Easily the most painful part thus far is the live-action music video under the end credits featuring some Japanese idol tied up like a dog.
The cringe, it’s too strong. This is even worse than the final season of Shugo Chara. This is so. Much. Worse!
I’m not sure I’m going to survive this. The world-ending Magical Girl Apocalypse can’t come soon enough. Please, I need some mass-murdering magical zombie robots to blow up this world and create a new one out of the ashes of the old. Pleeeeaaaase …
Speaking only for myself, I’m ready for the “dark” fad in magical girl anime to end. It’s been seven years now, guys.
Magical Girl Site is a twelve-episode anime series that came out this year and made a name for itself as one of the gruesomest and most depressing shows to appear during its season. The title has come up a few times during the controversy over the current (as of this writing) series Goblin Slayer, so I thought, given that I just recently finished up Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, now would be a good time to give Magical Girl Site a look-see. I doubt I’ll write an individual review for every single episode, but having watched the first, I wanted to put down some preliminary thoughts.
My initial impression is similar to my initial impression of Magical Girl Raising Project: that is to say, not very positive.
What you’ll want to do after an episode of Magical Girl Site.
This anime is based on a manga by Kentaro Sato. Although I have not read the manga, I have read Sato-sensei’s other major title, Magical Girl Apocalypse, which is a genre mashup of magical girls and zombie survival horror—and of which Magical Girl Site is usually described as a spin-off. If Magical Girl Site is similar to its predecessor, then we can expect a lot of blood and guts, a lot of tasteless humor, a lot of cringey fanservice, and a regular round of violence and sexual assault approaching the level of torture porn.
Magical Girl Apocalypse summed up in one screenshot.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS,directed by Keizo Kusakawa. Written by Masaki Tsuzuki. Starring Marina Inoue and Kana Mizuki. Seven Arcs and Nanoha StrikerS Project, Japan (2007). 26 episodes of 22 minutes (approx. ). Not rated.
We are now discussing the third anime series in the Lyrical Nanoha franchise, and also the longest, running as it does for twenty-six episodes. Previously, I discussed the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and followed that up with a review of Lyrical Nanoha A’s. This third series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, is in a sense the last chapter of Nanoha Takamachi‘s saga: Two more anime series, ViVid and ViVid Strike!, follow this one—though only the latter appears to be available in the U.S.—but those two move away from Nanoha herself and focus instead on the next generation of magical girls.
So this is the end of Nanoha. Thus, as I write this review, I am sipping a White Russian in honor of the White Devil. You’ve come a long way, baby.
Before we say anything else about StrikerS, we may pause to comment, like a doting grandfather, “How you’ve grown!” Lyrical Nanoha sprang from the humblest beginnings, being originally a spinoff of a dating sim called Triangle Heart 3. The show was animated by a studio that had never made a magical girl series previously and gave every indication that it didn’t know what it was doing.
What IS she doing?
There are a lot of magical girl titles that were created as spinoffs of other franchises, but it is probably safe to say that the big three, the most influential, are Pretty Sammy, Nurse Witch Komugi, and Lyrical Nanoha. Of those, however, only Nanoha became a powerhouse title in its own right. Pretty Sammy, in spite of multiple productions, never got out from under the shadow of the franchise that produced it, and has now fallen into obscurity. Nurse Witch Komugi, although more famous than the anime that birthed it, was notable mostly for its fan-pandering, which was novel at the time. Lyrical Nanoha, however, not only eclipsed the video game from which it sprang, but became a mega-franchise in its own right, with multiple anime series, manga, movies, and drama CDs.
Impressive though that is, it serves to hamper StrikerS, the series we’re now discussing. If you watch this show, you might find yourself baffled by the gigantic cast, the important past events mentioned only in passing, and the sheer number of details you’re expected to keep track of. You might say, “Wait, was I supposed to do some reading beforehand?”
A surprisingly solid sequel to an uneven first effort.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s directed by Keizô Kusakawa. Written by Masaki Tsuzuki. Starring Yukari Tamura, Nana Mizuki, and Kana Ueda. Seven Arcs, Japan (2005). 13 episodes of 25 minutes (approx. ). Not rated.
I am continuing to work my way through Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha now that it once again enjoys a U.S. license. Although this is a well-known and much-venerated series, I have to admit this is my first time through it. It had not had a legal release in North America for some time, as I understand it, and I also admit I had avoided it in large part because of the somewhat exaggeratedly negative review by Carl Kimlinger, as I mentioned in my review of the first series.
The first rule of Magical Girl Club: Do not ask why “Lyrical” is in the title. The second rule of Magical Girl Club: Do not ask why “Lyrical” is in the title.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. Screenplay by Masaki Tsuzuki. Produced by Seven Arcs (2004). 13 episodes of 24 minutes (approx. 312 minutes). Not rated.
