Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「ルール変更のお知らせ」 (Ruuru Henkou no Oshirase)
“Notice of New Rules”
Well the great rumble in the jungle is finally here, and it certainly lived up to expectations. Not one, not two, but three magical girls offed and more examples provided regarding the sadism of our favourite hated puffball. Regarding deaths, Mary’s was not all that surprising for me, considering we largely expected someone between her and Kano would perish this week. The one irk for me, however, was how underwhelming Mary’s death felt. While the buildup was fantastic (especially Top Speed’s inevitable coming to the rescue), Mary just falling off from a shuriken to the head felt out of place considering the ease which she dealt with them earlier. From my understanding, the light novel also had Mary suffer badly from the falling glass, so this issue probably can be chalked up to artistic liberty. At least we know why Mary went after Kano now (i.e she doesn’t like recalcitrant girls), that part thankfully makes sense.
The big shocker of course was Top Speed’s death, which compared to Mary definitely came out of nowhere. Top Speed certainly has been bleeding death flags, but I never anticipated Swim Swim actually killing her, especially as casually as she did. Like with Mary’s death, Top Speed’s end also felt lacking for me, probably because it was not anticipated (at that moment) and also had no significant buildup beforehand. Nana’s death for example, while also lacking publicity, had more impact because we were privy to her suffering well in advance, and witnessed more than one prolonged moment visualizing her pain. Personally I expected Mary would actually kill Top Speed, so having Swim Swim succinctly function as Top Speed’s executioner likely explains my complaints. Well, that and the fact Top Speed was confirmed pregnant (as if the secret couldn’t be any more obvious), and infanticide is never a pleasant thing. On the plus side though we are going to see one hell of an angry Kano now, that much is guaranteed.
Rounding things off this week is the confirmation of everyone’s expectation that Fav indeed is not stopping the slaughter at eight girls. It’s unfortunate, but now we have to reduce the herd further down to four girls. Why you ask? Because those magical items just so happen to suck too much magic out of the ecosystem. Pretty damn obvious the sadistic puffball did this deliberately, and simply took advantage of Nana’s suicide as an excuse to break news of the plan. Given seven girls remain, it shouldn’t take too long for three more to perish and for us to find out actually, only one girl will end up pulling through this little survival game. Don’t deny, you know that announcement is not far off either. Considering Swim Swim plans on targeting Cranberry too and our remaining Peaky Angel twin has supposedly found an easy victim, it’s anyone’s guess who is next on the slaughter list. Place your bets now boys and girls, the final round beckons near.
Random Tidbits
Swim Swim’s ability is almost as overpowered as Alice’s. The ability to treat your body as a liquid and flow around/through any material is nothing to scoff at, even if it has some noticeable weaknesses (i.e. electricity). I actually expect Swim Swim will now be one of the survivors.
Our remaining Peaky Angel twin is smarter than she has been given credit for. She damn near nailed Koyuki (who persistently remains ignorant to her situation), and actually switched places with Alice’s bunny. I’m expecting she found out Alice’s weakness too. Almost makes me want to root for her. Almost.
So many people think Top Speed is best girl, but for me it’s Nana. I just might be the sentimental type, but that bubbly face won me over hard 😛
Preview
 |
Nuuuuuuuuu, not Top Speed! ;_; (I mean, I figured she’d at least be one of the last ones, or even possibly survive, not just like that). I just loved her personality and her “best waifu” appearance last episode only hooked me even more, lol.
As for Swim Swim, I actually would not be surprised if she does fight Cranberry and gets owned by her. Partly because Swim Swim is VASTLY underestimating Cranberry – assuming Cranberry must be “weak” by not revealing herself much – but also due to the huge weakness of her magic to Cranberry’s in that while Swim Swim is able to be like water and “dive into anything”, Cranberry’s magic, IIRC from the break cut info, revolves around manipulating sound (which is how she was so easily able to break Winterprison’s walls) and sound just so happens to travel better and be amplified in water, so if Cranberry were to get one good hit on Swim Swim, it would probably be bad.
Also, if Swim Swim does end up fighting Cranberry, she’ll probably be without any allies left behind her either given her resolve to stick precisely to how Ruler did things (so Tama could end up dying/sacrificed or even desert them while the other angel will more than likely die).
Oh dear god, oh dear god!!! I can´t freaking belive it, that b*tch Swim Swim actually kill preagnet girl and does not not seem to care at all!!!! I was wrong, now she´s the worst mosnter you could find, a monster that kill a girl with her unborn child. I hope she has a slow, painful death.
