(C)2016遠藤浅蜊・宝島社／まほいく
Too many things happened. Way too fast. The information has not been processed correctly. I have to re-watch the episode, and that is never a good thing. I also just realized that girls die in every other episode, which means the plot is going to move slower than I thought, even though this particular episode had a bit too much to say.
Japanese Title: 新キャラ追加しました！
Secret plots and intense fighting occurs. Sister Nana and Winterprison are a lesbian couple. Feels like too much of a responsibility having to explain everyone’s gender in this show, but it does get me more confused than I expected. And you haven’t seen anything yet. There are things happening with the Magical Girls’ love lives. What do you call a straight female dating a bi-gender person? A couple. *insert critical corgi meme here*
Sister Nana and her girlfriend Winterprison are trying to form alliances with other Magical Girls. Apparently it doesn’t work very well as they’re getting constantly rejected, and I am not surprised, given their method is to write complaint letters to the app’s developers… Girl, we’ve been through this. The admins are not listening. Magical happiness is not exactly their concern. Ripple who has what appears to be mommy issues thinks Sister Nana resembles her ‘pitiful’ mother and gets pissed off for no apparent reason. TopSpeed casually mentions that she can’t die for the next six months. I think she’s pregnant.
The AUCG (or whatever is left of it) is meeting up and, admittedly, Swim Swim is a slightly more compelling leader than Ruler, since she’s effing paranoid. But who cares about them, Winterprison and Sister Nana are dating, YEAH, and they seem to live in an incredibly fancy loft. I’m too scared to find out what they do for a living.
A bit of backstory on them, sponsored by Magicaloid’s flashback during a conversation with – what’s that annoying westernized character’s name… ah yes – Calamity Mary: Magicaloid used to ‘help’ Sister Nana while she was trying to get her girlfriend to turn into a Magical Girl by selling her useless stuff from the future (yes, her magical power is to bring useless futuristic gadgets in the present, and they don’t last for more than a day). The amount of crap Sister Nana buys from this girl is unbelievable, and the price she pays probably too high. Once again, I don’t wanna know what she does for a living. Somehow, her method works, and Shizuku (her girlfriend) becomes a really strong Magical Girl. During their last meeting, Magicaloid makes Sister Nana pay her to convey a message to the system admins, claiming she has some special connection to them. Winterprison is not impressed.
The couple then meets with the oldest Magical Girl, Cranberry, the Musician of the Forest, the one who so gracefully concealed from everyone else the fact than when you lose your powers, you die. She appears and naturally, tries to kill them both. She keeps going on about how she’s looking for a challenge, and during the fight she constantly has this annoying smug smile on her face.
Koyuki realizes she has feelings for Souta and they touch hands. I bet his sword is real big right now. Unfortunately, the brief moment of romance ends abruptly thanks to Cranberry who now thinks it’s a good idea to challenge La Pucelle in a battle. Let the games begin.
Magicaloid is Doraemon: In case you are too young to remember this, Doreamon is an uber-successful manga and anime about a robotic cat from the 22nd century, sent to help a bullied boy in the present by providing him with objects from the future that come out of his pocket. Just like Magicaloid, except Doreamon is adorable and doesn’t make a profit out of it.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena type-of-romance: Sister Nana’s ideal prince, just like Anthy’s from back in the day, is a strong woman who protects her and accepts her for who she is. This seems to refer to the 1997 anime, possibly the first of its kind, discussing the theme of looking for a partner that represents an integration of the two sides of the self, masculine and feminine. If you want to dig deeper into this, here’s an MIT article on anime gender roles.
Full Metal Alchemist type-of-architect: Winterprison creates walls just like my beloved Elric brothers, although not with as much style. I do miss these guys. Do you ever get this feeling that you wish you could forget something and experience it all over again for the first time? That’s how much I love Full Metal Alchemist.
Although not that bad, this episode was poorly structured and confusing. Sister Nana’s intentions seem really naïve and her efforts to work things out not very convincing, like the fact that Cranberry decided to lure them into a trap and let them go – just to build the suspense for her battle with La Pucelle. I do like her makeup though. Also, how Winterprison got to be a magical girl makes absolutely no sense.
The build-up towards the girls’ death is not as good as the actual thing (boy, that sounded weird). You get to know some information about the characters, which kind of helps you guess who’s dying next, since you start getting attached to them by knowing more about their lives. My guess is Winterprison will die next (I have not read the manga, I’m just speculating) because she’s such an important person in Sister Nana’s life, and her loss will provide the audience with some feels.
What do you think? Leave a comment below if you think you can guess who will be the next Magical Girl to be getting the boot.
Don’t forget to check the rest of our Fall 2016 reviews.
NEXT TIME: “Get the Super-Rare Items!” “Geki-Rea Aitemu o Getto shiyō!” (激レアアイテムをゲットしよう！)
Started broadcast in October 2016 !
Official Website: http://mahoiku.jp
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(C)2016遠藤浅蜊・宝島社／まほいく
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