Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyō - 2

Light vs Darkness has been the standard concept for all Magical Girl shows, but over time, it has become rather cheesy. Though new elements are combined, and recreated in Gen'ei, the varying degree of success each one brings leaves it hanging on the edge of a knife. Make or break, this can actually become a show to redefine the Magical Girl genre (like Madoka), or completely fall on it's face.

What a radiant mum

Firstly, the Magical Girls aren't the victims of some conniving, and twisted scheme; they are the cold blooded murderers, albeit against their own will. Instead of leaving behind a pile of corpses, every trace of the dead person vanishes: Past, Present, and not to mention Future. This makes it as if they never even existed at all. A psychological exploration of their mental stablity serves to offer one of the aforementioned interesting elements, that is to say the mind of a reluctant murderer. Truly some dark stuff, and the problem of utterly eradicating something from existence isn’t tackled as often as it probably ought to be. While Madoka turned this into a symbol of renewed hope, Gen'ei looks as if it's trying to do quite the opposite by plunging our characters into despair.

There's always that one, outright loner

Daemonia my arse, just say DEMON! In anime, production companies tend to over romanize names, meaning in the long run, they sound ridiculously over the top. On a personal level, if these Demonia were real, I'd already be corrupted. The people who live in the world of Gen'ei must be incredibly positive to not have many cases of the Daemonia taking over their soul, or have these people all been forgotten? That's the feeling of unease the anime is giving me, and I think some plot device involving the erased people will be incorporated. Surprisingly, the Crow could talk, and so could the Cat! They seem to be controlling the direction of events from the shadow, as well as garnering shadier intentions. Whatever it is, they won't let our main protagonist die so quickly, or as they put it, in vain. Still, they gave me the jitters. 

You know what I'll say, so I won't say it

Despite her dear mother trying to protect her from the stark reality of the Mirror World, Akari possesses the same powers as her mother, which is by no means any coincidence; I noticed a key factor in the surnames. Akari Taiyo is the Sun (her mother was also a Taiyo), Luna Tsukiyomi is the Moon, Seira Hoshikawa is the Star. Ginka Shirokane only had the remotest link to temperance, but I felt this was a slight reference to JoJo's Bizarre adventure, since Silver Platinum is quite close to Stardust Platinum, Jotaro's Stand. For Etia Visconti to have the World is truly fitting. The World has commonly been one of the most powerful Tarot Cards. I'd like to see how this will play out, and believe it'll contribute significantly in the future.

These all look like characters from at least one other anime

Episode in a nutshell. First mission happens, goes horribly wrong, traumatizes the main character into becoming fearful of her own powers. However, an extreme circumstance takes place, which forces the heroine to choose between using her powers, or watching someone potentially die. Random shoutout would be during their battle against the giant mantis, I thought 'Moon girl, stand back! Bug is supereffective against Psychic, and your grass attacks won't be effective, so you should let our main character, the fire girl, handle this one!', only she didn't, and ended up significantly weakening herself... Might I just add the Mirror World is the best part of the series? There, all the action takes place, and 1080p HD just fried my brains. Older Akari looks stunning, and the art style slightly shifts so it adapts to the new realm. As my Product teacher used to say: 'Quality lads, eh?'

Our new Magica Quartet

I hope they delve into the moral quandary, and fully exploit them. Instinct seems to tell me they aren't. On a side note, they totally cheated with Akari's sun powers by including exquisitely drawn plants (Sun -->Photosynthesis --> Plants Grow Fast), exponentially adding to the scenery and demeanor. Interestingly, they have taken the Madoka turn in that there's a risk the Magical Girl can become a Daemonia, something that almost happened to Akari this episode. I’m going to pick it up for the season, since it's a show that particularly stands out. The real question is whether this can go further than competing with the entire year, and whether it can be as good as every other titular Magical Girl show ever. We’ll see if they can tackle some of their pacing problems, while continuing to deliver interesting episodes that take a new spin on the “magical girls in pain” genre. Is that even a genre? Well, now it is.

Time to contemplate in the shower about how you murdered someone

Will the crow become a new Kyuubi? Maybe Seira will go the same way Sayaka did, seeing as her offensive role means she kills more people than the rest. Ginka and Luna seems to have the easy side of the bargain, both harnessing defensive, or healing abilities rather than using them for murdering corrupted people. Even then, I really look forwards to watching the rest of this show.

Akari mourns the forgotten Fuyuna