The mahō shōjo or magical girl subgenre of anime and manga is an immensely significant aspect to the medium that has become a mainstay since its introduction back in 1962, with the genre-defining Himitsu no Akko-chan and Sally the Witch in 1966. The subgenre is defined by its presentation of young girls or women with magical abilities that are usually expressed through an alter ego of some kind.
Nearly 30 years later, the emergence of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon saw the combination of superhero tokusatsu elements that began to take on their modern form in the late 1950s with the core concept of magical girls to give birth to what is perhaps the most notable aspect of the subgenre: the transformation sequence. The adaptation of Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc., written by Sekka Iwata and illustrated by Yu Aoki, which began airing in Fall 2024, is a unique interpretation of the magical girl subgenre that pays homage to its most celebrated aspects. Here's why it's worth watching.
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What Is Magilumiere About?
Imagine Magical Girls... At the Workplace
Magical Girls. Strong, cool and agile... Everyone wants to be one. They're well paid and popular. It's a respectable line of work. Their main duties involve a particular natural phenomenon: they exterminate creatures called 'Kaii'. An increase in Kaii over the years sparked a Magical Girl industry boom. Ranging in size from small to large, over 500 Magical Girl companies now exist.
In this world, being a magical girl is a popular career option that involves taking care of dangerous monsters called Kaii that threaten to harm society. College graduate Kana Sakuragi has been struggling to get a job until one day, a Kaii attacks during a job interview and causes a major emergency.
Using her incredible memory, Kana is able to help a professional magical girl named Hitomi Koshigaya in exterminating the monstrosity, which leads to her being hired at the magical girl startup company where Koshigaya works, Magilumiere Co. Ltd., becoming the second magical girl on their roster. The small company consists of the tired-looking middle-aged CEO, Kōji Shigemoto, who spends most of his time dressed as a magical girl; Kaede Midorikawa, who works with customers, and their magic engineer, Kazuo Nikoyama.
Background Information
Staff and Cast Behind The Production of Magilumiere
The Magilumiere manga by Sekka Iwata and Yu Aoki has been serialized on the Shōnen Jump+ platform since October 2021, and has been collected into 14 volumes as of October 2024. The series is also published in English by Shueisha on their Manga Plus website and app. The Magilumiere anime series produced by J.C. Staff and Moe is directed by CG designer and background artist Masahiro Hiraoka, who did the CG design on another magical girl series, Toei's Heartcatch Precure!; with series composition by Shingo Nagai (script, High Card); music by Makoto Miyazaki (music, One Punch Man); character designs by Hidehiro Asama (key animation, A Silent Voice) and Masahiro Fujii (key animation, Nodame Cantabile); art direction by Attack on Titan The Final Season background art assistants Kenta Ōshima and Miho Seri; CGI direction by Yukitoshi Takigawa (CG Animation Assistant, Sakura Wars); 3D art direction by Kanae Ueki (location modelling, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods); photography direction by Kōichi Gonda and music by Masafumi Mima (sound direction, My Hero Academia).
The cast of Magilumiere includes Yumiri Hanamori (Yamada Asaemon Sagiri, Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku) as Hitomi Koshigaya; Fairouz Ai (Power, CHAINSAW MAN) as Kana Sakuragi; Rikiya Koyama (Kogorō Mōri, Case Closed) as Kōji Shigemoto; Daiki Yamashita (Izuku Midoriya, My Hero Academia) as Kazuo Nikoyama; Chika Anzai (Sirius Romanée-Conti, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- season 3) as Mei Tsuchiba; Kikuko Inoue (Kasumi Tendō, Ranma 1/2; Ranma 1/2 2024) as Miyako Asō; Ryōta Ōsaka (Sadao Maō, The Devil is a Part-Timer!) as Midorikawa; Kaori Ishihara (Tiese, Sword Art Online: Alicization) and Akira Ishida (Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Bungō Stray Dogs).
How Magilumiere Plays With the Magical Girl Subtrope
Combining Workplace Anime With Magical Girls
The thing that makes Magilumiere an interesting title to watch this Fall 2024 anime season lies in its approach to the tried and tested magical girl formula. At this stage, a lot of modern anime deals with the saturation within genres, and avoids copying the formulae laid out by very popular or genre-defining anime by way of subversion. For example, KonoSuba dealt with the overwhelming repetitiveness of the way the isekai trope plays out in the majority of media by subverting expectations with humorous results, which in turn made comedy an important ingredient in modern isekai. In the case of Magilumiere, the series leans into the elements that are central to magical girl anime – like flashy fight scenes, an emphasis on a heroic main character and an unexpected protagonist who attains their power through what seems like fate or coincidence, and of course, the transformation sequence.
The first episode of Magilumiere was especially strong for how well it leaned into these aspects, and Hitomi's transformation was the best part: it paid homage to the concept of the transformation sequence popularized by Sailor Moon (and even the Western cartoons inspired by it), and scaled up the auspiciousness and the hype of her transformation to the max with upbeat music and incredible animation that flowed beautifully as she suited up.
The fact that the conduit of her transformation was her company access card was a fun bit that reminded us that this is a professional magical girl, not to mention how the awesome monster designs raised the stakes, proving that the magical girl element isn't just a gimmick, as truly dangerous, terrifying creatures with strange abilities are the opponents that they face. Kana's characterization as a graduate who can't find work and doesn't do very well in interviews is also relatable, but not in a cynical way. The series retains some whimsy, but also boasts a tech-based magical system that also makes the world of Magilumiere very interesting, with mechanical witch brooms and magic that is as flashy as you'd expect from a magical girl anime, but with a different perspective on how this magic works. Visually, Magilumiere is great, and it also has an interesting concept that makes it worth watching this season.
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. Is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
- Release Date
- October 4, 2024
Cast
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Fairouz AiKana Sakuragi -
Yumiri HanamoriHitomi Koshigaya
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Rikiya KoyamaKōji Shigemoto
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Ryōta ŌsakaKaede Midorikawa
In a modern world where magical monsters threaten society, Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. Follows a team of magical girls who tackle these emerging threats as part of their corporate responsibilities. The series blends themes of heroism and everyday work life in a unique magical setting.
