Generally the mahou shoujo genre has severe failings in terms of story and character development that more mature anime fans find unappealing. I blame Sailor Moon for this as, even though it enjoyed huge success, it could be thought of as being too successful in that many of the mahou shoujo type shows that followed took their lead from it. This meant shortcomings in character development, story, etc (Tokyo Mew Mew springs to mind as a prime example - it's almost a carbon copy of Sailor Moon).
Thankfully, that trend is gradually changing, as more modern anime of this type (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Striker S and Mai Otome for example), have broken with the traditional methods and have started depicting their characters in a much more realistic fashion, whilst the stories have started adopting darker, more mature, themes.
Imagine my surprise then, when I started watching Uta Kata. At first I expected this to be a steretypical mahou shoujo anime, but I was pleasantly surprised when this turned out not to be the case.
Uta Kata literally means "Poem Fragment" (Uta = Poem, Kata = Fragment), however, if it is pronounced Utakata, then it's meaning is changed to "Bubble". Both titles are actually very relevant to the anime itself.
The story is about 14 year old Tachibana Ichika and her encounter, and subsequent friendship during her summer break, with the mysterious Kuroki Manatsu, a girl who apears to Ichika from inside a mirror. Manatsu teaches Ichika about the the power of 12 Djinn, and at first, everything seems to be hunky-dory. The story takes a much darker turn later on in the anime though.
As Ichika continues to unlock each of the 12 Djinn, she begins to notice differences in herself, which gradually become more and more extreme (at one point she tries to kill someone, and at another she summons a bunch of ghosts - see what I mean about a darker turn). These differences take their toll on her mentally and physically as well - something that many mahou shoujo anime blithely ignore.
The story is very well written, and Ichika's inner monologue adds a nice perspective for the viewer - almost like a diary of sorts. The portrayal of Ichika's gradual breakdown is very well done, and not something I expected to see in a mahou shoujo anime. What is also very well done is the way the writers have addressed the issue of power. In many mahou shoujo anime (much to my annoyance), the creators seem happy to give a young girl phenomenal power, with no downsides apart from a crappy social life. In Uta Kata however, Ichika faces a completely different challenge with her power, which is the main driver for her gradual deterioration.
The characters are depicted nicely overall, but my main gripe was with the character transformations. For some reason the creators went down the whole naked transformation route in a show that didn't need anything of the sort. The upside however, is that these transformations happen quite fast, and get faster as the show progresses (another difference from the typical mahou shoujo genre where character transformations take almost as long as it does for Goku to power up). The last transformation happens in the blink of an eye, so it isn't really anything to worry about.
The colour palette used in the show gives it a nice cheery feel, which belies the darker turns the show will take.
The sound is overall well done. The music used in the show is generally appropriate, and the opening theme is very catchy. The sound effects are well used, and generally quite good.
The show really sets itself apart from the typical mahou shoujo genre with it's characters. These aren't ditzy teenage girls who are worried about boys, school, and saving the world (I'm looking at you Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew). These girls are much more realistic. Each of their personalities is very different, and each has a reason for being part of the show. Ichika is an exceptionally well realised character, especially in the later stages of the show. Her gradual mental and physical breakdown is very well depicted and a lot more realistic than quite a few animes I could name.
I found this anime to be a little slow to start, but once it got going it really started to shine. The fact that all of the action takes place over one summer break means this is a short series, but the effort that has been put into it is undeniable.
I thoroughly enjoyed this show, and the Special made a very nice addendum to the main show itself, giving the show a much stronger sense of closure than it previously had.
I would recommend this show to any fan of the mahou shoujo genre as an example of how it should be done (if it's supposed to be a serious anime that is). I would most especially recommend this show to everyone else as as it is a singular example in terms of story, character development, plot, etc, of the mahou shoujo genre as it could have been.
