Magical Girl Raising Project

Episode 11

Just in case the idea of no character being safe needed to be emphasized any harder, we've got another unexpected outcome on our hands. Cranberry does manage to get the best of Swim Swim in combat, but she's killed by Tama before she can deliver the final blow. When Swim Swim finally regains consciousness, she realizes that Tama has seen her in her human form. In order to keep her identity secret, she promptly chops Tama's head off. With Cranberry out of the picture, Fav declares Swim Swim to be the new “Master” of the magical girls. She may not have that title for long though, because Ripple is determined to kill her and avenge Top Speed.

After all the upset victories and sudden deaths we've seen, the idea of Swim Swim and company taking down Cranberry isn't a huge surprise in and of itself. Thankfully, Magical Girl Raising Project is able to keep things interesting by allowing the momentum of the battle to swing back and forth a couple of times. Having Tama deliver the killing blow is in line with the show's pattern of going against conventional genre logic in the way it wraps up character arcs. Just as it denied La Pucelle the chance to play bodyguard to Snow White and had a peacemaker like Sister Nana die alone, it ignores Cranberry's desire to fight strong opponents by letting her be killed by a relatively weak minor character. It's not the biggest shock the series has ever delivered, but it's interesting from a narrative standpoint.

Ripple's farewell to Top Speed acts as the emotional core of this episode, even if it is overdue at this point. Since the show's attentions were diverted elsewhere in the immediate aftermath of Top Speed's death, Ripple gets stuck either talking to her ghost or simply hallucinating, depending on how much of an optimist you want to be. Either way, it does at least provide an obvious motivation for Ripple to go after Swim Swim, which will help keep the plot moving until Snow White finally decides to take some kind of action. On a thematic level, Ripple's elaborate transformation sequence at the end of the scene is somewhat intriguing, since it comes after she denies her own qualifications as a magical girl. Is simply looking the part enough to retain that title, even if a character is only interested in using her powers to kill someone?

Whether by design or coincidence, all three of the remaining girls find themselves in one moral gray area or another at the moment. Snow White is remaining true to her ideals by refusing to fight, but her pacifism is harder to justify now that both La Pucelle and Hardgore Alice have died trying to protect her. For all of Swim Swim's underhanded tactics, it's hard to completely condemn a character so young for trying to live up to the legacy of her mentor. If Ruler's twisted ideals are all she knows, then we can't really expect her to do anything different. Ripple certainly has all the emotional reasons in the world to want Swim Swim dead, but there's some truth behind Snow White's claim that killing her after the game is "over" qualifies as murder. If (and that's an increasingly big “if”) any of these characters make it all the way to the end of the story, they'll likely have to answer some uncomfortable questions about their choices.

This episode moves things forward without doing anything all that spectacular, but the good news is that it's still anyone's guess how this will all wrap up. If you're playing “guess the plot twist” as you watch, I can think of a few things worth keeping in mind as we approach the end of the season. I don't think we've seen the last of the lucky charm that Hardgore Alice was so keen on giving to Snow White, and I'll be shocked if Ripple is able to get revenge in a way that brings her any satisfaction. The moment of remorse that Swim Swim displayed after killing Tama may also be significant, so it's possible that she may begin to question her adherence to Ruler's teachings. Don't count Fav out either, as that slippery scumbag is likely to have a few cards left to play. Magical Girl Raising Project has had its share of flaws and missteps, but I give it a lot of credit for being able to invite so much speculation this late in the game.

Rating: B

Magical Girl Raising Project is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Paul Jensen is a freelance writer and editor. You can follow more of his anime-related ramblings on Twitter.