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The best representative of what i'd term "kirara slop", and what I see as the turning point of "cute girls doing cute things".

It's not *bad*. And with 6/10, I'm rating it a bit too harshly. But it represents, I think, a shift in how all-girls slice of life anime was done. All the ingredients of a cute slice of life with simple comedy and elements of yuri (in the general not-just-romantic sense) are there. And it works well enough.

Something is not quite right with it though. It's as if the genre had become too aware of itself as a commercial product, and made sure to ... flash enough stimuli triggering a "kawaii" impression at a fast enough rate to sustain attention. It's more noticeable in the second season, but it's already there in the first one. It really doesn't feel like Aria the Animation or Hidamari Sketch or K-On! in how it does moe/kawaii. There's less subtlety, and the characters and atmosphere are allowed to be less well thought out because the cute elements are already there, and it should be good enough right?

Nonetheless, the production value is relatively high, the OST, voice acting, etc. are good. For the new wave of CGDCT, this has to be one of the best of its kind.

This is one of those anime based on a mobile game and which just does its thing—here, it's comedy with heroines who just keep on failing.

It's, uh, not terribly well made, besides the opening song which is awesome. But the dynamic between the characters! The humor! It's not for everyone, but if you're okay with taking it slow, and take the time to yourself play the role of the tsukkomi, you should understand its comedic genius.

I remember this anime fondly, and it's surely in part because I watched it as it was broadcasted, and had few positive expectations.

I have a weird and personal hangup with that anime, because halfway through it made me hope for something way grander, but then it used very safe tropes. Maybe someone else would feel that way? So I'm sharing my thought for those who like to take on a "writerly" stance towards what they watch and read—that is, a stance that participates a lot in creating meaning rather than letting the work do it all.

Great animation and characters, I remember the OST being good, none of this is a problem. By the way look up what the rabbit's name refers to, biosemiotics are very interesting.

In the ... first half, the anime starts pointing, maybe accidentally, at a very interesting concept: flip-flapping can actually deeply affect the psyche of other persons, with ethically questionable results. The two main characters also seem to want to become more independent from their organization and the missions they're given, because they're facing novel problems. I just love this kind of rule-breaking and bigger stakes overriding the initial ones, so it made me very hyped. The potential seemed enormous.

Then the second half gets back into "let's fight the evil organization" and figuring out mysteries that could have been left unsolved to preserve some wonder. Then it ends on a final lesson that other anime have already done but better. It's not awful! But wow, this is so, so much less interesting than what the first seemed to be starting to point to.

I don't think most viewers saw this potential, so for them the experience was good or great. If you did see it, this is like a curse, because the second half does *not* live up to it!

From a non-binary/agender standpoint (at the very least, *mine*), this anime is kinda awful, despite being technically competent. I totally acknowledge the bias, and it is worth warning people sharing a similar one.

You might have hoped for something else, but this anime is kinda obsessed with how the main character used to be a boy, and is then a girl. The MC is also constantly referred to with linguistics marks typical of how you address boys. So it's not just about a guy becoming a girl and living on, but it's specifically about this change, over and over. I understand that most people would be ... pretty miffed and disturbed by it, but if you aren't like that, this anime should get old very fast.

No, alas, the romantic elements aren't separate from that. The bodily change of the MC is also pretty central to how they play out. Yes it makes sense realistically, since this anime uses Sci-Fi elements (even if in a goofy way) to explore social norms and roles. It's still a serious bother due to the standpoint i'm receiving it from. The potential this could have had appears stymied, in favor of a kind of gender neurosis that is already all too common IRL (so please not in my entertainment too for God's sake).

Two details: 1/ I've found the transition screen and sound to be very grating 2/ the MC's "sister" is adorable and the best character in my opinion, she just wants hugs.

Also yes, I had already forgotten, but the "gags" with the dad are totally awful, and it's always the same one.

A surprisingly good surrealist comedy that looks like a boring children's show on the surface.

(Note: I've watched this years ago, and I haven't watched anything else from the franchise.)

A very serious super sentai team lands into a magical land with talking plushie-like animals. Said land and animals follow a cuckoo logic, and our human heroes have to contend with that, while of course having to save the world. The humor isn't exactly fast-paced, but it grows on you and works you into increasingly ridiculous situations. Obviously, don't mind the "main plot" too much, it's meant to be simplistic and solved very late.

The art, music, and ... pacing stay consistently competent throughout the 52 episodes, which is a lot.

I've grown attached to characters, who are made more memorable by catchphrases and clearly delineated personality traits. Even the initially annoying ones ended up feeling like good characters.

With the number of episodes don't expect this to pack a punch, but it's not exactly uselessly drawn out either.

