Magical girl stories have captured the essence of girlhood since the premiere of Sally the Witch in 1966. Coming-of-age tales about finding yourself between the drama of trying to fit in at school or finding your way in the world, mixed with the added challenge of balancing a secret identity. For carefree girls, becoming a magical girl meant growing up and inheriting responsibility. Choosing the good of many and stopping a rampaging skyscraper-sized monster instead of getting to go to a dance like a normal girl. When not in costume, these girls let their hair down, and the tone remains comedic for many earlier magical girls when they get to be themselves. There’s been a shift in the magical girl genre; the stories and the themes are changing. Some are getting darker, like Puella Magi Madoka Magica or Magical Girl Raising Project. Some magical girls are breaking the mold by changing the comedy from awkward social interactions to more adult humor, like Magical Destroyers and Magical Girl Ore.
I had my eye on Magical Girl Ore for months; it was sitting in my watch list, begging to be picked next. Magical girl Ore is also part of a newer genre where magical boys answer the call of the transformation sequence and get cute costumes and cool abilities. These were the longest 12 episodes of my life. Saki Uno is part of the struggling idol duo Magical Twin with her best friend Sakuyo Mikage, using her love of magical girls to inspire her to keep pushing forward towards her idol dream. Their idol gimmick is also reminiscent of magical girls. They’re popular, and Saki sees them as romantic but completely tied to works of fantasy. Spotting a scary-looking Yakuza member at her front door, Saki gets the shock of a lifetime as it’s revealed that her mom is a magical girl with bad backaches. It’s time to pass on the mantle, and Saki is hesitant, but eventually she answers the call of the magical girl. It’s just not what she’s expecting.
Magical Girl Ore respects magical girls, and I think most of the jokes land because they understand what they’re parodying. I thought the first episode was well done; seeing Saki turn into Ore, a large buff man, instead of the cute form she was expecting, was well explained. Magical girls have evolved to fight better, and muscular bodies stand up better to demons. Magic has become a less popular way to deal with demons, so Ore now must beat them with a stick, providing the visual gag of censored demon bodies beaten to pulp. I like that the magical girl tropes were shaken up while still staying within the realm of finding the fun in what is being made fun of. Saki is late for school, and the lunches she takes made me laugh: a huge stack of pancakes one episode, and the next a hotpot set up on a tray she could wear. The cute mascot character is a scary-looking Yakuza member trying to close a deal and get a contract signed. All the magical girl fairy sidekicks are yakuza characters. Somehow, they’re still less threatening than Kyubei. Mohiro Mikage, the love interest, plays damsel in distress, getting kidnapped once an episode, putting up zero fight, and letting himself be nearly dragged to hell each time. I thought all of this worked well together.
I also thought that underneath all the gags, there remained the heartfelt message of true love, making you stronger. Saki can unlock her powers because she’s in love with Mohiro, and it’s true love. She loves how caring, thoughtful, and passionate Mohiro is. He saved her, no questions asked, when they were children, and she has loved him ever since with unwavering devotion. It’s funny that he’s smitten with Ore at first sight. At its core, this is a show about different types of love, and I appreciate—kind of—the acknowledgement of queer relationships. Sakuyo is able to unlock her own powers because she’s in love with Saki. She loves Saki’s spirit and determination, and Sakuyo wants to see her succeed. Ruka Kiryu is an idol who can transform because she is also smitten with her duo, Michiru Ogawa, who actually can’t handle transforming well. She’s infatuated with Ore but not truly in love, so her magical girl form actually hurts her body. Ruka and Michiru are characters that were made specifically for the anime. I like that when you boil it down, love is the star of the show. Even the villains’ evil plans come from a place of affection. I was actually surprised by the grand reveal of the real evil mastermind. I believed it was Hyoue the whole time; seeing him through Saki’s eyes, he was a love rival with access to demonic powers. It turns out, though, he’s the king of fairies, and they somehow hid that from the other fairies for the whole show. The real bad guy all along was Konami Yamo, the girl’s idol manager. He admits that he never wanted to be the bad guy, but he made himself one so the girls could be stars and magical girls once they defeated him live on TV. It was sort of sweet coming from a good place in his heart.
On paper, Magical Girl Ore sounds fine, but watching twelve episodes slowly becomes clear that there isn’t much of a plot. It moved slowly. In the end, I felt like it could have been a fun OVA. I thought the characters were very one-dimensional, and once their bit was revealed, there wasn’t much more I could expect from them. They had one joke to keep repeating. I didn’t feel like any of the characters grew, and the show felt stagnant in some areas. There is a whole episode dedicated to talking about the hardships of the animation industry that Saki and Sakuyo aren’t even in until the last minute. I genuinely was so confused about halfway through the episode, trying to figure out how the girls would factor into it only to find out they don’t. It was like watching a spin-off in the middle of the series. It’s a shame because I feel like the anime tugged on threads it really could have pulled on. Saki’s mother wanted to make the passing of the magical girl mantle special; she was protecting people her whole life, and now she was watching her daughter walk the same path. Instead, Saki yells at her mom at a fan meetup while her mom is trying to pass down her magical girl staff. It’s played for laughs. I would have liked a serious passing of the magical girl baton. I would have also liked it if the show dove more into Saki’s feelings about her magical girl form becoming a popular idol and no one knowing it’s her. She put so much work into becoming an idol; she took odd gigs and fit in practices after school. She performed concerts that no one came to repeatedly to achieve her own dream. When she finally achieves it, it feels like a fluke; she’s a gimmick. A magical girl man. I would have liked to hear more about Saki’s feelings of seeing herself in magazines, only for the world to see someone different and none of her hard work. I think I’d be a little bummed about something like that.
Being funny can sometimes cover a lackluster plot, but when the jokes are uncomfortable, the cracks start to become glaring. I thought Sakuyo having a crush on Saki was cute, and I wanted to see her try to win Saki’s affection from her oblivious brother. Instead of a cute best friend crush, they made Sakuyo a big pervert. With what felt like—to me—devious intentions. When on a working vacation to an onsen to host a karaoke contest—as themselves—Saki and Sakuyo are going to share a room. Saki is genuinely afraid that being in a close space like that will cause Sakuyo to turn into her magical girl form and pressure Saki to do lewd things. It wasn’t funny; it was uncomfortable. Nothing like that happened, but it’s a big red flag that the main character thought her best friend would try to put moves on her.
The animation for Magical Girl Ore was good; there were a lot of silly faces. This show is a gold mine for reaction stills. The first transformation from Saki to Ore was dramatic and fun, and the most memorable transformation of the show for me. The other transformations were a quick-change poof from Saki’s small stature to Ore’s imposing figure, ready to fight. I liked the character designs, though the demons took a bit for me to get used to. I think Saki’s staff could have been an iconic magical girl staff if the anime had made just a bit more of an impact.
Magical Girl Ore is a twist on what makes a magical girl magical. It’s not fancy powers; it’s an unwavering spirit that wants to do good and protect the people she cares about. The genre jokes landed well for me, but the show got a little uncomfortable with some of the comedic avenues it took. It’s not a long watch, and maybe you’ll find more to like in the story than I did. If you get bored easily, I personally recommend skipping this magical girl story. The anime isn’t in English, but maybe it could be background noise for you? If you’ve seen Magical Girl Ore, what did you think?
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