The deaths continue in this episode. If you do the math, the series has averaged at least 1 death per episode by now.
(Spoilers in this episode)
A warning before the review happens is needed, I think. Suddenly all my screenshots now save at 853 x 432 instead of 1280 x 738, so I don’t have to go into every image and reduce the size to 500 x 288 anymore. It does mean that every image takes slightly longer to load, however, and I’m sorry about that.
Well, my guess about “random girl who was helped by Snow White” being Hardgore Alice turned out to be spot-on. That’s enough tooting of my own horn, though.
The girl, Ako, just also happens to have terrible parents like everyoe else It seems like her father is locked up in prison after killing her mother. Why does everyone have such miserable family lives in this series? I guess the alarm bells should have been ringing when we saw that the eyecatch saying Ako lives with her aunt. Yet another outcast brought in as a magical girl by Fav.
After the OP plays, we jump to Hardgore Alice being called out to meet Snow White. Snow White first asks about where Hardgore Alice’s stuffed bunny is before she apologizes for misunderstanding HG Alice. Of course, Hardgore Alice can’t find her stuffed rabbit doll because Minael did a switcheroo during the previous episode. More on that later.
Anyways, it turns out this brief exchange took place shortly before Fav announced last week’s death toll. After hearing the grim news, Snow White loses her cool over the absurdity and flips out at Hardgore Alice, who tries to calm her down.
While this scene depicted just how these last events and deaths have stressed out Snow White pretty well, which is something the series has kind of glossed over, I felt really bad for Hardgore Alice. First her father tells her, “Please, don’t come here again.” And then her idol says, “Don’t follow me.” Poor Hardgore Alice / Ako.
The sad moments just keep coming for Ako. On her way to school, Swim Swim ambushes her. By now, I’m pretty sure most people would agree that Hardgore Alice is invincible, so this attack shouldn’t do anything, right?
I had forgotten about this small footnote. Because of it, Ako can’t transform, so she’s forced to run into an alleyway where she can become Hardgore Alice. We also get more flashbacks of her life from around the time she was choosen to be a magical girl. But before she can transform into unstoppable Hardgore Alice…
As she lies dying, Ako thinks of Snow White. Somehow she’s able to hear Ako’s thoughts even though she hasn’t transformed. No explanation for how that is possible is given. At any rate, Snow White manages to track down Hardgore Alice, who explains that she wanted to cheer her up yesterday and that the city has a magical girl as long as she lives.
That’s just the abridged version of what happens during their final encounter. What’s important to note is that Ako hands Snow White the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot before dying. What’s not as important is the fact that I’ve rewatched this scene several times while writing this review.
In my opinion, this basically guarantees that Snow White will survive until the very end. She dismissed the Lucky Rabbit’s Foot back in episode one, but wouldn’t it make for great irony if it triggers and she’s able to get out of a pinch? It’ll be too tragic for her to die after two people who were devoted to her already kicked the bucket.
The second half of the episode shows the three stooges chilling in their base. Minael claims that they should have done this before and we get to see exactly how she pulled it off. Hardgore Alice apparently put her bunny doll (which was Minael) away momentarily, allowing Minael to escape without being noticed.
We also get a small flashback for the twins. At this point I can’t say I’m fond of them, so I wasn’t all that happy. But I do relate a little bit since I am also a twin. My peers all the way up to high school confused us for each other. Heck, even my brother’s roommates thought I was him when I visited him, haha. At any rate, Swim Swim has decided their next target should be Cranberry (big mistake).
The scene then jumps to Cranberry where we get tons of exposition. Lots of pics incoming!
tl;dr Cranberry refers to the World of Magic as a seperate world entirety. The WoM is looking for talent, but they don’t want casualities. However, Cranberry is in charge of finding said talent and she thinks this bloody battle is much more interesting. Everything that’s happened thus far is therefore her fault.
After Cranberry admits that she’s grown interested in Swim Swim (who’s killed four magical girls by now: Ruler, Winterprison, Top Speed, and Hardgore Alice), Fav informs her that Swim Swim wants to make contact with her. Of course, that actually means “a fight to the death.” It’s like in Umineko no Naku Koro Ni where “gentlemen, serve her some tea” means “beat the crap out of her.”
