The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians

Episode 5

If the Magumi students seem to look down on their Standard classmates, it's almost certainly because they learned it from the adults. If you think about it, most of the discrimination we've seen thus far comes directly from the grown-ups; there have been instances where the Magumi kids have been dismissive of the other track, but mostly they act like they're secure in the advantages they've been given. It's the teachers who make it clear that the Standard students don't deserve any better.

This week's race shows that very neatly. A school-wide competition, the Rettoran Cross Country event pits Magumi and Standard classes against each other on a course that is tailored towards a Magumi win – and made even more apparent by the fact that they can use their droneys while Standard students will have to go mostly on foot. The ridiculous course involves skirting a giant lake, crossing a swamp with the unsubtle name of “Badnoos,” over a mountain and waterfall, and finally ending at a special school resort that looks like miles from the starting point. The fact that winners must cross the halfway point by noon only drives home the unfairness: this is entirely designed to reinforce the idea of Magumi students as better than the rest.

Rigged as it all seems, it's also the perfect chance for Kurumi and her classmates to prove that they're more than just the Magumi rejects. As Asuka realizes, sometimes it's all about how you approach a problem, and even if this class doesn't have the cheat of magic Segways, they do have unique skills and Kurumi's boundless optimism on their side…not to mention our mysterious cat and dog pair, whose motives may be murky but still undeniably level the playing field a bit. Knowing about old train tunnels and using glow-in-the-dark fabric may not technically classify as magic, but they're tricks that work.

Maybe that's what Ms. Suzuki has been trying to get her students to realize. She's taught them the basics of ancient magic, but Kurumi's efforts to draw spells still are coming up short. That means she's still missing a little something, and maybe that's the application of real-world on-the-ground knowledge. Think back to the “charms” her grandmother taught her: each was designed to do something practical – manage a fire, tinker with the weather, help with a chore. That seems to imply that ancient magic relies on human will in a way that modern magic does not. Modern spells are all about convenience rather than necessity, making the elites look even further above the rest of the population and generally serving the function of technology in our world. But we know there's older tech out there; just look at the would-be rail engineer. Knowing how to use it seems to be the baseline for ancient magic which again suggests a practical use. Rowing barrels and walking on lily pads may not technically be magic when compared to flying a droney, but both are still examples of how ancient magic works – they combine real-world skills with the drive to do better, and it's hard to argue with the results.

It's interesting to see Kurumi feeling less hopeful at the end while Yuzu is heading in the opposite direction. Despite – or maybe because of – knowing charms, Kurumi's depression at not having managed to use magic during the race seems to be overwhelming the joy of having completed it. But Yuzu is starting to look at her world differently, seeing the value in what she and her classmates are doing. The two girls will need to meet in the middle somehow, and the story does a good job of setting that eventuality up. Enthusiasm tempered with caution may prove to be the winning combination for both of them – because, as Asuka tells his brother, it comes down to how you look at things and then put them into action.

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The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.