Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers – 02

「桃色脳ミソを裏返せ」 (Momoiro Noumiso o Uragaese)
“Gobo Gobo!”

Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers aims to bring the whole team back together as they want to combine with some of their missing comrades so that they can return to being regular girls who are more attached to their hobbies than their combat capabilities. But Anarchy and Blue are bound to get a dose of something wild if they plan on winning over their old friend Pink.

HOW DOES IT FEEL?

I’m surprised how much I liked Blue. I was worried that they were going to do nothing for her aside from sex jokes, but her sexuality is just one of the many aspects that make her a good foil for Anarchy. Anarchy’s no-nonsense attitude is quickly juxtaposed with Blue’s interest in dating, breaking nerds’ hearts, taking every situation as unseriously as possible, and cracking open cans of Surstromming.

It was hilarious to see how quickly she shut down all of the otaku by playfully girl-bossing her way into hooking up with a guy who offered her okonomiyaki and companionship as they eat from the palm of her hand. By the middle of the episode, she had already gone as far as to pick up a vibrator to use it as a shoulder massager much to Anarchy’s fury. I also can’t help but admire that the first thing she wants to do once the otaku are liberated is go to a New Order concert. I’m hoping they do more with her because she absolutely won me over.

PINK IN YOUR AREA

I know I’m the last person who should be talking about idol fandom, especially after I was hard on Oshi no Ko. But it was neat to see how Pink managed to carve out her own space because she wanted to surround herself with a neverending pop idol party.

Since the show is more focused on hobbies, fascinations, and what we make of them, they make a good effort to give us a gist of what Pink looks for with her love of idol levels of adoration. Where she latches onto idols in general because it offers her the validation she needs to continue finding ways to relax and hide away from the dangers of an oppressive society.

At the same time, the iconography of the idol fandom is where the parallels start and finish as Pink has a deeper love of the club life. Whether it be underground raves, club drugs, or gas masks, Pink’s more avant garde methods of performing make her almost more of a DJ in that sense.

It makes it all the more interesting to see why and how Pink left the group to carve out her own happiness through socially fearsome methods of partying. So much of what makes the rave culture tick is morally frowned upon, so part of Pink’s coping mechanism for feeling powerless is embracing the taboo nature of raving in secrecy.

I also like how Pink’s inclusion in the group manages to diversify Otaku Hero’s crew considering how the last episode felt like they summed up otaku fandom as a sausage party. With a diverse crew of guys and girls who love Pink’s performances, it should help to unify the group by adding partygoers and idol fans into the mix of otaku.

And I think overall, it does a great service to Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers’ main thesis, which I believe is to unify everyone’s fascinations into one all-encompassing celebration of eclectic interests and expressive creativity. “The freedom to like what you like” feels so much deeper to me than just simply liking anime or manga. Where deep fascinations can be the ultimate passenger for individual expression.

It helps that there’s a fun level of messiness with the animation. It might look a little cheapy, but they make up for it with the charm of expressing the girls’ eccentricities in great detail and playing around with the number of expressions each girl has. It wears its heart on its sleeve, and the quirks that show through its earnest animation and cheeky visuals is more than enough to make Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers a worthwhile experience.

Preview:

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Gospelion in a classic love」 by The 13th Tailor