After Shugo Chara, there was another amazing magical girl series known as Madoka Magica that was released in 2011. It was popular for quite some time due to the movies that came out for it after the series. After that, magical girl series with the target age for elementary school aged girls became a dead genre, with really only Pretty Cure keeping it alive. Pretty Cure has had a new season every year since 2004. In 2015, however, we got a new series for that target audience in 2015. The series was called Himitsu no Cocotama. There was a sequel for it as well. Although it was not a magical girl series, it still hit that target age audience. Something that you don't see too much of these days anymore (even with the revival of these new magical girl series from this season of anime). Then in 2021, a series called Mewkledreamy was released (which I guess you could consider as magical girl) as well as a sequel series, Mewkledreamy Mix, the following year.
There hasn't been much within this genre of anime since Mewkledreamy Mix. The magical girl genre for the elementary school girl target age became very sporadic after I would say around the year 2006 and/or 2007. I remember I would always look forward to every new spring because that was usually the prime time for a new magical anime series. I noticed it started dying down around the mid to late 00s. I remember being disappointed many times with the spring seasonal anime lists around that time. In 2011, I thought that maybe Madoka Magica would finally revive the genre but unfortunately, that was not the case. Now, we did have series such as Sanrio's JewelPet but it only stuck around for a few seasons.
Now
come to fall seasonal anime, at least 3 new magical girl anime series
have been released! One of them really gives me the old school feel of
the mid 00s. That one being, Mahou Tsukai ni Narenakatta Onnanoko no Hanashi.
Summary of Mahou Tsukai ni Narenakatta Onnanoko no Hanashi: Kurumi Mirai is a first year in high school enrolling in magic school. She encountered a witch when she was young and was in awe of her magic. She decided she wanted to be just like that witch. The witch gave her a book and she keeps it as motivation to become a mahou tsukai. However, when she applies to
get into a mage training class, known as "Ma-gumi (Mage Class)", she wasn't able
to get in despite having full scores and was top of the class for the
whole three years. How will she become the mahou tsukai she dreams of being now?
My Thoughts: So far,
just 3 episodes of the show have come out. From my first thought, the first few
minutes of episode 1 of the animation looked weird but it seems that style only used
for flashbacks
in the series. After the flashback, you get the standard anime style we
know as of today. The art style is extremely cutesy and very shojo
like. The art style definitely gets an A from me. I don't really have too much opinions of the characters as we're still early in. I'll definitely be watching this all the way through tho. I can definitely say that if you're a fan of Little Witch Academia, you'll love this. Many fans have been comparing it to that series and I can see why.
Opening Screencaps:
Song Title: Collage (コラージュ)" by PUFFY to Tsuideni TOOBOE
The opening song is just alright. The background music is catchy and the animation is beautiful and full of pastel colors. Definitely an opening I'd expect from this genre. I give it a B rating. The ending song is just as catchy and pastel-y!
Next is Acro Trip.
Summary: Chizuko Daté is an otaku girl who lives in a city in Niigata Prefecture.
Chizuko is obsessed with Berry Blossom, the magical girl who protects
the city. However, Chroma, the leader of the local evil organization
Fossa Magna, is inept and weak. Hardly anyone else cares about Berry
Blossom and Chroma's frequent battles anymore. Chizuko vows to shine a
light on the magical girl's exploits and this fervent desire takes this
seemingly shy middle school girl down a dark path filled with strange
folks...
My Thoughts: So far, this is another series I'm enjoying and Chizuko is the youngest magical girl out of the 3. I do like her friendship that she has with *spoiler alert* Chroma, though, her obsession with Berry Blossom is a bit too obsessive at times and is kinda weird lol. If you can get over that part, then the show is actually quite enjoyable to watch. Chroma is quickly becoming my favorite character outta the entire series and Berry Blossom's character design is so cute! I'll definitely watch the rest of this.
Opening Screencaps:
Song Title: "Fragum (フラーグム)" by Inori Minase (水瀬いのり)
Last up is is Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière!
Summary: "Magical Girl"—A profession that undertakes the work of exterminating a kind of natural disaster called "Kaii." Kana Sakuragi, a female college student who struggles with job hunting, is picked up by a magical girl startup company and...?! Magical Girl work-life starts now!
My Thoughts: This series reminds me a lot more of Madoka Magica. Mainly with the witches fighting monsters theme going on here. Kana is the oldest magical girl out of the 3 in this season. She is a college student struggling to find a job where she can be helpful. She loves to help others so wants to find a job just like that. She is a lot like me actually. I also love to help others when I can. The magical girl in this series is Hitomi Koshigaya. Her personality is a lot like a man's that you can find in any shounen hero series. You may recognize Kazuo's voice if you have seen My Hero Academia. His Seiyuu is the same as Midoriya's. I guess Midoriya now works for magical girls. xD Definitely some interesting and weird characters and I like it. Otherwise, I think this show will be a fun watch.
Opening Screencaps:
Song Title: "Order Made (オーダーメイド)" by Mafumafu (まふまふ)
Another average opening. The animations for it are great though!
Overall: I suppose you could say it is a bit strange for someone my age to prefer a magical girl series with kids in it. Imo, making the main characters younger gives this genre a bit more of cutesy and girly feel to it. While the characters in Mahou Tsukai ni Narenakatta Onnanoko no Hanashi are middle school aged, the colorful pastel-y colors definitely does fit the vibe of a magical girl series aimed for young girls or any magical girl fan. That's honestly what I look for when it comes to this genre. Otherwise, I'm so happy magical girl series are trying to make a come back. I have been wanting it to come back for a long time now. Probly since Madoka Magica was released and I do hope one day, we'll see more series like Futagohime, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sugar Sugar Rune, Ojamajo DoReMi, etc. All 3 of these new magical girl series do look very promising and I do hope that these series will become popular enough to revive the genre and keep it alive.
That's all for today's post. Whew! That definitely took a bit of time to write. At least a couple days but I'm glad I did it. If you read this far (thank you!), feel free to comment which magical girl series is your favorite and which new magical series are you watching from this season? Will write again soon!
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