Anime Recommendation: When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace

Another slice-of-life harem anime...but with supernatural powers!

I'm on a mission to watch every anime from Studio Trigger! I think that plenty of folks in the anime community at least recognize Trigger's more popular series like Kill la Kill and Inferno Cop, and before diving into the Trigger-verse, I was already a fan of Space Patrol Luluco, Little Witch Academia, and SSSS.Gridman. For the most part, I love Studio Trigger and the anime that they produce, especially anything from Hiroyuki Imaishi or Akira Amemiya.

Recently, I've completed one series from Studio Trigger that I really wouldn't think is a Trigger anime if I didn't already know, and that is When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, or Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de. Pretty cool title. It sounds like it'll be something ridiculously exciting like Kill la Kill or Space Patrol Luluco. Going into it, I was expecting super-powered antics with mages and monsters in a school setting.

But that's not what When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace is about at all. It's actually about a literature club made up of some high school kids (and an elementary school student) who suddenly get super powers and just spend their days playing around with their new abilities. And because these kids consist of one guy and several girls, all of the girls are secretly in love with the guy and trying to win his affection. Meanwhile there is some kind of "Fairy War" going on that the main cast gets mixed up with for a little bit, but it really doesn't have to do with the main story.

When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace is a slice-of-life harem anime, so if you're looking for cool action scenes with super-powered drama, this isn't the anime for you. I'm actually not a fan of harem anime because most of the time the humor is lewd and starts to get tedious. But even more than that, I end up getting attached to all the girls and I want them all to end up with the guy of their dreams even though he's usually unbelievable dense. Fortunately, When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace doesn't have a lot of ecchi jokes and it's more about the friendship between the characters rather than romance.

So because this is a harem anime, I think that the best way for me to sell it is by highlighting the main girls pining for the chuunibyou lead, Jurai Andou. The first is Tomoya Kanzaki who ends up with the ability "Closed Clock" which allows her to freeze time so that she can move things around and make it seem like she's vanished or teleported in an instant. Like Jurai, Tomoya is also a bit of a chuunibyou but is embarrassed by that fact and tries to hide her interests from the others in the literature club.

There is also Jurai's childhood friend, Hatoko Kushikawa, who is close to being my favorite and really got me in the feels at one point. She has the power "Over Element" which lets her manipulate basic elements like water, fire, earth, and air. Even though she's Jurai's oldest friend, Hatoko really doesn't get his chuunibyou interests. None of it makes sense to her and it all sounds contradictory, but she still makes an effort to listen and remember all of his nonsense.

The elementary school student is Chifuyu Himeki and she just likes hanging out with high schoolers instead of kids her own age, though she does have one friend, Cookie, that really cares for her. Chifuyu has the power "World Create" and can use it to create anything, whether it be costumes, portals through space, or robots. She also has a crush on Jurai who fortunately sees her as a little sister and does what he can to make sure she's happy.

The final member of the literature club is Sayumi Takanashi, the club president and the most mature of the group. She's responsible and is very much an "onee-san" type character, especially since she does have a younger sister who makes an appearance at one point. Sayumi's power is "Root of Origins" which can return anything to it's original state. So clothes that have become dirtied can become clean with just a touch, and any bruises or cuts can be instantly healed. And like the other girls, Sayumi is in love with her foolish club member, Jurai.

So then which of these lovely ladies is my favorite and deserves the title "Best Girl". None of them, because from the beginning I quickly fell in love with school's student council president, Mirei Kudou. She's a "do things by the book" and "follow the rules" kind of girl who is always ready to reprimand the literature club, but actually just wants to get closer to them and make friends. Also when she misunderstands and thinks that Jurai's confessed his love to her, she quickly falls head over heels for him and she proves to be adorable. Definitely my favorite character from this series and I wish she was more involved.

At this point, I should probably go into Jurai Andou's character and highlight what makes him special...but he is just the protagonist and in a harem anime, fans come for the girls. And honestly, he's just a chuunibyou otaku who really loves his friends but is too dense to see that they're all in love with him. There's nothing too special about him.

What I do want to get into is how When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace has two stories going on throughout the series. There is the main story about the girls trying to win the heart of Jurai, and then there is a side story about a "Fairy War" and these superhumans fighting against one another. The side story is really not the focus of the anime and even though it sounds interesting, it's pushed off to the side too much for me to care. Maybe it's more important in the light novel that this anime is based off of, but I really wish it wasn't brought up at all in the anime.

So because of the really vague "Fairy War", the lack of episodes with Mirei Kudou, and for being a harem anime that toys with my emotions, I have to rate it as a 7/10. It's not bad and I do think it has an interesting spice for being a slice-of-life harem anime, but it teases that it will do more and it doesn't. And it also didn't make me want to binge watch it.

But if you're a Trigger completionist like me, then I suggest you watch When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace right away. At the very least, it is a fun and relaxing show that is just a little disappointing towards the end. However, it is still very amusing and has a couple really touching moments.

If you've already seen When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, let me know what you though of it. Also, feel free to recommend me other Trigger anime or other harem anime that involve super-powered characters.