©岩田雪花・青木裕／集英社・株式会社マジルミエ製作委員会
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. Early assertion that the main company is a good, fair member of the magic is the right step for the business girl to take. The cynical pitfalls of such a fanciful role becoming a part-time job can still be explored through other companies, but Kana's adventures retain a core aspirational aspect. its core. It creates a magical girl experience that feels like both a satisfying fantasy for adults and an inspiration for little girls: what if your job actually made you happy and the pizza party purchased by management is not simply an empty plea for you. strike?
Magilumiere takes place in the Japanese business world, so the role of the pizza party is represented by an after-work karaoke session. Some people might decry the extracurricular excursion as “filler” on a show where they want to see magical girls in coordinated uniforms slaying monsters and plotting business the most. Maybe, but look, these women have worked so hard, they need time to relax. What I love about this entire segment is how well it serves the characterization purpose of so many of the series' other asides, as well as the actual purpose of such outings: to find understand these people better.
Even before the Festival officially begins, the audience is learning details about these characters due to their reactions. Nikoyama is extremely focused on work even at the end of the day, worried that he won't be able to get everything done in time to hang out with everyone. Meanwhile, President Shigemoto made sure to take everyone's pre-planned schedules into account when making his invitation, revealing that he has already completed the rest of Niko's workload. in the meantime so he has a chance to come along. Kaede shows how constantly prepared he is, as a natural member of the sales team, with coupons ready to send. They fit into their roles and activities within the company as Kana continues to observe and figure out how she fits into all of this.
POV characters are a tried and true storytelling tool because, when used well, they can effectively pull double duty in characterizing the story and telling the story. communicate information naturally to the audience.”Natural” is the key word there, as all the other members of Magilumiere were simply acting like their natural selves during the karaoke outing and Kana was observe that behavior in its natural habitat. Despite the fact that they are literally performing songs, there is no sense of performance when Niko withdraws his voice in an antisocial manner when a waiter pokes his head into the room or when Kaede herself I don't sing but manage other people's activities. throughout the evening. Also, it's interesting to see Kana turn the tables on someone who attentively observes details about her.
This is the way this segment is, and even without any magical girl action other than Shigemoto's extremely dedicated performance of karaoke cosplay, this is arguably the most earnest fun Magilumiere has ever had . Character details that aren't necessarily immediately relevant to the plot are neat, such as Koshigaya's ability to express himself while singing. And don't think I didn't notice her constantly exclaiming how cute Kana was. I could go on reciting parts of it enough, but I won't. The karaoke session is not the entire episode, even if it is its focus.
That focus is on President Shigemoto's perspective on one reason they're doing this—another thing for Kana to learn about the company as she goes along. It can be easy to forget in the midst of things that even with the whole “magical girls working nine to five jobs” thing, they're still working to protect people. That came up last week with Magilumiere's defense of the mall, and it's reflected more quietly here in how these employees need to experience the everyday moments of joy that everyone participates in so that they understand what they are protecting. That's consistent with Shigemoto still taking magical girls seriously as “heroes” and contributes to Magilumiere's stated unusualness as an industry player.
All of this is consistent with the employees' satisfaction at Magilumiere with working for their boss, along with some idle speculation about his cross-dressing habits and possible past. associated with that. The writing certainly wants the audience to start speculating about this as much as the characters (which again has the merits of an effectively written character POV) as more of Shigemoto's past connections return, causing Kana cooperation with Miyakodo cosmetics company and most importantly the meeting. Magical girls are more professional. New character Lily Aoi explicitly uses the term “magical lady” which I know some viewers will prefer for all the heroines in this series since they are, you know, grown up. But it's a neat detail nonetheless, along with the detail of Aoi being transferred to magical girl from another department like so many other jobs. (God, I love the world-building in this series.) This week's episode of Magilumiere spends a lot of time simply establishing the tone of itself and its future stories, and its That news will pay off in an exciting time just enough to get me very excited about how this next plot turns out.
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Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Chris would 200% work for a magical company if they were real, but he'll decide to write reviews and promotional copy instead. You can see more of his perspective on the blog or watch him relaunch his anime girl artwork (magical and otherwise) on BlueSky.
