To summarize the premise, Otaku culture has been outlawed and all Otakus and their collections have been captured by the mysterious SSC organization. Only a handful of Otakus remain and have taken refuge inside the ruins of Akihabara and have formed a resistance. Lead by the appropriately named Otaku Hero and along with the a trio of magical girls, Anarchy, Blue and Pink, they fight back against the SSC so they once again can not be ashamed about what they like.
The show reminds me a lot of FLCL and that mainly comes from the art style and how it kind of wants you to assume that these things just happen and don’t question it. Why are there magical girls in this world? Who cares, they are here to kick ass and fight in the name of Otaku culture. That really is the motto of this show, “don’t question it, just enjoy it”, which is a motto that I’m happy with but I do look for some answers when you got magical girls, giant robots and an organization that comes out of nowhere to remove all semblance of Otaku culture. It’s a problem with many turn your brain off shows because you can only do it for so long until you want some things explained. They usually make good first impressions but they can never really keep it up or stick the landing. Magical Destroyers kind of falls into those same pitfalls but also does some things to keep it fresh.
It’s kind of half and half where it does enough but never embraces the dumb fun attitude because it’s also trying to tell its own story of not being ashamed to like what you want to like. While that is fine, it also means you are trying to do two things at once and you are not fully committing to either one. One episode will have Anarchy, Blue and Pink fight a giant robot, the next, you have an episode about how older Otakus feel about the more modern Otakus. It is held together by a consistent tone so it’s able to congeal all of this together. It’s why I don’t have too big of a gripe about it. It does have a story to follow instead of it being just simply being dumb fun as we walk aimlessly until the next big threat comes along (which it also has but that’s not the point). Yet it feels like it has potential to be more from both sides but it’s held back by the other. It tries to balance the fun action with the story of standing up for your tastes and beliefs and while it does that well, it doesn’t go far enough than it could have and as such, makes it feel like this show has missed potential.
One thing that this show does succeed though is its characters. They are generally fun and likeable characters and the main highlights are the three magical girls Anarchy, Blue and Pink. Each have a distinct personality to go with their look. Anarchy is a fiery redhead who clearly care about people and will act to protect them. Blue is a masochist who can be level headed despite her tastes and is usually the mouthpiece for Pink. As for Pink, she is a drug addict who wears a gas mask and the only word that come out of her mouth is “Gobo”. Each of them are entertaining in their own way and act as great moral support for Otaku Hero, our protagonist. He has his own personal struggle, which is the burden of leadership and standing up for your beliefs He’s one to crawl up into a ball but he’s also one to step up and will the courage when he needs to. He’s a character that never really wanted to be a leader but didn’t want to stand by and watch as everything he loves is outlawed. He’s a guy that you want to root for and hope he succeeds because he’s clearly doing what he can for all those he cares about and making sure Otaku culture doesn’t die. Of course, being an anime loving otaku does help because lets be honest, we all love anime. If you don’t, why are you here? You’re clearly in the wrong place.
The villains are fun, if one not but they clearly have something more to them that adds a bit of a mystery element to the plot that I didn’t really care too much about because it was fairly obvious why they ended up the way they did. Their fights actually do make for the highlights of the show due to what they bring to the table.
In terms of animation, it’s fine. Again, the art style and character designs are the main strength due to their rough yet lively look. They are able to strike nice poses and help make characters more distinct from one another. Unfortunately, the animation doesn’t quite match it. It’s does its job and it’s quite serviceable but it also ain’t anything special; which is kind of disappointing because I was hoping for it to look more over the top, but never feels like it goes far enough. It doesn’t detract from the action but it certainly doesn’t make you go on Youtube to look up those fights.
The soundtrack though does. I do think that this is a particularly good soundtrack with some entertaining action ost that is at least able to mask some of the flaws of the animation but I particularly love the villain osts that is able to capture their rather zany attitude. It clearly sound like it wants to have fun and I do think it is effective in that regard.
Then there is the OP and I am definitely aware that this is a VERY decisive and it mainly comes from that last bit of the OP where all sense is broken down. I however, think it’s one of the best OPs this season. For starters, I think it’s very well animated with a crisp art-style and when it does break down from all sense, it is at least creative, even if it does feel like you are going on an acid trip. It’s probably why people don’t like this OP so much because it devolves into noise and while I can see that, it is rather on brand with the shows attempt of being over the top and it is creative, I will give them that. I fully understand why people don’t like this one but for me, this is easily one of the best OPs this season.
Same goes for the ED as well, although this one is more sensible than the OP. The crisp art style returns, despite it just being sliding panels but does look really good. The visuals themselves are strange, not in the same vein as the ED but it makes you think of what it’s trying to hint at. It does make it strangely captivating. The song in particular though is the standout part in this. It’s very calm yet also ha a steady tempo where it doesn’t feel slow. Overall, I think this is a very good ED.
Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers is a show that I did enjoy to some degree but also fell off. I like turn your brain off shows but most of them can’t keep it going for 12/13 episodes and you kind of want more. That being said, there are things to like about this show. I like the cast of characters, I thought the ost was good and despite not being consistent with it, the over the top action is fun to watch. Yet it feels like it could’ve done so much more and what were left with is a show lesser than the sum of its parts. It isn’t able to be consistent with its storytelling, the animation is not able to keep up with the action and it just never goes far enough. You have Otakus and magical girls going up against an evil corporation with their own private military and yet it doesn’t get me fully excited. It kind of left the finale, which is meant to be the culmination to make everything go buck wild and to be fair, it did, it kind of left me with a rather “eh” expression. Like it’s fine but doesn’t get me pumped to watch and action packed finale. It’s kind of like how I feel about a show like Rust Eater Bisco from last year where it felt like, “Yeah I enjoyed it, but I felt like it could’ve done so much more.” That also applies to this show.
In the end, it does some things right but isn’t able to fully utilize its toolbox and kind of left with a rather “yeah it’s alright.” It’s fun for a good few episodes but can’t keep it up all the way through and ends up being somewhat of a dud despite its very obvious strengths.
Story: 5/10
Characters: 8/10
Animation: 6/10
Sound: 9/10
My Personal Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Overall Score: 6.9/10
Recommendation: Consider it
