Magical Destroyers

Episode 5

I spent a lot of time last week ruminating the possible layers of symbolism and commentary running underneath the surface of this incredibly stupid and weird show, but there's no threat of me getting lost in the sauce of desperate literary analysis this time around. That's because, on the surface, at least, “Climbing to the Hell” is about as straightforward an episode as we can expect from Magical Destroyers. The gang finds out about a man named “Chogo Master” who will manufacture a magic-enhancing drug for the girls, so long as they fulfill their end of the bargain and retrieve a set of old-school magical-girl figurines from a lockdown in Nakano. So, that's what they do.

Granted, this is Magical Destroyers that we're talking about, which means the show naturally decides to navigate this extremely straightforward plot in the weirdest way possible, including an appearance from a very loud American otaku named Markus and lots of Blue being horny while Pink acts like a deranged drug fiend, and some ghost…robot…things to do battle with. Not to mention there's an extended riff on that most beloved of famous anime tropes: The treacherous and soul-destroying mountain climbing expedition! Classic.

To be honest, the long sequence of the gang climbing the tower in Nakano as if they were attempting to conquer Everest itself was kind of funny, if only because of the running bit where Kyo dies in increasingly violent and ludicrous ways, but I must confess that I didn't really get it. It feels too specific with the cliches that it is spoofing to be just a really broad parody of disaster adventure stories, but if the sequence is referencing some famous movies or shows for comedic effect, those references flew right over my head.

That said, despite all of the usual Magical Destroyers chaos, “Climbing to the Hell” was, essentially, a bog standard episode of the show. It was entertaining enough, and weird enough, to pass the time effectively, but I'm starting to wonder if all those teases at something deeper lurking under the surface will remain mere teases until the very end. I won't mind if Magical Destroyers ends up being “just” a silly action comedy, but I feel like it could be so much more.

Rating:

Magical Destroyers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.