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Magical girl5/6/2023 In turn, anime original parts of the story are inferior and harm the narrative. Important scenes from the source material are cut or changed. Action scenes are slideshows (somewhat alleviated by their tactical nature, but still looking bad). It’s not all roses, though, the anime suffers a lot from poor production values. Special mention for the visual style that seamlessly merges military and mahou shoujo aesthetics, especially in the design of magical girls’ costumes. They don’t harbour some universe-spanning conspiracy, they just want to profit via trading or smuggling. Kyubey lookalikes are a multi-faceted society with good and bad factions/individuals no different from humanity. Of course mahou shoujos are gay for each other - nothing breeds emotional bonds like the battlefield - and then they drift apart because they don’t actually have much in common in the civilian life. And yet it never stops her from getting in the fucking robot, because she doesn’t fail to understand a very obvious idea that she is a hero who literally saved the world and should be proud of herself. Of course the MC has PTSD just like any self-respecting child soldier should. Meaning, “dark magical girls deconstructions” are old news, it’s time to deconstruct or subvert their tropes already: Returning back to the “Magical Girl” part of the title - the series’ genre can be accurately described as post-dark mahou shoujo - by the same merit as post-cyberpunk subgenre of sci-fi. It feeds both the sci-fi and over-the-top fun aspects of the series, because there is just something magical about watching a mahou shoujo overcharging an assault rifle bullet with energy to a point where it becomes a bunker-buster. Magic memory wipe - a full-on complex neurosurgery that needs the use of a (magic) tomograph. Magic truth serum - a magically altered barbiturate cocktail. Magic shield - it’s actually a magic explosive reactive armor. Magic animal mascot - a synthetic life-form with true AI. The show rightfully brags about having a dedicated military advisor, and it also sciences the shit out of anything magical. The big highlight of the series - it’s an absolute treat to any modern military buff, a hard sci-fi fan, or just anyone who likes authors doing their research. Again, Metal Gear is the most apt comparison. There is plenty of unadulterated brainless B-movie fun that would make for a totally inappropriate tonal clash if it was any less self-aware. That’s not to say this series is completely dramatic. Anyway, don’t watch this if you can’t handle torn-off limbs. Try calling something like Saving Private Ryan “edgy” and you will be laughed at, yet the same shit flies with anime for reasons that are not the topic of this review. Like I said, this is a military drama about war and terrorism - if a story like this isn’t dark, then it’s toothless and fails to achieve its purpose. Naturally, given the genre and the height of its proverbial brow, this is an appropriately dark show. The writing is competent, dealing with the brought up themes in a mature and nuanced way. most accurate portrayals of PTSD in fiction, btw), the effect of a global war on the world order (the classical Mahou Shoujo battle with monsters was won by the MC several years before the series even begins), political fuckery between the competing military branches, battlefield camaraderie and so on - all the genre staples. In fact, Metal Gear is an almost complete thematic match for this show - gut-wrenching military drama plus “twenty minutes into the future and the world has gone to hell” sci-fi plus wacky tongue-in-cheek comedy.Īs a military drama it touches on the themes of child soldiers (that is, magical girls), terrorism, PTSD of soldiers and civilians (one of the best and Do not be misled by the words “Mahou Shoujo” in the title, this is a military/sci-fi drama about an anti-terrorist unit, it is far more in line with Ghost in the Shell/Metal Gear rather than with any actual mahou shoujo series.
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