This series begins with a young boy using magic to help a girl who is being bullied; that girl is the stories protagonist Haruhi Kamisaka. After that incident she is inspired to become a mage and goes to the Mizuhosaka Academy, a school divided into a normal section and a magic section; that is until an explosion destroys the magic section and all the pupils are mixed together. The first half of the series is a light hearted comedy where the two groups of pupils get to know each other and the use of magic frequently goes slightly wrong leading to a few laughs. Half way though the series a new student joins the class and things turn somewhat darker; ultimately leading to a confrontation.
Early on I suspected this might be yet another fan service show as we see the girls getting changed in the opening episode; thankfully there wasn't too much even if we did have the almost mandatory beach episode where the camera lingered on the girls' bikini-clad bodies more than was strictly necessary. I enjoyed the early episodes more as the comedy was better done than the drama; it almost felt as if the creators had changed their mind about the style of show they wanted to create half way though. The cast were fun enough, particularly Haruhi's friend Anri whose magic keeps going wrong, Jun is also fun; he looks, dresses and sounds like a girl... to such an extent that even the straight boys find him attractive! While this is a fairly average series I'd still recommend seeing it if you are curious as it is only twelve episodes long and can currently be watched legally on Crunchyroll.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
Early on I suspected this might be yet another fan service show as we see the girls getting changed in the opening episode; thankfully there wasn't too much even if we did have the almost mandatory beach episode where the camera lingered on the girls' bikini-clad bodies more than was strictly necessary. I enjoyed the early episodes more as the comedy was better done than the drama; it almost felt as if the creators had changed their mind about the style of show they wanted to create half way though. The cast were fun enough, particularly Haruhi's friend Anri whose magic keeps going wrong, Jun is also fun; he looks, dresses and sounds like a girl... to such an extent that even the straight boys find him attractive! While this is a fairly average series I'd still recommend seeing it if you are curious as it is only twelve episodes long and can currently be watched legally on Crunchyroll.
These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
