kovacek.lauriane - 2015-07-11 17:49:57

Ah, remember when we used to have shows like this? No, the Sailor Moon remake doesn't count. Sure there was that magical boy show, but I think that was a parody, this one's a true magical girl anime that you'd probably see back in the days.

Years ago, Madoka Magica aired and took the whole anime community by storm, what with its unique take on the magical girl genre, and since then, there had been anime trying to relish on its success in trying to be a dark interpretation of the once light-hearted genre. Some were good like Yuki Yuna Is A Hero, while others were only average at best and could have been so much more like Day Break Illusion. People seem to complain that its been overused now, while I'm not a fan of the genre myself, I can see what they mean, it just wasn't like it used to be. But now that studio Gainax has released this show, will the light-hearted genre be brought back to life or was a reason that it isn't used as frequently as it used to be and is only a thing for the 90's?

History?: This show is based off the ONAs of the same name back in 2011. I really liked the short series. Sure the pacing was pretty awful, but it was still really entertaining to watch, I do think there is a lot of potential for character development and story and they did mention at the end how they would remake and continue the show. You probably want to know what I thought about it know since this is getting long as it is and I haven't even gotten to the story yet. So let's get to it.

Story: One day, while visiting her school's observatory in preparation for a meteor shower, a girl named Subaru encounters a small alien-like creature and follows it to a magically sealed classroom, where she comes across a group of girls in witch outfits, including her childhood friend Aoi. The girls and the creature, revealed to be a Pleiadian and the girls' president, notice potential in Subaru and give her a special broom, which brings her up through the clouds to a star-shaped gem that transforms her into a witch herself.

They explain to her that the pleiadian (who has a real name but I won't give away what that is due to major spoilers but... you'll probably see it coming anyway) had crashed onto Earth and is searching for some fragments to build up his spaceship so he can go back home. There are thirteen total and they tend to show up in the sky at random whenever a meteor forecast is shown. However, the girls also encounter a mysterious man with horns and a cape (who the girls name 'horned cape'?) who for some reason wants to have the fragments all to himself.

Subaru decides to help them out on their adventure and maybe find some potential in herself. There's also a side plot with a sickly boy named Minato whom Subaru meets in a greenhouse and talks to him on occasion.

So, since this is like those friendly happy magical girl shows, you'd expect it to be formulaic each and every time what with the monster of the week and transformation sequences... actually that is not the case. First of all, there is only one villain they technically fight against, and they don't always win and get the fragments either. In fact by the start, they have a hard time getting just one fragment (they do get better as time goes on by, it kind of reminds of Kancolle in a way only its not just the main girl who has trouble). The only character we see get a transformation scene is Subaru (who for some reason is named after a car) and it only happens twice, not every episode, so that's all good.

The story, despite it mainly being about getting the fragments, there is more to the story than one looks. The characters are all explored and developed as they explore the universe and meet other people. There are some things the girls, especially Subaru, go through like change, growing up, etc. and it's surprisingly effective for the way it tells its story. I used to hate this one plot point on how the way you lose your powers, but after thinking about it for a while, its actually pretty clever.

The backstories for the main characters are average, I haven't seen them before, but there nothing special and they do kind of explain why the girls act the way they do. The only backstory I thought was really good was Minato's and the pleiadian, but I can't say without spoiling, that and its pretty complicated as it is.

One thing I hate about the story is that while I do like the scenes where the characters express how they feel, it sometimes kills the pacing like when they're in the middle of a battle or are in critical danger (I'm looking at you episode 7) and it really ruins the tension and starts to annoy you instead of investing you, its not frequent, but its hard to not notice or get bothered by it.

Another thing is, and this is just my opinion, but I really didn't like the ending. Now the episodes leading up to it, were really great and well done. The climax I also thought was good, but could have been done better. Now the ending I feel is... very sad, and confusing. Its a bit hard to explain, but I felt it was a surprisingly dark and bizarre ending to an otherwise sweet light hearted show. I kind of wish there is another season since I feel it also could leave some possibility for what they left on... also I want it to end better than what they actually did.

