Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru

Episode 5

At times the producers of Yuki Yuna have been rather sly about playing with viewer expectations, and nowhere is that more evident than in the way they handle episode 5. Three years ago Madoka Magica established that leading magical girl ensemble members could, indeed, be killed off in battle scenarios, so when viewers see a character who not only somewhat physically resembles Magica's Mami but also uses the same color scheme in magical girl form and plays a similar role within the magical girl group, one who has seen Magica naturally has to wonder if this just a copycat or if the creators aren't implying something. When the previous episode drops dire portents just before a dangerous battle scenario comes up, one has to fear that are, indeed, going to kill off Fu.

And then, of course, they don't.

Was that a big bit of trolling? Maybe, but it certainly worked to lend even greater tension to a battle scenario that was hairy to begin with. The notion that anyone except Yuna – but particularly Fu – might actually be expendable here leaves one waiting for the other shoe to drop and deeply concerned every time one of the characters takes a big hit or gets in a bad situation. That helps make the battle against multiple Vertex, which takes up the entirety of the episode (except for the transformation scene!), into an epic fight by any action scene standards.

The battle sequence has much more going for it than just that, however. The pacing and choreography are excellent, the use of CG enhancements is sweet, the music pumps, and seeing all five of the girls work together in a semi-coordinated effort, rather than just taking turns at showing off, is a joy. Each of the girls gets a chance to shine, and the scene framing clearly gives the sense that none of them are superfluous; if even one had not been there, or had not been giving her all, then the battle would have had a disastrous outcome. Most of the girls also discover a powered-up form, called Mankai, that they did not know at first that they had access to, which gives them vastly more elaborate costumes and vastly greater capabilities, though it also is apparently extremely taxing to maintain for any length of time. The greatest spectacle of the lot is Mimori's, which manifests a vaguely spider-shaped, mecha-like construction with a gun on each arm and flies her and Yuna into outer space for the final stage of the battle, but Yuna's mechanical arms or even Itsuki's energy strings are nothing to scoff at, either. Finishing it all off are some nice character interplay and touching relationship affirmations, especially between Yuki and Mimori.

In other words, this episode pulled out all of the stops for its feature battle, which begs one big question: what will come next? With this triumphant, wholly satisfying effort the Vertex seem to be completely defeated and the girls' mission done, so where does the series go from here with (presumably) the bulk of its season still left? Even if there was a clear next step, topping what feels like a series-climaxing battle would be very difficult. Obviously we will have to wait and find out, but for now we have one truly awesome magical girl fight to appreciate.

Rating: A

Yūki Yūna wa Yūsha de Aru is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.