The Magical Girl Raising Project took a creative risk to introduce the completely original and unique concept (*major sarcasm) of the dark side of Mahou Shoujo‘s to audiences. Plot: Girl(s) with ``surprise surprise’’ problems in the real world distract themselves from their problems by playing a free to play (*with micro transactions) magical girl game on their android or IOS devices. But! Get this, in the game The Magical Girl Raising Project, one in tens of thousands of people to get to be a real "magical girl” even guys apparently... that’s a spoiler for another day. Besides the unwanted shock at the beginning of the series, the plot of the story was for the magical girls’ to race each other and collect more "magical candies" than their competitors. You know, a sweet and fun game that young girls would probably play… maxing out their parent’s credit cards on the micro transaction, but I digress.
All of this changed however, and the edginess kicked in. Instead of working together to defeat the common evil, the girls instead start killing each other because that is the easiest and most logical solution to solving problems.
The edginess and darkness that the story adds for shock value is simply repulsive. There was too much effort made to try and set this title apart from similar mahou shoujo titles with unique rules stipulations. Often time given out by some sort of creature or deity. I felt that the entire story was supposed to be going for “uniqueness” and there is no doubt that the staff reached their goal however, somewhere along the lines the staff got too involved in trying to recreate the same ``dark & edgy’’ formula seen in titles like Yuuki Yuuna is a hero, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka. So to a certain extent it just feels like watching a knock-off version of YuYu or Madoka.
This approach took away a lot of the good parts and redeeming qualities that the story had to offer. Rather than focusing on a story that branches out more on the game and characters, you’re greeted to a blood fest rumble where the main focus leans on shock value and a darker narrative. The story feels too constricted as well as repetitive with it's choices in storytelling. The most noticeable patterns are plot twist, shocking moments, and of course blood and gore. There are lighter times however; they are kept to a minimal. Only to be used when they need to add a quick plot twist. Because of the lack of freedom in the story, I found it difficult to remain engaged and satisfied with the events taking place in the story.
The animation for Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku is impressive nonetheless! Lerche is a pretty reputable studio putting out hit titles like Assassination classroom, Danganronpa, School-Live (*maybe not so much) and of course Monster Musume. All shows with amazing visuals and special effects. I found myself most intrigued by the battles in rising project, which should be no surprise. The destruction of scenery coupled with the determination and fear on most girls’ faces while fighting were well displayed. I felt like the visual tension between the characters made most fight scenes feel more dramatic too.The best fights where the animation felt clean and fluent had involved Calamity Mary and Cranberry. So I would highly recommend watching them in action. I mean you know a battle is done right when you want to go back and re-watch it.
The soundtrack fits the atmosphere of the battles. The well composed songs create a good amount of tension and exciting during events throughout the anime. While I felt the soundtrack was good, I did feel like it lacked the replay value and lasting effect that puella magi madoka magica soundtrack had. That aside, the voice actors were pretty good. I felt like each actor did an amazing job representing their perspective characters and giving them personality… except that dog girl whose name I cannot remember, and I’m too lazy to go close out of word and Google it. I’ll probably edit this out… or not.
The enjoyment of the series would have to be the fighting. I would’ve said drama however, Magical girl rising project is the kind of show where the drama tends to drag on. It goes on to the point where you’ll probably lose interest and skip forward a little.
Overall the show isn’t “bad” as in “the worst thing ever.” It’s just full of too many cliché’s and predictable moments depending on how experienced you are when it comes to watching anime. If there were any changes that needed to be made for the shows second season, if green lit. I would hope that they use an approach that isn’t so… one-sided. I want to see more than just violence and drama. I would like to see more into the characters daily lives and happier moments that last longer than 6 minutes (in screen-time.)
I gave Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku a 7/10 because I felt like despite all of the problems the show presents, it still manages to captivate audiences with its intense fights, drama, and unique cast of characters.
