Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto - Natsu no Sora - Episode 3

The third instalment of Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto - Natsu no Sora continues to run the risk of letting its lavish backdrops steal the show from the story itself, and on occasion it's a pretty close-run thing with the feeling that the characters are placed around the scenery rather than vice versa, but overall it just about manages to pull the trick off once again.

This particular episode sees Sora take on her first proper job in training to be a mage, a simple job that involves opening and locking a safe for a client. Of course, that would hardly make for an exciting focus, and so we see Sora sticking her nose in to the client's business to put it bluntly, and soon managing to reach the emotional crux of her continuous requests for a mage to come and open and close her safe.


Aside from that, we also learn a little more about Gouta's situation, and are seemingly set up for some later conflict with the assertion that no student should use their magic outside of working for clients, even if it saves lives.

Despite those occasionally overbearing backdrops and rather bland character designs, there's still something about this series that works for me, largely centered around the dialogue and emotions on show. These are at times both subtle and quite powerful, and in the case of Sora's interference with her client's life (or lack of) it was actually quite touching. Outside of those more powerful moments, much of the rest of the episode's dialogue feels natural enough to draw you in, and thus goes some way to banishing the issue of those largely dull looking characters.

I'm still not entirely sure if (or even how) this series will carry itself through its entire season, but as of now I'm still quite content to go with the flow and enjoy it for what it is, with its positives still managing to outweigh its flaws for me for the time being.