Animation: Hands down, this is the best part of the show. The show looked great in the ONAs and its phenomenal here. The parts where the girls take the skies and go to space is just breathtaking to look at. The attention to detail, the stuff they add in this, and the many things you see in space is a true sight to see. The magic they use in the sky battles look pretty cool and lively too.

The animation on the flying sections are fluid and fast, keep the action intense and awesome. Outside of that, the animation isn't anything too special. Character designs look alright aside from some exceptionally off-ish models here and there. For some reason there is some CG in this, and its not as frequent as Kancolle, but it looks really out of place here.

Sound: The opening is surprisingly catchy, the animation in there is also pretty fluid and great and can easily get you excited for the show if you're into that sort of thing. To be frank, I don't remember the ending song at all, and the background soundtrack is alright at best imo, though that piano piece in episode 3 or 4 is really nice to listen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv3pwkMTqYM

Now to talk about the voice acting for all the characters that I know of: Subaru sounds like every other protagonist in her role. Aoi sounds very deep and weird. Hikaru and Itsuki are nice but I've heard them before and they don't sound like real people and more like anime characters. Nanako sounds disinterested until she translates the president, then she sounds like she eat helium or something. Minato himself sounds more real but is just as bored.

There not bad actors and actresses, but there not that fantastic either, even in scenes where they try to emote, only Subaru and Minato do a decent job at that.

Characters: The main character Subaru, is a pretty good heroine, although she's pretty much a typical heroine in these types of shows. She's nice, caring, but also clumsy and shy. What makes her interesting is her development over the course of the show. Trying to understand the concepts of change and growing up is very well paced, kind of reminds me of Madoka Kaname but without the... dark turn in the end of her show.

Aoi is her blue haired best friend who is also the tomboy. She can be a bit aggressive and a bit of a dandere, but she still is very worried and anxious about her friend's wellbeing. Of the backstories, hers is probably the weakest out of everyone. Aoi is not a bad character, but she's probably my least out of the five.

Hikaru by appearance, seems to be the genki type girl, and while she does act like that at some parts, she's mostly quiet and serious, but not without a sense of humor. I actually like her better here than in the ONAs since it paced her behavior over the course of the show (Edit: same thing goes for Aoi, which I forgot to mention). Her backstory is pretty decent, especially since its different from others I've seen (then again I can say the same thing for everyone else). And her episode centering around it is probably one of the best ones in the show.

Itsuki is a soft spoken girl who used to be a tomboy but due to her backstory, she decided to become feminine and not wanting to cause trouble for everyone around her. She's an alright character I believe, she's got a nice personality and design at least.

Nanako is the leader and translator of the president. I think she's got the best design. I really like her monotone but gentle voice and her eccentric personality when she translates the pleiadian and gets into it. Her backstory I found to be the most confusing and didn't make sense for her character, but its good for a stand alone or if it was from a different character... but I guess it makes sense since Nanako is quiet and doesn't interact with the others as much. In fact, the pleiadian has more dialogue than her!

And then we get to Minato. I actually thought the boy in the greenhouse and the demon 'horned cape' were the same character... but it gets a bit complicated later on. In my opinion, he is the best character in the show. He's a very mysterious and cool guy and there is a lot of mystery and intrigue that builds around him, you'll want to know more about him as the show progresses. And when you finally do figure it out, let's just its got to be one of the best back stories I've seen. It's complicated, yeah, but his motives aren't something a one dimensional villain would do.

And I really love this guy with Subaru together, every scene with the two is just so adorable, kind of rare to see a villain and heroine have such moments together (I won't give away where that goes either) that it makes me feel super giddy inside, even though I'm not at all a big fan of that kind of stuff.

The side characters are pretty forgettable though (not sure if that would make it any better or worse), even other magical girl shows I've seen have side characters that left an impact and impression on me (for good and bad reasons alike). Nothing too bad though I suppose.