Meanwhile, Ripple is mourning Top Speed still. She blames herself for Top Speeds’ death, but she still seeks revenge on Swim Swim nonetheless. Put on the delinquent coat, Ripple!
The last few minutes is like a grotesque comedy. Swim Swim basicaly tells the others to circle the forest while she enters the cabin the woods. Minael and Tama find Cranberry, but she nails Tama’s arm with a rock and leaves it useless and bleeding. Cranberry’s ability to manipulate sound makes it easy to track down her opponents’ breathing, it seems. Vague magical abilities are the best after all, right? Anyways, Tama manages to dodge the second rock since she took a magical pill, which seemingly increases your speed.
And then there’s the brutal kill that came out of nowhere.
Tama and Swim Swim reunite and discover the body. Noticing that Cranberry is right behind them, Swim Swim instructs Tama to continue without looking back in order to do a pincer attack. Cranberry is impressed with Swim Swim’s battle instincts.
Final thoughts about this episode:
- We’re down to five magical girls now since Hardgore Alice and Minael kicked the bucket. One more until the next cutoff point, but who knows if Cranberry will stop here?
- All this talk about a selection test and the World of Magic could be signs that a sequel might come. The novel series has a small but stable fanbase in Japan and this is just the first arc. There’s currently six arcs and counting for the original source material.
- Cranberry is probably from the World of Magic, huh? Does that mean she doesn’t have to transform into a magical girl since she’s one by default?
- Her being the selector and admin of this whole “game” explains why she doesn’t have to collect magical candies to stay alive. Cranberry’s free to just chase after strong opponents as a result.
- I think Swim Swim respected Snow White’s ability a bit too much. They probably should have gone after her now that her bodyguard is dead.
- Wouldn’t it be a riot if Snow White manages to just sit around in despair while everyone else is fighting? And then she’s automatically a finalist because she’s just moping? Her inheriting Lucky Rabbit’s Foot makes this unlikely, however. She probably will get hunt down and the item will give her a chance to escape. Whether or not she can will be up to herself.
- Signs point to Swim Swim losing this showdown (all of her kills were basically sneak attacks / required the help of Tama, Minael, and Yunael). The previous episode also showed us how she didn’t actually know how to use her weapon. Her ability was what allowed her to escape from Ripple unharmed. Meanwhile Cranberry is Cranberry.
- Still, since Ripple still holds a grudge against Swim Swim, it wouldn’t be karmic justice if Swim Swim just died without Ripple meets her again. But since when have things been fair so far?
The Lily Garden 
Wow! I saw this in my Reader and it says 82 images. Thanks for taking the time to screenshot so many images for us.
Congrats on getting Alice right. I liked how much emotion she showed in this episode. It tugged at my heart. Then Swim Swim came. :c Then I was sad. Though I was pretty impressed by her using her power in the rain. I sort of wish Alice had her phone out while running so that she’d just push the button once people couldn’t see her. And it doesn’t make so much sense since the first episode, Fav noted that the best people would remember of magical girls is an urban legend. That doesn’t cover the case of transitioning from regular to magical girl, but I wonder if people would actually remember the event once she transforms.
Mm, I think there are a few that weren’t really traumatic when presented to us (SW, LP, Winterprison & SN, for starters). Definitely in SW and LP’s cases, there was a source of distress.
So uh the World of Magic people are actually really nice and DID want to do magical candies, and Cranberry just goes “nope” and rigs the system for her own purposes? That’s exactly the storyline I didn’t want to see. But I think background info on Cranberry is merited. I wonder if this influenced future arcs–not sure how those play out, but I am going to assume that they are also violent.
I like your description of a grotesque comedy. I particularly liked Minael’s kill. Good riddance to that angel. x(
It could be that Cranberry is already in her real form, assuming the game uses designs that are reminiscent of magical girls from the World of Magic.
Ugh, I am so frustrated with SW and Tama still right now. Come on, girls ;__;. If Swim Swim is Cranberry’s target, there’s a good chance Tama will be left alone. But the thought of that also makes me anxious.
I hopeee Magical Girl gets a sequel anime. Nanbaka gets a sequel starting January even though hearsay says it’s already past the current end of the manga.
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Haha yeah I went a bit overboard. Maybe it is a little too much. Thanks.
Mmm she was a good girl. Misunderstood until the end ;__;
Swim Swim ruined everything!
