Review of Gushing over Magical Girls

MahoAko is one of those manga I'd never thought would get adapted. Even if it did, they would censor the hell out of it to the point where it is barely recognizable from the original source material, or so I thought. And with a no name studio and a lousy PV out, all alarm bells rang lose inside me. But, even in this nightmare world that is the 20s, somehow, a show with zero animation budget managed to recapture the magic that many ecchi anime have lost in order to appeal to the overseas market/censorship bureaus. Indeed, I only needed to believe... Perhaps I should havecounted myself lucky that this landed in the hands of the To Love Ru Darkness director. The team somehow managed to deliver a show that is more risque than the actual source material, in a rare case not too dissimilar to Ishuzoku Reviewers from a few years back. The manga had been a favorite of mine for the past few years or so for not only its bold ecchi scenes, but also its striking visuals and expert paneling when it came to the action sequences. Of course, with such a limited budget and a relatively strapped team, something had to give. Unfortunately, that had to be the action scenes, which are barely animated manga panels in full color, sometimes with the direction and framing changed to make it easier to animate but more boring to watch.

But, the animation was never gonna be good in the first place. If I wanted well animated action scenes from a show from recent times, I have plenty to choose from, even from this season alone. But well animated ecchi post-pandemic? Now there's a niche MahoAko perfectly fills. Even in a season where 4 other shows proudly showcases nipples, MahoAko is decidedly more classy than any of them, where in other shows they are clearly an afterthought and something to justify an ATX subscription, MahoAko instead does the ecchi scenes proper with the same class and finesse as something from the 2000s-early 2010s.

The anime adapts the manga well enough. You have some extra scenes here and there that help flesh out the characters even more, with the ecchi scenes especially being expanded upon. My favorite bit has got to be their rendition of Loco's shitty song. They've nailed the "tone deaf but trying their best" feel to the song, and I just can't get it out of my head. It's even better than the actual "good" rendition she sings later.

Utena's seiyuu did a bang up job despite being a relative newcomer, and I especially love it when her voice dips into her "serious disappointed" tone. Koga as Kiwi is also just perfect in her portrayal of a deranged-but-barely-holding-it-in yandere. In general, the voice cast and direction in general is really good, though Hikasa really did feel like she was phoning it in as Michiko.

I'm glad a show like this could exist. It's been a long time coming since the teases in Pop Team Epic S2 and Made in Abyss S2, but I'm happy Takeshobo is crazy enough to greenlight this to be shown onto the screens of every household in Japan. Now, where is my Hotel episode?

10/10