Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière

In recent years, creatures known as Kaii have frequently attacked cities and wrought destruction. Exterminating these monsters quickly became a popular and well-respected profession, carried out by magical girls. More than five hundred magical girl companies, ranging from small ventures to large corporations, offer their aid to those who need it.

Kana Sakuragi is a studious college graduate struggling to land a job despite attending numerous interviews. But when a Kaii attacks during her latest interview, she finds herself assisting the magical girl responding to the crisis. Although she lacks battle experience, Kana relies on her exceptional memory and knowledge to help subdue the monster.

Hitomi Koshigaya, the headstrong magical girl who faced the Kaii, recognizes Kana's potential and invites her to join Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.—the startup where Hitomi works. Wishing to make a difference, Kana accepts the offer to become a magical girl herself. While Kana may not be suited for the corporate world, it soon becomes clear that her true calling is to rise as one of the most talented magical girls in existence.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sakuragi, Kana Main

Fairouz Ai Japanese

Koshigaya, Hitomi Main

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Shigemoto, Kouji Main

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Nikoyama, Kazuo Main

Yamashita, Daiki Japanese

Midorikawa, Kaede Main

Oosaka, Ryouta Japanese

Aoi, Lily Supporting

Ishihara, Kaori Japanese

Asou, Miyako Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Tsuchiba, Mei Supporting

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Hasegawa Supporting

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Kashinomi Supporting

KENN Japanese

Fujishiro, Atsushi Producer

Kikuchi, Ruriko Producer

Hiraoka, Masahiro Director

Mima, Masafumi Sound Director

Reviews

Dec 20, 2024

KANLen09

Recommended

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. - A Mahou Shoujo work focused on corporate management? That's a first.

"A satirical, grounded take on magical girls, where they fight the biggest evil of all: corporate management." That's the comment from the ever-so-popular AniTuber Gigguk, and I have to say that the sentence rings true for mangaka Setta Iwaka's lone series that is a fascinating take on the oversaturated Mahou Shoujo genre that houses within the much-popularized platform of where manga series become huge juggernauts in the process: Shueisha's Shonen Jump+. And truth be told, you can experiment on a genre so much to the point where it becomes stale ... by the dozen (at least when it comes to Isekai/fantasy works), but at least in the case for Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière a.k.a Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., it has a promising hook, on the basis that you have to give the anime a second chance to let it stretch its plot in a slow, but tolerable manner.

In the world of Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière, the Mahou Shoujo work is taken as a true profession: a legitimate one because of the creatures that roam around, which can quickly become a nightmarish catastrophe: Kaii, monsters that come in all sorts of ranges that's pretty much like Pokémon with their various types. And for the sole girl that is the new college graduate of Kana Sakuragi headhunting for her first job, she has an excellent depth of memory to offer, but most companies would find it to be more of a liability than anything. That is, until she comes across the Mahou Shoujo of HitomI Koshigaya having to exterminate a Kaii in an emergency situation, and with her depth of knowledge being the prime factor to help the Magical Girl defeat the creature, Kana is immediately signed onto the unkempt start-up company that is Magi-Lumière, where Koshigaya is the company's Mahou Shoujo spokesperson.

For one thing, birds of a feather flock together, and Kana finding herself within an old, rundown building that houses the startup company alongside eccentric people that ranges from the crossdressing Mahou Shoujo fanatic of president Kouji Shigemoto, his able HR secretary of Kaede Midorikawa, alongside magic engineer Kazuo Nikoyama, not one single person is sane in this small startup company. But if there's one thing going for them, their quirks make up the fact that despite having more than 500 Magical Girl companies established for the very reason to exterminate Kaii, Magi-Lumière stands out for its orthodox approach to the standard, typical work that is assigned: to create and assess their aesthetics, as opposed to big corporations like AST Corporation's president Kei Koga and his able-bodied, all-rounder Magical Girl of Mei Tsuchiba, who is the best representation of Japan's typical Black Company culture, putting funds and results first before people. The dynamics of Magi-Lumière being the startup company as it is, they need not conform to hard-and-fast rules that would be the irate response to workers quitting, and instead, can establish themselves as a Magical Girl company operating on their own terms, terms that would not assume or judge people at face value, and the wholly trust by hiring them based on their hobbies and likings that would be future contributions to the company in a good way to help excel the growth into a good reputation. Now that's the mark of a strategic company, especially for Magi-Lumière's status as a small organization willing to experiment on the good and bad and see what works to advance their limitations forward.

The anime being yet another one of J.C.Staff projects for the Summer/Fall seasons, the No. 4 of 8 shows, certainly is the mark of what I would come to expect of a J.C.Staff show, though it's the collab with the smaller studio Moe being its first foray into anime production. While the overall production is a touch above average, it's a thing of beauty to see the classic Mahou Shoujo transformation trope get some much-needed love, with each girl getting a minute or two spliced just for their somewhat heavily elaborate transformation sequence that shows every nook and cranny of their Mahou Shoujo likeness. Honestly, I'd feel that this show has not a single minute wasted on anything insignificant, and even if it does, it's only splashing on the minor stuff, and this is the one extent that the hit-or-miss studio Moe director Shingo Nagai and his no-name staff team got things handled right.

The standout would be music composer Makoto Miyazaki's OST for the anime, and given his repertoire of high-profile works, the likes of One Punch Man, Spy x Family, and the most recent of which is Zom 100, I guess I shouldn't be surprised of a veteran's weight and prowess after all. Even both Mafumafu's OP and syudou's ED are good to great, catchy songs at the very least, and I find myself enjoying both songs quite a bit.

