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REVIEW: Magical Girl Raising Project BR


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Sailor Sedna





PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 1:37 pm Reply with quote
The anime is fine, but not true to the spirit of the original light novels, which were superior in my opinion, currently I'm reading JOKERS, I loved Restart (wish we could have gotten that or a Magical Daisy anime like the one mentioned there), Episodes was fine and we see some material from there in the anime even, Limited sadly was a hot mess and even feels like a terrible fanfiction of 24.

I'm not too happy to hear that there's no DVD format for this show either. Sad
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 3:03 pm Reply with quote
I read that this was a very special anime, in the sense that the first volume of the light novel should have lasted 4 episodes, but the anime producers decided to expand it into a full coeur.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 5:18 pm Reply with quote
I'm a fan of the books.
I think I appreciated this when I watched it a second time, because I realised how faithful it is to the novel. The fact they also included stuff from Episodes was a nice way to pad it out.
I also really appreciated the animation more the second time. I'm not a fan of Lerche (because sometimes they like to make their anime so bright you can't see anything), but they did a really nice job with this.
I know the series is super edgelord and stuff, but I definitely like it a lot more now after reading the books than I did the first time (though I did like it first time round).

Quote:
the majority of the cast is not the traditional selection of elementary/middle high school girls

I always thought that was a good touch. Especially for a character like Calamity Mary, where she's a drunk abusive housewife, but becomes a magical girl. I know Fav has no scruples about who he turns into a magical girl (which is why he picks some awful and questionable choices), but it's such a cool aspect (although it means 6~ year olds are getting killed too..)

It's also pretty cool that there's a canonically gay couple in it who aren't portrayed as a joke or anything. It's also shown that their love is accepted by everyone too, no one is like "eww!" about it.
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gridsleep





PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:19 pm Reply with quote
Magical girl flavor of the week is apparantly dark this year. I don't think they're in Kansas, any more.
Also, am I detecting a whiff of The Last Starfighter in this one?
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:28 pm Reply with quote
I liked the anime, and I went to the books from that, but got kinda lost.

Is there a direct continuation of Snow White's story from the anime in the novels? If so, which novel.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 6:39 pm Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
I liked the anime, and I went to the books from that, but got kinda lost.

Is there a direct continuation of Snow White's story from the anime in the novels? If so, which novel.


Not exactly. She pops up in some of them. For example, she plays a small (but important) role in Restart. She's one of the key characters in Jokers, though it's not a direct sequel, as it's events closely follow those of Limited, so you need to read it to understand everything that's going on. Ripple is important in Limited, though.
You kind of have to read them all to see what Snow White is up to, she isn't the main character of the entire series.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 766
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:39 pm Reply with quote
I used to live near the city where the anime takes place and had a blast recognizing some of the scenery like some of the streets or the dam in the last episode. That alone made the anime a highlight for me, even though I have to admit that the tone clash is jarring sometimes.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
Location: australia
PostPosted: Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:56 pm Reply with quote
Swissman wrote:
I used to live near the city where the anime takes place and had a blast recognizing some of the scenery like some of the streets or the dam in the last episode. That alone made the anime a highlight for me, even though I have to admit that the tone clash is jarring sometimes.


What city is it? I always assumed it was fake (I think the cities just get called stuff like F city in the books, though I forget), but that's pretty cool. I'd be interested in seeing some of the locations next time I'm in Japan, like the tower Snow White and La Pucelle station themselves at.
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Swissman



Joined: 11 May 2006
Posts: 766
Location: Switzerland
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 6:07 am Reply with quote
^
It's Jōetsu city in Niigata prefecture. You can see some comparisons here, here, and some comparisons for the last episode scrolling further down here. It was pretty funny to me to recognize Shozenji dam in the last episode because it's a rather unknown place, not touristy at all. I used to go there sometimes by car, to enjoy some nature and relax. There's a small parking lot with some trees next to the dam, but they got rid of both of them in the anime and replaced it with a grass park to make more space for the showdown fight.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 8:51 am Reply with quote
harminia wrote:
TarsTarkas wrote:
I liked the anime, and I went to the books from that, but got kinda lost.

Is there a direct continuation of Snow White's story from the anime in the novels? If so, which novel.


Not exactly. She pops up in some of them. For example, she plays a small (but important) role in Restart. She's one of the key characters in Jokers, though it's not a direct sequel, as it's events closely follow those of Limited, so you need to read it to understand everything that's going on. Ripple is important in Limited, though.
You kind of have to read them all to see what Snow White is up to, she isn't the main character of the entire series.


Snow White is the protagonist of Magical girl Raising Project. Whether she appears as a main or minor character,her's is the over-arcing storyline of all 12 of the current LN vols.
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Nordhmmer



Joined: 11 Feb 2017
Posts: 1028
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:08 am Reply with quote
TarsTarkas wrote:
I liked the anime, and I went to the books from that, but got kinda lost.

Is there a direct continuation of Snow White's story from the anime in the novels? If so, which novel.


Volume 2 thru the current volume 12 are in direct continuation of Snow White's story.
Volume 1 and it's anime adaption are in a way a prologue,a flashback to Snow White's beginnings.

Snow White is not the "main" character of every volume but her character continues to evolve/be developed with each arc.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 1987
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Nordhmmer wrote:
Snow White is the protagonist of Magical girl Raising Project. Whether she appears as a main or minor character,her's is the over-arcing storyline of all 12 of the current LN vols.


She may be the protagonist of the overall series in terms of an over-arching storyline, but she's not the protagonist of the actual singular books. If she only appears a tiny bit at the end, or essentially not at all, she's not the protagonist of that book.
I assume the story must be leading towards some big event happening to Snow White that the events of the past books all shaped, but that doesn't mean every book is specifically about her.
TarsTarkas wanted a direct continuation of Snow White's story specifically; there isn't one because Snow White's story isn't the main focus for the next couple of books, so you don't know what's happened in between the events.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings



Joined: 04 Jul 2013
Posts: 1000
PostPosted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:20 pm Reply with quote
As far as gritty magical girls shows that were almost certainly inspired to some degree by Madoka Magica or in some cases are clearly trying to ape it, Raising Project is probably the best of it's kind, even if that's an exceptionally low bar. At the very least there's actual thought put into like, characterization and a genuine thematic *point*, but it ultimately fails to make a very deep impression in spite of that. Shame.

The biggest problem it had was that it leans way too hard into the schlock and way more frequently that it had any need to, and it undermines much of the goodwill I have towards it. Snow White also failed to be a compelling or even a very particularly likable protagonist, but I didn't care about Madoka at all either, so maybe I just have something against pink-haired protagonists.

The later novels are a considerable improvement and I'd definitely recommend them if you found any value whatsoever in the anime.
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 2858
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:38 pm Reply with quote
ThatGuyWhoLikesThings wrote:
Raising Project is probably the best of it's kind,


Have you watched yuku yuna ? that one is generally accepted to be the best one, unless the definition of moe with series themes gets broadened and people include gakkou gurashi.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Fri Feb 28, 2020 5:05 pm Reply with quote
maximilianjenus wrote:
ThatGuyWhoLikesThings wrote:
Raising Project is probably the best of it's kind,


Have you watched yuku yuna ? that one is generally accepted to be the best one, unless the definition of moe with series themes gets broadened and people include gakkou gurashi.

I have watched Yuku Yuna, and its biggest fault is its case of severe "forgiveness'itis". It ruins the characters, and make their actions unbelievable. They don't behave like human beings.
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