©小野中彰大・竹書房/魔法少女にあこがれて製作委員会
I should probably expect something from this show to come out of any episode where the title is just the name of a ship. After Utena and the audience were able to sum up Loco and Leber’s true feelings about each other last week, this episode of Gushing Over Magical Girls takes the lead by listing itself as”Loco X Leber”. Hopefully this will help prepare you for what (and who) is to come with a little more than once-bad girls who are now a little less bad. Once again, this is the Gushing show. Ten weeks later, everyone knows exactly why they’re here.
Except me, of course. I come here for the exciting magic battles and escalating plot!
However, this episode shows that Gushing has had to consider how to present his content over the past few months. This has always been a series that, as a matter of necessity in terms of vibe, treats sex and its often extreme behavior flippantly for the sake of humor. Well, there’s the point I’ve often made about it pivoting to more salacious interrogations of fetish and kink material. But beyond all that is the underlying question of sexual orientation in general. Magical girl shows as an institution are certainly no strangers to homoeroticism. Utena’s evil worship at the altar of that materiality, her finding herself “overwhelmed” by these magical girls, certainly seems to indicate that she and others like Sayo, who fascinated by her games, can be admitted as a lesbian— but as with so many cases in straight magical girl series, that admission seems content to lie within the realm of extremely overt subtext.
Of course, that can’t happen forever. Utena is a sexually awakened teenage fan of magical girls; she wears yuri glasses and writes a fanfic or two, deleting the “sub” from that “sub” text (and nowadays, replacing it with a completely different kind of “sub”) Utena’s “punishment” for with Loco and Leber could certainly be penance for them hunting down and defeating her beloved shapeshifting heroines. But it’s easy to discern ulterior motives when she locks the duo in a suspiciously familiar white-tiled room, where they can’t leave until they’re both aroused. She’ll typically invite someone to get together on this show and if that comes with a full on lesbian sex scene in the middle of the episode then at least she’s interested to all of you in the audience.
It’s funny how there’s an example of adult content that so completely fits Gushing’s established standards and yet still feels like some of the most graphic content yet. The frame is quite sweet, bringing a romantic feeling to the thorny relationship between Loco and Leber. It’s anchored by a heartwarming sadness-cuteness that revolves around watching two sad lost souls find each other and grow closer. The canonization of yuri elements also raises questions about where Utena fits into all of this. She always has an element of voyeurism in her adventures, but it seems like she’s more interested in watching than participating here. Or maybe she just doesn’t like Kiwi in that way enough to accept her many hotel travel offers. It’s a shame because I thought they were so cute in their job of raising Korisu. Even if it turns out Kiwi doesn’t understand what a model kit is.
As the aforementioned plot of this storyline progresses, the focus is on Kiwi, her feelings for Utena and how that ties into her strength and desire to prove herself becomes a point. other of this episode. That’s the part that I find so interesting. At first, I intended to beat Kiwi to her death flag by promising a well-deserved trip to the hotel with Utena after holding off Sister Gigant. But then, when Kiwi escaped the two-tonne nun’s dismemberment, I found myself delighted by the reveal of her true villainous powers. It’s not quite at the level of Noriko’s shirt-ripping climax in Gunbuster, in that this moment is at least partly for the sake of fanservice. But it’s still a pretty big hype, along with finding out the real reason for the Kiwi villain’s codename “Leoparde”. Here’s hoping Utena enjoys it.
As effectively managed as all of its wild elements are in this episode, with hardcore lesbian sex taking just a few minutes, this entry is held back by its simplicity that limits its presentation. its presentation. Most of the fanservice is provided by a lot of one-shots (and you’ll notice the censored audio that HIDIVE suffers from) and the ramped-up action in the second half harks back to the show’s more ridiculous style . I think this is the anime conserving energy before entering the finale. Additionally, they updated the ending to account for Loco and Leber officially joining the team. I can appreciate that because now I am loved by them.
Rating:
So funny; years ago, I needed to seek out duplicate uncensored airings of a show like Gushing Over Magical Girls if I wanted to know what I was missing from the broadcast version. But living in the future, I now wonder what the standard, non-AT-X versions of this episode had to do with the graphic sex scene. I guess we’ll have to use our imagination.
Gushing Over Magical Girls is now streaming on Hide.
Chris hopes that watching this series at the same time he keeps up with Precure won’t put him on the special list. Please direct any call-in posts to Twitter his increasing deterioration or prompted him to write more quality material for the blog.