Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka
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jenthehen
 Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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Do the character designs remind anyone else of Azumanga daioh?
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2607 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Sorry, I was just catching up on the manga. spoiler[Yes, it's an army under-the-radar operation.] It was mentioned earlier that Mia's been working with the US Army. I am surprised the pool scene even merits a mention as fanservice, after titles like To-Love-Ru and last season Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san, that kind of scene barely registers IMO. [/quote] Fair point! I thought it was worth a mention simply because it's the only part of the show that's explicitly acted like fanservice - the girls' figures are otherwise just accepted as their bodies, which, as you mentioned, is pretty unusual for a magical girl (or any) show. I do get a bit distracted by the War Nurse outfit's neckline (seriously, is she using glue to hold that up?), but I like that it isn't made a big deal of in general. I do have a harsh view of Kurumi, thinking about it. But I think it goes back to what Agent355 said about her pressuring Asuka to re-up with the JSDF. It's a plot device that drives me batty because it doesn't respect a character's personal reasons. (I feel similarly about Asuka's guardian.) |
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Terrible90sDub
 Posts: 168 |
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I will say this about one of the fanservice scenes: It was a rare case where fanservice ended up confirming a question I had about the character.
Me before Kurumi's daydream sequence: Okay, if I say she seems incredibly gay for Asuka, I'll probably just be told that it's bait and she's only so attached to Asuka due to her past giving her an attachment bordering on unhealthy dependency. Me after Kurumi daydreaming about Asuka in a wet swimsuit while making that face: Ah, well, that clears that up, thanks for that. Not sure how else you can interpret that one... The fanservice shots at the pool were significantly less useful though, yeah. In regards to Kurumi in general, I'm currently less negative about her since we're privy to Asuka's perspective more than the rest of the cast is. I agree that Kurumi's being selfish, but it's possible that all she knows is that Asuka doesn't want to fight anymore and thinks (what can be seen as) doing nothing is what will keep those around her safe. From that perspective, it can be seen as "why wouldn't you want to protect those around you when you have such immense power?" We know the degree that Asuka and those around her were hurt, but we don't yet know how much she told Kurumi about that. She seems to have placed Asuka on a bit of a pedestal since she went from no one defending her while she was being hurt to Asuka functioning as her defender in battle. I'm not saying any of that is wrong on Asuka's end (as I definitely don't think it is), just that the situation is a bit complicated, especially with Asuka coming across as so private? I also agree with the earlier comment that she seemed a bit more mellow towards the end of the episode, so hopefully she'll understand more after they talk more frequently, like in the gym scene. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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YES! Thank you for placing it! (Except they probably have to custom order supersized bras, of course!) The pool scene barely registered as fanservice to me, mostly because they were wearing uniform one-pieces (Kurumi and Asuka were wearing less in the excellent gym scene), but also because I thought it was used for character development really well: of course, Asuka immediately starts doing serious laps, and Sayako diving was excellent. Nozomi's comments bothered me a little, but they were used to contrast the normality of Nozomi teasing Sayaka against her near panic attack as much as they were used to highlight the fanservice and comic relief. Although, when it came to comic relief, nothing beats that movie poster! I'm a little more sympathetic to Kurumi after episode 3. She seems to genuinely not understand that Asuka has survivor's guilt. Asuka's afraid that joining the JSDF will *put* people in danger, and Kurumi's really doesn't get that, believing that acting as a magical girl only *protects* people from danger (which is the conventional view, to be fair). The Mexican cartell raid scene was badass! I hope we see more of Just Cause (great name!) in the future! And a little less gruesome torture... ...But that kidnapping means we'll probably have more gruesome gore. Well, if Kurumi is sent as part of the mission to save Nozomi, maybe she'll start to understand things from Asuka's POV (Nozomi's father's "protective" job put his daughter in danger) and become less jealous of Nozomi to boot (although I think Kurumi's jealousy target is more Sayaka) |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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^ Speaking about that last bit: it seems like there's a leak in Nozomi's dad's organization. Even *she* didn't know what he did, yet these guys got the goods on his daughter? Maybe it wasn't a leak, though, since we're dealing with magic as well.
Also, I don't trust Kurumi. She's been acting pretty manipulative this whole time. Also, she looks a lot like crazy evil girl and I haven't seen them in the same place at the same time yet. 