Yeah, she definitely could have pulled out her phone while she was running away, I think. Maybe she was just too much in a panic to do so.
I think it’s fine as long as the magical girl is already transformed when they’re seen by regular people. It might be a different story if a magical girl transforms in front of the muggles. But it is very vague and I guess we might never know.
Yeah, some weren’t as traumatic as I’d like. I’m sure the deaths are taking their toll on SW, though.
That’s what it sounds like, but I could be wrong. Oh? What kind of storyline would you have preferred? Well, maybe the World of Magic isn’t as peaceful as we think since the existence of future arcs guarantees that there’s conflict. Or maybe it still happens in our world. Resisting reading all the novels right now is a tall order. Only a few more weeks before we devour those books!
Haha thanks! Yeah I was so over Minael. The world is better off now.
Mmm that’s probably her real form, yeah. Still, a sketchy magical girl leaving in a cabin by herself in the middle of the woods? Every other magical girl seems to leave somewhere near civilization, so I guess she’s different in that aspect, too. When does she go shopping?? What does Cranberry eat besides fruits?
There’s still time for Tama and SW to not be overly nice characters who just react to things! ;__;
I think Cranberry is still going to kill Tama if possible. She murdered Minael with no hesitation. I guess her reason is that she’s still upset over Winterprison dying to these shmucks.
I hope so, too. Really? Well, how are they going to make a second season of Nanbaka work out? It can’t be an entire season of filler….right?
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ooo well 🙂 i didn’t mean it was too much, but it must’ve taken a while for you.
Hmmm. I didn’t think the storyline through. I think we still have some explanations coming up, but I didn’t want to feel as if there was no purpose to the killings x(. Urgh blurgle. it’s making me want to watch it again. they should do a Cranberry flashback asap
noooo cannot wait to read!
I guess Cranberry can put that good hearing to use for her daily needs. “I hear the rustle of a riceball nearby +_+” when a supply airplane goes overhead or something :p . Or maybe as a World of Magic lady she can totally be like, “magical swords and stuff? more like, food appearing magically!”
Schmucks they are indeed. xD okay you got me rootin’ for her
I’m not sure. Right now it’s actually getting into the storyline so I hope that they’re just going to continue it? I’m actually starting to read that manga just ‘cuz it’s so weird.
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Ahh I see. Yeah, this show is the only one I go all-in on during this season. I just have to so much to say about it…that and it is time consuming as you said so it’s hard to do the same for the other shows haha.
I saw your post and I do agree that Cranberry staging the competition into a murderous event felt a bit too pedestrian. The fact that the girls died for no reason has me a little sad too. It’s why I can’t stand horror movies, by the way, since the victims always seem to get screwed over even if they deserve it.
The episode we see a Cranberry flashback is the episode she dies, I bet! But getting one would be great.
Yeahhhh me neither ;_____;
Magic sure is convenient. Maybe she just eats forest shrubberies and fruits! Her all natural diet is the reason why she’s g l o w i n g and p r e t t y.
I actually want the two shucks to overcome Cranberry. And then Ripple finishes them off. But that’s me just bring a bit biased haha. If someone dies, however, They’ll be done to four and the game is over unless Cranberry pushes the limits further back again.
Mmm they’ve kind of gone for the serious route recently huh? Have you started from where you are in the anime or did you start from the beginning?
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It is a good show to go all in on. I think out of all the (three) shows I am viewing I have not speculated nearly as much on the other two as this one (save the relationship status in YOI).
I guess this is how power struggles/dystopians start. Someone always has to be dissatisfied by the system. Phooey.
Ohhhh ;__; usually I’m too scared of horror movies to not watch them.
O that is true. Gotta eat those shrubs for a pretty complexion *o*.
Grrrr. Idk. I’m kind of mad at Swim Swim right now x(. But then Cranberry nicked La Pucelle and perhaps I should be directing my anger toward her. grrr. +_+
I started from the beginning, but haven’t gotten very far. There’s no mention of the storyline they started in ep 1 yet and they’re all just being goofballs, so I’m just wondering if they put foreshadowing in the anime for dramatic effect.
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I feel the same way. Yeah, you’ve been putting in a lot of work in YOI and in Magical Girl Raising Project!
I think you’re right. They don’t even go and write a song or story about it, either. They just jump straight into messing things up huh?
