Common Name: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku
Alternative Names: Magical Girl Raising Project
Score: 6/10, 4/5
Length: 12 Episodes
Genre: Dark, Action, Magical Girl, Thriller
Summary: In N-city there's been a rumor going around about there being real magical girls in the city, but no one has ever gotten a clear picture of one. Himekawa Koyuki has always dreamed of being a magical girl, so it's like a dream come true for her when she's selected as a candidate for the Magical Girl Raising Project. Surely there must be a catch to powers Himekawa and the other magical girls have received.
Review: Put simply, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku, is a grim dark magical girl show that exists purely because there has been a solid demand for that specific genre ever since Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica came out. So, I have the pleasure of talking about another poorly thought out and heavy-handed mess of a show that doesn't have a single original bone in it's body. For example, at the start of the show, we are introduced to the...mascot character of the Magical Girl Raising Project, a tadpole-like projection named Fav who TOTALLY isn't evil.
At least he has the decency to tell it like it is...whenever it's convenient for him.
Over the course of the show, it's this little guy's job to find ways to motivate his contracted magical girls to action. Oh, and before I forget, he inducts people into the project only if they played a specific magical girl-based smartphone game and then agree to become magical girls. To be fair though, we don't really know what happens to those who turn down his invitation. Considering how the rest of this show goes, they probably have heart attacks and die. Yup, it's that kind of show.
Now, since this little guy TOTALLY isn't evil. The magical girls don't really seem to worry when he announces that he needs to weed out some of the magical girls since "it's such a strain on the available magic in the area." To decide who will have to quit being a magical girl, a new rule is put into place stating that whoever has the fewest magical candies, which are earned by helping people, at the end of the week will be disqualified. Of course, just to make it a little more fair, the girls are able to share their candies with each other. Clearly, there's no hidden threat in this fun little game right?
Except, you know, another magical girl.
So, to cut to the chase, the BATTLE ROYAL can finally begin. Out of jealousy, hatred, or because some of them are just plain psychotic, the girls start killing each other left and right because being disqualified from being a magical girl also means being disqualified from life, apparently. To make matters worse, Fav keeps lowering the number of magical girls and instituting new rules to shake up the game. So, you're dead if you play and dead if you don't...unless of course your the main character in which case you get plot armor and a free pass. It's pretty easy to imagine how things go from there. People die in horrific ways. It's really sad because no body in this show has a functioning brain. To be fair though, some of them are still grade schoolers...sociopathic, murderous grade schoolers.
Yeah, that about sums it up.
I'm pretty certain that the main thought behind this show was something to the effect of "let's make a magical girl show that's not for children" and instead of telling a mildly interesting story about self-sacrifice and the cost of power like Madoka did, they just settled for needless blood and gore. While I'll admit the order in which the girls were killed occasionally surprised me, it was never unexpected since they quite literally signed their death warrant at the start of the show. I'll also admit that the animation, art, and music for the show were pretty great, but they don't make this hot pile of garbage look any better. If there was anything about this show that I legitimately liked, it's the fact that it gave away it's primary antagonist and stated that shit was going to go down sooner or later within the first couple minute of the first episode. While it was heavy-handed, at least it didn't play coy.