Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.

Episode 7

I should've guessed that Lily would be fine; obviously Magilumiere isn't that kind of magical girl show. Does it feel cheap to cut from a shocking, bloody cliffhanger only to reveal that she merely scratched her cheek? A little bit, but the subsequent shot of Lily confidently, defiantly wiping the blood on her face greatly demonstrates her underlying badassness, and pretty brilliantly aligns with the established motifs of presentation, plus the whole bit with makeup and cosmetics. It's smart, and so strongly brings things back at the beginning of this episode that I could quickly blow past a cheaty cliffhanger and enjoy everything else it was doing.

What it's doing is presenting some of Magilumiere's core concepts in a contrasting manner that doesn't necessarily take one side over the other just yet. Kana, Magilumiere, and their focus on aesthetics as part of a magical girl's role are necessarily the sympathetic viewpoint—they're the titular, focal side, after all. But the fact is that the arrival of AST's Tsuchiba and her taciturn approach turns the tide of the fight against the mutated Kaii, saving the others and onlookers while Kana is forced to play support. Thus, the anime makes the case for both sides of the question of "What is most important in magical girl-ing? Aesthetics or blunt results?"

What tilts things in Kana's favor more than she realizes is her contributions to the overall efforts. The only reason the onlooking civilians can be convinced to get out of the way in an orderly fashion is thanks to Kana's calculated rattling off of Miyakodo and AST's strong Yelp review scores. Never mind that Tsuchiba only arrived after Kana and Lily had set the stage for this battle. It was all a collaborative and particularly coordinated effort.

That lopsidedness plays into the real-world, grown-up appeal of Magilumiere, though. Once everyone's out of the way, Kana rushes back to try assisting Tsuchiba. She's encouraged by Lily, who seems to think she can facilitate some understanding and cooperation between the rival magical girl businesses, which only makes it more impactful when that doesn't work out. Kana doesn't contribute to the combat beyond blocking a single minor attack, and her emotional appeals to Tsuchiba don't yet seem to have rubbed off. Coming up short on your job is an important part of growing in any role, and this helps indicate the number of layers Kana still has to navigate in the business.

She'd have her work cut out for her with Tsuchiba anyway. While I think overall the conceptual conflict between the two magical girls is one of those rarely effective both-sides-isms, it's still undercut in a few ways. First is the fact that Magilumiere's overall aesthetic and presentation might be too good to make its point. Tsuchiba's AST magic is supposed to call to mind basic-bitch office productivity software, with straightforward spreadsheet spells and a circuit board magic wand simply Getting The Job Done. That itself is a strongly conceived aesthetic. I think it's genuinely cool to see a sequence of magic attacks based on unzipping files and ctrl-c/ctrl-v-ing elements.

Thankfully, Tsuchiba shoulders that contrast well enough. From her deadened eyes to her recitation of work-hour calculations, this melancholy magical girl has all the earmarks of someone beaten down by the workforce she participates in. I hope she gets benefits, as she's clearly not one to utilize her vacation or sick days. She embodies the opposite of other characters insisting that magical girls must always be smiling—which is agreeable compared to the unreasonable demands of real-world service industry workers. It's hard to take Tsuchiba's way of working as a proper negative when, as mentioned, she does kill it at getting the job done in an efficient way that safeguards everyone and everything.

In a way, the audience is invited to question these things. I presume the ultimate answer to all this will be a bit of the ol' "Porque no los dos?" but it's still good to contemplate at this stage, especially as the show gears up for the next bigger story arc. The allusions to the competition between the bosses of Magilumiere and AST are already committed to being edited like a high-pressure business drama, and I love that for this relatable real-world magical girl show. Also, the next-episode preview promises the idea of a magical technology EXPO and that is a slam dunk concept.

Rating:

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.