Animehouse

Stories can be challenging at the best of times, so what do you do when handed one that simply cannot be completed? The final episode of The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies says “that’s not an issue, we’ll go out with a bang regardless”, and stays true to their word. Ending in a location that was never quite suspected, MahoAku delivers an incredible anime in memorium of the late Coco Fujiwara. Always careful to stay true to the work while still shuffling pieces around to make the most of the anime, the series is as unforgettable a watch as it was a read. But what exactly makes it unforgettable?

The easiest section to point to is certainly the art direction and character designs. With absolutely delightful work from art director Yumiko Kuga, and Haruko Iizuka’s best designs to date, The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies stands out against the backdrop of countless anime. Borrowing from the softness baked into Fujiwara’s designs, the duo opt for almost opposing approaches that work perfectly together. Kuga’s art direction leans more towards a more textured appeal than detailed, while Iizuka puts all their effort into bringing out the most in each of the characters. It’s a very interesting dichotomy, but the two creative decisions end up being the perfect fits for the work.

Similarly, Yukari Gotou and Tsuyoshi Kanbayashi play pivotal roles in the beauty of the work- though at this point the honest response should be that every staff member on this production has provided an irreplaceable effort. Regardless, with Gotou’s lovely pastel palette they provide (a stark contrast from the rich and vibrant colors of Sk8 The Infinity) and Kanbayashi’s intense composition that hinges on depth of field and lighting, the pair pull together scene and character effortlessly. I still can’t get over how beautiful the two-tone highlights look under the pair’s creative vision. Just impossibly beautiful for what you’d expect it to be.

Though everyone deserves their flowers, one name does have to float to the top of the list- Yuniko Ayana, the staff member behind series composition. Dealing with an incomplete series like The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies can be quite the challenge, but with plenty of anime original experience under their belt, Ayana tackled MahoAku in simply incredible fashion. They made minute tweaks such as toning down the fanservice, they shuffled around content to have it better fit the romantic gradient of the duo, they intelligently trimmed sections while adding in new content- but most importantly, they found the perfect spot to end the series.

Having read the manga, the biggest challenge that faced MahoAku was of course its lack of an ending. When faced with the slow development of Byakuya and Mira, it’s understandably difficult to stomach an ending that doesn’t say “here they stand, together”. While no such concrete end exists, Fujiwara’s manga contains a handful of potential stopping points, but Ayana opted for the most interesting, and with the help of the production, the best possible one.

For clarity’s sake, stopping point number one was to finish out as close to the end of the manga as possible, which would see Byakuya captured by the evil organization and kept as a prisoner in a tower by Mira. They crack a few jokes and come down to the wire about Mira extracting information from Byakuya and then leaving her to be experimented on- which would never happen, of course. The two having a bit of a lovey-dovey life here would have worked (so long as they cropped out Fomalhaut), but in hindsight I would say that it would make for a finale without enough emotion. Choosing to say goodbye a few chapters earlier (literally) while implicitly stating that Byakuya and Mira’s relationship still has a future past what we see was an incredible decision. It retains the bittersweet nature of the goodbye to the source and its creator, but still provides a well-defined conclusion that allows for the anime to be a satisfying experience. Also, for the keen eyed, the bouquet Mira gives to Byakuya does hold some special meaning- something that was added in the anime specifically. To paraphrase, it’s something of a heartfelt farewell, which really hits home.

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies is an anime unlike any other, for many reasons. Finding a director in Akiyo Oohashi who thrives in the incomplete and partial- but still beautiful, a wonderful script writer in Yuniko Ayana, and staff filling many other valuable roles, the series has completed its run as a love letter to Fujiwara’s incomplete manga. Refusing to regurgitate panel for panel, the studio and team have put forward a sincere effort at expanding the material, and growing the manga into something larger than life. For watchers of the series, it has certainly been a memorable experience, and one that Fujiwara would be immensely proud of.