Now I am a fan of magical girl animes, so when I heard a new one that wasn't going to be dark, but more 'traditional', and being done by Gainax was coming out, I was looking forward to it. The more recent magical girl animes (aside from Precure and Jewel Pet, but who watches Jewel Pet!?) are taking on dark twists which I enjoy but it's nice to still see more newer 'classic' magical girl takes.
I will keep this review mainly spoiler free, minor spoilers will be mentioned that happen in the first couple of episodes.
The Story(4): The story is original for a magical girl anime as far as I'm aware, but it's not original otherwise. It is basically ET with magical girls.
There is no strong plot apart from collecting parts of the alien's spaceship so he can go home. The alien has given the girls magical powers in order to collect these parts. Each episode sees them having to capture a new part or train their skills in a different random situation, whether it be in the Earth's atmosphere or space.
The lack of strong plot makes you think "is this anime going anywhere interesting soon?" and unoriginal 'lost alien' story really isn't that special.
There are also no monster of the week episodes because there are no monsters! It's the same random annoying guy attacking and ruining the girls plans every week (he wants the engine parts but won't say why). The ONA spoiled who the guy is for me but it's really obvious anyway.
Even though this anime is rated G it's actually pretty confusing to know just what is going on at times. It poorly explains things or flat out doesn't explain them. I get one main mystery is probably going to be explained near the end, but many things aren't. They use actual physics jargon to explain some aspects and treat the show realistically at times yet unrealistically. They just fly off into space, can talk there, breath there, don't freeze to death like it's normal to be in space with no problems yet use legit scientific terms at the same time. It doesn't really go.
The setting is a mess. In the first episode all of the girls go to different schools then they all suddenly turn up in the same classroom the next day and everyone along with them pretty much act like they have always gone to the same school. This is just explained by "Your fates are converging!" and that's it.
The Art(8): The art is pretty with bright and cheerful colours. It's your standard modern day anime art, like Sword art online.
3D animation (CGI) is used for some of the flying scenes. It sometimes looks off but is generally done well.
The Sound(9): The anime has good sound that fits it really well. Very atmospheric (they're in the atmosphere a lot of the time too haha). I really like the opening and ending themes too.
The Characters(3): This is what really lets the anime down. I'm not fond of any of the characters.
The main character, Subaru is only there to advertise cars. She has a generic mary sue personality "I can't do anything!!! oh now I can do everything!!!"
Nanako... doesn't have a personality. She is used as a translator and speaks for the alien almost the entire time. This this a shame because when she gets her own episode she is quite interesting.
Hikaru seems more interesting so far but not much has been shown of her.
Itsuki is a cute, kind girl who has been shown to have insecurities about something linked to her past without revealing too much. That's about it.
Aoi is interesting but is really rude to Subaru constantly telling her that she can't do anything and shouldn't do anything for the first 2 episodes which made me instantly dislike her. She has gotten better though. She's a bit of a cow yes, but at least she has a personality compared to other characters.
The friendship between the girls is there but it doesn't seem evidently strong compared to other series. The character development is pretty poor, I felt no attachment to any of them.
Enjoyment(4): The anime is cute and visually enjoyable. However you can't really enjoy something if you don't know what's going on some of the time or if you find the characters pretty bland! These really take the enjoyment out of it.
Overall(4)
I feel like my scores average out as a 4.
Generally one of the most most important things about magical girl animes are the characters. They greatly lack in this along with the story, where you don't know what's going on as so many things are unexplained or done poorly. A show having good animation, artwork and music is nothing without decent characters, story and explanation.