Yeah I’m scared of them, too. When YouTube has the scary movie ads before the video, I take off my headphones and toss my phone to the side and come back after getting a drink of water or something. Sure, I have to rewind the video since I might have missed some stuff, but I ain’t about to watch that and stay up all night!
I’m mad at both girls. La Pucelle was a good person, as with Top Speed. Same with Hardcore Alice. They need to receive their punishment!
Ah, I see. It sounds like they did do that, then. Do you think the studio did a good job in that regard, then?
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Woah, songs & stories *o* sounds like something Cranberry would’ve been able to do! Grrr. Well I’m still banking on the theory that something happened to Cranberry. She can be a bard about it later.
:O that is totally relatable. I usually do something like that too. Lately i’ve been able to watch Five Nights at Freddy’s let’s plays by uh covering the whole screen except for if there’s a face cam. Progress?
mmm in my opinion the foreshadowing messed with the comedic timing of the series a lot. because it’d be like *giggles for 20 mins* O_O BUT WAIT and then it’s like “what just happen”
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Hmmmm she’s not bad at piano but her singing stats are like 3 out of 5. Maybe she can just play and let someone else belt out loud haha.
It would certainly make things more interesting if she had a tragic backstory explaining why she is doing this. Cranberry, Bard of the Bushes!
Whoa, that’s better than what I can do. Yer a brave one, Alane!
Aw, that’s a shame. So the manga is even funnier than the anime since there’s no distracting foreshadowing?
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This is a good title c:
Yush, I have been practicing for this moment. Sorta.
Hmmm. I think it was in the very little bit I saw! c: (I started rolling around and stopped reading but will get back to it)
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Haha, thanks c:
The fruits of your labor shall surely blossom!
(I bet you’re a great artist!)
Mmm alrighty~ it’s always a bit exciting yet disappointing to find the manga is potentially funnier than the anime. ;_;
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fa la la la *cough* yush +_+ uh, *hides stat sheets* yes, i am a super secret awesome artist. *smushes sheets to a pulp*
i started reading more of it. looks like it’s jumping around the funny parts ;_;. arglebloogle. then i lost my place after two chapters cuz my tablet spaced out. sigh.
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🎶 6/5 singing skills 🎶
🎨 6/5 drawing skills 🎨
That’s Alane in a nutshell!
Ugh that’s a shame. The world is wrong ;__;
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It’s on the sixth arc now, it’s not really quite popular, I’d say it has a small but stable fanbase. Hopefully anime make it more popular.
Ah that was her will, she was planning to kill herself when she was looking for that key. SW’s random act of good will save her. Then again she is a weird girl, a bit of a shame that not all of her character creation don’t make to anime, that was so face-palm worthy for me.
At this rate, I thought I was done complaining SW about yet I end up doing it, they actually make her break down at the worst possible moment. Now Her character already suffer from all the down playing about how much of distress she was in and lack of her thoughts. In the same scene as in the anime (without that heart to heart moment), SW came to realization about the current situations and broke down. Alice comforted her but said the wrong thing “Not all of them have die yet”, thus SW snapped. But despite all her anger she never blame Alice. She only blame herself.
At least the death scene was good. Hearing someone last thoughts was depressing and certainly not healthy. As for the unexplained things, I think that was Rabbit Foot directly bringing Alice voice to Snow’s head. In the LN Snow White found a crowd when going to school, despite deciding to not transform, she still ended up transforming in an alley and heard Alice. That was also due to Rabbit foot apparently. Alice then die in the middle of the crowd. ;_;
Swin Swin was bad at fighting, so power like Snow White (not knowing the detail) was the worst counter for their group since she can’t sneak attack her or she thinks. She was too cautious haha and choose the worst opponent possible.
Ended up long again, sorry!
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Ah, my bad for spreading misinformation. I’ll fix that up. I hope so, too.
Ohhh that makes sense. Yeah I guess they kind of rushed through things. SW is saving lives with her kindness, how amazing. Poor Ako left us too soon, though.
Oh, I see. Snow White has been getting the shaft throughout this season.
Yeah, the death scene wad touching and sad. Maybe now SW will sink further into depression.
Ah, that makes some sort of sense. I can’t believe she dismissed the power of the lucky rabbit’s foot in the first episode. Alice’s death in the original source material sounds even more teagic, oh no ;_____;
Mmmm the prospect of someone sensing when an attack is coming must have scared the crap out of Swim Swim. It’s a good thing SW never explained her powers to everyone else. I found myself laughing in the previous episode and in this episode when she thought Cranberry was weak and worth targeting.
