I’d like to say that this show shattered my preconceptions about “magical girl” anime, but it didn’t. In part because I never watched Sailor Moon or its associated variations, but also because Arden raved about this show consistently for about three months so I was expecting something with depth of character and a truckload of subversion. That, or to seriously begin to doubt Arden’s judgement.

That said: this is a really good show.

There’s one character in particular in this show that actually made me mash my keyboard in anger for the first time. I just broke composure. You’d be surprised who it is.

Technically, this show employs a fairly convenient use of deus ex machina to wrap everything up, but this is a show where wishes and magic are given facts, so it doesn’t really feel that way. It’s a neat ending.

The trip there is horrifying, though - for a show where the lead character looks like this, there’s a serious amount of angst about incredibly weighty subjects.

A lot of crying, too.

It takes a little while to pick up, but the animation style in this is at points stunning, and uses a few strategies that I hadn’t seen before. It’s fantasy that actually tries to look fantastical, which sounds so obvious but (sadly) isn’t when you look at fantasy media these days.

I really recommend this, even if it doesn’t look like the sort of thing you’d watch.