My wife says it recalled the feeling of watching an old Don Bluth cartoon, and after watching a couple like Secret of NIMH, I kind of agree that it shares that whole “hope in the darkness” theme Bluth seems to have handled in his films (I’m going to have to watch some more of them).

I could nit at the pacing and sometimes jarring editing in Mahou Shoujotai, but in the end I’m more glad that they didn’t dwell very long on the cliches and kept moving. More anime could stand to do that.

Frankly, it feels like anyone overly criticizing this are doing so either because it’s an easy target, or because only people who like it have bothered reviewing it online.

You could apply the same criticisms to far more popular anime (especially ones for older audiences) but they usually get a pass. Mahou Shoujotai doesn’t deserve to be associated with that double-standard.

Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu is indeed an interesting series with one of the most unique and unconventional designs in anime that I’ve ever seen. The magical world, from the witch realm to the wizard kingdom look very unique and show a very imaginative and creative design. The numerous fairies are each distinctive and different from each other, while the magical spells and the warlocks technology are all lovingly portrayed, even if the animation is sometimes not up to par.

The other good thing of note is also the soundtrack. The opener really gives a sense of adventure, while the ending song is a whimsical song that closes of each episode on a high. The background music is equally good, supporting each scene adequately, although without really standing out.

Unfortunately, a unique design and wonderful soundtrack does not a good anime make. The main trio of Alice, Eva, and Sheila fit the three stereotype of the optimist, the timid girl, and the ever serious. As the story goes on, they undergo character development, with Sheila especially turning out into a very amazing character. Sadly, Alice is the main character. Initially a naive and idealistic kid who holds an almost blind belief in magic, by the end of the series she’s practically the same. Her belief that magic must only be used to make people happy without hurting anyone is admirable, but the way she held on to it in some instances really made me want to tear my hair out. The way she goes headlong into any trouble without thinking, and somehow just by bumbling along she somehow manages to do the right thing really infuriates me.

Another bad aspect of the series are the gaping plot holes, with lots of leaps in logic, characters acting like idiots, and the deus ex machinas that litters this series. Like how those warlocks so easily kept infringing into the witches realm to catch fairies without the general population of witches seeming to give a care. Or how easily the warlocks got into the witches realm when they were searching for Alice because every witch was at the chapel, and not a single one is left on sentry duty? And even if Alice doesn’t want to use magic to hurt people, when fighting against those warlocks can’t she use a spell that won’t kill them, just maybe stun or stop them in their tracks? There were so many of these incidents, that I’m surprised my desk isn’t broken yet.

The magic system is also underutilized and poorly fleshed out. If all that is needed to cast a magic spell is a piece of a fairy and the incantation, then why is it so hard to use magic? how can there be witches that can’t use magic? Is it so hard to remember a string of words? And why the heck does Jidan, a human, know so much about the so called ‘light magic’ than even the witches Grand Master?

To conclude, I would like to say that I’m very disappointed with how it turned out. This series had a very creative and imaginative setting, that was underutilized thanks to the poor execution and messed up plot.

Lets start with the main character. The only main character I have ever hated more than Alice was Naruto in the first few episodes of Naruto. She displays suspiciously little development or depth, and she’s just plain annoying.

The plot. The whole way through this series, I found myself wondering if the story was actually going to go anywhere. It didn’t. Sure, it was original, but it just wasn’t interesting. I don’t know how you can take a story set in a magic realm and make it so uninteresting. All the wonderful things you mentioned in your review… I didn’t see one of them. Aside from the musical score was decent and the art was interesting.

I’d give this series at most a 70/100

anyway Mahou Shoujotai is indeed a great choice your number one anime. most people who watch anime always put they top favorite anime either, a snail pace show with no real plot, a pure romance anime and gloomy anime. I’m glad this show doesn’t have any of that

with this, I already view all your 92 to 100 anime ……… almost ( couple more left )

I feel I should also thank you for giving me some great inspiration for expanding my collection. One day I simply sat down and browsed your top picks, and just searched those that sounded interesting. Seeing as there is so much anime out there, having a nice consolidated list of opinions has been incredibly helpful. Although there are a couple shows that I would have rated differently, every title you had in the 90-100 range that I saw I agreed with 100%.