She did not know she was pregnant
Makes no difference, she must die, slow and painfully. Makes me sick the idea of a preagnet woman getting hurt, but this? There is a very special place in hell for people who do this.
Swim Swim is almost certainly a little kid. The girl voicing Swim Swim (Inori Minase) is doing a fantastic job. She also plays Chino in Goochuman wa Usagi esu Ka, Chidori in Nobunaga No Shinobi, Noel in Sora No Method and tons more roles.
Exactly, people treat her like some amoral adult mastermind, but in fact she’s a very easily influenced (remember that princess dream?) little kid who’s been pretty thorougly brainwashed by Rulers lectures, trying to do what she thinks is best for her not-that-capable team in a bad situation. She’s a far cry from those like Mary and Cranberry who’d kill just for the kicks. Just because she happened to kill a likable chara doesn’t make her the worst.
Forgot to mention that people have very short memories and have already forgotten all about Swim Swim sacrificing MANY years of her life in order to get her clumsy teammate Tama the invisibility cloak for her protection. Not very sociopathic of her, I’d say.
Yeah she is a kid, that was confirmed a few episodes back–she’s the girl from the dream sequence with Nemurin.
Over on MAL.net some folks are saying:
Show Spoiler ▼
If thats true wouldn’t that be something…
I’m going to miss Top Speed and Swim Swim needs to die and I’m guessing Cranberry is going to kill her
I hate Cranberry for killing La Pucelle but it will be a work of art to see her rip Swim Swim´s heart out. If she has a heart that is, we already know that monster has no soul.
I wouldn’t call Swim Swim a monster, it’s more a case of ignorance. She’s very young and easily impressionable (it’s why she latched hard onto Ruler’s teachings and rigidly adheres to them). In particular we are missing Swim Swim’s back story, and I have a firm expectation it involves some serious parental neglect.
Oh, ooops, guess I was wrong about the show not daring to kill off pregnant women. I have to give them credit for doing the unexpected.
This series is officially the most brutal magical girl anime that I’ve ever seen (No, Dokuro-chan as angel wielding a bat and brutally killing the main guy several times per episode doesn’t count. 😀 )
Also didn’t expect Nana to simply commit suicide without doing anything else. I expected her to turn in a crazy girl or something, still be part of it, but nope, it didn’t go the usual way.
Koyuki is still so useless though. *sigh*
Saving people is useless now huh?
I guess people need to be in those highway and dying to appreciate what she did.
Unless you mean she isn’t fit for a bloodbath which is the point of her character, I am sure she is close to breaking point or already numbed by now. Hearing people dying screams isn’t good.
“Useless” in a fight.
YEAH SWIM SWIM GO FIGHT CRANBERRY. IT’LL BE FUNNY.
…I’m upset about Top Speed. She was cool. Damn Nemurin just had to say something inspiring to that impressionable sociopath.
Anyway, I’m guessing Miniel followed Alice home and plans to kill her in human form, so there’s something else to be pissed about in an episode or so.
She’s impressionable alright, but not a sociopath, just a little kid. If she were a sociopath, she would have killed Ruler simply to take her place, whereas in actuality she did it mostly because of Ruler abusing her team and not living up to her own assertedly righteous doctrine.
I don’t think she killed her because she was incapable; it was a bit more complicated than that. Thanks to that sweet innocent inception move that Nemurin did (really, if she was more proactive and devious, Nemurin could have pulled off a lot of inception style stunts that maybe could have earned her real life candies) Adult Swim Swim realized that anyone could be a princess if they so chose. With that seed in her head it then coalesced with Ruler’s teachings. Primarily striving to be like the leader to improve the quality of the team and taking out the strongest person threat because they are automatically an enemy. Bonus lesson is that she intrinsically understood that there can only be one princess in the hierarchy. All that comes together to make this little girl move the way she does. Swim Swim has done some horrific things, but when the you’re an impressionable 6 year old who’s using a scumbag like Ruler as a parental figure to emulate…well. Luckily she doesn’t have the same nasty attitude. If Tama could develop more inner strength then she could use her ability as the only rational person in the room and maybe influence the decision making a bit. But since we’re coming to the finish line, it wouldn’t make sense for her character to progress that much so soon. I guess she’s going to have to fight that Cranberry monster and learn the hard way that people and situations go deeper than the Book of Ruler accounts.
