First Impressions / Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka

「きっと素敵な魔法少女に」 (Kitto Sutekina Mahou Shoujo Ni)
“You’ll Be a Wonderful Magical Girl”

Oh MSTA, what a twisted web you weave. From wild bloodshed to, erm, imaginative torture (giggidy), this show certainly loves to bounce between extremes as it quietly sets up its magical girl squad for that cutie breaking we all know is waiting in the wings. With enemies now out in the open and tensions riding high, you know full well what’s coming next.

One of the curiosities of MSTA of late (at least for me) is how dichotomous some of its more provocative scenes are proving to be. The interrogation scene this week for example was arguably more sexual than disturbing, replacing that sense of foreboding dread and fear with some subtly lascivious imagery helped along by Kurumi’s unique approach to information gathering. Sure I can get behind tying up the prisoner and engaging in creative forms of physical therapy (it’s the time honoured black ops tradition), but in that contraption, in that position, and with that specific drug and its exploitable side effects? MSTA knew full well initial audience thoughts wouldn’t be towards identifying Babel Brigade members I guarantee you. Of course this particular flavour of cutie breaking right now may just be down to Kurumi—after all, her interests are very much in the open—but I’d imagine MSTA would take the grimdark approach over the suggestive one like before. Guess we’ll just have to see what torture round two brings.

On the other side of the coin however things did get dark and serious when it came to the baddies of the moment. Our new “illegal” magical girl Chisato for example has provided new means to watch things die in horrible fashions (besides providing an answer for what those wheelchair-bound people were taken for), while Giess shows why you don’t stick augmentations in war ravaged child soldiers. Cyborgs with magical girls? We’re certainly going places in this one. While still unclear just what the Babel Brigade is even after (beyond making a Girl of Mass Destruction), it’s increasingly apparent that rending asunder the fragile peace between man and magic is one of the objectives, and maybe even how magical girls are seen in society too. There’s a reason Asuka’s PTSD keeps visually recurring after all, and why the Magical Five, for all their successes, are shown to have a fair bit of underlying tensions. Beneath all the promises of protection and claims of doing one’s job there’s some pent up emotions and memories to work through, and the very likely chance Babel Brigade is headed by someone our magical cutie pies know full well.

It may all be fun and games in the sun (and bed) for everyone right now, but don’t expect smiles all around when all that plush finally gets unleashed. Stay tuned boys and girls, it’s fight time.

 

Preview

15 Comments

    2. I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens during this trade gathering. It’ll be the first time we see in any detail the spirit world that keeps being mentioned. Also the political fallout, but that part is a given haha.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  3. MSTA continues to slide down the rabbit hole of PTSD darkness.

    It seems to be trying to be a challenger to Madoka Magica.

    https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
    Can’t be blamed that I read the subs for Gliess as “Do you want to be a mahou shoujo? Make a contract with me.”

    https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
    Insert Shirai Kuroko noises

    Henrietta Brix
    Reply

    1. I wouldn’t say direct challenger at least, MSTA may emphasize the agony of being a magical girl, but the focus is different, mostly because outside of the PTSD there doesn’t really seem to be any downside to being a magical girl. Unless/until we find out what the contract catch is this show is more in line with critical war series than Madoka’s psychological deconstruction.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  5. https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%2026.jpg
    The face of somebody who just tortured someone the whole morning. Such bliss. XD
    At least she reattached her arm….

    On a slightly more serious note,
    https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%2013.jpg
    I like how this compared to Chisato. Kurumi really could’ve fallen down the same path if it wasn’t for Asuka. Slightly interested in how she compares to Abby now. But really, that teacher shoud’ve done more. Been negligent of bullying myself, but I know the victim never got that far.

    Speaking of victims, what do you do with victims like these?
    https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%2038.jpg

    theirs
    Reply

    1. Most of the time there’s not anything you can do for victims like Giess. They’re just too broken to fully rehabilitate and will be permanently scarred at minimum—none are actually meant to become adults after all. If they don’t break first they’ll be watched and guided by others the rest of their lives.

      Pancakes
      Reply

  6. https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    I don’t know what sort of reparations that family got, for whatever accident occurred, but either they didn’t get much or the father was irresponsible with his spending. Honestly surprised, given how open he is with abusing/selling his daughter, no one had report him to the police.
    https://randomc.net/image/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka/Mahou%20Shoujo%20Tokushusen%20Asuka%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2014.jpg
    I don’t know what sort of in-anime government official monitors these girls, I imagine the government sees magical girls as “weapons” that needs to be supervised rather than “superheroes,” but if the government actually cared about these girls then the smartest thing to do, when you are capable of “abusing power,” is have that useless teacher permanently fired, while making sure he stays unemployed, and have those girls expelled (never to be accepted into any good school) while also having those bullies get arrested for assault charges; if anything, the teacher and bullies need to be given capital punishment for harming heroes that are defending humanity. In the end, the girls have to save each other for the harmful “mundane” things from normal life (of course, even in real life, you can’t depend on the government for things like this). Would be satisfying if our female hero smashes the flower vase on that stupid teacher’s face and use the beat up photo as evidence to have everyone, in that class, be arrested and be given felony charges.

    Greed
    Reply

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