This show, without giving any major spoilers is brutal, harsh, unkind, and very much a painful show.
However - unlike other shows in the dark mahou shoujo genre, this show falls away from away from the typical shock factor of cute girls doing nasty things and instead tugs at your heart, and you can feel the moral dilemma's facing these girls, who is indeed truly good?
The opening soundtrack, and indeed most of the ost in this show fights the mood and helps set you in the frame of the scene.
The characters, to a degree falls slightly short, with some of em not getting a lot of fleshing out and time, but despite that, they are all loveable and enjoyable in their own rights. The title character Asuka gets more development and I personally often find myself lost in thought about everything that she has to comprehend and process.
What I really enjoy about this show is that it doesn't focus on transformation scenes, and overly flashy powers like many Mahou Shoujo's do, but also reminds of what we love with the outfits, the naming conventions, and the sense of justice...justice in whose eyes however... is ever present.
Though I shouldn't focus on other reviews, I would like to refute a common presumption in several, this is not a fan service, sexual thrill show, yes, there is boobs, yes there is a couple of "thirsty" scenes, however, not once does the show emphasise nor enforce sex onto us, this is *not* an ecchi show, and therefore do not be put off by it.
As a mahou shoujo fanboy I implore anyone even slightly interested, to give this a watch.
