the first episode of this anime starts off with pure self indulgence, the girls are cute. ghost in the shell's tachikomas and sailor moon's tuxedo kamen both make appearances. but what really surprised me was how by the end of the episode our mahou shoujo were in deep trouble. they had been demoralized, brought down to size from their once happy-go-lucky can-do views of themsevles... views substantiated in the first 12 minutes either directly through dialog or by being shown to the viewer through the first fight, wherein they effortlessly defeated the bad guys in glorious otaku-moe fashion. i get the sense that there is adeep metaphor going on here, where the beginning portion is a set up or a trap of sorts, to keep you in. it's something i've experienced in the past with anime like hidamari sketch and pani poni dash. it's difficult to describe properly. so i'll leave it at that. there is a reason after all that the last scene of the anime is of them playing the part of the twin angels as in a stage play.

this ova is deadly serious and dramatic. very well done.
"No matter where you try to go, you will not succeed in escaping.
Because what is pursuing you is not an enemy, but your own heart instead."