Generally agreed; I’m not sure I get what you mean with you “incapable”, though. My idea was that the fact that Ruler put herself on a very high pedestal in theory, while in practice not quite living up to this self-established role AND outright abusing her “subjects” made the kill decision look more than appropriate for someone indoctrinated by her. I doubt Swim Swim would have gone for the kill inside her own team just because she found Ruler lacking as a leader, it was the abuse part that really did her in.
^ your “incapable”, not you “incapable” (-_-);
Basically, I don’t think she killed Ruler because she thought she was incompetent or a bad leader. She killed her primarily because in her world view, there can only be ONE princess. And if every girl can be a princess according to Nemerin, then its already obvious what needs to be done by Ruler’s rules.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2019.jpg
I’m happy that Mary died but she needs more horrible way to die than just a head shot.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%2035.jpg
I know Swim Swim killed our best girl/housewife, Top Speed, but there’s something that makes me not to hate Swim Swim. She’s cunning, careful, and know what to do in a battle.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%2003.jpg
Nana’s death kicked me hard. Nana is definitely good at heart. But by looking at the picture, she’s extremely depressed that she took pills and got alcoholic by losing Weiss, her most beloved one. And then with no hopes left, she ended her life by hanging with Weiss’ scarf. After she hanged herself, you will notice that she wet herself. That’s because when people are hanged to death, their muscles relaxes, thus releases the bladder. Nice little detail, Lerche
Swim Swim is a cute, emotionless girl in a swimsuit, voiced by Inase Minori.
I don’t blame you. 😉
Oh didn’t notice that Nana used the scarf.
The wetting part goes along with the bloddy executions of innocent ppl and is something that I didn’t expect to see. Shocking details.
Inase Minori, the one who voiced Rem?!
DAMN
Inori Minase, sorry about that.
Swim Swim’s kill count is pretty impressive. She’s managed to off Ruler, Winterprison and Top Speed. I somehow doubt she’ll get any more kills, but if this was a contest that took # of kills into account, she’d definitely be in the lead.
ProbablyDefinitely not the popular thing to say, but I kinda didn’t like Nana. She was sweet to be sure. She was very sweet and loving, but she was so…besotted on this concept of being a distressed damsel. She could have done much more considering that she was a full on support mage. If she was going to kill herself, I think it would have been better for her to die in battle supporting Winterprison. With her buffing abilities, the battle may have gone differently. If not, then she would have went down with her love instead of alone in the dark spiraling in meds and booze. That was not how I wanted to see her go. She deserved better than that, and so did Winterprison. I understand that she doesn’t have the disposition for battle, Snow white doesn’t either, but I just wish she could have gone out in a better way and more proactively working for peace.What a bunch of edgelord hack writers. Kill a pregnant chick and have one commit suicide (and piss herself ofc, definitely necessary to show that) What’s next? Cranberry is probly gonna turn out to be an 8 year old in a wheelchair. Shock value aside what is this show bringing to the table? It sure as hell is nowhere on the level of a Madoka.
Madoka was a master piece, there is no denying that but this show is going to leave with some lasting trauma, specially after what just happenend to Top Speed and Nana. Poor, poor girls…… this is so sad and sdistic, Fav better at the end of this hell!.
That’s a dumb comparison, you are comparing a prologue of ongoing story to a complete anime with a completely different focus.
Beside People are going to die in a survival game, that’s just the way it is, especially with the first scene and episode 6 dialogues supporting this is a last one standing type of survival game.
So…The number are gonna go down to 4 (and it will eventually go down to 2) …I wonder what that critter is up to, is it this MG app is some sort of a Bloody Scam or some sort of a testing method to appease the out world denizens who hunger for power…OK now I Agrees for this but I’am just saying anyways!
Now Let’s see…what t be…
Show Spoiler ▼
Two episodes in a row, there are episodes with some fantastic endings that are leading up to some huge events, and then the execution is pretty…subpar. Major story events happened, but it really didn’t feel like it earned some of those events. And how the last episode had the sense of a battle royale happening, it was limited to some 1v1s and 1v2s. Granted, I love the fight at the start of the episode, fight was all between close combat with grapples and tackles and far range, it was an exciting fight, Ripple and Mary proved to be very adaptable fighters. So when Mary is shooting falling glass and shuriken’d in the head, it really detracts from what occurred in the first half of the episode for me.
And I’ll also agree, Nana’s death was the most major hitting, not only because she was a likable character, but something about the framing, how it was purely movement-based with few words, that has so much power to how her character had dealt with the events prior. Meanwhile, the other two deaths occur, and while I think they’re critical deaths, I also think “…Well, that happened.”
