[Ended] The Irregular at Magic High School (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei)

Mahesvara, huh? Let's see...ah, AKA Shiva. Gotcha.

Pros: Depth.
-Characters are human. Up until the last few episodes, no one is linear, most of the people have motivations for what they do, good or bad. Not just Evil for the sake of Evil.
-Interesting Magic. Perhaps a personal taste, but I found the way they physics'd up the magic in the show quite charming. It's not just magical farts from the ether, there are Laws, rules, and Limits, and people have to live with their consequences.

Cons: Complexity. This was apparent almost from episode one. The show is ridiculously technical with its magic, science, and physics. I know it had to have turned some people off when it boggled their brains.

-Despite appearances, the plot of the show basically stays the same from episode 1, all the way to 26. We follow the lives of the 'mysteriously unusual' siblings, as various things go wonky around them and they react. Grant, it doesn't need a hugely interesting over-plot since all the sub-plots make up for it, and maybe the overhead plot comes together better in the complete story, but that's not what we get, so it loses a few points.

My Opinion: A shame. The story clearly progresses past the last episode. After reflecting on it for about a minute after finishing the last episode, I realized I didn't really feel like putting this show into the 'Glory' section I reserve for my first and best recommendations to people. My first thought was that it might be the complexity, which was almost enough to make my head swim, and I know I have a high tolerance for the technical kinds of information they were using. I could sometimes follow what they were referring to, even if I didn't completely understand how it worked.
Ultimately though, it came down to the bad taste the cliff-hanger ending left in my mouth. I really F#$%ing wanted to know everything they did to Tatsuya, and it gets to the final episode, and they start peeling back the layers of mystery and! cliff-hanger. They really only reveal one secret of his, confirm the existence of another, and then completely ignore the one I wanted to know about the most. I would be lying if I said anything other than the truth, which is that I am personally emotionally annoyed by this.
The most impressive thing I noticed was consequences. No one just has something and that's it. The more power they have, the larger the consequences they have to live with. It seems to be a echoing repeat theme in the show, and is one of the last things they throw in our faces in the last episode. Paying a price for having or obtaining.
[Spoiler Warning]
WHY is Tatsuya chained to his sister? and How?
[Spoiler End]

Impartial Judgement: In short, excellent. In long hand, not for everyone. The complexity is what it is, and I've banged on about it long enough. You either don't mind it, or it puts you off. ..or you're a huge science-buff and you completely understand everything they say and criticize them for getting some parts incorrect. Ultimately I feel that it is irrelevant to the show, because when something is especially relevant they do try to explain it in more and simpler detail. Whether that is good enough or not will vary from person to person. The base characters are interesting and likable. I realized at one point that one of them..vaguely fit the tsundere trope, and that felt weird. The idea that a trope could be used subtly.
[Aside]
Then, I felt stupid. Of course a trope should be subtle. It's a part of a persons personality, it doesn't bloody define them. That's what is so grating about the Tsundere trope being over used. It becomes so disgustingly cartoon'ish.
[Aside End]

In summary, if the technicality of the shows magical terminology doesn't put you off, there's a lot to love in this show. And a great big fat Cliff-hanger at the end of it to slap you in the face. Hope you weren't really interested in the two central protagonists because it's definitely not going to finish telling you about them.