Katsute Mahou Shoujo to Aku wa Tekitai shiteita.

I’d like to begin by encouraging people who will be quick to judge, that I have rated this show an 8. I know a lot of people on this site who are quick to label a review as unfair, if it mentions any heavy criticism at all. That is why I want people to understand that, while I have a lot of criticism in this review, I still enjoyed this show, as the high score clearly conveys. The reason I say this, is because I feel it is my duty to be honest about the content that appears in this show: that is the purpose ... of a review afterall. And simply put, I believe that most members of the western magical girl fandom have showcased an increasing over-sensitivity and refusal to accept several classic tropes of this genre. And if those old school tropes bother you, then I’m afraid to say that I simply don’t think The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant will be something you are able to stomach. Now with that disclaimer out of the way, allow me to describe what the experience of this show is like.

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant (I’ll refer to it Mahoaku, it’s Japanese title, going forward), is a romance focused, magical girl anime, featuring a budding relationship between the magical girl Byakuya, and the evil Lieutenant of the bad guys, who she was forced to fight, Mira. The main goal of this anime is to present the relationship of Byakuya and Mira as an unexpected, yet powerful romance that changes the courses of the two lovers lives for the better. In the case of Byakuya, she is the epitome of a soft spoken, kindhearted and selfless magical girl hero: her sheer unwavering kindness to everyone (even towards the bad guy Mira), is what kicks this entire relationship into action. For if Byakuya did not show kindness to Mira (as opposed to just beating him up like how some other hot blooded magical girls would do), then this plot line would have never happened.
Mira, by contrast, is a man with his life heavily in order and perfectly planned. He takes his position on the bad guy team very seriously and appreciates his job. However his devotion to his job and to the bad guys begins to waver when the sheer kindness of Byakuya causes him to doubt himself. Simply put, I think this is a fantastic dynamic for a romantic comedy anime and is something I have never seen before in any other anime. And I say this as a huge veteran of the magical girl genre (if my profile pic didn’t make that obvious).
Now, it’s time to address the obvious elephant in the room, which I hinted at in the earlier part of this review: there is very clearly a large age gap between these two characters. Byakuya has the appearance, innocence, and height of a very young girl, and this series directly hints at how young she is, as several jokes of the series involve around her young appearance. Later on in the manga, another girl character is introduced named Hibana. And Hibana states that she is 15. Byakuya also states that she is the same age as Hibana, meaning that the female love interest of this show is 15. The age of the male love interest of this series is made much more ambiguous, but on a visual level, he looks like a man in his 20s, and on top of that thwre are several times in the manga where he feels uncomfortable about Byakuya’s school life / school uniform being worn (perhaps signaling the fact that he is an adult and so, he feels uncomfortable being reminded of the fact that his lover is 15.) Speaking for myself, these elements do not bother me, because I am well aware that age gap romances are a huge part of the history of the magical girl genre. Sailor Moon, one of the most influential magical girl shows of the 90s, actually made Tuxedo mask be a college student, just so that the age gap could be even more apparent in the anime version. So, while I do not have any problem with this, I have noticed a huge over sensitivity within the magical girl community, and I suspect that many people are immediately extremely offended that this show has an age gap romance like this. I’m sure the first thing that a lot of them are asking would be “well, maybe the anime could age Byakuya up? Right?” But allow me to explain why I think that is extremely unlikely, and would in fact probably never be something the anime staff would do: you see, this series is an adaption of a manga by Cocoa Fujiwara, a manga author also known for her popular series Inu X Boku Ss (which I checked out for the sake of this review, and it also has an age gap romance). Fujiwara Sensei is no longer with us, she has passed away. And a lot of people in the MyAnimeList forums have been discussing the fact that, it’s extremely unlikely that the anime will make any changes to the ages presented in the manga because it is likely that the anime staff see that as something that would be disrespectful to the memory of the manga author who has passed.
So, now that we have established that this anime is likely a 15 year old female protagonist dating an adult man, I’d like to explain why I consider this series to be worth watching, and why I challenge the modern magical girl western fandom, to consider my perspective (though I know they’re probably not gonna change any time soon and will continue to be quick to judge). Simply put, this trope of an age gap romance is an extremely common thing in the magical girl genre. Along with the already mentioned Sailor Moon which features an early high schooler, Sailor Moon/Usagi dating Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru, who is in college, another hugely influential shojo with a large age gap is FullMoon Wo Sagashite, a fantastic magical girl idol series that was very influential, and features a large age gap as well. I consider myself to be extremely active in the magical girl community, as I follow and read tweets from several influencers in the community such as Sailor Guardian Hope, and Ayumi, the host of the most popular Mahou Shojo podcast. One thing I have noticed in the replies on Twitter and the among the communities of western magical girl fandom, is that they are extremely sensitive to age gap romance, to the point that they label any show that contains them as being “worse” for having that element (in other words they consider it a flaw). This has gotten so absurd, to the point that even Precure, which is a long running franchise that involves several magical girls dating their talking animal mascots, has been labeled as a problematic series, simply because of the fact that when the talking animal mascots become human, they appear much taller than the magical girls: which has led people to label several of the mascot X magical girl romances in Precure (such as Nozomi X Coco which is my profile picture) as being “romanticized grooming.” Simply put, I find this degree of stretching the truth, to be emblematic of an increase of blame, needless attacks and cruelty within the western magical girl community. And that is why, for these reasons, I believe that most western magical girl fans are not going to be able to handle this show. Mahoaku is a show that is open about its love of these classic romance tropes, and simply put if you out there are managing to take issue with something as innocent as the Precure ships involving mascots and humans simply because they “look like an age gap” then I don’t think you’ll be able to handle this show: if something as innocent as Precure offends you, then you simply will not be able to handle this show. And that is without me even going into depth on the fact that this show, Mahoaku, also features quite a bit of sexual humor, involving Byakuya being perverts on by the talking cat Angel she has as a partner. In the manga her cat Angel is stated to be a “chain smoking adult” but he makes several inappropriate advances on her such as groping her, and making sexual comments toward her.
In other words, this show is like your worst nightmare if you are unable to handle Precure: because if you find the consensual, caring and clean romance of the magical girls and mascots in Precure to be offensive to you somehow, then you’re gonna be horrified by this show and the way the mascot in this show is acting.
With that out of the way, I now want to address why I find this show to be so good in order to give it an 8 out of 10 (and why, if I love it so much, it is not a 10/10.) Simply put, this series is just the kind of genuine storytelling I missed in modern anime. So many modern romances involve a lot of cruelty and physical abuse between the two partners, often played for comedy (this is especially something I noticed in western cartoons such as those on Nickelodeon. Where for some reason the girl or the guy act like a total abuser, but we are still supposed to see them as secretly being in love),
In contrast to those stereotypical, annoying romances, Mahoaku gave me one of the most genuine romances I have seen in a long time. I was utterly in love with the romance between these two. Furthermore, Studio Bones, who animated this show, have gone out of their way to really present this as faithful to the manga art style as possible, while also having great animation, and it looks GREAT!!
So, why is this not a 10/10 then? Well simply put, I found the jokes surrounding Mira, where he grabs his heart in pain because of how much he loves Byakuya, to be extremely overused. It’s like he does it 10 times per episode. I understand it’s an anime trope (to feel physical pain in your heart from how sweet someone is being to you), but cmon guys, there’s a limit. The joke got a bit old. Furthermore, as someone who is a huge fan of mascot X human romance, I am saddened that the mascots of this show are basically complete creeps, once again just doing the evil mascot thing that every other modern magical girl anime seems to be doing. I’m so sick of that! I’m not saying that the mascots have to be in romance with humans (though I would love to see that be done more often, in more anime besides just Precure), but I just wish the mascots were not so, so creepy. I don’t find it problematic but I do find it typical and saddening. That is why for me this is an 8/10 and not a 10.

