WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Irregular at Magic High School's "Reminiscence Arc," now streaming on Funimation and Crunchyroll.
The Irregular at Magic High School protagonist Tatsuya Shiba is a fascinating character. On paper, he seems like your standard, run-of-the-mill overpowered shonen protagonist. However, within his particular society of magicians, he's actually considered an inferior user of magic. Here's why this is the case -- and what it reveals about the world of The Irregular at Magic High School.
The story begins with Tatsuya and his sister Miyuki arriving at First High School, which divides its magician students by ability based on a series of standardized tests. While Miyuki is placed in Course 1, the level reserved for the most powerful students, Tatsuya is placed in the weaker Course 2. Despite being part of the lower course, Tatsuya is often shown outclassing those around him, easily besting many who would be ranked higher than him by the school's system. He even dispatches trained soldiers with ease, showing he is far more powerful than he first appears.
One big reason for Tatsuya being considered inferior is that his skills fall outside of those traditionally valued by First High School. As seen throughout Irregular at Magic High School, he is a brilliant tactician who's amazing at hand-to-hand combat. He's also a Magic Engineering expert, having created several revolutionary devices and advancing the field of Casting Assistant Devices. However, the school simply doesn't test for these skills, meaning Tatsuya's prowess is overlooked by the facility.
That said, it is also easy to see why Tatsuya might consider himself an inferior magician, with one of the biggest reasons involving his backstory. When Tatsuya was born, he could not manipulate or change matter; he could only destroy and reassemble it. On top of this, he was completely unable to use many common forms of magic. Because of this, his family deemed him unworthy to lead the clan. To try and fix this, his mother Miya Shiba and aunt Maya Yotsuba performed a magical procedure on him. The operation added an Artificial Magic Calculation Area into Tatsuya's brain -- at the expense of his emotions.
Because of this, Tatsuya is not considered to be a full magician. While the Artificial Magical Calculation Area does give him the ability to utilize forms of magic he couldn't previously use, casting in this way means that spells are not as strong and cannot be performed as quickly, leading many to see Tatsuya as an artificial (and thus weaker) magician. Due to internalizing his family's abuse, this is a view Tatsuya likely agrees with, and it's shown by how often he seems to shy away from compliments or be overly humble despite his monumental successes.
Another reason for Tatsuya's low rank is his lack of emotions. Due to the operation, Tatsuya is wholly focused on his duty to protect his sister. Because of this, he simply isn't as driven when it comes to standardized testing; doing well in a test doesn't protect Miyuki in any way. This is also shown by Tatsuya rarely displaying enthusiasm outside a small selection of topics. While he could likely do better in tests, he simply doesn't have the drive to do so, causing him to seem weaker than he actually is.
Tatsuya's treatment at First High School shows how rigid and overly-focused criteria for success can harm people, especially in academia. By focusing on only a narrow set of skills, students who excel in other areas can be overlooked despite having immense talent. In fact, Tatsuya's experience in The Irregular at magic High School proves that the magical world needs to overhaul its schooling system as there are likely others just like him: gifted students with much to give the world, but are locked out of the best schooling and opportunities as they don't fit within the fixed, outdated boxes the education system uses.