Still an interesting episode with new things unfolding, but while I still enjoy the show, the wow factor is starting to falter in a few spots. Hope it manages to end strong.
Yeah the follow through is probably this show’s only serious weakness right now. It probably comes in part from the number of girls involved, but you would think at this point all the superfluous deaths would be finished and every subsequent one would reverberate significantly.
Top Speed’s death for example just needed some additional filler regarding her pregnancy, and maybe her fears surrounding her child. Keeping it a secret did nothing for the shock value, largely because we already knew all about it from the copious number of dropped hints and the fluttering of those death flags. Buildup is as important as the death itself, it’s probably why I like Nana’s story so much.
You nailed the entire essence of this show: “Well, that happened.”
Of everything I’m watching, this is the show that doesn’t stick. Barely anything worth even thinking about, after. Major supporting girls die and it feels like “Ah, finally.”
Welp. Whatever.
Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, or Why Does My Fave Always Die?
oh boy, so much death…
and apart from Mary (who probbaly just wanted from the world some respect?) it is all bundle of tragedy, from Nana hanging herself in grief for Weiss, to long suspected pregnancy of TopSpeed, which makes this almost double death, if you look it that way.
And to prove my expectation, Fav, that sadistic little piranha gleefully drops the final bombshell, reducing MG limit to 4. Any takers of 2 next?
SwimSwim shows she is almost impervious to kinetic projectiles, which is quite OP. But she seems to underestimate Cranberry, which would be agrave mistake. If I’d have to pick a death flag cnadidates for next week, it would be her and her remaining henchmen… erm, henchgirls? Speaking of which it was sad to hear Tama being conflicted about her orders. Also, unusually useful application of SnowWhite special ability – stealth assassins detection!
I just can’t believe Top speed is death. like, how dare you Swim Swim. Killing Top Speed just before they high five is too much for me. I’m so pissed at Top Speed’s death that I almost want Cranberry to kill her. But then again, it made sense that Swim Swim go for the kill after the battle ends, the goal was to kill without any casualty after all. I hope Cranberry give Swim Swim a lot of beating before Swim Swim kill her though.
I’m worried that the sly angel is trying to kill Alice while she’s in human form, makes sense if Alice brought that rabbit doll from her home. I just hope that rabbit foot could revive La pucelle(unlikely I know) or something so that Koyuki can survive without Alice.
For whatever reason, the ED gives me this feeling that Koyuki will bring all the mahou shoujo who died back to life. Maybe Koyuki and Alice will be the last two remaining, and Koyuki somehow uses Alice’s power on the other girls or something.. I don’t know, that’s just the feeling the ED is giving me.
Am I the only one who hates Swim Swim for killing Top Speed more than Calamity Mary for killing countless innocent lives?
I can’t wait for her to face Cranberry unprepared and be completely destroyed.
I am thinking Snow White will be the last girl and either bring the other girls back to life (or maybe just 1) using the rabbits foot. We still don’t know what it does.
We know the foot technically acts as a luck booster which can “save” the wielder in times of crisis, so that likely translates to producing favourable moments whenever you’re in a life or death situation. It’s just up to the wielder to take advantage of those moments.
@JayDrink
No, you’re not the only one who’d rather hate on a clueless kid than adults who kill just for the kicks, all because the kid happened to off a fan favorite…
I sure hope there’s no resurrection here, that would be a total cop out IMO, it removes most of the impact behind each death.
Yep, erasing the game’s “progress” (deaths) would wipe out the entire point of the story, pretty much. Isn’t watching these girls kill each other the only real reason to watch this?
Plus, this show hardly needs to remind the audience of the other MG show this one tries to best (but fails).
Ripple will probably become Koyuki’s protector after Alice is knocked off. Ripple hates team Swim Swim, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she takes out angel and dog girl. Leaving Koyuki (plot armor), Ripple (temp guardian), Cranberry (main villain?), and Swim Swim (best killer) as the final 4.
I actually see Alice being one of the final four. Ripple feels more like an MC than Koyuki does at the moment, just like how Swim Swim feels more like a villain than Cranberry does… It’s really hard to say at this point.
