Season 1 of Becoming a Magic School Mage (written by Writingmachine and illustrated by aptx) finally ended after 121 chapters. This is probably the longest first season I’ve ever seen for a manhwa series. Usually they go on hiatus every 40-50 chapters, sometimes never to return (wah, Monstrous First Day). I’ve even seen a series take a break after as feww as 30 chapters, so 121 is low-key blowing my mind. Well, that’s all good and nice, but how is the series itself?
Summary: Ehan was a stressed-out graduate student who vowed to never attend school again, until he was reborn as the third son of a noble family of mages. But since he isn’t the sole heir, he has to make his own path by enrolling at Einrogard, the best magic school in the empire. And although everyone expects much from him, Ehan’s time in academia has taught him that getting easy As is the best way to get through school. Despite his lack of ambition, can he graduate as a full-fledged mage? (source: Tapas official site)
Of course he can. He’s so wonderfully talented and smart with a nearly bottomless pool of mana that all his professors can’t help but like him… and show that liking by giving him extra work and challenges. Although Ehan is more or less your everyday “overpowered Korean manhwa protagonist,” a few things keep him from being annoying or generic.
The first is his background as an overworked and stressed PhD student, which helps him shmooze with the faculty in ways that can be very funny to watch. He knows just what to say to make the professors happy, but unfortunately making them happy often backfires on him because they show their favor through extra work and responsibilities.
Secondly, he’s strong and smart, but not to an excessive degree, i.e. he still gets into dangerous situations that he has to struggle through or use his wits to figure a way out of, and his professors are still way stronger than him. Although Becoming a Magic School Mage is very much a slice of life series about life at a magic academy, there are also hints and stirrings about a worldwide anti-mage conspiracy, and that puts Ehan and the rest of his friends in danger on occasion.
The third thing reason why Ehan is not annoying despite his talents is that not everyone likes him in the series, and he doesn’t like everyone either. Marty Stu he is definitely not, and none of the girls introduced so far have any interest in him romantically either. Everyone’s just trying to get through their crazy school days as best as possible.
That’s what makes this series enjoyable despite the generic “academy” setting. Some readers/commenters have compared it to Harry Potter, but honestly there are zero similarities beyond the setting and the four houses, so don’t even go there. The stakes are super low, no one is explicitly after Ehan’s life, he’s not an orphan or even poor, and all his professors love him/love messing with him, so if anything it’s the anti-Potter.
If I had to give two drawbacks of Becoming a Magic School Mage, it would be first that the cast is rather large, so a lot of people get lost in the mix and are quickly forgotten. It’s natural that a high school would have a lot of faculty and students, but it’s hard to care about people when they appear and disappear all the time. Not that Ehan cares about anyone except himself much either.
The second thing is the lack of a focused story. It’s okay if the author just wants to write a slice of life series. However he is dropping hints about larger issues out there that have not been developed yet. It’s giving “1000-chapter series” feels where the big issues are only going to come out when readers have stopped caring. But that’s something to worry about in future. Becoming a Magic School Mage just went on hiatus and won’t be back in the while, but it doesn’t end on any crazy cliffhangers. Definitely give it a try if you like comedy school series and/or magic.
