It’s not a magical girl show
without a transformation sequence
(This review contains
spoilers!)
The end is nigh! The end is nigh! And because
of that, the number of characters has been cut down from 5 to 3. I was correct
in my assumption that Tama wasn’t long for this world, but this episode caught
me off guard in more ways than one. But first, let’s take it from the top.
The episode opens with the very same scene
that opened Episode 1, with that large group of magical girls fighting some
giant purple monster. And surprise! Cranberry was the one who kills it. It was
implied she was involved in a previous Magical Girl Raising Project, and as the
sole survivor of that she was deemed worthy to orchestrate the next one. But,
as is customary with Magical Girl Raising Project, the use of the flashback
telegraphed that she was next on the chopping block. Sure enough, Cranberry
went kerblooey in what might be the most brutal death we’ve seen in this series
thus far. I’m not against putting that flashback in the intro (frankly, I
thought it was a great callback to the first episode), but considering the
large majority of the characters have died immediately after either a flashback
or a sequence showing their home life, it was kind of obvious what was coming.
Which is why the events that immediately
followed Cranberry’s death were extremely surprising! Swim Swim lost the fight
to Cranberry, having been hit hard enough that she reverted to her normal form.
Tama spotted her, and because Ruler instructed Swim Swim that no one should ever
learn a magical girl’s true identity, Tama quite literally lost her head.
Tama’s been my favourite character
since the early episodes, and although this was laughably inevitable, the way
she went out was a shining moment for the show. Immediately after we saw the
fatal blow to her neck, the show then segued into the flashbacks! Why the hell
haven’t they been doing this the whole time!? Then the showrunners can have
their precious flashbacks while still keeping the deaths a surprise for the
audience! It’s a perfect compromise! Having the flashbacks to the home life
just after the character is dealt a fatal blow gives you a lot more reasoning
to feel for that character instead of seeing it and thinking “Oh crap, they’re
trying to make me feel emotions for this supporting character, I guess they’re
gonna die”. I know I’ve been going on and on about this for the last few
reviews, but as someone who loves being surprised by shows, has been frustrated
to see a great show that by all accounts should
be surprising us spoil the deaths time and time again, and then see them
pull it off perfectly for arguably
the most lovable character on the show is just astounding.
But anyways, back to the real show. It
seems like Swim Swim has become the true final boss, a change I welcome
wholeheartedly. I did think last week that if Cranberry did turn out to be the
ultimate villain I would feel a little disappointed, as she’s easily done the
least stuff overall, mostly hanging out in the forest. But now the character
with the highest headcount is calling the shots more or less, and Ripple is out
for vengeance. Swim Swim has been a fantastic and occasionally even frightening
villain, and although we kind of knew she was a young child all this time,
having it wide out in the open and plain to see makes her even scarier. Her
emotionless kill of Tama was just brutal, but the fact that she shed a tear for
her afterwards kept her from becoming an unrelateable monster of a character.
So now it’s down to just Snow White,
Ripple and Swim Swim for next week’s grand finale. Before I get to my death
predictions, I’d like to say that the one thing I really, really want to see is some explanation behind Fav and the Magical
Girl Raising Project as a whole. Who is he? Where’d he come from? How does he
have magical powers? These are things I’d really like to know.
And now for my predictions. I honestly
can’t see any way Snow White isn’t making it out of this show alive. She’s the
prominent figure on all the official artwork and merchandise, and unless she
pulls a Madoka and rewrites the rules at the end, she’s probably going to end
up the last girl standing. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I don’t see any
ending that doesn’t involve Swim Swim dying. She’s killed too many characters
to allow her to survive past the end.
So this is how I predict things are
going to go down: Ripple and Swim Swim battle, and although Ripple knows her
weakness, Swim Swim overpowers and defeats her. Snow White then detects Ripple
in pain, arrives at the battle and kills Swim Swim. Ripple probably dies of her
injuries afterwards, leaving Snow White the leader of the magical girls. As
such, she abolishes the Raising Project and it all comes to an end. Will I be
right or will I be way off? The only way to find out is to tune in again next
week!
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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