Having stumbled across the passionate rants and pretty pictures over at the Star Crossed anime blog, I decided I’d take a chance on a magical girl anime called Mahou Shoujotai (also known as Tweeny Witches or Magic-Girl Squad – Alice).
Up until checking out Mahou Shoujotai, my only other experiences of the traditional magical girl anime had been Pretear (surprisingly watchable, if ever so gay) and Sailor Moon (something about a doom tree; I couldn’t get past two episodes without falling into the clutches of apathetic depression).
Despite my concerns that with this being a kid’s anime and all it would be laying on the morals a little thick, it turns out that Mahou Shoujotai is an enchanting fantasy adventure, conjuring up such an inventive, colourful feeling of excitement without ever pandering to the imposed squeaky clean innocence of Western children’s cartoons. Sometimes dark, but always fun and passionate, Mahou Shoujotai never loses its attractive sense of humour amidst a punky visual style and overwhelming fantastical adventure.
The story is- just like Alice in Wonderland- about a girl (called Alice, actually) who somehow falls into a world of magic where witches and warlocks are apparently at war. This is merely the beginning of the story (I’ve only seen up to episode 16 myself) but Alice’s journey, amidst much broom flying, odd creatures and magic spells- is an emotional rollercoaster of forming friendships and dealing with the reality of broken homes.
One of my favourite anime houses Studio 4°C is the primary driving force behind the look and feel of Mahou Shoujotai and their crazy, experimental style works perfectly within the boundless confines of Alice’s strange new world; truly everything looks weird and colourful and fun in ways rarely seen outside of anime produced by Studio Ghibli. It’s rare to find a children’s anime that evokes such a free wheeling, awe inspiring sense of adventure and fun. Mahou Shoujotai is magical in every way.
Mahou Shoujotai – Magical girl anime done good
8 responses to “Mahou Shoujotai – Magical girl anime done good”
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Finally I see somebody else talking about this awesome anime! Thanks for blogging, and let’s hope more people start to notice it. 😀
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Well, it sure got my notice ! Count me in 🙂 I’ll give it a try sometime next week ^^
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I really liked the artwork of this.. although i somehow forgot about it while deciding to get the fansubs or wait for the dvd rips which were slowly coming out.. I should see if i can grab it again actually now you mention it
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@psgels
You’re the reason I’m watching this in the first place, so good on you! 🙂
@Boulayman
Excellent 🙂 I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
@Crayotic Rockwell
That’s exactly how I ended up watching this. There was a big difference between the DVD quality and the TV versions so waiting for the whole thing in DVD was worth the few months wait.
It’s worth watching, it’s not every day that you find a series as fun and colourful and well, weird, as Mahou Shoujotai. -
I also find it weird that there aren’t many people knowing this series or at least not talking about it … many probably get scared by the "mahou shoujo" title v.v
Started watching it when the fansubs were starting and found it amazing. But then also decided to wait for the DVD version, since it has such a great animation. The DVD rips were just completed, so now is the perfect time to watch this great series. -
I watched this as it was coming out towards the end of last year and was consistently impressed. I also don’t really gravitate towards anything that hints of a magical girl squad, but the decidedly darker tone of this sparked my interest. This interest was rewarded with a rich story and even a couple of plot twists. Now I’m just waiting for more information on the sequal.
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If a sequel is on the way, I’m sure it would take at least a year to plan. Clearly a lot of heart and effort went into Mahou Shoujotai; it’s quite amazing how the writer and artists managed to come up with such a colorful array of funny creatures and unnatural landscapes.
This is probably the type of anime that needs to be shown on TV to really break out of its small fan base. I’m sure most people see the magical girls and run the other way, but if it were to get on TV then perhaps they would give it a chance. -
I thought this was an excellent anime with the exception of the ending. Everything was "resolved" in less than two minutes of Episode 39, nor was it clear to me exactly how this resolution occurred.
Nevertheless I enjoyed this program quite a bit more than I expected. The artwork, especially in the early episodes, was at times stunning. (It appeared that they were running out of money at the end, though. For instance, some of the characters’ facial expressions weren’t as detailed or convincing as in the earlier episodes.)
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