The consequences of prejudice and Hachiya’s unusual past come back to haunt him.
What they Say:
Love and Hate – Wizard Barristers takes place in the near future of 2018, where wizards and humans live side-by-side in Tokyo. While police continue to protect the rest of society, wizards are tried according to magical laws in special courts defended by wizard barristers. Cecile Sudo has just become the youngest wizard barrister at age 17, and begins work at the Butterfly Law Offices. However, unbeknownst to her, she has tremendous magical potential…
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers).
A normal day in the park for Cecil turns bizarre as two headhunters from a rival law firm (staffed entirely by men, no less) attempts to recruit her, based on her performance during the “No Face” trial. The other women at the Butterfly Law Offices seem alternately perplexed, and a little bit jealous (especially since the guys at the rival office are considered fairly attractive). At the same time, Hachiya receives a summons from Inspector Quinn regarding a suspect who refuses to give a statement unless it’s to him. Hachiya recognizes the woman, a magic user named Mayu Oikawa, from a trial several years ago, during which he served as prosecutor. As it turns out, before awakening to his powers as a Wud Mitsuhisa Hachiya (or “Hatchi Mitsu” as he’s affectionately known around the office) worked as a prosecuting lawyer who essentially sent Wud to jail (or worse) under of dubious charges. In fact, he’s quite the rarity in that after his awakening, he was discharged from his normal job and transitioned into the job of a wizard barrister.
Though Mayu has her reasons for committing her crime and her motive is clear, she denies responsibility, citing the explosion she caused as an “accident.” Before her trial, though, she passes a message to Hachiya. During the sentencing Hachiya, in some misguided sense of duty, unshackles her so that she can get her desired revenge by attacking him, but she instead turns on the entire court room and it’s only Cecil, with some backup from the local police, that puts an end to the attack.
As a consequence of the encounter, Cecil awakens to a new form of magic, and there are already those with their eyes on her.
To paraphrase Film Critic Hulk, a “plot hole” only becomes problematic the more glaring it is and how much it distracts from the overall experience of consuming a piece of media. Many films and TV series survive on the manipulation of audience assumptions for the greater good of the textual experience. That said, sometimes even a veteran anime-viewer such as myself is smacked across the face by an oversight or an expectation so out there that it’s difficult to overlook. It becomes even more difficult if the overall experience itself isn’t A-grade entertaining. In order to tell Hachiya’s (honestly very interesting) origin story and then to bring it full-circle, we’re asked to overlook the logic behind his decision to unshackle Mayu-san during the trial (a huge violation in this universe, judging by how harshly Wud are treated to begin with), and then also accept the way the act is hand-waved away by both his coworkers at Butterfly Legal and the authorities, who simply place him on house arrest for a week. It’s a convenience that furthers the tale this episode is trying to tell, but surely there could have been a more elegant way for Hachiya to try and atone for his former acts than to put everything he has now in total jeopardy.
Aside from this pretty glaring issue, I was actually happy to have a story that brought one of the other characters into the spotlight for a moment. Cecil might be the main focus, but since this series is set in such a lush universe that could be used to discuss so many aspects of society through its particular lens, I’m glad that its creator is choosing to do so through inclusion. With such a variety of characters it’s likely that there are several angles to explore in regards to the prejudice the Wud face on a daily basis, and the procedural aspect of the show is really enhanced by that variety.
On a lighter note, it’s interesting to me that all the familiars we’ve been introduced to so far seem to have the same “issue” (charm point?) with being completely oversexed and pervy. I’m still mostly certain that Cecil’s familiar Nana Genie is the show’s primary fanservice outlet; for a series that surprisingly avoids the expected fanservice tropes in other aspects, to have this one issue is frustrating, but not surprising. At the very least, this proves that the oversexualization goes both ways. This isn’t necessarily a great way to foster equality, but it’s certainly different from the approach most shows take and I can appreciate that.
In Summary:
This episode further illustrated the prejudice that the Wud face on a daily basis and how some in the Wud community are driven to fight violently in opposition to that prejudice. The real-life implications of this being fairly obvious to most viewers, I would guess. Unfortunately I’m starting to wonder how this message (which is honestly getting to be a little bit overbearing in spite of the fact that I also find it to be an interesting angle to include in an anime series) will be able to tie the series together properly, considering that it’s slated for 12 episodes and there doesn’t seem to be much of an overarching plot to speak of. The tedium of the fanservice is also really starting to detract from what would do well as a more serious police/lawyer drama, so I’m curious to see whether that will still get toned-down over the next few episodes. Overall, though, this show has remained solid and entertaining in spite of some plot missteps and irritating elements.
Episode Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment: Acer P235H 1080p LCD Monitor connected via DVI input, Logitech S220 2.1 Speakers, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
