Ah, you know what? Who cares. I’ve been looking for something to replace Ookami Kakushi with. I used to be a big fan of mahou shoujo, I blogged quite a few mahou shoujo in the past. Heck, even my favourite series ever can be considered as a mahou shoujo. It’s awesome to finally see another one that might actually be good, so I’m going to blog it. I can always drop it at the start of the spring season when it turns out to be too repetitive.
The thing with the shows that are currently airing is that while it’s below average in terms of nearly every genre, but there’s one genre that blossoms: the kids’ series. Marie & Gali is a great educational series, Kaidan Restaurant always delivers with simple but effective horror, Anymal Tantei Kiruminzoo has also gotten fun again, there’s Hanamaru Youchien and Kobato, where kids are very important characters, and now this series has appeared. It’s been ages since we’ve had this many actually good kids’ series.
So yeah, in these entries I’m going to try and explain why the heck I’m such a big fan of this genre. There are many aspects that can make a good mahou shoujo, but for me the key often was a vibrant cast of characters. Another obvious one is of course a continuous storyline, like in Mahou Shoujotai, Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, Umi Monogatari, Nanoha and the latter half of Full Moon wo Sagashite, but even episodic they can be a lot of fun.
In a lot of cases, it’s really not about the premises. Take one of the most successful mahou shoujo out there: Futago Hime. Its premise is that it follows a bunch of twin princesses as they go on adventures and meet cute princes and princesses of other countries. It sounds completely ridiculous, but the good animation and fresh execution made it a very enjoyable series. Or Telepathy Shoujo Ran: an adventure series in which a bunch of telepathic kids solve mysteries. However, what made that series enjoyable was its characterization and chemistry that even made a number of downright stupid cases and mysteries really enjoyable. And then there is of course the archetype of good mahou shoujo: Cardcaptor Sakura which was a very enjoyable slice of life series, combined with its various adventures.
But yeah, the problem is that there are also a lot of bad mahou shoujo. Kamichama Karin, Saint October, Shugo Chara… they had no personality, were way too repetitive and lacked creativity. A big mistake I also see in bad shoujo series is too big of a focus on hot guys that try to be cool, rather than have a personality (I’m looking at you, mysterious guy who appeared out of nowhere in this episode: you’d better have a personality). A good mahou shoujo isn’t just a matter of adapting a manga and writing random adventure: you have to make them constantly fresh and enjoyable.
Anyway, about this episode: one thing that I also noticed about this series is how great the soundtrack is. Yasuharu Takanashi composed it, and some of his other include the soundtrack for Jigoku Shoujo, Toward the Terra, Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge and Mononoke. Awesomeness. I also liked that touch of having one of the previous Precures, being one of the lead characters grandmother.
In any case, what I like best about this series at this point is its wide variety of emotions throughout each episode, and how seemingly easy it manages to convey that. Now if you ask me, that’s the core of storytelling, whether you’ve talking about the incredibly complex Mouryou no Hako, or just a simple and fun mahou shoujo as the Seventh Precure series, which finally seems to have put more effort into its execution.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Have to agree with you: mahou shoujo used to be my favorite genre, but since the lack of great shows, my love for it has dwindled significantly. Shugo Chara! tired and failed miserably.
I was dead-set on ignoring the Precure franchise. I tired the first series but it fell absolutely flat to me, and the other ones looked cringe-worthy. So I did, and never looked back until now. Heartcatch surprised me, I’m glad I listened to you and tired it out. 😉
For nothing else this show is worth a look for cute and comedic characters and for the incredibly mouth watering eye candy from the art and animation
I might actually watch this series. Don’t hate me for this, but I love Kamichama Karin and Shugo Chara. I’ve seen the following mahou shoujo anime.
1. Kamichama Karin (Yeah, this one is the top. Don’t hate me)
2. Shugo Chara (don’t hate me)
3. Card Captor Sakura (at the moment)
4. Princess Tutu
5. Sasami Magical Girl Club
6. HeartCatch Precure (might watch this)
7. Animal Tantei Kiruminzoo (only 2 episodes. I really do wanna watch this, but my schedule’s too tight for it)
Whoops! I forgot some more!