Nooo, I’m glad it’s so long. Thanks for dropping by and enlightening me as usual!
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Alice’s character creation was from the side story, they put a bit of her thoughts like “Black and White”, so they don’t rush things at least.
I actually like the LN death scene more. There was no way out in there and make more sense.
Yeah, Poor SW, I have no idea what they are doing with her. First they give her nearly the whole first episode as a focus, then she keep getting shafted, well not exactly shafted just downplaying her stress with minimal implying. The funny thing is she has less screen time than this in LN. (The prologue POV was Ako, then Ripple, then SW, then a whole of Ruler etc.)
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That’s pretty neat. She wanted to be with Snow White for such simple reason(s) like you said, too.
Mmm they might not have rushed through things, but they changed it slightly to make it…more intimate since SW and Alice were alone? Her death in the original source material does sound better, though.
I guess Lerche made SW the focus initially because they are aware of who lives and dies. And then they started focusing on other characters so they get fleshed out before they die, leaving less time for SW? Maybe I shouldn’t make guesses as to why her stress levels have been downplayed if I don’t properly know.
(I ended up looking into HG Alice and found out how SW behaves from here on out, so I totally understand where you’re coming from. They should have put more focus on SW’s changing mindset as everyone around her who she relied upon or respected dies)
Huh, interesting. I guess Lerche took some more liberties than I thought. I guess it makes sense to do so, but it also sounds like making SW the main focus for episode one was the easier route.
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SW was a lot of LN readers favorite at least the few I know of, if this wasn’t evident already, mine too. She even got 1st in popularity poll. She was sort of there originally, then I look back after some time and ended up appreciating her a lot more.
Her being broken down like multiple times was really important to her character growth, so anime downplaying it feel like something really really wrong despite this being a good adaptation.
Eh what do you find out? Do you perhaps read about her in the Wiki or something?
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Wow she was that popular? Maybe that’s a reason why Lerche cast her as a main character. Do you think she was better in the novel series?
Yes, I agree. It’s an inherent part of her development so that’s one thing Lerche messed up.
I…read the tv tropes character page for some of the dead magical girls. Opening up HG Alice’s entry told me that SW’s mindset changed after her death. I won’t go into detail as to how and why (partly because I don’t know the exact details, partly because I don’t want to ruin things for others who don’t know), but I totally understand why you kept bringing up her breakdowns being improperly conveyed in the anime.
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She was better as in you can understand her better. She didn’t really do anything different than anime but you understand why. Sadly most of those happen inside her head and small scenes so they were lost in the anime. She was even aware that Alice felt only worried and concern for her before snapping due “Not all of them have die yet” words.
She might not be a character as interesting as Alice in the first Arc, but there shouldn’t be anything to hate her at least. Anime placing that breakdown right after that heart to heart moment (Anime original scene) is like making people to hate or annoyed at her, especially without all the showing that how tired or broken she is. Now people forgot that SW might not completely breakdown if Alice got her words out.
Oh you are not completely spoiled yet.
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Mmm I guess it’s just a shortcoming of the anime media compared to novel. They gotta cut things to make episodes fit in a timeslot, I suppose. Ah, so she was aware in the original source material. I mean, Alice’s communications skills are pretty bad, but SW should have noticed nonetheless.
No kidding. It was just bad placing, I guess, since I was thinking SW is rather fickle. Of course, she’s stressed and tired and broken so it makes sense why she snapped, but you wouldn’t know it from just watching the anime.
While it’s sad that Alice died, at least she was able to give SW some comforting words that might strengthen her resolve. She was too young ;_;
Oh, that’s good to hear. I closed the tab after reading about SW’s new mindset and will refrain from browsing other sites until the series is done airing, haha.
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I’m beginning to get suspicious of dog girl seeing how she’s somehow manged to survive so long despite how frail she is. I wouldn’t be surprised if her character takes a turn in the near future.
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Good point. Maybe she’s just lucky or maybe she has something up her dog suit sleeves? I’d be all for the latter. Seeing her scamper around doing nothing much is frustrating.
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She definitely has something up her dog suit sleeves. Let’s see how next week plays out
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