An accidentally clever and sensitive anime.

The source material is your usual visual novel about choosing between different girls. Its setting is partly clever, partly ecchi nonsense when it comes to the main love interest's species. So from this, you'd expect yet another entry in the ever-growing list of trashy anime with big jiggling boobs and a male MC who's as insufferable as he's bland.

Yet, something happened. In this anime, the "choose the girl" aspect disappears very fast, and the "rivals" actually are friendly. Moreover, for whatever reason, nothing is explicitly romantic, and you may as well choose (like i do) to interpret all this as ... a very intense friendship. And the male MC isn't an insufferable asshole who makes edgy commentary (looking at you Bakemonogatari). Instead he's supportive of the girl.

The result is something that has the vibe of cutesy yuri!

The animation and music are competent enough but are not remarkable.

What if you took the traditional genre of magical girl works—cutesy, pastel, innocent—and inserted into it, with a grin, a rather overpowered rival who's a sadistic domme? It would obviously completely explode into a perverse satire of the genre. Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete is the result of that experiment.

The fact is the author is competent: good art, excellent understanding of the magical girl genre, layered characterization, mounting stakes, not too much time spent on the hentai proper (unlike in the anime). His writing also is shameless, there's very little beating around the bush. That reminds me of Hen Semi.

As for what crystallizes the controversies around ... the manga and anime, it's that the characters are almost all minors, set to be 14. It serves no artistic purpose other than satirizing the traditional kind of magical girl works, and in my opinion it robs the characters from having more depth, since they're meant to be inexperienced. On the other hand, it's quite easy to ignore, because as usual, they really don't behave like 14 years olds.

There are several quite inventive arcs, scenes, and little ideas here and there, especially if you think about what this is meant to parody. Notably, it regularly happens that the main character makes her allies her victims too, turning the fight of good vs evil into the main character vs everyone else. By the way, she's not pure evil, she's, as the title implies, just really into magical girls, which makes for more complex dynamics than "magical girls beat the evil guy".

As new chapters are published, new ideas and characters are introduced at a rather high rate. That means there's a risk of jumping the shark; which is balanced by the satirical nature of the manga, but the risk is still present.

I'm selecting "recommended" but really, it's not for everyone. It's not as bad as it's made out to be though.

I watched it to study how a pervert + evil (or kinda evil) character can be done. With this anime, it's done in a satirical way, and the source material clearly understands the magical girl genre well.

Nonetheless, I think the manga does it way better. The anime's art is worse, and it spends way too much time on pretending to be hentai. There's also how the characters are underage: it's utterly pointless.

I do take issue with the underage characters, partly for ethical reasons, partly for artistic reasons. Them being older would have allowed for more depth. Here the BDSM stuff is thrown onto a blank ... slate, mostly, so it's rather mechanical and bland: it doesn't feel like it really comes from the characters. There are plenty of anime that could have had older characters, but didn't, although many characters are far too mature for their age… so it's pretty much a genre convention. Anyway, i took on a writerly stance, pretended they were 18, and rolled with it.

Some strong points do carry over from the manga. The main character's psychology is interesting, as is her descent into being evil. But evil in a controlled way! She also builds an unspoken relationship with one magical girl, Azure, which is fun. I also love the idea of the main character being so perverted she also attacks her own allies/underlings. It's also fun to see the main character repeatedly making weird choices, rather than relenting and being too reasonable.

This anime has a strange tone shift in the middle.

I really enjoyed the more contemplative first half. The main character living on a time scale much larger than that of the other characters makes her care about some things they wouldn't care about, and conversely she fails to care about what others, especially humans, care about. That makes for a very interesting tension. There even is a small arc centered on the environment!

Then the second half is basically Naruto's Chūnin exam. There are things to like in it, without a doubt: characters, plot points, strategies, decent animation. But i find it to be much less ... clever and subtle than the first half. What happened?! I eventually found myself skipping parts of the last few episodes, because the structure being predictable, i got bored. From that second part I really liked Übel as a character, she's interesting (and some fans are even love-struck).

Cool anime but it doesn't deserve the hype in my opinion.

Anime has been saved!

Maybe not, but sometimes, you just want yuri. Something simple, to the point—even better here, devoid of most angst about romance and what have you. The main characters live in the moment. A kiss isn't the apotheosis of 23 episodes, meant to symbolize transcendent love.

The dynamic of the two main characters is quite enjoyable because they're both of the genki type, but in a moderate way. I really like this kind of pairing, and it's very rare as usually authors want opposites to be together, leading to very similar relationship dynamics. Here they're instead silly together, and it's a joy to watch.

The ... animation isn't amazing, but there's an effort with the aesthetics, which makes it work.