Dai Mahou Touge

Punie is next in line to become queen of Magical Land. However, she must spend a year on Earth before she can inherit the throne, so she transfers into a school in Japan. She's usually a sweet and gentle girl... that is unless someone does something to displease her, then she'll drop the act. She won't hesitate to whip out her magic stick and cheerfully rain bloody destruction down on the hapless fool, or barring that, simply use wrestling moves she calls "Submission" to punish them. Accompanied by her animal mascot Paya-tan, who makes regular attempts on her life (still bitter about being defeated and then forcibly recruited from Waku Waku Mascot Village), and forced to fend off random attacks by various people from her Kingdom who all have different reasons for wanting her dead, she must complete this year of training on Earth without fail.

Tanaka, Punie Main

Satou, Rina Japanese

Livingston, Paya Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Anego Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Koku, Tetsuko Main

Shitaya, Noriko Japanese

Potato Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Tanaka, Potaru Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Gesomi Supporting

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Tanaka, Esmeralda Supporting

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Tanaka, Kimihiko Supporting

Tobita, Nobuo Japanese

Torari Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Kawase, Kouhei Producer

Satomi, Tetsurou Producer

Ibira, Takaya Producer

Mizushima, Tsutomu Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics

Reviews

Jun 5, 2019

ktulu007

Recommended

I've reviewed quite a few magical girl parody series before. Usually pretty bad like Bokusatsu Tenshi or Puni Puni Poemii. Now, I'm delving into that field again with Dai Mahou Tenge, a four episode OVA from Diomedea. That's right, the studio behind Ika Musume & Akuma no Riddle. The OVA started getting released in early 2006 and didn't finish until late 2008. Which seems excessive, but isn't that unusual for an OVA. Let's take a look. 

Story:

We open with a young girl being told that she must spend a year on Earth. Much to her father's distress. He's worried that our environment won't be hospitable for humans ... that long even though we easily have twenty years yet. Actually, he's just an over-protective dad. But with that put aside, Punie travels to Earth for the year and starts attending an ordinary high school. All while dealing with a bunch of zany, magic-related incidents. 

The biggest issue with the series is that some of the elements feel under-utilised. One example is Paya, Punie's mascot character. We find out shortly after he's introduced that he wants her dead but it never really comes up again in the OVA. He pretty much sides with her whenever something goes down. There's also Elise, a rival magic girl. She fights Punie once and pretty much fucks off to the background after that. Maybe these elements get more use in the manga this is based off of, but they feel pretty pointless here. 

I will give the series credit in that the basis of its comedy is pretty damn strong. Basically, they take a common magical girl or slice of life trope and they ask "what would happen if you combined this with this bad-natured magical girl?" Which leads to some pretty funny moments. The series is also good at subverting expectations, even with its own reoccurring gags. And, unlike a trashy series like Dokuro-chan, this series knows how to use physical humour. It makes it violent enough to have impact but not so violent as to be unpleasant. And the violence isn't based around our heroine being abusive to a significant other, it's more about her responding to threats and attacks from others in a comedic fashion. 

Characters:

The characters are, very much, a comedic cast. They all have quirks and fairly basic personalities designed more for comedic possibilities than for complexity. And that's fine. I've always maintained that a comedy doesn't need deep or complex characters. It just needs a cast that's funny. Which this cast is. The only real issue is with characters like Elise who are allowed to be funny once and with characters like Tetsuko who are just kind of there. 

Art:

The anime looks pretty good. The character designs are well thought out. The animation is smooth. There are some great visual gags. And the physical humour hits that perfect blend of controlled brutality.

Sound:

The cast is really good. Satou Rina does a stellar job of switching from cutesy to deadly serious. With Paya they gave him two actors since his transition involves a switch from a very high-pitched feminine voice to a very deep masculine one, but both Saito Chiwa & Nakata Jouji do very well. I also give a lot of credit to Kawasumi Ayako & Shitaya Noriko for their performances. Takagi Ryuuji's music is great. Which isn't surprising since he also worked on Dokuro-chan, where the only strong element was the music & on Muteki Kanban Musume, which was good in every respect. 

