Magical Girl Raising Project

Episodes 1-3

At this point, you'd think all anime characters would know that when a cute mascot creature asks you to become a magical girl, you refuse and walk away. Even if it's not dangerous on a Madoka Magica level, nothing good comes from being a transforming heroine these days. Apparently nobody ever warned Koyuki Himekawa, who jumps at the chance after spending a lifetime idolizing magical girls. She's given a fancy costume, some special powers, and gets a warm welcome from the fifteen other girls fighting for justice in her city. The good times don't last long, however, as the suspiciously cute mascot Fav announces that half of the town's magical girls are going to be eliminated in a very permanent manner.

Magical Girl Raising Project is based on a novel series, and it's the latest anime title to beat the “magical girls gone wrong” drum. It's an increasingly standardized premise, which plays against the show in the early going. These first three episodes feature plenty of moments where the viewer's jaw is supposed to drop, like when Fav first announces the impending cuts and when the girls realize that getting dropped means death. At this point though, these twists elicit a feeling of “been there, done that” more than they inspire shock or horror. There's a brief moment of genuine dread when we confirm that victim number one is officially kaput, but I can only hope that there are some more original plot points to be found down the line.

Even if it hasn't broken the mold thus far, the show does at least get the job done as a genre piece. The character designs are a point in its favor, as the girls' outfits are based on their own visions of what a magical girl should look like instead of a unified visual style. This means we get witches, ninjas, cowgirls, nuns, knights, robots, and evil queens alongside Koyuki's more traditional “Snow White” alter ego. Not only does it make the show more interesting to look at, it allows the character designs to provide some basic information about everyone's personalities. With an ensemble cast this big, those visual cues help the audience get a better sense of who's who. The overall tone and atmosphere of the series is also on-point, and its darkened mood works even if the pacing has been pretty slow so far.

More than anything else, it's the relationships between the characters that keep the story afloat at the start. Introducing Koyuki's childhood (boy)friend Souta as the very female La Pucelle has been the one truly surprising twist so far, and the two of them work well as the story's most obviously “good” magical girls. Some darker and potentially more interesting dynamics are also being set up amongst the more experienced girls in town. Top Speed looks like she has personal history with some of the more sinister girls, and the power structure between Ruler and her lackeys is clearly primed for revolution. Now that it's apparently possible to steal another contender's all-important Magical Candies, look for some intense tests of loyalty and a few well-timed betrayals.

Thanks to the slow pacing, there's one piece of the puzzle that we've yet to get a good look at: the inevitable fight scenes. Apart from a brief glimpse of out-of-context violence at the beginning of the first episode and a flashback to a standoff between Ripple and Calamity Mary, no one has really had a chance to cut loose. With Ruler's gang poised to take a shot at killing off Snow White, it looks like next week will be the first big test of the show's ability to pull off an action scene. The animation should be up to the task, but only time will tell.

Magical Girl Raising Project hasn't exactly sprinted out of the gate, and the fact that it hasn't really distinguished itself from the crowd yet will certainly try some viewers' patience. On the positive side, it has yet to do anything to sabotage its potential, and it doesn't seem to be going overboard on the grim storytelling. In the best-case scenario, we're looking at a slow-burning series with something interesting to say about the state of the genre. A more reasonable expectation might be for a darkly entertaining show with some unexpected plot twists up its sleeve. In any case, it may be another week or two before Magical Girl Raising Project really shows its hand.

Rating: B-

Magical Girl Raising Project is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.