Mo’ dropouts, mo’ problems
(This review contains
spoilers!)
There’s something awfully poetic about
seeing that bright pink splash screen that displays each episode’s title fade
into a shot of exploding cars. Magical Girl Raising Project continues the
threads started last week that suggest the end is nigh for our colourful crew,
and only the strongest will survive from this point on.
We pick up right where we left off
last week, with Calamity Mary causing a ruckus to attract Ripple and Top Speed
back to her. Much of the episode is focused on the ensuing fight, with the rest
of it tying together the loose ends left behind from last week. Unfortunately, the
fight between Mary and Ripple is a little less enjoyable than previous battles.
I think it was animated a little differently, because there were some parts
where the action would go into slow-mo without much reasoning, messing up the
pacing of the battle.
As for the ultimate result, I have to
give myself a pat on the back for predicting not one, not two, but three things that happened this episode:
both Calamity Mary and Top Speed were killed, and the reason behind Top Speed’s
6 months was that she was pregnant. The way they did it, however, was amazing.
I’ve complained in the past about how Magical Girl Raising Project likes to telegraph
who’s next on the chopping block a little too much, and although Top Speed is
the latest victim of the flashback curse (we saw her home life last week, after
all), there wasn’t a huge crazy fight scene she was destined to lose. She was
stabbed in the back by Swim Swim, and that was that. Simple, yet effective.
Speaking of Swim Swim, she continues
to be an excellent villain. Her monotone expression as she continues to plot
and murder her way through the competition is nothing short of terrifying,
especially considering she’s still following orders of the same lady she
performed a coup d’état on early in the series. This is also thanks to her
voice actress, Inori Minase, who you may recognize as Rem from Re:Zero and Yuki
from Gakkou Gurashi. She continues to be behind the most three dimensional and
interesting characters in anime, and Swim Swim is no exception.
I’m
also happy that Snow White’s uselessness from the early episodes is being
utilized in a great way! Now, her uselessness makes her a prime target for
bloodthirsty magical girls, as we saw the Peaky Angel and Tama fail an
assassination attempt on her. While you could still see this as a negative (the
best part of her character is how vulnerable and useless she is), I’m just
happy the main protagonist is doing main protagonist things instead of talking
to her friend on a radio tower all night.
In Fav’s words, more and more girls
continued to “drop out” this week, because in addition to Calamity Mary and Top
Speed, Winterprison’s death ultimately spelled the end for Sister Nana, who committed
suicide. Frankly, I would’ve preferred to see her go out in a blaze of glory, preferably
against Swim Swim, but this way was much more emotional in terms of the story.
Nana was always a beacon of hope and light in the show, and now with her gone,
things are sure to get a lot darker.
I guess I should predict who’s going to drop next. 7 girls
remain of the initial 16, but aside from Snow White and Ripple, we haven’t seen
much of the home life of the other 5, meaning that this one’ll be more of a
shot in the dark. My gut is saying next will be either Swim Swim, Tama, or the
last Peaky Angel. The episode ended with Swim Swim contemplating taking on
Cranberry, but as we’ve seen before Cranberry is ruthless and more than a
little overpowered. While the final shot suggests they may take another course
of action, taking on Cranberry is sure to get one of them killed, and it’s
likely to be whichever one gets a flashback next.
The air of mystery surrounding what’s
going to happen next as well as Fav deciding that 3 more girls need to die (he’s
going to reduce the number to 1 in the end, mark my words) continue to ramp up
the stakes as we approach what I assume to be the final 3 episodes of the show.
But that’s all speculation. This week was another great installment in the
series, as we lost three major players and continue down the path to ultimate
destruction.
FINAL SCORE
8/10
Great
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