Please note that this review may not only contain spoilers for the show in question but also for Magical Girl Raising Project as well. Please bear this in mind if you haven’t seen the other shows.
The more I read the synopsis for this show, the more it blows my mind. What started off as a bit of meme eventually turned out to be quite a good comedy show and, well, I was definitely surprised.
Saki, a newbie in the idol world, is in love with her best friend’s brother who is a popular idol. One day, she runs into a scary yakuza guy, finds out her mum used to be a magical girl and that the scary yakuza guy was her mascot. Saki’s love interest then gets kidnapped by demons which have the appearance of muscular men-squirrel hybrids, so she then makes a contract with the scary yakuza guy to become a magical girl. And even though being a muscular magical boy wasn’t what she expected, Saki also didn’t expect her love interest to show more interest in her male form than her original form, not to mention the fact that her best friend is in love with her and also becomes a magical ‘girl’ to save her life. Their manager, who is obsessed with magical girls, then decides to turn into an idol unit.
…Are you still with me? I hope you are. Although the synopsis sounds like three shows put together, it works. And although the show doesn’t get the greatest of starts, I’m here to tell you why you should at least give it a chance.
Like everyone else, I began watching the show as a complete joke. It wasn’t even on my radar of shows to watch in the first place. However, the more I watched, the more I was intrigued and I continuously wanted to know what was going to happen. I was hooked. The first two episodes being direct parodies of the magical girl genre was arguably to blame. The magical girl genre is a genre full of tropes – everything from the costumes to the cute mascots to even what the girls say is often quite similar in shows such as Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. I pick these two classics simply because there are direct parodying of these within the show. Look at Saki’s staff, for a prime example. Are you telling me there’s not some influence of Cardcaptor there?
Sure, Mahou Shoujo Ore may have a slightly darker tone to it, what with the blood on the staff and the censored scenes where blood is present, but that’s just taking elements from other magical girl anime that do have a darker tone. Take, for instance, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku (or Magical Girl Raising Project). Anyone who has seen the show or just knows a lot about magical girl anime will know that it’s not all unicorns and rainbows. There is a lot of bloodshed within the anime particularly at the hands of Swim Swim who just happens to have a staff herself. Of course, I’m not saying this was done on purpose, but it’s certainly something that isn’t out of the ordinary.
Moving on, one of the more positive things about this show is how it ties everything together to create some of the best character development in recent times. That’s right, even I can’t believe I’m saying that. Although it uses comedy to do this and therefore using the same jokes over and over again, it’s done so well that even I can’t be annoyed at the use of repetition. This character development continues until the very end of the show where a plot twist even caught me by surprise.
Mahou Shoujo Ore clearly didn’t have the highest budget (as noted towards the end of the series where they purposely lower the quality of the animation) and, really, that’s fine. Pierrot Plus did what they could with the budget and, despite the often at times poor animation and the odd episode where it was just more of a mindfuck than anything else (I’m looking at you, Episode 5), the show itself was not only watchable, but enjoyable, which is certainly something I didn’t expect from this show. Then again, with good plot twists, lots of visual gags, a good OST and a memorable cast, what more could you really ask for?
I know a lot of people were put off of this show due to the over-the-top humour, but if you were one of those who just didn’t bother watching it due to the synopsis, I encourage you to simply try it out. Personally, although it’s far from being the best show ever, I think you’re missing out if you don’t watch it.
Rating: 7/10
This is so excellently written! I’ll admit I’ve been avoiding it due to the all the memes. But you make it sounds rather interesting.
Ah, thank you so much! Honestly, it certainly was such a surprise to me that the show does actually have a story underneath all of that parodying. I’m definitely glad I kept watching!
I like legit stories rather than just parodies or comedy with no meat to it, so that is a definite appeal for me. 🙂
Best comedy.