©岩田雪花・青木裕／集英社・株式会社マジルミエ製作委員会
Magical girls come in all shapes and sizes, and Magilumiere is evolving to showcase more of them. Granted, magical lady Aoi Lily is hardly unusual by the standards of a typical magical girl—she's beautiful, graceful, and confident in her makeup abilities. But all of that really makes her stand out in this world of magical girls who look like working women. Even those who found enjoyment in it, such as Koshigaya, deliberately contrasted Lily's sparkling style.
True to Magilumiere's focus on detail, Lily's presentation told viewers a lot about her and Miyakodo, the company she represents. After all, magical girls are no strangers to being transformed and empowered by the power of cosmetics, so for one to become a spokesperson for a company in a universe like universe in this show is a given. Starting a partnership with Kana by taking her shopping and having her try on a bunch of cute outfits seems like a fun diversion (with this episode's omake segment confirming it's a diversion for advisors in Miyakodo), but it also shows a focus on the presentation and appearance of magical girls. It's not just about outward beauty; These girls are representing their brands and companies because of the stated appeal of this profession.
What makes this even more interesting is when it's revealed that the promotional efforts go both ways. While she primarily represents her cosmetics company, it turns out that Lily also serves as a spokesperson for the witchcraft profession itself. This creates a bit of a departure from the anime's opening backstory about the desirability of the job, which now reveals that there is a drop in recruitment effort required. Maybe it's a problem with low birth rates and an aging population. But it's neat nonetheless because it acknowledges more of the realities that magical girls in the real world might face. Yes, they have cool transformations and anime-style fantasy action, but they still fight monsters that are actually dangerous and pose a real threat to magical girls and other monsters. the person they are protecting. We'll put a pin in there.
It doesn't take Magilumiere into deconstruction territory so much as it acknowledges the divide in a world where magical girls are both fictional fantasies and a real-life occupation. It provides a clear excuse for Lily to show off her glowing look with flawless foundation and fashion model confidence. And it gives Kana another layer to aspire to: a pure ideal of magical girls that not only portrays the role but also inspires others (like her) to join the workforce. magic move.
Showing the differences in how magical girls can express themselves also comes with showing the differences in their abilities and how they operate. In the established Magilumiere style, details are reduced, with the aim of allowing the audience to grasp the characters at the same time. Shigemoto mentioned in a strange business card mahjong game that Miyakodo's magic technology is not on the same level as their company and you can see it in detail like how Lily has to kick open pipes to get Get water to attack Kaii with. For a split second, I wondered if she could actually use magic, compared to Kana who was only capable of exploding. It's a sly codification of the idea that for Lily, her looks and charisma are her magic.
Is that enough in the face of the real dangers of witchcraft? Let's go back to that battery. Kana received a retweet earlier in the episode about eating cake with Lily which made me wonder if a character could trip up a death flag when they weren't even on screen. Lily then charged forward and jumped right in front of Kana's attack, slashing at a surprisingly bloody breaker. It's a thought fueled by the episode's earlier point that this job is in fact dangerous, leaving audiences wondering whether this show will demonstrate magical girls dealing with those dangers. in a real-world way or not. I can't imagine live streaming a magical lady getting stabbed is a great way to entice girls to apply for jobs, but that just makes it interesting to see how this plays out next week. becomes even more attractive.
The setup and structure of all of this makes this episode of Magilumiere feel a bit off. I love seeing magical girls loitering around as much as anyone else, but the move to montages of the shopping trip can feel experimental, not helped by this episode's animation looking flat and clunky. than usual. With all the extra details about the Kaii mutation and magical options dropped into the fight in the last few minutes, it feels a bit rushed getting to that dramatic plot point. But like I said, the ideas driving it are incredibly intriguing, and I'm still incredibly curious about how to solve that problem, so obviously it still mostly works.
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Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
