The Irregular at Magic High School

Setting

The series is set in a world with an alternate history, where magic exists and has been refined through modern technology. However, the ability to use magic is determined by genetics, limiting the number of magicians in existence. Following a 20-year long Third World War that reduced the world's population to 3 billion, the world's superpowers have shifted to four nations: The United States of North America (USNA), the New Soviet Union, the Great Asian Alliance, and Japan. In Japan, the magic community is informally governed by the Ten Master Clans in lieu of the government. Due to the limited number of magicians, they are treated as a commodity and forced to enter magic-related schools and professions. Nine magic high schools exist in Japan; they each specialize in different aspects of magic and are simply referred to by their numbers.

Plot

The story follows Tatsuya Shiba, a bodyguard to his sister Miyuki Shiba, who is also a candidate to succeed the leadership of the Yotsuba clan, one of the Ten Master Clans. They enroll into First High which segregates its students based on their magical abilities. Miyuki is enrolled in the first course and viewed as one of the best students, while Tatsuya is placed in the second course and considered to be magically inept. However, Tatsuya's technical knowledge, combat abilities, and unique magic techniques cause people to view him as an irregular to the school's standardized rankings.

Main

Tatsuya and Miyuki are siblings of the same school year and children to Tatsurou Shiba and the late Miya Yotsuba with Tatsuya being 11 months older than Miyuki; their parents had a loveless forced marriage, and when their mother died, their father married his mistress, Sayuri Furuha, leaving the siblings to live by themselves.

Maya Yotsuba, their aunt and current leader of the Yotsuba Clan, was the reason Tatsuya was born with the unique magic to decompose, reconstruct, and detonate matter (along with some gene manipulation). Out of fear of his powers, the Yotsuba Clan leadership of that time argued for Tatsuya's death, forcing Miya and Maya to take measures to ensure his survival: the first was Miyuki's creation with genetic enhancements in utero, who would act as a seal to Tatsuya's power; the second was to magically dull Tatsuya's emotions except for his familial love towards Miyuki; and the third was to assign Tatsuya to be Miyuki's bodyguard to develop his sense of loyalty towards her. During a family vacation in Okinawa, Tatsuya warded off an invasion by the Great Asian Alliance and joined the 101 Independent Magic-Equipped Battalion which is headed by Major Kazama Harunobu. At some point during his life, Tatsuya commercialized revolutionary magical technology through his family's company, Four Leaves Technology, under the identity Taurus Silver. He is voiced by Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese)[1] and Alejandro Saab (English).[2]

Conception

The story was conceived around a protagonist whose abilities cannot be properly measured through standardized evaluation; as such, he is mistakenly categorized as a poor performing student or an irregular. This premise served as a basis for the character Tatsuya Shiba. Satō has two processes for scripting the story arcs: the first is to create scenarios to have characters behave and interact in certain ways; the second is to plan a scene, then script the story so it leads to that scene. Satō professed that he does not feel his characters are alive or have a will of their own when scripting them.

Manga

The Irregular at Magic High School was adapted into several manga series with various artists and publishers; each manga adaptation covered a story arc from the original light novels. The first adaptation was by Fumino Hayashi and Tsuna Kitaumi and covered the Enrollment Arc of the light novels.

• Volumes

Light novels

The light novels have been well received. They were ranked seventh in Sugoi Japan 2015 polls and have been one of the top selling light novel series in Japan.[215][216][217] By 2014, 5.3 million copies of the light novel had been sold.[218] In addition, its manga and anime adaptations also appeared on top selling charts.[219][220] In 2017, 7.7 million copies had been sold.[221]