Enjoyment: I loved almost every second of this show. Aside from episode 7 and that ending, I could say that this was a very enjoyable anime~

Overall: This is a magical experience that I highly recommend for anyone a fan of the genre or Gainax overall. Even young audiences might enjoy this depending on their preference. I know I loved it :D

Pros: Story isn't as formulaic as one would think, gorgeous visuals, great action, nice morals, well done character development, good OP, nice cast of characters, awesome and tragic villain.

Cons: Some CG and off models, episode 7, the ending was sad and confusing, side characters are forgettable, pacing can be wonky sometimes.

Also recommend: Any of the classic magical girl anime could be of interest (except for PPGZ, Save Me Lollipop, and especially Uta Kata). Or you could watch some of Gainax's other work if you like. The ONA's are a good one to check if you have some free time and want to see how far they've come. Honestly I have not seen a lot of magical girl anime so I don't have much to recommend sadly.

Thanks for reading my 88th review~

drew72 - 2015-06-11 01:58:41

This was based off four ONAs under the same name. Said four ONAs were create by Ganiax and the car company, Subaru. Yeah, car advertisements galore! Beyond the car advertisement, Ganiax announced a proper anime was coming out. I was excited since I thought the four ONAs were cute. But, no announcements were made for it for nearly a year, an then it came out in Spring.

Right, so the story.

Adaption expansion of the original ONAs. It follows the story of five little (teenage) girls who help an alien get engine fragments back for his spaceship. But, there's an enemy out there who is trying to take these fragments for himself as well called "Horned Cape". 

It also focuses on the relationship between Subaru, and a boy named Minato. He's a mysterious sickly boy in a greenhouse seemingly disconnected from the rest of the world. 

It also explores the other characters, as our little girls explore the universe and beyond.

"Generic"? Excuse me. This is studio Ganiax we're talking about. Most magical girl follow this format. Monster of the week. This anime doesn't have monster of the week. They're battling another magic user. He's trying to steal the fragments, and THIS COMES TO HEAD LATER. But, the story isn't amazing. Sure, it goes into great character analysis. This anime shows it can flesh out silly car commercials, but a lot of it is coaxed with being too deep. It's also very predictable, sadly. But the twists are okay, and I'm okay with the story being predictable.

The animation is the best part. The art for the space scenes are really realistic! Saturn looked so real. That's my favorite thing about the anime is the animation and art. The CGI is brief, but it's not terrible. I can't give it a ten, though, because some of the faces look off-model at times. 

The sound is nice! I love the Opening! Stella-Rium by Kano is a song I replay a lot now. Soundtracks are pretty nice. They're sweet to hear and I like the way  it plays out. And the voices match the character's personalities. My only issue is Minato. His voice isn't too bad, but it's got more to be desired, to be honest.

Characters are deeper than you think, but it's the second weakest part of the show.

We got Subaru. She's kind of...the typical heroine. I think she's cute, but her character isn't as explored as the rest of the cast, and gets typical protagonist treatment.

Aoi is okay. I don't dislike her, but she never really grew onto me until I understood why she acts the way she did towards Subaru. I guess she's your typical tomboy, too, which doesn't help.

Hikaru is cute, but is only explored once in the series. She's kind of tsundere in my opinion. Of the girls, she's my second favorite, though.

Itsuki's okay. She's the fanservice one of the group, if you ask me. Her backstory is very forgettable, to be honest and barely gets any screentime. 

And Nanako, too, forgettable. It took me a long time to even remember her name.

Now, Minato, it gets complicated. See, Minato is a good character for what he tries to do. But, his character is layers deep. He's a bound of mystery wrapped into a bigger one. He's complicated, and you never know what you think about him. I do like him, though, and think he's precious for giving Subaru advice.

