Why you should watch Mahou Shoujo Site?
The story is Outstanding (10). I was never a fan of the Magical Girl genre since I was young, although I’ve watched a good amount of Card Captor Sakura and Sailor Moon since I didn’t have a choice back in the Television era. But there is something with Magical Girls and a dark and morbid story that tingles my weird taste in anime.
Mahou Shoujo Site is another anime that I did not expect much to blow me away in the Spring Anime 2018 lineup together with Hinamatsuri. I just thought that this is a mixture of totally contrasting genres and since I love opposing genre mashups I would give this a try. And after watching the very first episode, it swept me away like a tempest at the end of the day! I could not get enough of it that I have started reading its manga and the other work of Kentarou Satou Mahou Shoujo of the End (You should read this). This meant a lot for me since I am the type of person who is picky when it comes to story and Mahou Shoujo Site did not disappoint… well I’ve never really set a huge expectation for it, to begin with.
The anime does not adapt the manga on a 1:1 ratio. It omits some parts and rearranges the story to fit the 12 episodes seasonal format. Surprisingly, I did not feel that it was badly adapted; moreover, I felt that the anime developed an identity of itself that it can stand toe to toe with its manga counterpart. I am glad that it did not have the adaptation disease that Tokyo Ghoul had.
Outstanding Story of bullied, abused, and mistreated unfortunate girls who receive special items to help redeem their lost lives and happiness.
Art is Great (9). The art felt magically eerie and I absolutely love it! The way that it mashes cutesie magical girly stuff with grunge darkness surprisingly works well. And I should not forget to mention how they combine live-action, 3D CG, and traditional hand-drawn animation at the end of the episode It makes me cringe for a bit then appreciate it after watching it. It is well represented in this aspect.
Sound is Outstanding (10). “Changing Point” by i☆Ris is one of the best opening songs for the Spring Anime 2018 lineup. It perfectly hypes me up to watch the episode and goes well with the dark theme of the story.
“Zenzen Tomodachi” by Haruka Yamazaki tremendously adds to the eerie cringe of the ending animation. I couldn’t even skip the ending song even if I want to. It is what I can describe as a satisfying cringe.
“…Watashi dake Mitete♡ (…私だけ見てて♡)” by Nijimi Anazawa (Yuu Serizawa) the ending song for the 3rd episode is another surprise for me. It is not as a cringe-fest as the main ending theme but it felt out of place at the beginning after it was over it felt “Yeah it was a perfect ending theme for this episode”
The overall sound and song choices for Mahou Shoujo site scarily fit the theme of the story well.
Characters are Great (8). As for the characters in the story, the main protagonist of Aya and Yatsumura-san is one of the best Yuri team-ups that I have ever seen and I was not even aware of it at the beginning. Both of their backstories fleshes out their characters more which in turn makes them endearing and easy to relate to characters.
I also want to give a special mention to Sarina’s character in the story. I strongly believed that she was just a one-off character who would eventually die at some point earlier in the story, but I was surprised by how she developed into one of my favorite characters in the whole Mahou Shoujo Site story.
The supporting characters are good, but not great enough to hold their ground. They are more developed in the manga compared to the anime.
Overall, this anime is not for everyone’s liking and I know that. But if you are into the eerie, bizarre, and good cringes, I would recommend this anime to you in a heartbeat! One of the best Spring anime of 2018.
I would give Mahou Shoujo Site 9 magical sticks out of 10.