In any case, those 5 are probably the only ones that matter. Hopefully that annoying angel gets offed sooner rather than later, but I don’t know about Tama (dog girl). The poor girl is bullied by literally anyone who interracts with her, I don’t want to see her die. >.<
In this context, let me remind you that Swim Swim (whom you now hate with a pation because of her killing a fave) went out of her way to literally shave years off her own life in order to protect her clumsy teammate Tama. And people call her a sociopath…
^ passion, not pation
Swim Swim did nothing wrong
Really? Her first kill was killing her boss who actually shown signs a favoritism towards. Her second kill was a noble bodyguard, which caused a suicide. Her third kill was the fan favorite who was pregnant. She has 5 deaths under her resume, that’s literally more then every other magical girl combined.
Mary kills more than 40+ people.
5 magical girl deaths, viewers aren’t exposed to the countless offscreen npc deaths. Not saying Swim Swim is worse then Mary, but there has been girls who did not harm others despite the situation. Most of them, because they were closer to normal with morals and all. Sure you can blame the system (Fav, Admins, Cranberry), but Swim Swim also didn’t have to go out of her way to kill. They could have tried to earn candy like the original premise for example.
If that had been Ruler’s guidance, that’s likely what she would have done. It wasn’t, though, was it? Also, once it’s announced that coming in last equals death anyway, outcompeting folks in candy collection is in the end just a feel-good way of killing someone anyway. In a way, suicide may be the only morally acceptable solution in this situation (but even that gets complicated if you’re a team player).
This is a really difficult statement to disagree with.
All of the girls are stuck in this scenario; it’s kill or be killed. Swim Swim is playing the game as Fav is forcing them to play and is doing better at it than most of the others. The others are in various stages of denial or unreasonable hope. If anything, I think Swim Swim is weirdly detached and it’s the peaky angels who I thought were aggressively evil.
Everyone who wants to hate on Swim Swim should be hating on Fav who set up the game, entrapped the participants, and is now forcing the deaths.
If not for plot armor Snow White would have been long gone. She is one of the weakest (next to Tama) and least unprepared for a deathgame.
Swim Swim must DIE. She cross the line when she Kill pregnant woman
Yeah, like she knew Top Speed was pregnant… Even her best bud didn’t know about that, much less Swim Swim who never got to hear the “6 months” hint like we did.
Seems like we get some background information on Alice nexed time.
That almost always is a huge death flag. I bet Alice goes next week along with Tama, the other remaining twin and maybe Swim Swim.
Exactly my thoughts.
This was my prediction earlier in the thread. Koyuki, Cranberry, Ripple, and Swim Swim as the 4. After that, it’s ether going to end with Koyuki being the last one without harming a soul, or the remaining girls figure out how to beat the system (ie Fav, Cranberry, admins).
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
This must be the very first time I see PTSD and depression being represented in this manner in anime. It’s downright disturbing.
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
I… Really… Did… Not… See… That… Coming…
https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Ikusei%20Keikaku%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
A moment of silence to the best Ikusei Keikaku girl.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Ikusei Keikaku really makes Madoka Magica real tame by comparison. Right now the question is, how would the mahou shoujo genre move from here on seeing that Madoka Magica opened the flood gates and Ikusei Keikaku riding on that wave.
Personally I see this show and Madoka as two separate beasts. Madoka is psychological, its impact arises from the slow, crushing inevitability the plot reveals. You never knew what to expect initially from the show, so you’re affected harder when the big moment finally arrives.
Mahou Shoujo, however, revels in the fact it would kill off its girls, never trying to hide that part, or make the execution(s) convoluted or ambiguous. You knew what to expect from day one, so the only question became who would die and by what means. I really see this show like a magical girl Final Destination, it’s all about the shock and (so far) little else.
We likely will see more of this type of genre deconstruction given its popularity, but the key for any upcoming challenger is the actual story. There are only so many ways you can go about killing off the girls before one becomes inured and bored after all, eventually a new twist is needed. What that twist is will determine the longevity of this concept IMO.
I don’t agree that is show is about the shock and little else. The highlight of the show for me has been always the combat action and strategic development: How do the girls interact on a strategic level, which decision are strong and which are faulty. In my opinion the show is really strong in this regard.
it seems a grimly realistic take on the death all around those girls… plus, unlike most of the genre we do have “civilians” deaths involved…
Precisely. One thing that sets Ikusei Keikaku apart from the other mahou shoujo shows is the inclusion of civillian deaths.
This is pretty much the first one to have it. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Well, Madoka portrayed “muggles” suicides etc. as effect of Witches malicious magic, but here we have one of MG themselves going Charles Whitman. Also, there is realistic take on psychological reactions to death of close person – one girl chooses suicide while another goes psychotically aggressive. Finally there is fairly broad MG “volunteer base” including not only adult women but even a boy.
Sister Nana took it really hard