Magical Girl Site (Mahou Shoujo Site): Season 1/ Episode 9 “God Won’t Abandon Me” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
With Kaname having Nijimin’s shtick, he poses a bigger threat than maybe even the admins. Leading to the question: How can the girls take back what he stole? Network Amazon Prime Director(s) Tadahito Matsubayashi Writer(s) Takayo Ikami Air Date 6/1/2018 The Betrayal: Nijimin, Kaname, Kiyo, Asahi Being that Nijimin is so in love with Kaname,…
With Kaname having Nijimin’s shtick, he poses a bigger threat than maybe even the admins. Leading to the question: How can the girls take back what he stole?
| Network | |
| Amazon Prime | |
| Director(s) | Tadahito Matsubayashi |
| Writer(s) | Takayo Ikami |
| Air Date | 6/1/2018 |
The Betrayal: Nijimin, Kaname, Kiyo, Asahi
Being that Nijimin is so in love with Kaname, naturally, she thinks that he got her shtick, panties, for her because the feelings were reciprocated. However, with seeing what they can do and how they enable his god complex? HA! He decides it is time to bust Nijimin’s bubble and also make that child his slave. One which was originally going to kill herself it seems, but then Asahi, the one with the enhanced physical abilities, she dashes in and hits Kaname. However, she can’t finish the job because Nijimin, under Kaname’s control, stops her.
But, to make matters worse, Kiyo is looking in, trying to provide some mental defense, but loses to Kaname. Leading to Asahi being given the order to kill Kiyo and then, like this is some vampire movie, Asahi dashes to Kiyo and jaunts Kiyo’s heart of their chest.
Commentary
I think it’s worth noting that this season is only 12 episodes and it isn’t clear if we may get a second one. So spending a whole episode featuring Kaname wearing Nijimin’s panties to be in god mode leads to mixed feelings. On one hand, how indifferent and brutal Kaname can be takes us back to when this show was really shocking. Beyond Amagami cutting herself and when it was just brutal on the eyes.
However, at the same time, Kaname has been in the background so long just biding his time that this being his big moment seems disappointing? If just because, this dude who has to be an adult, wearing underwear made to fit a girl half his age and size is too comical to take seriously. Especially the way he presented them in the last episode. So as much as you want to take him serious for having people kill themselves, or others, on his command, then you remember there is a bow on this dude’s underwear.
Anger Issues: Nijimin
With Nijimin being an idol and having a good life, there has always been the question of why was she chosen? Especially considering the precedent set by Aya and Yatsumura’s past. Well, the answer is, because of her father being heavily in debt, and committing suicide to get out of it, it seems some terrible, can’t be shown because they are sexual, things had to be done to repay the debt.
Or, at least they were going to be until Nana introduced herself to Nijimin and she became an idol. Something, which has to be noted, Mikado encouraged and supported her through. While reminding her that her anger, she had to get that under control. However, as seen, it never did because things were going good so that problem didn’t surface.
Until Mikado was killed and what we’ve seen thus far.
Commentary
Anyone else feel this was rushed? That is, Nijimin’s backstory. It makes me wonder, as the rest of the girls, hopefully, have their backstory revealed to us, will theirs be rushed too? Will it just be a montage? Because, considering Nijimin’s anger issues and her relationship with Mikado, there probably should have been more done up to this. With this episode acting as some big reveal after stringing us a bit or dropping nuggets.
But maybe because I made it this far my expectations are high or were getting higher for some reason.
It’s Hard to Say Goodbye: Aya, Nijimin, Kaname, Kiyo, Sayuki, Mikari, Amagai
With Mikari bringing Kiyo to Sayuki, where everyone is since Sayuki has top-notch security, Amagai’s stick is put to task so that a gaping hole can be healed. But, maybe within 30 minutes or an hour, Kaname shows up. Why? Well, it seems while Nijimin was talking about her stick, she talked about everyone else’s and also where they were going to meet up. Leading to what could have been a bloodbath. Especially for Aya since you know Kaname has been itching to get his foot in her abdomen.
However, Kiyo, with the strength she got from the amount of blood she digested, is able to break the slave spell on Nijimin just enough for Nijimin to impetuously try to kill Kaname – which she fails to do. In fact, because she startles Kaname, who is holding Sayuki’s sword, she gets slain. But, not bad enough that, in a moment of desperation, Nijimin isn’t able to stab a bottle into Kaname’s neck.
Something that, with Amagai’s stick isn’t really an issue right? That is, until some invisible person stops Kaname and saves the day. Leaving everyone, especially Aya, to mourn Nijimin.
Commentary
So who was this invisible entity and did Kaname really die? Also, are we going to skip over the trauma of the girls taking the underwear off of him? Those thoughts aside, with Kaname handled, does this mean they may finally pursue capturing an admin because time is running out. Now, granted, there is still Sarina out there with all the sticks but surely this isn’t going to become about defeating each human villain and then maybe, just maybe, taking on the admins. If not a cliffhanger implying they were all too late and the misfortunate never really stood a chance.
In a strange way, I’d be fine with that ending.
On The Fence
- While we got to learn why Nijimin was picked to be a magical girl, the delivery felt rushed and a bit unsatisfying.
- While Nijimin’s death should feel like a bit of a wakeup call, as noted with her background story, something just feels lacking here. Like there should be more of an exclamation point, shock, or horror. Something like the vibe we got in episode one but has long since diminished.
