Mahou no Yousei Persia

I recently finished watching this and I thought I could try writing a review.

Story:
I found the overarching story, as written in the synopsis, rather uninteresting. Most single episodes don't make much of a reference to it, with some exceptions. It happens when the heroine seriously screws up or if other characters (the 3 green little minions or Kenji) have business with the Love Dream land.
The single episodes were of mixed quallity. I found some quite moving, like the ones with Kenji or the story of the old foto from Persia's grandfather. Others were rather forgettable (at least I forgot them).

Art:
Backgrounds: Didn't see anything ... bad or good at the backgrounds, so they are mediocre (5) I guess.

Character designs: Persia was cute, Tota (a chubby classmate) not so much. But anyway, most characters were given distinctive looks that respond to their personalities. Exception are the fraternal twins, which I kept confusing despite the different hair color (was it again the brown haired or the black haired one in whom Persia and Yoyoko were interested?). 7 for character designs I say, so 6 for the art section.

Sound:
It didn't annoy me, so fair (6) is the score.

Characters (this will be the longest part):
Heroine: She is generally a good hearted girl, who wants to make people happy. I guess that's what most magical girls want to do. Sometimes, she makes mistakes, or tries to use her powers for selfish wishes. This either doesn't work, or it backfires badly (at one occasion when she consciously does something evil).
At the beginning, she seems to be unbeatable in brawling and running in her normal form. However, as I watched the series, it seemed to me that she tries to pick the fights she can win. If she can't win, her running skill can be useful - or not, for example, one time she tries to run from some gangsters and crashes into a wall. However, in most cases, or if she can't win or run, she solves the problems by devising a plan. The execution of this plan generally involves her adult form. In adult form, she can assume the ability of any professional, from model to computer programmer.
I liked the heroine, she generally wants the best, but also has some flaws, and she is not stupid.

Now to the heroines companions. There are 3 little green creatures, which Persia received when she got her powers. They are annoying, and cause more trouble than they are worth.
Simba, once a lion and the king of the savannah, got turned into a whiny house cat and lives now in Japan with the heroine. If anything, I just feel pity for him.

The heroine's closer social environment: I already mentioned the twins. They live in the house of Persia's grandfather. One is active in the student council, the other does sports. Both looked just like friendly and boring model students.
She has some classmates, who wouldn't call themselves Persia's "friends" I think, but with whom she hangs out a lot. Yoyoko considers herself as Persia's rival in love regarding one of the twins. The two girls often pick fights early in the series, but this changes at one point, after which Persia tries her best to come to good terms with Yoyoko. There is a reason for that I guess (but I shouldn't spoil here)... The chemistry between the 2 was interesting.
Norinobu is the self proclaimed investigative reporter in Persia's class. He soon suspects something regarding Persia and stalks her eventually. His attempts, failures and the heroine's management of the situations were fun to watch.
Not much is said about Persias parents. They appear in every episode, but they just seem to have the parent role. Rather boring types.
The heroine's grandfather has a backstory and own interests. His fate is somewhat connected to Persia's. He is one of the more interesting characters in this series.

Other characters: A lot of more or less interesting people come and go in the series.
I found Kenji remarkable, a musician whose appearance reminded me of John Lennon. He has his own, more personal relation to the Love Dream land.

Enjoyment:
Despite the generally good characters, I found it partially tedious. Quite often, familiar elements seem to be repeated. Some episodes were boring, some good, so a 6 is sort of a compromise as a score.

If you are in the magical girls genre and have some time to kill, go ahead.

Imagine for second that you are 11 years old again and your fantasy world is the free African savannah, open and free, full of love, and the only thing you can possibly think about is about what fun adventures are around the corner. Then out of nowhere, society calls and tells you its time to take your first step towards adulthood. You wake up, and the dream is gone, but you remember the dream, but its time to get dressed and go to school and be part of society. In a very metaphorical sense, this is the narrative introduction to Persia's character. ...

Persia takes her fantasy with her and goes on a new journey, this time to understand what this mystical and obscure idea known as Love means. Through the comedic framing we the audience are pulled into this world view without rules into Persia's worldview to take that first step with her into a new chapter of life. Mahou no Yousei Persia is a coming of age story, setting it apart from (at least as ive seen, i have not seen every magical girl pre Persia, though I have sampled many) the Magical girls that came before. Where Minky Momo considered what dreams meant and Majokko Meg wondered if there was good in humanity, Perisa looks inwards to find meaning in something inherently opaque to common understanding. I found this analysis of Persia to be very well constructed, even as it twists through the episodic comedy of Persia's episode count, and at the end, Persia learns to let go and accept whats outside her control. This journey is most directly explored at the series mid point and concluded at the end, but between episode 22 and 45, Persia constantly grapples with different forms of Love, deepening the thematic message the Show writers wanted to convey, and I found this to be a wonderful use of the show's runtime, whether thats a Yoyoko's love for her parents, Goutou's love for a nostalgic memory, locked in a single sepia photo, Kishin's love of photography, or Kenji's love for a girl who disappeared from his life never to return.

Persia herself is an almost addictive character, with Tominaga Miina's incredible voice performance. Her antics are constantly fun and when the tone calls for it, emotionally gripping. Shes simple and earnest and wild, but grows more empathetic as the show progresses. The show uses its comedy brilliantly; I laughed a lot, but the show writers use the aesthetic of the episode to set the tone with expertise. I especially love a scene in episode 20 where Persia transformed as Fairy walks through an empty city street in the rain, her child form reflecting in the building window, all soaked in somber blues, yet complimenting both Fairy and Persia in their moment of solitude.

I do think the OP/ED change was a clear negative, especially given how important the first OP is to Persia's core character arc with Kenji. In universe, the first OP was written by Kenji as a ballad to his previously mentioned lost love. It just doesnt add anything for me, and the song and visuals are distinctly worse.

Mahou no Yousei Persia is a well crafted introspective series that pulls you into persia's worldview with a brilliant and convincing audio visual aesthetic, and im so glad I watched this show.