Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Episode 4

You can't put a price on a job well done. Actually, you can, it's the pay you deserve for doing the job, and Magilumiere has, to its credit, been up-front in the intro every week about how well-compensated the Magical working Girls are. This week's episode opts to dig into the feel-good satisfaction of doing a job right, with the right people. Collaborating with peers and coworkers adds personal value and engagement to the workplace, making it almost as worth it as being able to put food on the table.

That teamwork aspect is one of a couple of points of contrast with the aside inclusion of AST's Mei in this episode. Not only is Mei a taciturn solo act, but compared to the main Magilumiere company girls who've spent a couple of episodes going out of their way to safeguard the homes and belongings of their clients, Mei couldn't care less. She's here strictly on the job, and any incidental damage that might occur to the client's property is a problem for insurance to cover. If I'm being honest, this was a parallel point that didn't 100% land for me. I get what it's intended to do. Still, Magilumiere clients are local business owners concerned about their homes-slash-livelihoods, while Mei's customer is a rich restaurateur worrying about the value of some old plates; it doesn't feel like a directly fair comparison. Mei telling this guy not to worry so much about the value of his fancy stuff gets me more on her side.

There is, however, a moment where Mei pauses her workmanlike approach to Magical Girl-ing to be taken with some sense of wonder, however mild. That makes up the contrast gap between the styles of these businesses. Nine-to-five or not, being a Magical Girl can still be extremely cool, and the show put on by Kana and Koshigaya, which gets Mei's attention, demonstrates that. It just takes the full concentration of a passionate startup company to pull it off because they want to.

Having to grapple with third-party software to get work done is a pitfall of many a modern business here in the real world, so finding people who can write your own proprietary programs to streamline your flow is a valuable component. Niko and President Shigemoto working behind the scenes to produce a spell that can work for Kana's plan demonstrates a startup's innovation. They're finding a solution within their means, budget, and timetable that speaks to their aesthetic of taking the opportunity to do the right thing. And that comes from having the right person on the job, which also comes through when the President taps Kana's abilities of observation and recollection to find the best place to deploy the spell. AST's President may dismiss Shigemoto's idealism, but these acts prove that it's not just pleasantly person-focused, it's also plain good practices for the work they do.

Circling back to that moment that distracted even the deadpan Mei, Magilumiere's efforts also put on one hell of a show. This episode is easily the best the anime has looked since its premiere. The active attacks of the goopy Kaii tentacles mean there's a ton of action of Kana and Koshigaya zipping and dodging around on their BROOMs, needing to loose some quick blasts of magic simultaneously. It's exactly what I'd been hoping for from the battle scenes for a while now, and I'm going to be extremely disappointed if it goes back to the standing-still static approach now that it's shown me what it can do.

Having the heroines be happy they worked hard to save a bunch of people is hardly the most profound revelation for a show like Magilumiere, but the execution of this episode, like the superlative job done in-show, proves how far exemplary execution can go. It's a great-looking, heartening time that embodies the series' themes and the aesthetic of Magilumiere the in-universe company—look at the adorable drawing the little girl gives Kana and Koshigaya, how can you not love that? It also provides just enough additional contrast with AST that gets me curious about how their future involvement will work.

Also the omake this episode gets meta by following up with the President's night routine after supposed strong viewer reaction to the morning routine last week. It includes a couple aside scenes of Kana painting Koshigaya's nails at their little sleepover, which is adorable. So overall this episode was just really great.

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Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

Chris would 200% work for a magical girl company if they were real, but he'll settle for writing reviews and ad copy instead. You can peruse more of his views over on his blog , or catch him reskeeting art of anime girls (magical and otherwise) on his BlueSky.