'Magical girls... are strong, cool, and graceful. It's a sought-after, high-paying job. The kind of career every girl dreams of!'
'Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.' - a hot new magical girl manga and anime, taking off like a shooting star in a storm. Of course I had to check it out.
After reading the first volume of the manga, here is my verdict and critique:It is like a manga version of 'A Magical Girl Retires', only more comedic and far less depressing. Other comparisons include 'Flavor Girls' and 'magnifiqueNOIR' (I'm a versatile Magical GirlTM connoisseur, what can I say). And it is like a magical girl version of the anime 'Tiger & Bunny'.
In 'Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.', it is companies and corporations galore, and its magical girls employ science and technology instead of magic (yes, that includes the transformation sequences). The one thing they share in common is they fly on tech "brooms", which double as weapons. Plus magic wands or "devices". The only thing that can be called a supernatural phenomenon: the creatures the magical girls are deployed to fight and contain to protect their cities, called the kaii. Kaii are gooey, blobby, teethy monster contaminants at this point. Magical girls are employed as the exterminators.
Why are only women the exterminators and heroes? And what makes them "magical" exactly? Is the term "magical girl" used just for the geeky aesthetic? For a cuteness factor? Maybe we'll find out in future chapters.
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. is a small, independent magical girl company that is more a family unit than a business; not a cold, ruthless business, anyway. In its employment are the sassy, confident, spirited, impulsive magical girl Hitomi Koshigaya, and our protagonist, the new grad and magical girl recruit Kana Sakuragi. Kana is a shy and meek, but incredibly resourceful and organised young woman, with an eidetic memory. She was merely job hunting until she stumbled into a kaii contamination on the office floor of where an interview was to take place, and she ended up helping Koshigaya defeat the dangerous threat.
It's a one-in-a-million chance encounter that will change the course of Kana's life.
She can be useful. She can be appreciated for her efforts and talents.
She can help people.
Others in Magilumiere are Shigemoto, a middle-aged male magical girl cosplayer who is the president of the company, and Midorikawa, a sales rep and Koshigaya's tech assistant (a temp who's not a temp, basically), and Kazuo Nikoyama, a "magic engineer" and the biggest computer nerd and otaku ever. These three men are magical girl fanboys, and crybabies in the best way. They're cheerleaders who are not afraid to show their emotions.
There's no room for toxic masculinity in Magilumiere! Everyone helps each other out there, and supports and encourages each other; no negativity, no toxic work environment in this establishment.
Kana may have found a new family in the most unexpected of places.
'Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., Vol. 1' - simple, funny, fun, action-packed, and major in its themes of heroics, altruism, finding your purpose, and lifting one another up. It's a good introduction to the series. There is nothing gross, fanservice-y and fetishy in this modern manga, thank goodness. It could have come dangerously close to it easily; for example, with a character like Nikoyama, since in any other manga he would be a pervert and predator (he's an otaku, bordering on hikkiomori, who designs and programs the magical girls' transformation sequences, need I say more?). But it doesn't rise to the bait - there is restraint and subversion.
We have truly come a long way. 'Magilumiere' is accessible and unalienating.
There is no romance, either, and Koshigaya and Kana look to become a great magical girl team, and the best of friends. Opposites attract, and aid each other massively. And listen to and support each other, to bring out the best of their individual qualities.
Thus ends my verdict and review. 'Magilumiere' is a cool new addition to my Magical GirlTM collection. Now to watch the anime.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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