[renuac]

Replying to a post in the "Predictions for Beyond the Current Volume" thread.

Originally Posted by TrueAlchemist

I think, you are speculating too much. Miya was mentally broken during the past arc.
After performing mental manipulation magics / surgeries on Maya and Tatsuya and overusing magics, Miya's mental status was not normal.

In the past arc chapter, you can see more humain sides from Maya due to the interaction between Tatsuya and Maya. Maya considers Tatsuya as a nephew. On the other hand, Miya does not consider Tatsuya as a son and treat him like a simple servant. Miya acknowledges giving birth to Tatsuya, but she draws a fine line between Tatsuya and herself not as mother and son, but as a master and servant. And, Miya also forces / educates her daughter, Miyuki, to treat Tatsuya in such way. Some readers speculated possibilities of Maya being Tatsuya's real mother due to this. But, In truth, Maya only acknowledge Tatsuya as her potential nemesis and sees him as a monster. (walking nuclear arsenal) So, I do not expect any plot twists in the future.

Originally Posted by TrueAlchemist

I do not know about you guys. But, I see the world of Mahouka this way. Personally, I do not think, there are any hidden plots or stories behind Miya's treatment towards Tatsuya. During the past arc, I think, Miya was too weak to see through Tatsuya's hidden potential or understand his capabilities. Even after witnessing Tatsuya's material bust (nuking show) on invasion force, Miya's treatment towards Tatsuya did not change until she passed away. The character of Miya seems to be designed this way.

(How can there ever be "too much" speculation? )

I strongly disagree with your analysis of Miya, although I can certainly understand why you see her that way.

We are given several indications that there is more to her than the aloof and well-brought up lady she tries so desperately to always be. Miyuki provides the strongest clue that there is more to Miya than her surface treatment of Tatsuya when she talks about how her mother seems to be suffering at being unable to love her own son. Did she love Tatsuya in the past but lost that ability as Miyuki speculates? Did she still love him but was unable to express it or to even acknowledge it to herself? Was she so bound by her Yotsuba upbringing that, just like she felt she couldn't show her worry over Maya's disappearance in front of servants, she was also unable to show affection towards a strange and "defective" son? I don't know, but I do know that if she were truly that indifferent towards Tatsuya, she wouldn't care enough to be suffering.

Miya's actions also contradict her words as she does seem to look out for her son, in her own way. She stops Kazama from interrogating Tatsuya about the torpedo attack. She tells him to go visit the base since he can't go to the Ryuukyuu dance, and we have every reason to think that Tatsuya wanted to take Kazama up on his invitation. She agrees to let Honami go after him to protect him from enemy fire. None of these may seem like much, but put them together along with Miyuki and Honami's observations, and Miya comes across as far more aware of Tatsuya than she lets on.

Also, she absolutely acknowledges Tatsuya's strength and intelligence. So much so that Honami thinks she is boasting about her son like any proud mother would. When he uses Material Burst, her comments indicate that she isn't particularly surprised that he figured out such a destructive way of using Decomposition and she almost seems to expect him to be able to perform miracles, such as bringing three people back from the brink of death. In some ways, her calm acceptance of Tatsuya's feats remind me of Miyuki's later unquestioning faith in his ability to pull off the impossible.

From what we know of her so far, I agree that she obviously wasn't a good mother to Tatsuya. But to write her off as entirely callous, as so mentally broken that she never had a shred of maternal feeling for him, strikes me as unfair. To me at least, Miya comes across as a tragic character. Like all tragic characters, she is partly the author of her own misfortunes, partly a victim of circumstances outside of her control. And there is still a lot we don't about her, but from what we do know, there probably wasn't much to make her happy after the age of twelve. Of course, being unhappy doesn't justify poor treatment towards her own child, but it does make her somewhat more complex than the automaton you describe.

(I do however pretty much agree with your view on Maya opinion of Tatsuya. She obviously sees him as dangerous, unpredictable and monstrous but that doesn't mean she can't also be fond of him, both as her nephew and as someone she has a lot in common with. It is perfectly possible to both like and dislike someone at the same time. Or to like and be wary of them.)

Originally Posted by TrueAlchemist

If you read Mahouka in detail, you would understand, the author used Tatsuya to separate distinguishable magicians and less distinguishable magicians. (Distinguishable in the means of strength) Most distinguishable magicians who acknowledge Tatsuya's strength, are such as Maya, Retsu, Yakumo, Juumonji Katsuto, and etc. Retsu already sees Tatsuya as a powerful magician. Katsuto supports idea about inviting Tatsuya as a engineer for 9SC and forces Tatsuya to join monolith. Yakumo sees him as a #1 student.

On the other hand, we have Morisaki, Miya, Mitsugu, Aoki, and nameless extra blooms in the first high.
In the means of strength and intellect, they are no match against Tatsuya, so they use their status and try to stay above Tatsuya. For an example, Morisaki continuously emphasises on the bloom / weed; Miya, Mitsugu, and Aoki rely on Yotsuba's hierarchical system when it comes to Tatsuya. In my view, these guys are not special without the status of bloom or member of Yotsuba. You guys may want to argue about Miya, but during the past arc, Miya's prime time was passed due to overusing magic.

Putting Miya aside, I don't know where you get the idea that Mitsugu is a negligible magician from.

But more importantly, none of the characters in Mahouka are as one-dimensional as you imply them to be. Aoki, Morisaki and Mitsugu may be biased against Tatsuya but they aren't mindless, static cartoonish antagonists. Each of them is fleshed out beyond their initial characterisation and we get to see different facets of their personalities. The best example would probably be Morisaki, who might have been an stuck up jerk as a newly enrolled freshman, but who has gotten a lot better since. They also have different reasons for disliking Tatsuya and at least in Mitsugu's case, we know that dislike is rooted in something more than a sense of superiority. Tatsuya is the Yotsuba's “sin”, whatever that means; Mitsugu might well have some damn good reasons to be wary of him.