So, this series attempted to do something unique with the magical girl genre; turn it into a real battle royal. However, in it's attempt to do that, it completely gutted itself and ruined any potential it had. I'll start with the good things. The character designs were somewhat unique. Despite feeling like some of the characters were blatant rip-offs of a certain other magical girl series, there were also several that had super unique abilities and how they used them were well designed. Especially Swimswim, I liked her ability... even if at times it felt like they didn't quite stick to itfully.
The art and animation for the series was also above par. I wouldn't say it was anything groundbreaking or specifically a reason why you should watch it, though. The voice acting was also pretty good.
The story was... bearable. For what it was worth, I didn't want to drop it expressly at any point, but that's probably because I quickly realized it wasn't going to have any potential and instead just let myself be pulled along for the ride.
However, that's about where the good points end.
For detractors, where do I start? How about the fact that they started with by far too many characters. 16? Really? Is that necessary? If you need to end up chopping half of them out (or more), how are you going to give them any type of proper character development? You have 12 episodes, 16 characters... that's not even an episode worth of mild character development per character...
Due to this, none of the characters get any solid character development. Not even our "main heroine" who, tbh, isn't that main. With the lack of development, this leaves you without any type of character connection or relatability, so you have no reason to emphasize with the characters as they hit the chopping block. On top of that, with the speed they do it, and lack of any backstory before they lose, you never get to the point of really wanting one to last till the end. Yeah, they kind of steer you towards a few you don't want to see win, but you're more wanting to see them lose than care about others winning.
So remember how I said they don't get any real development before they lose? That's the kicker, when they do lose, THAT is when they get a very small semblance of trying to build a backstory. Talk about bad story telling. The writer obviously doesn't know wtf they're doing. Yes, attempt to give me a reason (poorly told ones at that) to like the character after they've ALREADY LOST! What's the point in doing it now?
Another thing they tried to do, but didn't do too well at, was emphasize the shock factor. You could tell what happens to characters when they lose long before they "revealed" it. You also knew what the purpose of the whole thing was. I mean, look at the title... (I might have used rearing instead of raising, personally, though). There was no surprise. The only surprising event was how early they removed the one chance they had of trying to make the viewer empathize with the main heroine (hint: EP6).
Next, the shrinking of the number of "winners" they could have through out the series was horribly done. There was little planning, little lead up, and no reasoning (other than our obvious end result reason) given. "Oh, we just need to reduce the number" is not a well written reason. Come on, even I could give a more convincing reason than that and write it in a way that it didn't feel shoehorned in just as a story driver.
Next, the one orchestrating all this, Fav, was a shitty antagonist, and another example of the author not knowing how to write a good story. It's importance entirely revolved around nothing more than to prod the girls. It wasn't trying to stick to some moral high ground, or be actually evil... it couldn't commit to anything. Too many times did it prod or give information it shouldn't have, only to then say that it's just a observer and shouldn't be influencing the events.
Further, the rabbits foot usage. So, this for me was the crucifix that marked the series as poorly written and even more terribly executed. There is a more appropriate, more emotional scene (for the MC that is, not for us) for it to have come into play than when it did (hint: EP10). That is when this should have kicked in, considering it was there and there were far more emotions flying around from our MC. But poor writing struck again, and it only ended up being used as a shallow (and poorly executed) plot driver.
All in all the story telling was pretty bad, to be honest. So many things were written out of order, there was no character development, no shock & awe, no getting the viewer to feel invested in the characters or the story... and there was no satisfying ending. They never gave an any purpose as to why they were trying to "raise them". All they said was to find the strongest... but for what? Why? What good would it do for them? But I would say there was one good aspect to the story, and that was what I'll call the underdog factor when it came to which characters lasted the longest and earned the most... uh... wins.
The last detractor that I'll cover was, and this may be due to my personal like of the series, but how much it felt like it stole some of it's items from Madoka Magica. Our "main heroine" feels very much like Madoka, who doesn't honestly do that much through out the series, and is instead attempted to be further driven into depression to have her be there at the end to make some final event happen. Calamity Mary is, well, a partial rip-off of Mami. Her fighting style and abilities are fairly similar and they both have unstable personalities. And then there's the Homura copy, who I won't say who she reminds me of (as that's spoiler I feel), but the character is your reclusive, kind of dark feeling, black hair, I'll do things my own way type of character. Only thing missing is the backstory between the two (but again, this series doesn't have any of that anyway). On top of that, we have a poor Kyubey rip off, Fav. He's has a similar but different white design, is "misunderstood" (sort of), is alien to the story's world, and is there for some "greater good". Come on... if you're going to try this, at least make the core set of characters look different!
