Magikano – 06

Summary:
It’s pool time and the girls are all dressed up in school swimsuits. Ayumi wants some alone time with Haruo, so she takes him to one of the pools that suspiciously has no one around. Even though they learn from Haruo’s friends that the pool is cursed, Ayumi still jumps in. She throws Haruo in and starts teaching him to swim, but soon a whirlpool forms and starts throwing the two around. Ayumi uses her magic to blow the water away, but it reforms and grabs her with its tentacles. The sisters arrive to find Ayumi, Yuri, and Marin (the latter two who were unable to help) unconscious on the ground and the water creature nowhere to be found. However, Haruo is gone – all that’s left of him is his skin.
The girls return to the pool that night with the intent of getting back Haruo. With the help of his two friends, they summon the water creature, which takes on the form of a girl. The ghost is actually drawing power from Haruo, so everyone’s attacks are ineffective. The girl feels like her dreams have been realized with this new power. As it turns out, she was born with a weak body and has been hospitalized her entire life. From her window, she loved to watch the girls below play in their swimsuits and longed to one day do the same. Upon hearing that, Ayumi dresses everyone up in swimsuits to show her. Yuri tries to attack the ghost while she’s looking, but the girl easily blocks Yuri’s sword. The girls get encased in ice, and it’s up to Fuyuno to save the day. She casts a spell and puts everyone in old-style school swimsuits. The ghost drops her guard at the sight of those swimsuits, allowing them to defeat her and get Haruo back. Fuyuno reveals that the ghost girl’s hair was the school regulated style of twenty years ago, a time when they still had the old-style swimsuits. When they return to the pool the next day, Haruo seems to have learned how to swim, but it turns out that he only shed his skin again. As for the ghost, they made her into a doll wearing the school swimsuit she always wanted.

The screencaps may not reflect it, but there is a noticeable drop in art quality this episode, mainly in the way the characters are drawn the first half. It improves by the end, and the ghost’s character design reminds me a lot of Hazuki (of Tsukiyomi Moon Phase) because the hair ribbon looks like Hazuki’s neko-mimi. The episode itself is just about what you’d expect of a swimsuit episode for this show, i.e. a good dose of fighting and fanservice.
Next week’s Magikano will air on Wednesday (February 15th). From the preview, it looks like the Yoshikawa household is going to get another maid…