it was a pretty entertaining show, I loved all the main characters and the character designs. I thought all the characters were solid, but like someone said before, the characters deserve better in terms of storyline/plot. The universe is well established, but the scenarios were mehish. All the climatic parts ended up somehow being anti-climatic, lol. I'm hoping for a season 2 anyway.

[molitar]

Ending was disappointing for me.. she is suppose to be so powerful but never learned to control it even at the end.

[KiryuuKazumanosuke]

Yeah, 6/10.
Maybe 7/10.

Great ideas, ruined by a nonsense plot and poor pacing.
Agree that the OP was great. Though it was kind of depressing in retrospect. Those shots of the clumsy girl (God I've forgotten her name already. She's not Yumiko...) laughing and being carried along over the ocean by waves of codes promised fun, excitement, and adventure.

And the series ended up giving you none of it.

[wavehawk]

I've found Yumiko was the main reason for me to watch the show...is that a bad thing? ^_^

[Fishfood1]

^hmm... not really, since i'm sure you're not the only one. plenty of people posted that they found yumiko being the most interesting one(probably due to her look and fan servicing )

[Bonta Kun]

Originally Posted by Fishfood1

^hmm... not really, since i'm sure you're not the only one. plenty of people posted that they found yumiko being the most interesting one(probably due to her look and fan servicing )

you talking about me?!

Well Yumiko was big reason for watching but I also loved Misa, I mean who doesn't

I'll give that the story does lack quite abit really but I still enjoyed it, when you have giant Kuma-chan's saving the day you just gotta enjoy it

[Nvis]

Yumiko is like a Goddess.

[Eisdrache]

Im only up to EP2 now but Im sooo watching this show for Kaho <333 (twintails moe~) and Yumiko <3 On the other hand I dont really like Misa but oh well I get Koyomi to "compensate" her so Im fine.

[tjalorak]

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 4. Misa's pretty good at battle strategy and... Koyomi ALWAYS manages to do something inappropriate to Yumiko.

Kaho and Koyomi's interactions are funny.

"Can you not swim?"
"N-no. I just can't float in water..."
"I don't think you can call that being able to swim."

... Oh my. Yumiko does mouth-to-mouth CPR on Koyomi.

The Jini thing is cute though.

[tjalorak]

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 5. Wow. Koyomi even manages to do something inappropriate to Yumiko when Yumiko is a loli. Yumiko's answer to everything is to shoot swords at people.

I sort of prefer Yumiko's character design as a loli with the serpent staff due to proportions of staff to character rather than the other way around although obviously, she's more competent in the future. Her hair could do with some work in both version. Also, that staff needs a spear tip at the end so she can stab people with it.

[tjalorak]

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 6. Oh boy. You know you're considered incompetent when some kid over 6 years younger than you tells you to "Be at ease" and defends you. Answer the phone. I don't think it's time yet.

This OP always makes me smile.

Despite being the villain, this guy is surprisingly ... honorable? Well, I guess that's the wrong word since he's beating up on a kid, but he doesn't do sneak attacks. He talks and talks and talks. For someone who has a time limit, he doesn't bother stealing the item he wants and draws it out into some overblown fight scene. Granted, he doesn't have much to fear from a kid, but the longer he waits, the more time for Murphy's Law to come into play and wreck his plans.

...He's STILL talking.

Beating up lolis! Meanie! Karma will come back to haunt you! (And it does.)

...What? Hahahaha. Koyomi, you're so forgettable.

[tjalorak]

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou 7.

Hahaha. Kaho's deadpan delivery in the shot at 7:00 is priceless.

Wow. That was harsh, Yumiko.

Hrm. Kaho is better at supporting Koyomi. Still, Koyomi's NEVER going to get better at making things other than washpans. Embrace it! Learn washpan-fu and washpan-throwing!

She's... going to summon a washpan. Oh, Yumiko helped.

A street act, huh? Reminds me of Buffy and willful blindness.

How can that guy live with apparently one of the strongest magic users in the world and still think it's delusions?

[Doria]

Originally Posted by tjalorak

A street act, huh? Reminds me of Buffy and willful blindness.

Awesome reference! And I had the same question for a long time, though I actually less generously chalked it up to stupidity, but you'll find out the reason for his viewpoint, by the end.

Yeah, in retrospect, I guess I can understand the grades people have given the overall series. It's just so up and down, as a series. There are some really good episodes, but then the show just willfully squanders whatever momentum it had built up in ensuing eps.

I did like the end a lot, though. It was predictable, but it's not like this series was made to fool anyone. I thought the ending resolved things with Koyomi in a really nice way. And really, by the end of the show, I found that though I, too, was a Yumiko/Kaho fan, Koyomi grew on me. She was the one who was always scared, but still wanted to see things through because she's a good person.

Just picked up a couple of the novels this weekend. I'm curious to see if the pacing works better in literary form than it did animated.