As the physical impacts of mental health become more widely known, it paints a grimmer picture than most people want to accept. Prolonged stress, depression, and disillusionment are not things that one can “get stuck with because the older generation did it.” These are diseases that leave as many consequences as any other disease. In Gushing Over Magical Girls episode 7, we saw how sad this was.
Don’t meet your heroes
The longer you idolize something, the more you misunderstand it. The human brain excels at making connections that aren’t there. We do this all the time and for good reason. Recognizing patterns and filling in the blanks has made us the dominant predators on this flat monolith flying through space. But when that ability is coupled with admiration and idolization, it will completely distort the logic of our thinking. When we idolize someone, we put that person on a pedestal and believe that they can do no wrong and are infallible. That line of thinking makes us forget that in reality, they have the same mistakes, thoughts, and flaws as we do.
As Gushing Over Magical Girls episode 7 begins, we see Utena in her toddler days, glued to the TV. She has bright eyes and smiles at the magical girl fighting evil on screen. By her own admission, that’s where her admiration for magical girls began. An admiration that has only grown as we progress to the present day. But where Utena was once just a spectator, she now has a front-row seat to the world she so desperately wants to be a part of. She gets so attached to it that she begins to see cracks in the perfect world where she once saw Magia Azure (Sayo Minakami) as the perfect woman—the one all girls wanted to emulate. Now, she realized something was wrong with her. Her mood was so unlike hers that even the rest of the Tres Magia took notice.
What doesn’t kill you will demoralize you
We are seeing how Sayo becomes a magical girl. As she recalls her more illustrious days to strengthen her resolve, she has more carnal desires, as we do not know the full extent of Sayo’s thoughts. The conclusion about the cause of her illness is a bit complicated. However, there are two main paths one can follow. The first is depression.
Tres Magia is the cream of the crop. They are the perfect magical girls. Or at least it was until Magia Baiser appeared. Since then, they have continuously received one defeat after another. People often erroneously summarize that “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” or “try until you succeed”. But in reality, the mental strength needed for both is something most people don’t have. For a large segment of the population, a few failures at something they thought they were really good at is enough to make them question themselves. And when that sends people into a spiral of self-doubt and ultimately self-hatred, depression quickly follows. While the loss of sexual desire in depression is well-documented, the opposite is also true for hypersexuality, but is less talked about. Sayo’s need to satisfy her erotic thoughts may stem from this.
Another scenario that could lead to Sayo’s rut is her unwillingness to accept that she is masochistic. This may be because she is embarrassed about it or thinks it is inappropriate for someone in her position. She may believe there is something wrong with her for liking it. While people are quick to point out that trauma or abuse causes masochism, there is no common underlying cause. However, an important warning regarding Gushing Over Magical Girls episode 7 is that a large number of masochists engage in such activity as a way to relinquish power. These are respectable, capable, intelligent people. Anyone who, for one reason or another, must always be morally upright. Engaging in this activity allows them to free themselves from the heavy responsibilities that often come with their lifestyle. In the case of Magia Azure, this scenario carries great weight.
The fall of Magia Azure
As Sayo tries to regain her mental balance, she runs into Utena outside the Magical Girl exhibition. At first, she only stands up for Utena when people line up in front of her, but she ends up going to see the exhibition. But when she is given an idealized version of what she should be, it makes her more ambivalent about satisfying her need for personal validation. She decides to fight Magia Baiser one-on-one. It’s a mistake to believe that if you win her over, her unflattering feelings will eventually subside. As the battle began, Azure set up a barrier to keep the rest of Tres Magia unaware of her confrontation and attacked Magia Baiser with all her might. Unfortunately for her, Magia Baiser has always been the smarter of the two. She is soon trapped on a shapeshifting panda shaped like a cavalletto squarciapalle. However, it is important to point out that the way Magia Azure is positioned will not result in any serious physical damage as her weight is held by her arms/legs when they are restrained. However, the psychological degradation part of this device is still there and the psychological torture has done what it was supposed to do.
Despite all his boasting and bravado, Azure was broken by the abuse. One might complain about the decline in animation on this show. But the pain and resignation on Azure’s face was captured so well that when people talk about uncomfortable moments in anime, it’s up there with a certain chimera girl/dog . As Azure crawled on the ground in defeat, Magia Baiser was proud of her. At that moment, Azure reached out to Magia Baiser, almost wanting to continue the fight but instead surrendered.
We all know there is flight and there is fight. But there is also freezing. And there’s FAWN. What do you do when you can’t fight back, can’t run away, but also can’t stand still? You are stupid. Azure decides to take it to the point where she tries to lick Magia Baiser’s feet when she asks to be treated worse. Instead of getting what she wanted, she received Magia Baiser’s anger.
Gushing Over Magical Girls Episode 7 Conclusion – Utena’s Endgame?
Here, we see something interesting about Magia Baiser, or rather Utena. As I mentioned before, she did nothing to cause any serious physical harm. All of her attacks can easily be deadly. However, other than being a sex pest, she doesn’t actually cause lasting physical damage. Emotional trauma, sore butt, scrapes and bruises—sure. But who are you actually taking out? Not even close. Even if she enjoyed attacking Tres Magia, she knew there was a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Utena sees himself as an opponent of promoting growth, not hindering it. She wishes to be an obstacle for her beloved magical girls to overcome. Seeing one of them falter to the dark side and give the middle finger to all his fans is unforgivable.
Utena has an idolatrous view of magical girls—a seriously flawed view. Her magical girls are the salt of the earth. She considers them perfect, even though we’ve seen Kaoruko be rude and rude, and Haruka would lose a critical thinking battle to a pineapple. Because of this, Magia Baiser reprimanded Azure and left in disgust. She is lamenting about recent events. Venalita appears and she asks if she’s sad that she didn’t defeat Magia Azure. Venalita essentially tells her, “No, neither do you.” This also points to the fact that Venalita may not be as evil as it seems.
Screenshot via HiDive
© Akihiro Ononaka/Takeshobo/Gushing Over Magical Girls Production committee