I'm sort of interested in this show, but it seems like it's trying a little too hard. |
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Alex_Sandy
Posts: 26 |
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To me ep. 4 is bordering on torture porn. Perhaps it is to justify whatever happens to Abigail and her Russian lackeys. Even if Kurumi can fix the girl up, she is going to be pretty PTSD herself. I think. Her old man is paying a high price for his own torture of that legless terrorist. The evil that men (or women) do I suppose.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18187 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yeah, I had a bad feeling that Nozomi wasn't going to get out unharmed given the tenor of this series so far, but damn, that was pretty rough. The torture wasn't totally without purpose (in addition to the plan to lure out Magical Girls, it allowed the Russians to preview their abilities), so I wouldn't go quite as far as calling it true "torture porn." Also, unlike a lot of series which resort to methods like this, this one seems intent on dealing with the consequences of horrifying actions, so I expect that Nozomi's reactions to her experience will color upcoming episodes.
Also, while Abigail clearly wasn't acting with actual revenge in mind (I suspect she and her Queen don't give a rat's ass about Kim), I have no doubt that an "eye for an eye" message was implicit here. Frankly, I'm most bothered by the callous practicality of the other woman whom Nozomi's father was speaking to. That seemed more over-the-top than even Abigail did. |
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Michformer
 Posts: 13 Location: Worcester, MA |
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I was similarly disappointed in spoiler[how the manga addressed the fallout of Nozomi’s dmaning travails.] If you’re going to feature something as ghastly as a torture scene, there ought to be some repercussions that highlight the merciless nature of such an endeavor. In deference to anime-only folks out there, I’ll resist the urge to pinpoint what I’m talking about since the show has the potential to make content changes. The anime’s spoiler[inclusion of the cooking scene with Abby and Nozomi that doubles as psychological torture for the latter] was something the manga needed to foreshadow things, so I’m hopeful narrative quirks in the source material will be rectified or, at the very least, tweaked to heighten the stakes. |
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Squidslinger
Posts: 76 |
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Just an anime watcher here but the way it's playing is the foundations of a new magical girl team forming. They left the hint that MGs can cause regular girls to become MGs. Both normal girls have went through something traumatic. Enough where there is two reactions...go into themselves and hole up in fear, or get a strong desire to fight. There is also hints that all the MGs went through personal life traumas in some shape or form before becoming MGs. More likely Asuka's identity will be revealed and it'll lead to that desire to fight with her. While I doubt Asuka will willingly turn them into MGs, something may force that hand. Which could very well be a death of either one of them or Kurumi. Course the manga could have gone in a totally different route. I'm not about to go through it all to find out. |
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Random Name
Posts: 644 |
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I was honestly just looking forward to asuka kicking some ass and was a little disappointed so far. Hopefully next episode changes that but I was under the impression that magical girls were unrivaled in combat. I mean if two random Russian guys are just as strong as a magical girl why were they sending children into combat?
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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Perhaps you're not familiar with the very popular "Magical Russian Guy" genre?
I guess it's a weapons proliferation allegory. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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Yeah this is were I jump ship, no interest in torture porn, especially not coming from a show whose character design seems to be intended primarily as fan service vehicle. It's even veering into the snuff territory, no thank you.
Shame cool concept, but the author doesn't seems like he believe it would be strong enough and tried to overcompensate with fan service and graphical violence/torture. That doesn't bode well for his skill and it's just one more reason to leave. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 4823 |
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I think I'm going to drop Magical Girl Special Ops Asuka myself. I liked the concept of a dark magical girl show exploring the PTSD aspect of being a magical girl and I think this was better than some of the more recent dark magical girl shows we've had lately. But I just find the characters to be uninteresting and the magical girl action scenes aren't exciting enough for me and I feel like I've only been keeping up with it because there's not much that I'm interested in this season.
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Chaos Wings
 Posts: 277 Location: Your guess is as good as mine?! |
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Wow so it was toned down from the manga, I may have to go satisfy my curiosity at some point then because the anime certainly didn't seem like it was holding back.
On the point about Queen being a former comrade (Francine as it now seems) everyone's been saying that from the beginning, the shows been basically slapping it in our faces. While I understand that it could be an interesting angle to explore, by seeing how an already emotionally crippled Asuka reacts and ultimately responds to such a situation. I'm really hoping they don't. That's because without a unique spin it would just come across as so unoriginal been there done that. In all honesty I think this show can do better than that. |
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Nordhmmer
Posts: 1028 |
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This episode really did not tone down the events from the manga,at most the language (and some blood)- C word I think was dropped. The flashback scene with Franchine...The anime,I feel, by only using a snippet of that flashback now( occurs 8 chapters later in the manga) is trying to be not as heavy handed in that possible reveal- The manga goes beyond slapping,to severely beating readers bloody with the all too obvious connection- A red herring hopefully. |
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