The Irregular at Magic High School is currently airing, but I find myself unmotivated to watch it past the first seven episodes, which isn't even past the first story-arc of the series.
The show is set in a world where magic has been brought to life through the power or science and programming sequences, which is interesting because the main character can read casting sequences so quickly that he is able to develop counter-measures for enemy casting, even though his own magical aptitude isn't that great. Other students use their electronic focuses in interesting ways and can even have others program those devices for them to use different spells that they themselves would have a hard time creating. They're basically like wizards. So... Techno mages, I guess. Raw power isn't all that matters - clever use of magic overcomes the brash casters, which is why I like it so well.
The world itself is interesting because the now-common use of magic across the world has led to a post-World War III cold war, where the arms race now involves countries training up as many mages as possible through their academies, the most prestigious of which is attended by the main character and his sister, where only top students are allowed to attend, although some students who's aptitude for magic is lower are still allowed in as reserves and receive secondary privileges to the First Course students, so there's some class-ism going on as well since the Second Course students are often getting harassed by the First Course students.
Sound interesting? Sadly, it's not executed well once you start watching it. The entire premise for the show became lost on me once I saw it was one of those kind of shows where the main character is amazing at everything, a hit with the ladies, and whose skills are recognized by the First Course students, thus quickly rendering his status as a Second Course student moot. The thing is, we're also supposed to believe this guy, who is also a ninjutsu master (because it wouldn't be anime if he wasn't, amirite?), is the underdog, when not once are we ever presented with evidence that he is.
I could forgive such a protagonist, but you immediately start to find out that, surprise, tons of these Second Course students are actually badasses in disguise. There's just an air of smugness about it. There's no tension because you know someone's just going to bullshit their way out of something, and it always happens so quickly and effortlessly that I can fully understand how someone could describe action as 'ball-numbing.' Pile that on top of other characters that behave irrationally, even by Japanese Anime standards, and the whole class-ism thing getting cranked up to 11 way too soon, and they've ruined the really cool jumping off point they'd started with.