Ok, enough brown-nosing from me. Just keep up the good work!

I pretty much loved everything else you high-rated except for this.

So with that said I can’t find much to like about this. I have tried several times to finish this show, but I just can’t. By the time I get near the end I’m practically starved for some character development.

I’m going to try to not rant here, but I HATE Alice. With the very FIRST thing she does when she gets in their world she rekindles a war, and her character development amounts to ZERO.

The only good thing I can think of is the art is unique and they did a great cramming 30 minutes into 8.

For me this is no where near the top at best a 75 out of 100

10 episodes in, I thought, maybe theres more to it. 20 episodes in, maybe theres an intense twist. 30 episodes in, I just told myself to finish it for the heck of it.

Undoubtedly one of the worst series to spend time watching for me. Too much optimistic googoo, poor plot, etc, etc. Quite frankly, it was BORING. NOTHING that intrigued me at all, except maybe for the few sounds that sprites make.

I completely agreed to your review of Birdy 2, which was a hell of a surprise series, blowing out any expectations whatsoever. Now with this fairy tale, I just cant possibly see how you can enjoy it so much. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, stuck with me, except for how horrifying it was to watch. No great characters, in fact, you begin to even hate on nearly all of them. You just can’t take the story seriously. No good music, nothing.

Birdy 2 had, in my honest opinion, the BEST artwork and animations of any anime out there, with maybe the exception of some short scenes of some certain series/movies. It had an incredible plot, character development, MUSIC, and just outright badassness. Where else can you see such fluid movements of the body, with such momentum, power, feel, in a setting where there really feels like there’s gravity and physics? Animations aside, Birdy 2 was still a good series. You did well in that review, and I could concur with it.

This one though…I don’t know what the hell to say.

http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/catalogmgr/oOZMklgnv7yj8OVw27/browse/item/81545/4/0/0

It’s true that Alice always repeats more or less the same thing, but her position is totally understandable. Her role is comparable to that of a charismatic leader, political or religious. She has very strong beliefs, that are basically more important to her than herself. If she loses them, she’s worse than dead. People of this kind don’t easily weaver, even when their life is at stake (just think about the Christ on the cross, or Mandela in life sentence).
Also, the fact that she constantly needs to repeat her message is logic: she’s the only person in that world to believe in it! A rational person would do the same if she lived in a place where superstition is the main belief system, or a person who despises slavery in a slave labor based society. Just watch political activist: they are untiring in carrying their message through, simply because the reality that surrounds them constantly rubs them the wrong way. Alice constantly sees around her something she can’t stand, and being loud-mouthed makes sure to make her displeasure known.

Despite all that, she’s not totally inflexible. She does grow up, and has her times of weakness. Plus, the show clearly shows that sometimes she swallows her internal sadness to put an outward smiling face for the sake of her friends.

Alice is clearly not my favorite character, and she suffers from the burden of the “savior” role, but she certainly is not as unidimensional as you put it. Plus, the other characters develop so much that it more than compensates the rigid position of Alice.

As for myself I found the show amazing, mostly because of the incredible pacing and plot twists, but even more because of the characters, which are cute (without being moe and stupid) and full of life. My only quibble is the ending (I found the father unnecessary), but that’s very minor.

I have to thank psgels for promoting this anime, otherwise I would not know about it. And although Mushishi is clearly my all time favorite anime series, both Mahou Shoujotai and Haibane Renmei are in my top ten favorites ^_^

LOL I agree! I am pretty disappointed with this anime. The anime didn’t live up with the excellent reviews.

Im 20 episodes in, and not one episode poped out as excellent, most barely averaging “good”. Also, Alice can possibly the most hateful, annoying character in the story of anime, EVER. Im half through the series and she doesnt seemed to have developed at all, saying the same thing every episode, whinning and getting her party in trouble which always frustrate me.

The plot twist are not intriguing at all, unimaginably boring and generic not to say predictable. Im gonna (suffer) watching the series to the end since I still believe the second half might have a much better impression on me (I truly hope to God) because not even its shorter and quicker plot development can save the uncountable flaws this series has already created.