Overall, I do like this anime. It's Ganiax, that's enjoyable. The story is trying to be generic, but it's kinda deeper and does have some paradoxes out there. It's moe, yes, but consider this: it's Ganiax. It's got something deeper going on. You just have to keep watching.

pollich.rahsaan - 2015-04-20 23:49:58

This is like the most unapologetically generic maho shosho anime in existence and im being literal here. it's like they took everything the genre did like 20 years ago and then took 5 steps backward. i mean heck nig*a I can¡'t even remember what this was about its like the pizza I was eating was more engaging than the anime I was watching so Im gonna skip through this thing now so I can tell you why its bad because I dont even think it had a story and if it had one it was being beaten by glutenless pizza and that is sad as f*ck.

Ok so you have these color coded forgettable lolis that look like a bunch of Madoka rejects. forgetable loli pink is the main character and she's very useless and she talks to this kid in some magical garden and the kid is obviously onto all this stuff but its ok because her brain damage keeps her from connecting dots and she probably thinks its just some random kid or some sh*t. so then her and the other forgettable color rangers have this conversation about her being useless and stuff and they like I dunno they go flying and stuff I think they get scouted into some asteroid stopping company by the government or some sh*t.
the cartoon has some serious issues and it can't decide if it's for actual little girls or if it wants to be some sort of pedo fantasy, but it almost doesnt matter because whether you're a pedo or a little girl you have better options out there. just go write a bad fanfic about you and your loli friends being magical girls or some sh*t it'll have more soul than this anime lmao.
So with all the authority being a professional anime watcher gives me, I'm gonna have to give this cartoon 3 out of 10 doritos. Not even good enough to distract you from a bad pizza.

ottilie.ebert - 2015-04-10 07:03:18

thats a Moe yeah... but thats freaking good thats a beautiful anime with a simple goal and with beautiful speech and others things like that but anyway i want to begin now to talk about this beautiful anime

About The Story
i think the story is beautiful really i dont know if i exaggerate on this but thats fking beautiful the story contain a little bit of feels and the end is simply beautiful too thats a nice story for a Moe anime and the story is a little based on the friendship and contain some drama , i like the little Romance we have in it at the beginning i dont have think something like that will be present so thats nice but i think this is fking good dont know if some people will say the same as me but anyway this story is fking beautiful !

About The Animation and Sounds
the animation in the space and the star thats fking awesome the background in it are something i like the color they have put and all the imagination they have put in their space drawing thats fking amazing the sky is just gorgeous , for the sounds they are calm and fit correctly with the anime thats why i like the Opening/Ending i will leave you the link..

Opening

Ending

About the Characters
the girls are a little cute , but i have liked the guy too we have 6 nice character present in this anime i like all their personality , but they are 7 important characters

Subaru / i think thats a great main character a little innocent but she like everything about the stars and space but she can fragile without being stupid

Minato / i dont know if im the only one to like him but thats a nice fking guy with a nice charm , i like when he is in a darkmage transformation thats just fking awesome i want to cosplay that LOOOl , thats my favorite boy character

Nanako / she dont talk too much because she repeat what the president say but i like his real voice and his outfit she look like a captain into transformation and normal she look like a witch because she cosplay thats a nice girl i think thats my favorite girl in it

Itsuki / thats the kind girl and the more calm between all the others she is a little cute you will probably like her too thats a good girl

Aoi / i dont know why she feeling bad for soo little thing like that but i can say if you dont trust her she gonna be angry or something i think thats a friend who you need to tell him the true everytime and be loyal to you

Hikaru / thats the energic girl , she is not shy at all anyway thats a energic girl i think you have get what i want to say , she have a important role but we dont know soo much thing about her

About The Enjoyment
if you think thats bad this is clearly because you dont like relaxing... or you prefer have oppai in your face... because thats fking Moe and Beautiful just the graphics and the feels in it will make you like this anime more and more thats a fking good anime to watch in the night when you want to relax and take a drink if you like Amazing Graphic or Moe things you will like that but me i have fking enjoy that no doubt on it i freaking like that this is just Beautiful
i can recommand something like that but... if you dont like Moe or Admire Graphic thats better for you to not watched it same for people who like Action thats a very calm anime with a little Romance and Friendship without forget this is Moe so yeah you can try it anyway but thats a Beautiful anime ( i know i repeat myself but this is true )
Watch it you will cry everytime.