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Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians
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Nipasu
 Posts: 131 |
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This show has my favorite art style this season (and possibly the whole year).
Hopefully it'll get a dub eventually! |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 5246 |
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One thing I appreciate about this show is that it doesn't take the predictable route of Kurumi using her magic powers to save the day in the first episode and proving everyone wrong instantly but it's taking the time to show her learning alongside her classmates and she still hasn't successfully cast a spell yet.
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FishLion
 Posts: 267 |
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This one is touching and gorgeous, I'm excited to see how things play out!
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Daerian
 Posts: 243 |
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I'm very happy you are covering the series and will certainly read your thoughts on it!
However, I find your statement about transformation very interesting and wanted to ask: one of the first series in magical girl genre (both in manga and anime form) Sally the Witch (Mahoutsukai Sally) has heroine that doesn't transform. She performs her magic without transformation, in opposition to other series from that time like Himitsu no Akko-chan (which both were licensed for TV in my country from Italian dub and I watched them growing up in the 90ties, but that's beside the point  ). So when one of the oldest series in the genre and probably one of the two most influential ones until Sailor Moon doesn't include transformation... is transformation really necessary to call series "magical girl" one?
The much more well known today Cardcaptor Sakura also does not transform really, bu changes clothes into ones prepared by her friend. Personally I like to divide magical girl genre into two main subgenres, the "magical daily life" like Mahoutsukai Sally, Himitsu no Akko-chan, Sugar Sugar Rune, Cardcaptor Sakura, Someday's Dreamers, Little Witch Academia and many, many more, and second "battle" ones, like Sailor Moon, Nanoha, Precure or Madoka, but don't think transformation is necessary for first one (and probably wouldn't be necessary for second). Could I ask you about your thoughts on topic? |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2659 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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@Daerian
Of course! I knew this statement would raise some eyebrows. 
There are a lot of early series about girls and magic that don't involve a transformation - you're absolutely right, and many people do point to Sally as the definitive first "magical girl" show. I think from a strictly anime-based historical perspective, that's true, but if you trace the genre back farther, there's a pretty clear divide in Japanese literature between girls and women who transform and those who simply use magic. The girls who transform often have an element of self-sacrifice as well - one of the earliest transforming women in literature (rather than folklore) is Zenmyo is the thirteenth century text Tale of Gisho and Gangyo; she transforms to save the man she loves, ultimately sacrificing herself. That's something we see in later transforming girl stories - look at the ending of Nurse Angel Ririka for a particularly strong example. Anyway, trying to hold myself back here, I think that the broader historical perspective is that magic-using and magic-transforming girls are two separate, but similar genres, which evolved into the magical girls and the witchy girls. They've grown closer since the genres migrated into anime and manga, and I'm probably just being an annoyingly pedantic academic here. (Which, to be fair, I am.) But my long view is that they're separate by adjacent genres that occasionally combine (Witchy PreCure). |
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Daerian
Posts: 243 |
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Thank you for your answer and historical background towards the genre divide!
I'm very happy to read pedantic academic approach - it's the best approach 
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Cardcaptor Takato
Posts: 5246 |
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ab2143
Posts: 762 |
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I'm hoping we won't have to wait until the semi-final episode to see her using magic... |
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absent
 Subscriber Posts: 38 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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They're staying at anime Fallingwater. Caught me off-guard when I noticed it
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Zerreth
 Posts: 211 Location: E6 |
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This show, for a lack of a better way to express it, is kinda frustrating to watch.
It's one thing if it's harry potter style and they're children going to school to receive primary education but this show seems to imply they're in the "usual" high school settings with entrance exams (they might be even older than that since there's mention of only first and second years but no third years) and some level of education set as a foundation. Except they don't even understand basic geometry despite going to a cram school specifically dedicated to passing an exam to attend the school to learn magic. What exactly were they studying all this time for? If Kurumi actually scored the highest in the mock exam, how is it that nearly none of her book smarts has been applied... anywhere? So much feels so half baked (the Magic Research members don't even have names). Without knowledge of the upbringings of anyone else, it also just seems weird that this schism between ancient magic and modern magic is considered "lost" history even though it seems to have only taken place, at most, over one generation. It seems like Kurumi has been in regular contact with her grandmother and so far, no memories of persecution have come up. The interesting factor of note seems to be that Asuka is most definitely just playing a bit as of this latest episode, providing support and responding only once he confirms the determination of his other classmates. The brothers seem to have some depth I can joyfully chew on unlike the cocker spaniel shadow organization that we get random cuts of to try and convince the audience that there's moving parts in the background. I kinda find myself looking back at Akashic Records of a Bastard Magic Instructor, because while the pacing there was also wonky, that second episode that was spent to show how shallow the students' studies were felt much more impactful. |
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Chipp12
Posts: 332 |
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Such a shame that a show like this gets covered while Demon Lord 2099 was skipped.
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Daerian
Posts: 243 |
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It makes it even more important that this good show is getting covered.
While mostly true, it's pretty much standard for the genre.
I don't exactly understand your point here. Grandma wasn't a magician and doesn't have much to do with "ancient" magic vs "modern" magic conflict. Traditions surviving in communities are normal thing and don't have much to do with academics nor ruling class conflicts, nor often with history written by victors. Conflict on the top of magicians' society didn't need to involve mass persecutions of normal people. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2697 |
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If you check what we in the Forums section have been commenting relative to this show and Ep7 in particular, it seems just about everyone is peeved along with Ms. Silverman with the latest episode and the plot generally. That some authors put (sometimes many) obstacles in the way of the protag's success just to increase the dramatic payoff I find cheap/lazy and here the tactic is being taken nearly too far. Ep8 had better resolve this or else it will mar what has been a really enjoyable story...
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Daerian
Posts: 243 |
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To be honest your "everyone" is you and one other person. That's... clearly not much people and nowhere enough to hazard a guess about what people think about the series. You should watch out for confirmation bias. Personally I agree with Ms. Rebecca that the situation is frustrating, but I don't consider plot lost or bad at this point. I think it would have been better if Kurumi had small success and only afterwards string of failures in critical situations to sap her of her confidence. My bigger problem is with revelations about Kurumi at the end of episode 7, because these seem to run contrary to the previous themes and might suggest steering the story into "chosen one" territory, moving from "magic for people vs magic for elites" into "one magic elites vs different magic elites". Hopefully it will not end like that. However, I disagree strongly that putting obstacles on the way to protagonists' success is somehow bad or lazy. On the contrary, that's what stories are about, pretty much. |
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Hiroki not Takuya
Posts: 2697 |
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I think you missed my proviso of "many" obstacles and thier function "just to increase the dramatic payoff". The number of times Kurumi almost does magic and it hasn't happened for seeming no or minor reason makes me think it is being written that way and for the stated purpose. Now, Ep8 here I don't count as a legit payoff because Kurumi has to have Yuzu do the magic in tandem while the latter claims to not be conscious of how she is doing it. Which begs the question of the source of her confidence in being able with Kurumi? |
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