Hard and soft magic systems are more of a scale than a binary and I'd say this meets somewhere in the middle
I'd say that rather than a binary or a scale, hard and soft magic systems are the difference between narrative functions of magic in the story: a hard MS is a tool for characters to clear obstacles and to resolve conflict, while a soft MS is a chaotic impulse that introduces a sense of wonder, of "what's going to happen next?" to the story. From this point of view (and without having read the WN), the magic system in this manga is neither hard, nor soft so far, but mostly just another attribute to characterize the protagonists by their affinities to different elements. Neither Rei, nor Claire utilize magic to advance their respective story arcs in any significant capacity (as they would if it truly were a hard MS), but neither is it a major source of new plot points (like a soft MS would).
I guess my point is that rather than sitting between hard and soft MS, this story's magic is neither in equal measure, as it could have been removed altogether without affecting the essential plot lines very much (again, with the caveats "so far" and "I haven't read the WN").
last edited at Apr 26, 2021 3:58AM