"The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies" is a very...strange series thus far. Obviously, this is quite an early review, but I did read ahead a bit to ensure I wasn't jumping the gun too much. What I can say that's positive: the animation is of a decent quality, the OST is not amazing but blends just fine, and the voice acting is pretty standard. The quality is fine in every way.

Story wise, it falls apart. Short version: It's creepy, and the tone is all over the place.

Longer review: Based on the 3 episodes I've watched thus far, and ... the corresponding manga chapters, this series can't seem to decide whether it's a romance or a gag comedy. And while you can certainly pull off both with enough skill, this is not one of those instances. Thus far, I find myself confused and disturbed for most of my viewing. The magical girl is clearly a child, yet she's hypersexualised to the extreme, from the outfits she wears, to the jokingly erotic scenes, to the ML openly oogling her. The ML is obviously an adult man; he's an 'evil mastermind' and yet he falls for her at first sight. This could be a case of mistaken age from an audience perspective, but at the very least it's bad character design if they're both adults and I'm mistaking her as 14 at best.

In addition, the sheer naiveity of the FL makes me uneasy, even as she gains more control over her life. She's ignorant, easily manipulated, impossible to anger, and very, very vulnerable. And again, the ML is an intelligent adult man. If this was a series where the evil lieutenant became protective and cared for someone and discovered his humanity - as a lesson on found family and familial love - or even if it then turned into a slow burn romance - I would like that!
But right after their first meeting, romance is IMMEDIATELY on his cards. He likes her, and views her as attractive. As such, he doesn't so much come across as a protector, he just comes across as a pervert. I don't WANT him to eventually get together with her. I want him to contact child protective services, set up a trust fund, and act like a damn adult and not a weird guy drooling over a teenager that looks like she's ELEVEN.

The setting thus far confuses me. He's from an evil empire literally called 'The Evil Empire' - why is he even working with them? They're literally called 'The Evil Empire' and they're clearly not some ironically named rebellion team. You can't just handwave this kind of world setting away - at least, not with the serious tone that has been set here. Love After World Domination has a similar premise - and yet, the tone regarding the evil organisation, the likelihood of achieving their goals and even how they go about it (small skirmishes in their case) reduce the stakes significantly. In this case, the evil organisation are launching large scale attacks on what appear to be innocent citizens, with actual intent to harm, maim or kill. Even with the 'villain' as our main focal view, we get no insight into how he feels about any of this. This is simply work as usual to him.

Because again, looking at the source material, and what we've been shown; this is basically an overanimated 4-koma masquerading as something deeper and more romantic than it is. There's nothing I find funny here, nor do I find it romantic. It might fit the bill for people more tolerant than I when it comes to romance - and I will not judge you for that, I believe not everything has to be picture perfect. But for a normal, boring person like myself, it just doesn't have anything to offer, and poorly executes everything else.