Magical Girl Ore: A First Reaction – Glass Reflection
Mahou Shoujo Ore is a meta comedy anime focusing on and attempting to make humorous commentary on the main genre’s tropes and popular themes. It stars a young girl who desires to be both a stereotypical pop idol and also a magical girl who fights evil, only to eventually be given that chance, start up her transformation sequence and turn into….a dude.
This is not the first time the magical girl genre has done gender bending. In true “The Simpsons did it” style for the genre, Sailor Moon covered this back with the Sailor Starlights in the 90s, and even more recently there was that magical boy anime – Cute High Earth Defence Club Love! – that quickly arrived and just as quickly was forgotten about.
The selling point for Magical Girl Ore is how much the meta commentary on the genre will get lost on you or not. Here’s an example. In episode one, we have the main pair of female characters singing a song that’s basically an off-key rip-off of the Cutie Honey theme. It’s not exactly the theme, but that’s what they were going for. But, if you don’t get why that’s at least interesting if not downright hilarious, then this show probably won’t be for you.
That is not saying that there is something irredeemable about this series to a non-fan of the genre or to a casual fan. Its jokes thus far are not limited specifically to the genre, having the main character run out the door with an entire plate of food instead of just a piece of toast in her mouth is something that most anime fans will understand.
Plus there’s the whole WTF factor to it. The main character transforms into a buff, musclebound guy in a dress, and then goes off to fight equally musclebound bear things that sometimes have tentacles because hashtag ThatsSomeonesFetish. That could be a draw for some people.
This series is like on the opposite end of the spectrum from say Madoka Magica. They are both taking pot-shots at the genre’s tropes, but while Madoka does so in a very serious “these characters are going to have a bad time” kind of way, Ore just puts it all on display for us to laugh at. With mixed results.
Sure you can have a magical girl staff! But it does nothing and a gun would be far more effective! The rules and laws of this universe are decided by how much comedy they can attempt to squeeze out of any given situation.
On the plus side though, the manga it’s based off of is completed, so this will (or at least should be) a complete adaptation. It’s got that going for it at least.
But honestly, I don’t know if this is the kind of show that I’m going to be continuing personally. I might have to from a scholarly standpoint as I’ve been making it a thing to watch a bunch of magical girl anime because it’s one of my favourite genres and I even run a panel about its history at conventions sometimes, but that’s more of a work thing. If I was watching this purely for pleasure, I might only try out another episode or two to see if it starts to reuse gags at all, which for me is a major turn off in a comedy anime. But we’ll have to see in a couple of weeks.
Why a couple of weeks? Well, because apparently Crunchyroll got this show two episodes early. Japan hasn’t even aired these episodes yet, so that’s a thing. But also if you want more, that means you’re just going to have to wait until they come out in Japan like every other series. We just need to wait for Japan to catch up.
Perhaps whatever enthusiasm I have for this series will be gone by then though and I’ll drop it entirely. Not sure.
But if you have seen Magical Girl Ore and have thoughts, let me know down in the comments! Until next time, everyone, stay frosty!
Oh hey, good to see you on this site. I think it's a big deal that someone with a significant fanbase has joined Steemit, as it could use some higher quality content from an established personality. It's been difficult to stay engaged with Steemit as I haven't liked much of the content on it that isn't either related to cryptocurrency or already on youtube.
I've been a fan of yours for a while, drifted away from your videos for a bit since I got frustrated when you didn't discuss spoilers more in-depth, but I'll be sure to start watching you again. You still have a fun line delivery and I really like the whole aesthetic you have with the editing and the Hetalia jacket. I'm looking to get started in anime reviews myself. (and have some articles up on Steemit already)
I was discouraged by the lack of attention I got on Steemit, but now with someone like you on board I may start trying again with this new season starting. How do you like the site so far? I'd be interested to hear the opinion of someone who's been using youtube for a long time. Do you think a new content creator should start on youtube, a wordpress blog, or somewhere like Steemit?
Anyway, I liked this post. I've been seeing the same sentiment as yours that this show seems like one that could quickly lose its novelty, and it doesn't really look all that appealing to me, so I think I'll skip even the first episode. Still, it's interesting that Crunchyroll got it early. I'm not sure if I'd want that to become a trend, since unless Crunchyroll gets entire shows early, it could lead to weeks long gaps.
Sorry for the rambling post. Best of luck to you on this new platform, stay frosty and such.
Thank you for watching! I have been enjoying steemit so far. I got into it because a friend recommended it and I'm hoping things will go well here.
A new content creator is going to have difficulty no matter which site they use. My recommendation has always been to do it because you love it, and hope for the best. Everything else is bonus. It's possible that a site like steemit may have benefits because it's easy to find content related to a specific topic, and there's not as much competition as a large platform like YouTube might have. You're also rewarded for liking other videos and commenting on them, so it gives people a reason to look for new content to view.
I don't think you'll have to worry about Crunchyroll getting a bunch of shows early and then having gaps, because this seems to have been a rarity and I don't think there would be a benefit for anime studios to continue to do this. Though we'll see what the future holds. Stay frosty!
Wasn't there something similar to this? Where its magical girls squad, but its dudes that go full girly sailor moon?
I mentioned it in the post, but I'm pretty sure the show you're talking about is Cute High Earth Defence Club Love! If not though, I'd have to look to see if there's another one that fits that description.
Reminds me of Ayumu from Is this a zombie?