It's easy to get lost in the Mahou Shoujo realm thinking that the genre can flex just like Isekai/fantasy does, but at least it's not to the point where it is run dry and overdue to correct its course too late to its run. At least in the context of Kabushikigaisha Magi-Lumière a.k.a Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., I think that this is a show that deserves a second look, despite looking average and directionless at the very start to set its paces properly. It does have a plot, but like the story of the hare and the tortoise, it's better to plow through the plot/premise slowly than rush through its paces and end up being a trainwreck of an adaptation.

Of course, there is the original source material of the manga to plow through, but why read when you can watch the show instead? With Season 2 confirmed to focus more on the main story at hand, you have no excuses to not give the anime a shot if you haven't yet already, you won't be disappointed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 20, 2024

Marinate1016

Recommended

As a massive Mahou Shoujo fan I came into this season very excited because of the number of magical girl entries we had. Out of all of them, Magilumiere was the best and honestly I think this is one of the best magical girl stories ever. Even with all the titles JC staff had this season, they didn’t miss a beat with this one. Cool fights, transformation, a great soundtrack and a really fascinating world. Kana and Hitomi rocked my world and are definitely in the running for best duo this year. This is a must watch for any magical girl fan!

Instead of just being ... cute magical girls fighting monsters of the week type of story, Magilumiere puts us in a world where magical girls are a legitimate career with entire companies, staffing agencies and more dedicated to them. This show focuses more on the economic aspect of being a magical girl, at least in this first cour. It also has the distinction of featuring an all adult cast which is so nice because even as a Precure fan, I want to see more adults in this genre. It’s easier to relate to and I think there’s more interesting topics that can be handled. While we only got a little sample of the world building and larger story in this first season/cour, I’m very much excited to see how things play out in the future with the characters balancing their work as magical girls with their own personal lives.

Speaking of the characters, they’re a huge reason this show is so good. Kana is a very relatable character that I think a lot of people will be able to empathise with. You know, the recent college grad looking to get your career started and find a company that actually values your talents sort of relatable. She finds a home in Magilumiere, a place that not only values her talents, but encourages her to nurture and develop them. This was such a nice viewing experience for me because Kana finding such a great work environment is reflective of how so many young adults feel today. All the rejection and trials she went through and just finding that one spot where you’re valued and feel like more than just a number, but an actual part of a team. Hitomi, her partner, was also really fun to watch. A gyaru gym teacher with tomboy tendencies who started out mentoring Kana, but as time goes on Kana ends up being the one to show her new techniques and skills while on missions. Their dynamic was really good, only issue I have is Hitomi herself was lacking a bit in the character development department. But the manga is ongoing and we have another season coming so likely that’ll be addressed then.

One of the very underrated parts of this show is the production values. This is the 2nd best looking JC staff show this season outside of Danmachi. The fights look way better than they have any business doing. The soundtrack is also crazy good, like one of the best this year good and no one’s talking about it. The composer for this one is someone I wasn’t familiar with before, but their pieces really elevated the story!

It’s a bit grating how slept on this show was this season in relation to how damn good it is! Leaving this to rot on Prime with no promo was such a bad choice. It’s a really fun magical girl story with great action, characters and a cool setting. I think even people who don’t usually like magical girls will be able to jump into this one and enjoy it just because of the relatable adulting themes, the action and overall vibe. Can’t praise or recommend this one enough.

Magilumiere gets 9 out of 10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 21, 2024

Dangerous_Boy

Mixed Feelings

Mahou Shoujo only in words, Magilumi is (in general) closer to New Game! and (in anime that aired with it) Trillion Game as a workplace drama anime, rather than close to Precure in any way. But while both New Game and Trillion Game are mostly personal, focusing on the human element of the many working parts in an office, Magilumi is mostly professional and the cast is quite shallow.

This first season was pretty much about a singular thing: Kana's professional growth. She is good at learning the theory, but through these episodes she learns from people, from experiences, from the industry and through working. And ... that's it. Kana as a person doesn't shine through, and neither does anybody* else in the cast. If Kana is to be Aoba, Koshigaya is to be Kou, which is not only Aoba's Vergilius, but also her enemy down the line, making their dynamic ever more interesting; something which doesn't happen in Magilumi. Koshigaya is almost a deus ex machina, she's just there to solve every issue while Kana is still learning the ropes.

The Kaii aren't enemies or antagonists, which can be perceived by how there's no personality to them or their designs. They're just a simple proxy for "problems at work" for the drama to occur. New Game gives its problems solid form, deadlines, art issues, marketing issues, programming issues, concept issues, which gives the problem personality, and allows the characters handling it to show who they are. By making the problems the opposite of Koshigaya, in that they're just there for things to happen and Kana have something to think about and solve or not, much of how we, as viewers, can interpret what is taking place is also lost. In the finale there was finally a good design in the enemy, but the way to handle it was the same as always, in that vague magic shenanigans occur and it's over. It's mostly style over substance, without being very stylish at it (Mechaude, for an example, was also style over substance, but they went all out on the style, so it earned its worth.)

Ultimately, the antagonist of this season wasn't the monsters, nor the capitalist company, but Kana herself. The evil she had to defeat in this journey was her own self-hatred, and becoming a better professional by overcoming it, seeing how her talents aren't worthless and how what she does helps the company. Putting it this way, it does sound Mahou Shoujo-ish, in how she had to regain her own hopes and dreams, but through finding a job that allows her to see herself, and what she can do, and validates and values that. These girls are magical for people that work on terrible jobs, or aren't valued, or are soon graduating and fear what the future holds.

*Shigemoto isn't shallow and carries the show, both in personality and voice acting. Now that the "Becoming a full-fledged professional" arc is over, I can only hope his past and the future his ideals lead to are what the series spins around, as that's what's most interesting in this world.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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