8. Umi Monogatari
9. Full Moon wo Sagashite
10. Gakuen Alice (does it count as magical girl?)
Glad you liked the series. You’re forgetting about one of the top series in the genre though, the awesome Ojamajo Doremi.
I don’t want to sound like a douche, but since I enjoy reading your blog, I thought I’d point out you’ve been using ‘yeah’ (‘But yeah’ in the previous post especially) quite often in your posts lately, which, without wanting to come across as a pedantic language nazi, is a little distracting as it erodes the excellent standard of language you always maitain in your blog.
It’s just that I’ve become wary of many blog authors who don’t think of composition before they write and end up with instant-messenger style articles that are transcripts of their ‘mind voice’ verbatim, which is never the case in your reviews as they are well balanced and structured.
Hope you don’t mind the feedback 🙂
@WasabiDojo: I actually tend to like to see some laid back writing from bloggers at times, some blogs sound like they’re being written by robots and get boring. I like a little personality in posts.
Good point, I guess like most things it boils down to personal preferences, but one last thing I might want to add is personality in written English can equally if not more often come from well weighed words as is the case in most good prose. I actually like conversational laid back writing as well as it definitely breathes life into the work, except a few words that get used a lot these days as punctuation replacements in conversation(‘basically’, ‘you know’, ‘like’ etc). While they (arguably) may not impede the flow of a conversation, when transcribed to written English, they really don’t serve a purpose and only cause fragmentation.
Anyhoo, this was just some idle reflection in good spirit, it’s not really a big deal at all. But I definitely enjoy your writing style and would certainly be disappointed if my comment changed it to a textbook/robotic style -_-
Hmm..Why I like Shugo Chara?(first season only Because other is…ton of fillers.)
I think It’s the one that make character development of character very well.(in some episode that have episodictype it’s cam make very well too.) Many main character have their problem and it’s can solve very well.(Like Rima case…hey..you watch it to end season 1 right?)
And it’s interesting to have their problem match with their power. It’s make them look make sense and not dream too much.
I think the one thing that i have problem with mahou shoujo is…It’s too repetitive. Sometime..It has same step every episode(Boring) and Sometime It going to nonsense slice of life and not relative to story at all!(Other meaning = One kind of fillers) I Hate it !!
(it’s the one reason that make me drop Letter Bee. Don’t hate me. But Kobato is other case…Slice of life+drama+character development is different from filler. of course.)
Hmm..about Heartcatch precure wow..This ep has many awesome twist.(especially Grandma thing.) I like it! It’s keep getting better and better!!
Be prepare for the worst for next 2 episodes.
The director of the previous seasons,komura, will lead the next two episodes before toei demote him to Ring ni Kakero project.
OMG The fighting scenes are incredible and the voice actors are top-notched (not like MOST shoujo heroines whose voice becomes too annoying because of overly high pitched or simply stupid-sounding voice). While the animation and caracter designs remind me of Toward the Terra (the story too btw) and Casshern, the background art is like a carboard copy of PPZ.
Ah, I was about to say the same… I just checked it out and the initial fight scene seems taken straight out of casshern sins… Not sure what makes it so similar, but I get the same feeling which is great (Casshern gone Mahou Shoujo haha)
Im glad you posted this because Im also a fan of the genre and its rare to find good ones
Frankly, you help us by blogging a bunch of series that others neglect. It shouldn’t be a problem that you get a blog a series just for your entertainment as well. ;D
Just to be further off-topic, the main reason Shugo Chara! suffered as an anime is because its source material doesn’t actually have many mahou shojo scenes to be adapted. Silly choice for them to pick, anyway. The manga has its genuinely charming qualities, but even that has a final six chapters that could have been left out entirely for a much better ending.
I was pretty skeptical about this series at first, but now that I’ve seen the episodes, I’M IN LOVE. This is the first anime that I’ve been genuinely excited to watch in a very long time. It has everything that a mahou shojo needs: flashy transformation sequences, cute costumes, moe sidekicks, and a mysterious guy! The art style is fresh and new, and I actually kinda like the end sequence (dancing! yay!).
ME LIKE THIS =D A VERY catchy opening and ending song! It actually made me watch it. The last time something did that it was Phantom. This is where Shugo Chara failed – well, SC failed later on…sigh. It had such a good potential…