These past few episodes I have been rather critical of Mahoutsukai, and rightfully so I would say. The new characters are lackluster, the plot/stories dull. A 7/10 series at best. It is with this mindset, this frame of reference, that I can see “As you sow, so shall you reap” is the best episode of Mahoutsukai across the board. Lets jump in.
Overall, Mahoutsukai did a lot right this week. The story of this episode, Chise’s family, was concentrated while still fitting in/progressing the meta-plot. In terms of animation, there wasn’t anything mind blowing, but there were plenty of beautiful or compelling shots. My personal favorite however was the restraint Mahoutsukai showed with the audio. As if finally realizing that sometimes less is more. The complete lack of music during the Chise’s mother’s fall into depression made the swell during the penultimate scene really hit. The flower motif as well, while already used once in the season, still worked as the colors set it apart enough. The only real issue I saw was in some characterization of her family, specifically her father. But I see no way to fix it without ruining the already good pacing of the episode. General goodwill out of the way, time for some specifics.
For Chise’s home life and her flash back, as I said I thought it largely good. I had some initial worries that it was to little to late however. Learning this information earlier, seeing some of it a tleast, would have helped a number of scenes. But the actual finale proved their decision correct, as we got the culmination of Chise’s development to this point. The main problem with the flash back is Chise’s father. We knew him for all of 5 minutes, so his leaving had no impact. We knew he left and there really wasn’t time to build it up properly and still get the conclusion we had. While I don’t like it, because it worked out for the best in the end, I am willing to give Mahoutsukai a pass on this one.
The next big thing to talk about is Cartaphilus. Based on the conclusion, it looks like we are going to be getting some time in his head now. I fear that the next episode won’t have the punch this one had, simply because we haven’t had enough time with him as a villain. There really isn’t any punch setup like with Chise/Nevin and her mother. We already know of his curse, his self-hate and split personalities. All that is left now is to explain what Chise saw in her dream and the shadow-version of Cartaphilus in the flashback. With 2 episodes left I am curious where Mahoutsukai will take it, since it also needs to resolve Elias/Stella’s latest stories. It’s a lot to cover with an hour of run time left.
The last bit I wanted to cover was Chise’s mother and her fall. While how Mahoutsukai handled the father bothered me, it more than made up for it with the mother. Chise’s mother had less time on screen then characters like Lindel, yet I feel like we know her better. Mahoutsukai didn’t feel the need to explain it, “I am getting depressed… I cant do this anymore”, yadda yadda. Instead they showed it on her model, as she broke down more and more. The lines on her face got deeper, her hair got frazzled and even her wardrobe suffered. It was great.
All in all, I think it clear what I thought based on how much I gushed about it above. Had Mahoutsukai put as much effort into the rest of the season as it did this episode, these reviews would have been a lot different. I never expected a 10/10 episode from a 7/10 anime. Heres hoping for a strong finish for Mahoutsukai, because this episode deserves a good follow up.
