First of all, ill pretend this is a universe where Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica doesn't exist; be it inspiration, based upon or plain plagiarism, let's be fair: this is a site to review series as individual works.
Without further ado:
Story:
The first half of the story is fairly good due the fact that you are exposed to the tragedies of the girls: Akari and Seira's experience the tragedy of the loss of a loved one, Ginka's Harsh life with her father and the self-confidence issues of Luna.
We also learn about the Daemonia and how they originate from and you get to see glimpse on
...
who's the series villain during the chapters.
However, one of the the main problems with the story is on the second half it begins to be not so good:
Luna becomes excessively jealous for very dumb reasons and her "transformation" is terrible, the randomness of the villain Cerebrum (supposedly to mentally defeat her, has a character go through a tragedy infinitely...he didn't realize that by the time she finds her she already was like that?) and overall the "resurrection" of a certain character and WHY it got resurrected.
Also, the "Cameo" appearance at the end was totally unneeded (Why? did that happened for a reason? Just confidence boost? Cameo?).
We will probably also never know if Sefiro Fiore (the organization's name) intentions are truly good or evil, at it seems they are helping humanity for their own amusement...urgh.
It feels like the series builds a great, gloomy and steady atmosphere, then suddenly goes insane and throws everything to the window and gives you a happy treatment pill.
Overall,the story was passable, but could have been way better. I don't dislike happy endings, if they were done on a plausible way.
Art:
Artwork is good most of the time and tries really hard to keep it consistent that way. Most anime series show an evident drop of quality passing episode 2- and beyond till the final episode, but i never felt this happened here.
Just as an observation, the girls height varies in chapters: sometimes you see them looking around the height of a elementary/Junior high girl, and suddenly they look like they are on their late teens. This alternates on the girls transformed forms as well. Oddly, i thought the late teen forms where more suitable for the show plot...
Backgrounds are okay, but the alternate dimension backgrounds are kind of dull (Void, stars, barrens giving a sad empty feeling).
I really liked the girls transformations artwork, specially Akari and Seira's forms (Ginka was meh at best).
Most of the abilities and powers are well made (Specially Ginka's Armory and the Solar Rapier from Akari). The last boss form is bad at best.
Sound:
Overall Good. Both the opening and ending theme are really good and the seiyuus match the characters they represent.
Extra points to the triplets voice as they were cute.
Character:
You definitely can't blame the girls for being most of the time moody, angry, depressed or scared about what's going on with them. They are young girls that they were forc-...convinced to battle monsters rather than going to school and have a happy life overall:
Akari rather than being the "sunny, bright and lovable" person that many characters suggest, she is most of the time gloomy, worried or anxious during the series.
Seira is the cool, calm and collected girl that due her past with the Daemonia, she slays them without concern or fear. Hates the Daemonia with passion and hates the fact that Akari can listen to them as she thinks its a waste of time. The character i liked the most oddly.
Ginka is the "Sunny, bright and lovable" character that Akari is supposed to be; even in situations that may suck for most people, she's always optimistic and tries to keep the team together. The strongest link on the series if not a little annoying.
Luna takes the support role, both in battle and as a person, caring for Akari (to an obsessive/romantic point) which causes her to take really dumb decisions later on. Next to Cerebrum, it is a likely candidate for most hated character but gets better near the end. The weakest link of the girls basically.
Cerebrum the villain, is the character i hated the most. I would like to have hated him because of being evil or cruel... but the problem with Cerebrum are his actions:
Why Cerebrum was luring humans to become Daemonia in the first place (other than hating humans) is a mystery to me and even if it was a valid reason, there are more efficient ways to hunt down humans souls with negative emotions than going one by one waiting to get at the lowest point of their lives... im pretty sure you can make an army of humans with negative emotions being a lot to choose from, then send them to Sefiro Fiore and finish them off...
Also, he indirectly helped Akari to overcome her tragedy and effectively become stronger to defeat him. Villain's logic.
What is not Villain's logic, is to shape shift into a young girl and become the night's enjoyment of an middle aged man. Yikes.
Supporting characters are kind of memorable, but not much:
You have the Tendou Triplets, doing the role of scientists, the demons LaPlace and Schrodinger, Etia and Ariel acting as figure heads for the Sefiro Fiore Japan Branch, the older Tarot Girls , Mama, Hanayume and Lymro, etc.
Enjoyment:
Despite aforementioned flaws, most chapters end with a good cliffhanger enough to wanting you to look forward for the next chapter. One of the most well done chapters was the fight between Ginka and her Diabolos Tarot card (basically her dark clone) with had a good conclusion.
Many incidents are very shocking and entertaining but kind of expected (most of the girls end up fighting with her loved ones) however, the last battle was probably the worst one:
You first see the girls overpowering the "last boss form" (actually, i felt sad he was being so easily defeated!!) and then suddenly they end up being shot over and defeated instantly even when you saw them minutes ago effortlessly evading the boss attacks. Cheat? Hack?
And then... terribly cliched : the MC gains Limit Break , opening theme starts (and you can guess the battle will end due this) , uses it on the Last boss, you get a "Never give up, trust your instincts" kind of feeling as you see a familiar spirit around the MC (for no reason, really) and you know what happens next.
Happy Ending as all characters are alive? Seriously?
Next Season teaser? Ehm...naaah, im okay, thanks.
Overall:
Flawed or not, I recommend the series to people who like Tragedies or simply look for an alternative of "Super Shiny Sparkly Bubbly" Magical Girls.
Even though there are some comments about the girls age and their "designs", there's no fanservice to complement such perversions, which i liked as a production value (Finally somebody understands that Onsen chapters and Beach Chapters are not needed!).
For those with questions about Akari's Mom there is a light novel out there apparently.
In conclusion, there are some weak points that the series would definitely could have improved (the Clessida plot-thing was a laughable and the resurrection of a certain character near the end was terrible); however, the well done art for the transformed girls, average art on special attacks, Dark gloomy atmosphere and interesting-yet-cliched story helped me become hooked to keep watching the series until the end.
Give it a try.
Sep 24, 2014
Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou
(Anime)
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First of all, ill pretend this is a universe where Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica doesn't exist; be it inspiration, based upon or plain plagiarism, let's be fair: this is a site to review series as individual works.
Without further ado: Story: The first half of the story is fairly good due the fact that you are exposed to the tragedies of the girls: Akari and Seira's experience the tragedy of the loss of a loved one, Ginka's Harsh life with her father and the self-confidence issues of Luna. We also learn about the Daemonia and how they originate from and you get to see glimpse on ... |
