She’s here!! She’s finally here! Mikan makes her grand debut and she’s wonderful! I was a little bit worried coming into this episode that she would cause a lot of conflict and drama, but instead she seems like a great addition to the team. And on that note, I really love how this has so many opportunities for drama and conflict with all of the characters, but instead they just roll with the punches. These two should be rivals? Nah, they’re gonna be the best of friends. There’s a new girl who’s here to take you down? JK she’s going to fight alongside you now. It’s just so refreshing to see! There is drama that I wasn’t expecting! Especially with the history of the magical girls ( I mean it wouldn’t be a series with a magical girl in it, if there wasn’t some major, tragic, and unfortunate circumstance following them around.
I really like how this anime is conveying information to us. They do it so casually where I’m just like, “oh yeah, that makes sense”, but then I end up doing a double take and have a response similar to Shamiko, where it’s honestly a surprise, but they appear to be lax about it! Most importantly, in this episode, we learn that Momo’s life is actually at stake with her continuing to use magic. With such a light-hearted premise, I honestly wasn’t expecting them to break out something that could be so threatening. And then we also have the curse that Mikan is under, albeit much less life threatening. There is such a big strain on these girls, but it’s never at the forefront of any moment in this anime… unless of course they are using it to make a joke. I personally really like the curse that Mikan is under and maybe that’s just because it seems like a new idea. It lead to a lot of fun and cute moments in this episode and I’m looking forward to how her curse will impact everyone going forward. (Also rest in peace ancestor who got totally wrecked in this episode)
On another note, Mikan going straight from “I’m going to pound down the demon girl who did this to Momo!” to “Ah, I must protect” in the span of a couple of seconds is fantastic. Once again we’re hitting on Shamiko being absolutely helpless in comparison to everyone else. But rather than just being the butt of a joke, she’s also the reason everyone is getting along and coming together. Personally, I felt like Shamiko had a really good episode. Her kindness was really highlighted in most of her interactions, and we’ve also seen that she’s had some solid character development since the very first episode. Of course, she still cries easily and is definitely nowhere near capable of taking on a magical girl in an actual fight, but she’s grown! And who knows, maybe in the next episode when they re-vamp her crises management outfit she’s going to become even stronger!
As always, this episode was a great time. I’m happy with how each of the characters are developing as well as how the comedy keeps everyone going. We were finally able to meet Mikan and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the anime has in store for us.
