Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka 4-Episode Test

So right off the bat, this show pulled me in with its insane and almost meme-worthy premise. In this show, Magical Girls are special forces operators carrying out high-risk missions against magical threats in the form of exceptionally large and hyper lethal monsters known as “Disas.” While there was a war some years ago between humanity and the Disas, the show takes place some years later, focusing on the titular (in more ways than one) Asuka Otori as she is enrolled in high school. This does not stop her from being amazing and a kick ass fighting machine, complete with magical karambit, which she uses to transform.

So here is the draw that I found rather interesting and has kept me interested beyond the busty school girls. This show is a stereotypical military show with retired vet (much like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Commando) who wants to live a peaceful life. However, she combats a severe case of PTSD that would haunt most grown men, nonetheless a girl who was in middle school when she saw her friends and comrades brutally killed. She does manage to obtain this semblance of peace, much like Sylvester Stallone in the newest Rambo movie, as a very popular transfer student. In case you hadn’t noticed, the show takes a number of cliches and common tropes, and simply replaces “grizzled, hard-bastard ex-special forces vet” with “busty, serious bitch ex-special forces magical girl.” In fact the entire premise would likely be very stale and boring had they kept the aforementioned stereotype as the protagonist. Instead they tow a fine line where they clearly convey that Asuka has seen some shit. Not only does she sometimes have arbitrary flashbacks of children being murdered by giant teddy bear monsters, she also bears the weight of knowing her parents were brutally killed because of her involvement as a revenge strike by the Disas.

Onto the show itself, we have Asuka making friends with nerdy school girl Sayako Hata and the slightly dim but very enthusiastic Nozomi Makino. The cliche mentor/guardian/former commanding officer Yoshiaki Iizuka asks her to resume her duties as a magical girl as part of the special anti-magic “M-Squad” but declines, even after finding out her former friend and battle buddy Kurumi “War Nurse” Mugen is still with the JSF. Things come to a head when terrorist Kim Kanth of “generic named terrorist organization” escapes from police custody and begins a rampage with a number of fellow terrorists, shooting up Tokyo and cornering Sayako who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kanth and his men however had been also in the wrong place and wrong time, with Asuka easily and quite brutally disarming/disabling/dismembering them while saving Sayako. One thing of note however is that she does NOT save everyone. People are dead in the streets, and Sayako, while physically untouched, remains mentally scarred by the event and Asuka finds herself being pulled back into the battle-filled life of Magical Girl Rapture.

This brings me to one thing that bothered me about Superman/Sailor Moon/Super heroes in general. How does one not be recognized as one of the five girls who saved the world at the head of a massive international army? Magic. I shonen you not, they hand wave it as a magical aura the girls give off that hide their identity, so the next day at school, Sayako. As we roll through, we are introduced to War Nurse who goes off to combat a modified “Halloween” class Disas, which is evidently very powerful. After getting rofl-stomped, we have Asuka show up and reunite, with Kurumi joining up with her as a new transfer student as well. All the while, we find out that apparently terrorists in Japan get a much care for human rights as those in Guantanamo Bay, with Kim Kanth being really quite brutally tortured by the police.

All this aside, we get to see another magical girl operator, operating with the US Government, “Just Cause” Mia. Sergeant Major Mia Cyrus (I type this out sarcastically laughing at the thought of a busty blonde 16 y/o Sergeant Major) is currently carrying out anti-magical terrorist operations alongside the CIA and finds herself uncovering a massive conspiracy to create a number of modified Disas monsters. Back in Japan, Kurumi sends up like 15 flags in a 10 second period that she is a Type III clinger yandere. One totally fan service pool scene later we find ourselves with Nozomi being kidnapped by the illegal magical girls who serve as the series antagonists for less than wholesome reasons.

When this occurs, Asuka is concerned that this is due to Nozomi’s association with her and that she’s been targeted accordingly. Turns out Nozomi’s father is actually part of the Public Safety Bureau and was taken in retaliation for Kim Kanth. At the hands of the psychotic mystery magical girl, who after hilarious use of truth serum we find is named Abigail, and two Russian mercenary magicians, Nozomi is horrifically tortured. Eventually having her arm severed to the disgust of Asuka and Kurumi, the good magical girls strike and in the confusion disengage and retreat. Escaping quickly, Asuka offers to hold off the mystery mercenary magicians and Abigail. Abigail runs off with Stroghil and Povir being left to hold off Asuka.

So there’s some final words I’d like to throw out to this already kinda lengthy article. First and foremost, I thought this was going to be a Nick show, in that it would be some trashy trash that trashes trashily. Turns out its actually a rather interesting take on the “military vet who gets dragged back into the life” story. The show is brutal at times, but not overtly so with a good take on the fact that if magical girls existed, their lives would likely suck, much like Madoka Magica Mahou Shojo. The art is pretty good and I want to watch the English dubbed version now that I’ve found out who the cast is and I can’t wait to see Yoshiaki Iizuka in action. All I know is that right now we’ve got a powerful protagonist who isn’t just a Mary Sue and a captivating enough story with just the right amount of seriousness to keep me wondering if characters are going to find their redemption/peace or die in the line of duty. I’ll be keeping with this show and hope others will too and not just write it off as some stupid fan-servicey seinen series.