Story: 10
Mahouka story revolves around Tatsuya and his little sister Miyuki as they try to live normal everyday lives as magicians despite who they are and the countless trouble they find themselves in. Doesn't sound ground breaking I know, however when you include terrorist organizations, global crime syndicates, foreign military powers, and much more to the mix, you've got one compelling and entertaining story on your hands that has a lot of political and social intrigue.

The science behind the magic in Mahouka is pretty cool and interesting. The author did hell of a job with making this pseudo science for magic and its by far the most unique system of magic that I've read in fiction. However, the explanations and info dumps can be overwhelming to the point that it feels like you are reading it out of an advanced textbook, so you might need to have full concentration when going through them in order get the full grasp of it.

I figured I should mention this, if you are not a fan of incestuous undertones, you might feel uncomfortable with some of Miyuki's thoughts and actions throughout the novels.

Characters: 9
Tatsuya is the main protagonist in Mahouka. He best is described as stoic and highly intelligent. Tatsuya gives off a cold impression, however he can be very kind and caring(mainly towards his friends and Miyuki). Due to specific circumstances, Tatsuya has weaker emotions and because of this logic often rules his thought process. However the one strong emotion he has left, is his brotherly love for Miyuki and because of this, he tends to spoil her and be overly protective.Caused by mistreatment growing up, Tatsuya often looks down on his own magic capabilities and merits and has trouble grasping why people see him in a positive light, while he often labels himself as a villain. He also has a inferiority complex for mundane things that other people have no trouble dealing with.

For me, Tatsuya is the most interesting character in the novel and my personal favorite. I'll admit he is border-lining the gary stu sterotype, however he has enough faults that he doesn't seem overly perfect, which lets you know he can grow as a character. Speaking of development, Tatsuya is a predeveloped character, so he doesn't develop like usual MC's. For Tatsuya, his development comes from his emotion growth as a character and his growth as a human being, its subtle at first, but around you start noticing definite changes as the story progresses. Another thing to mention, Tatsuya is extremely overpowered to the point that its unfair, however I don't find this a issue, because for the majority of his fights, he is under circumstances that don't allow him to go all out and depending on the strength of his opponent, he is forced to use tactics and his combat prowess to win. Plus when he does go all out, he tends to leave me in awe. He is also put in a quite of situation where his power can't solve the issue at hand, which force him to go at those situations with different means to solve the problem. His OP'ness is also treated as a double edged sword. Even though his strength lets him rule the battlefield, it also limits his freedom and causes him to be targeted often by people to either eliminate him, capture him, limit him, or to even brainwash him. So at much as it seems to be a gift, his power actually can be considered a curse as well.

For Miyuki, she is very well mannered, kind, and down to earth young lady and combined with her extreme beauty and world class magic strength, she gives off an overly perfect impression. For Miyuki, her life is completely centered around Tatsuya and her love for Tatsuya surpasses that of sibling love. This part of Miyuki scares herself, because she is afraid that Tatsuya would distance himself from her if he knew. She often gets really jealous if Tatsuya gets overly friendly with other girls, but surprisingly she is fine with girls having romantic feelings for her brother and is willing to allow them to compete as love rivals.

My main problem with Miyuki is that she is pretty much a one dimensional character. Outside of Tatsuya, she doesn't have any goals or objectives of herself. Her brocon can be heart warming at times, but annoying at others. I don't hate hate Miyuki, but for being the main female, she isn't very compelling or interesting. Though In wouldn't outright say that she's a bad character.

As for the supporting cast, its filled with likable characters with a good amount of them given good depth and characterization. For example, characters like Mayumi and Erika really shine and are fleshed out extremely well. However, Mahouka has a very large cast of characters and so some of them haven't yet been fleshed out as much as they should or have been left in the background, but since the story is far from over that could very well be covered later on.

Personal Enjoyment: 10
I absolutely love this series. The number of times I have read the fan translated volumes is in the double digits and I was never bored. I love the characters, the magic system, the action, the drama, the world building, and the political and social intrigue.

Overall score: 10
Mahouka is my bread and butter and its currently my favorite series of time . Of course I'm a little biased, but who isn't with the stuff they love?