Summary:
So all in all, the series is decent if all you want is a battle royal with magical girls, but if you're looking for anything beyond that, you're in for a massive disappointment, and I'll tell you you're better off looking other series (may I suggest Mirai Nikki or Akame ga Kill).
3x3xTripple
December 17, 2016
Mixed Feelings
This anime in 8 words: “Anticlimactic Magical Girl Death Game With Wasted Potential ” Yes, this is just another magical girl dark twist anime. Unfortunately, it's not that great of one either and here's why: This is what a series looks like when it tries to have emotional shock factor, but fails because it's only 12 episodes long and has too many characters. When characters die, most of the times you won't even care because there are too many of them and you don't ever know their backstory until the episode of their death. This series has a damsel in distress, innocent, naive main protagonist. Thereare no moral messages to be gained from this anime and no overarching reasons for the events that happen. It’s, simply put, excessive “just because” death-game violence. However, I believe it's still worth watching if you like seeing violence and/or the death of magical girls.
I want to note that I actually did enjoy watching the series for the most part, but this is from my unbiased perspective as a person who has seen a lot of anime. It will probably be a lot better to the people that haven't seen as many anime.
This being a thriller, you should go into series expecting there to be intense, edgy battles and deaths. Most of the characters could have been expanded upon, but weren't, and that largely took away from the potential of the series. I honestly believed that it started off with the potential to be outstanding, but it quickly went downhill once the death game began. The great characters started dying off too quickly without me building any attachment to them. The main protagonist “Snow White” was excessively naive and innocent throughout the whole anime. Consequently, I did not enjoy almost any time she got screentime after the first few episodes because every side-character was significantly more interesting than her.
Story: 4/10
The basic premise of the story is that ordinary people were selected to become magical girls while playing a magical girl phone game. They are then forced into a death game where the magical girl with the least amount of "candies" at the end of the week dies. They initially gained these candies by performing acts of goodness, but Fav (the Kyubey knockoff) continuously adds in new elements that push some of the magical girls to kill each other instead. This is definitely not a "psychological" series; you can tell as it presents itself in the cliche, archetypal, non-unique characters. Taking that into consideration, I feel that the writers tried, but failed, to portray powerful concepts like friendship, desperation, loss, and psychological twists. This is largely because they introduced these archetype characters with amazing potential, but then got rid of them just as fast. Unfortunately, the fast pacing and the anticlimactic ending left me with feelings of wasted potential as I finished.
Art: 7/10
The art was nothing outstanding, but pretty good. There wasn’t anything particularly unique about it. I enjoyed the battle scenes and the fluidity of the animation. The characters were a bit too colorful and cute for me personally, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The brightness of the characters in combination with the dark background made the series feel less dark and more lighthearted.
Sound: 6/10
Non-unique, average, unmemorable ost. Although, the ending theme was relatively nice. Both the opening and the ending didn’t really suit the anime. Music was a bit too lighthearted for what was happening.
Characters:4/10
As I mentioned before, most of the characters die soon after they’re introduced. I liked most of them because of their diverse personalities, but I don't think you will be getting any new favorite characters out of this anime. If this anime was a real magical girl series with the same characters and similar deaths, I feel that it would have been significantly better. Most of the characters had great potential for development, but I could not form any attachments to any of them because of their short screen time and lack of backstories until the moment before their death. It was such a waste… *shakes head*
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
All things considered, it was alright. Never watching it again, but I don’t regret watching it at all. The fighting and characters were enjoyable enough for me to continue watching it this season. I looked forward to seeing what would happen in each new episode, but the end of the series made me feel that it’s just anticlimactic overall with nothing to be gained from the resolution (not even satisfaction). I would watch a season two to see where they go from here because it's still entertaining nonetheless.
Overall: 6/10
I can't give this series any higher than a 7 because it wasn't really that good and no less than a 5 because it certainly wasn't below average overall.
Bottom line: Would I recommend this to you?
If all you want is the gore/killing, then absolutely.
If you want a great story, then no it’s just wasted potential.
If you want both, then try Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero (anything but Ilya from the "Fate/" Series), Akame Ga Kill, or Mirai Nikki.
If you want a similar concept that’s better imo, then try Madoka Magica, Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha, or Btoom.
Hope this helps you make your decision! If so, let me know by clicking helpful! If not, let me know why you disagree~