Probably one of the most famous and influential of magical girl titles, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha briefly enjoyed a place of prominence on Amazon’s short-lived and ill-fated anime streaming service, Amazon Strike. Strike is dead, but the show and its several sequel series are still available for streaming with an Amazon Prime membership (and if you want to binge it without paying, Amazon allows a month free).
Update, : Amazon has marked the series unavailable, at least in my region. Check the affiliate links above for availability.
As I’ve mentioned previously, 2004 saw the appearance of two influential series, both of which became long-running franchises, that arguably completed the process that Sailor Moon got started—namely, the process of transforming the magical girl into an action heroine. Pretty Cure, a show for young girls, did this by incorporating martial arts sequences inspired by Dragon Ball Z, whereas Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, aimed at older audiences, took its influence mostly from mecha anime, especially Mobile Suit Gundam. In fact, legend has it that someone working on the production saw Nanoha’s magical-girl outfit and commented that it made her look like a Gundam, so they decided to roll with that.
The original Lyrical Nanoha is a thirteen-episode series from studio Seven Arcs, made on a modest budget. Except for one incongruous scene (to be discussed later), it is stiffly animated; the franchise’s popularity as a staple amongst otaku is likely due largely to its higher-quality sequels, which offer more bone-crunching action (and implied yuri) than the original does.
It is probably safe to say that Nanoha laid the groundwork for all of the “adult” magical-girl titles that came after it. It was not the first magical-girl show aimed at otaku, but may have been the first (at least it’s the first that I know of) that took itself seriously. As I’ll explain shortly, it’s not a very good show, but without it, we would not have some of the better-made and better-written magical-girl series that came after—including its inarguably superior sequel.
Also worth noting is that Nanoha is the franchise that cemented the trope that magical girl warriors make friends in Gilgamesh/Enkidu style by kicking the snot out of each other. Thus the word “befriend” is facetiously used by Nanoha fans to mean “blow the hell up.”
Also, for some random reason, there’s Pizza Hut.
Befriending the hell out of people can give you an appetite.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 13: “Tracing a Path.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
This technically begins the second story arc, the “Black Rose Saga,” though that story won’t really get started until episode 14. This arc is perhaps the most intriguing in the show, as it has a clever mind-screw plot, and it’s the one that most impressed me when I first watched the series in spite of some clumsy editing and a lot of recycled animation. But it’s also the most frustrating arc, since the elaborate storyline it develops never gets mentioned again afterwards and the apparent revelations it delivers turn out to be mostly misdirection. It’s like twelve episodes of tease.
Mary and The Witch’s Flower, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Screenplay by Riko Sakaguchi and Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Based on The Little Broomstick by Lady Mary Stewart. Starring Hana Sugisaki and Ryunosuke Kamiki. Studio Ponoc, Japan (2017). . Rated PG.
This 2017 film is the first from Studio Ponoc, founded by Yoshiaki Nishimura, formerly of Studio Ghibli. Much of the crew of this new studio is from Ghibli, including director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who previously directed When Marnie Was There and was lead animator on Spirited Away. Unsurprisingly, with this kind of pedigree, Mary and the Witch’s Flower could easily pass for a Studio Ghibli film. From the looks of things, Hayao Miyazaki’s legacy is in good hands. Ponoc has comes strong out of the gate.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 12: “For Friendship, Perhaps.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
We have now reached, at long last, the final episode of the “Student Council Saga.” We’ve had a complete story arc and an introduction to most of the major players, though exactly what’s going on remains a mystery (and will until the very end).
Having lost to Touga, Utena is feeling low. We already saw her questioning her goal in life, and now she’s considering giving up entirely. She changes into a girl’s uniform and acts generally mopy.
Oh, and for this essay, I am once again going to steal images from Utena: Texts from Last Night. I’m struggling against the temptation to post some of the NSFW ones.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 11: “Carefully Cruel – The One Who Picks That Flower.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
We have now reached the penultimate episode of the first arc, the “Student Council Saga.” This is the third (fourth?) time I’ve watched this series, and I remain impressed by how well-constructed this first arc is. Although the ideas stay interesting, the animation and editing will take a hit in the next arc, and then the grand finale will be so dang goofy that mileage will vary, but this first arc, in spite of some flaws, is unquestionably good.
Since this is the second-to-last episode, it’s only fair to throw out a spoiler warning, though we have not, of course, been spoiler-free before now.
Hey, it’s the obsessive best friend! Haven’t seen her in a while.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 10: “Nanami’s Precious Thing.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
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