Ho-yay:

About the extent of it is Punie commenting positively on the appearances of a few other girls. She never really shows any interest in dating one of them though. 

Areas of Improvement:

I'd have more content with Elise of leave her out. Having her do one thing and then stay to the background feels like you're getting build up but no pay off. 
More attempts on Punie's life by Paya. Honestly, I'd have this little mascot character taking advantage of situations, like the whole exam thing, to try and end Punie only to have them fail without her even noticing. I think you could get some really funny moments out of it. 
Let Tetsuko do something. She's mostly there to have shit happen to her and occasionally she reacts to a situation. But in that regard Anego does a lot more of both than her. It would help if her "friendship" with Punie was played up a little more or she got some unique role within the series.

Final Thoughts:

Most short magical girl parody series I've seen have been rubbish. This one is definitely an exception. It may have some aspects that could be better explored or could have more done with them,  and may very well in the manga, but it's still an enjoyable series with some strong gags. Overall, I give it a 7/10. 

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 11, 2019

gwenstefannypack

Recommended

I came into possession of this DVD after purchasing a grab bag at an anime convention (LPT: the vast majority of the content in con grab bags are inventory they need to get rid of because nobody wants it). It had been sitting on my DVD shelf for three years before I'd even touched it.

Fast forward to this past Saturday, when my WiFi went out, unable to be fixed until Tuesday morning. What better way to catch up on the DVDs that I'd acquired but never watched?

My expectations were super low going in-- I mean it was a grab bag DVD! But, I was pleasantly ... surprised. I haven't seen many parodies of magical girl shows, so I don't have much to go off of, but I like the dichotomy of Punie's cutesy stereotypical mahou shoujo image and her hard-shelled badass alter ego.

There's no English dub of this, so there's a lot of high-pitched (read: annoying) Japanese seiyuu trying their damnedest to sound so vewwy pwecious desu OwO, but I think a lot of this is part of the parody. Hell, even Punie and Paya's voices change drastically when they're in battle mode, with Paya transforming from a perky, bubbly mascot stereotype to a gruff baritone.

Very little fanservice as well, which is a plus in my book.

Not a masterpiece, but a cute little hidden gem of a palate cleanser for perhaps a heavier show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 23, 2013

haydocc

Mixed Feelings

Story: 5 (Mediocre)
The story is simple. Punie (the main character) is sent to Earth by her parents (more willingly by her mother) for one year before she is eligible to become the next queen of Magical Land. To use her time on Earth wisely, she gets enrolled in a school. While there, she meets a few enemies with whom she encounters in battle over the course of the show. Note that this anime is a parody, so the story is supposed to be terrible.


Art: 6 (Fair)
Colours are nice, Character designs are decent, and the animation isn't bad, but sometimes the frames go by a tad ... fast in a lot of scenes, making it a little awkward to watch.


Sound: 4 (Decent)
What can I say? It's average.
The OP and ED are both nothing to call home about, and the ambient tracks played throughout the show are really average, though they do fit their respective scenes.


Characters: 3 (Poor)
Unfortunately, the only good character design is Punie herself, but at least she has some sort of depth to her (and by depth I mean a split personality on opposite poles).
Although a few side characters get some backstory, so that's something.


Enjoyment: 8 (Very Good)
The majority of enjoyment comes from the comedic aspects of the show (though the fight scenes are surprisingly well done). This is where the show shines the brightest; from silly jokes to crazy situations to random characters with even more unexpected behaviours, Dai Mahou Touge is one funny anime!

Overall: 6 (Fair)
If you are looking for a short and hilarious anime and nothing more, then I urge you to watch this. It'll make you laugh for sure :)
Any other reason and it's not really worth it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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