Mahou Shoujo Taisen

This is a show that more people should appreciate.

Mahou Shoujo Taisen (or as my friend used to call it, 4 minutes of disappointment) is a series of shorts that is currently airing weekly. We called it disappointment because we expected it to be full 24 minute episodes, but it turned out not to be. REGARDLESS, it's turning out to be unexpectedly wonderful.

The show contains arcs of about 3 episodes, each highlighting a new character from a new region of Japan. The entire premise of the show is that each region of Japan has a magical girl protecting it and its traditions. Each arc focuses on ... the magical girl fighting off a "magatsuhi" that invades her territory. They have a very small amount of backstory, a relatively interesting battle scene, and a happy ending where the magatsuhi explodes and food rains from the skies. Sounds like a great day to be in Japan.

No one aspect of the show is fantastic, but altogether, it's very entertaining. The fight scenes are interesting but not overblown. They only have 4 minutes at a time, so they can't draw it out too long. And they don't pull a Dragonball Z and extend them for multiple episodes either. They get to the point and have a good time with it.

The one problem that I have with the show is that they don't really go into the details of the culture of each Japanese prefecture. They make a point of noting which prefecture the story takes place in, but nothing truly stands out to an American audience at least. All of the scenes tend to look similar enough to me that I don't really notice they're in different prefectures.

All in all, though, the show is good and deserves more attention. It only has 4 minute episodes, so it doesn't take much time, and it provides enough enjoyment to justify watching AND MORE.