©まほなれ」製作委員会
Wait, wait, wait. The cat is the school nurse? Other similar witch school shows have done this before (Little Witch AcadeKaren immediately comes to mind as Karen), but here it seems more important. That's because it shows us, beyond any doubt, that Ms. Suzuki isn't the only teacher who questions Rettoran's methods—the school nurse clearly has something to do with the boy who turned into spaniels, and they both observe and facilitate minor incidents throughout the school. It cannot be a coincidence that the nurse is the proctor assigned to oversee standardized testing sessions; the only question is whether Magumi's head knows about their extracurricular activities.
This episode also continues to raise questions about how exactly students are selected for the magic program. Yuzu's admission that she is a legacy student and the daughter of two government magicians is not surprising (there must be a reason why the other two citrus girls, Lemone and Mikana, are following her aside from the flowery meaning of their names), but, strangely, she was rejected from the magic program. Anniku's expulsion raised questions because his failing test scores sounded like an afterthought since he didn't finish the marathon the week before. The race is discussed as an activity in gym class or something fun, like a sports day in other school anime. Who gets kicked out of a show because they failed at the gym or something that was meant to be “fun?” Even the strictest schools of anime don't go that far.
Along with spelling Anniku's doom in magumi, this also says something about why the standard class was awarded the prize, despite coming in third. Perhaps the race is not so much a fun event as it is a test of the students' determination and ability to overcome obstacles. The children of the standard class clearly demonstrated both of those qualities, forcing the school to admit them, even as the school continued to treat them as second-class citizens – and possibly also a comfort. consoled Yuzu's parents, even though they probably weren't. as strong as she implied. But shady things are going on at Rettoran, and the people who seem the craziest may be the ones who have a better grasp of what's going on.
They may also be the best people to help Kurumi through her depression. Not using magic during the race makes her rethink her entire existence, and honestly, I'm not sure that wasn't part of Rettoran's plan. (I would be more certain of this theory if Yuzu wasn't a successor student.) If Magumi was designed to raise the next generation of magical leaders, then an unknown child from the countryside like Kurumi would be near the bottom of the list for admission, no matter how smart she was. Currently, she is so defeated that she has forgotten all the spells her grandmother taught her, a skill that got her very close to achieving a breakthrough before losing hope. But with Maki, Mike, Sally, and the others all making clear progress in their chosen fields while she continues to stumble, it's no surprise that she's having this crisis. Kurumi is swimming upstream and Ms. Suzuki's absence only makes her more and more tired.
However, all hope is not yet lost. Yuzu's deeper understanding of herself and willingness to be friends with Kurumi could be just the boost Kurumi needs, and seeing how devastated Anniku is over his demotion is also could remind her of why it was important not to use gatekeeping magic in the first place. Rettoran seems eager to tell his students who they can't become – it looks like Kurumi can finally start proving them wrong next week.
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The story of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
