Title: Mahou Shoujotai Arusu (魔法少女隊アルス)
Scrumptious Meter: 4.5 (next best thing to slice bread~with a little extra sugar and spice on top)
Length: 40 episodes

Arusu (not Alice, as most think) is a cheerful girl who loves magic. When she was little, she received a special book from her father who disappeared. It was her father who taught her that magic should only be used to make people happy. One day, Arusu found herself in another world — a world of witches. She sets free the sprites kept at a containment facility. Sprites are used in magic and their release means crisis for the witch community. Arusu meets and befriends two witches, Sheila and Eva. A spell has been cast on the two stopping their growth as a punishment for not being able to keep the sprites from escaping. And so the adventures of Arusu and her friends begin.

I first knew of Mahou Shoujotai Arusu from Animax but I didn’t bother to watch it then for two reasons: it was dubbed, and I thought it would be something I wouldn’t like. Most reviews of the series, however, were positive so I decided to give it a try.

Mahou Shoujotai Arusu is an anime of somehow epic proportions. The release of the sprites was only a prelude to a greater disaster, conflict with the warlocks, which was in turn, a harbinger of another greater disaster, the destruction of their world.

One of the things that impress me about Mahou Shoujotai Arusu is the world in which it was set. There, witches, wizards and warlocks live. According to Eva, the inhabitants of that world used to have wings but for some reasons, they lost it. The men, then, separated from the women. The women became witches and the men became warlocks. Witches adhere to magic, warlocks adhere to science. Some men, however, wish to stick to the old ways of magic. They are the wizards.

Mahou Shoujotai Arusu has forty episodes. An episode is only around ten minutes long. Yet so many things happen in ten minutes and each episode brings exciting revelations and more questions. One can’t help but be drawn to the story.

The series is produced by Studio 4°C who also produced Spriggan and Mind Game. The direction employs interesting techniques. One thing about Mahou Shoujotai Arusu is that the voice recording is done before the animation. It’s a first for anime where it is usually done in reverse. I am not quite familiar with the other seiyuu but Kuwashima Houko provided Sheila’s voice.

I would agree with Sheila when she said that Arusu is naive for believing that magic should only be used to make people happy. Afterall, Arusu, and her father who taught her that mindset, is an outsider to that world, what would they know about magic? Arusu’s belief has caused a lot of trouble for Sheila, Eva and even to herself. Arusu, however, matures in the series but she does not compromise her convictions. It did save the day in the end.

Another comment is that I find most witches and warlocks incompetent. For one, I thought the three rogue witches assigned by Ateria to recapture the sprites would be quite formidable but they turned out to be clumsy. And the warlocks seem to have difficulties dealing with three little witches. My biggest concern though is why the Three Sages, even the Grand Master, would assign difficult tasks to Sheila. What happened to the adults?

Although the plot is compelling, things seem to be rushed in the end. I would have wanted for things to be explained in greater detail. What was the history of their world, as depicted by the medieval paintings at the start of each episode? Why did the the men and the women decide to separate, was it just a matter of magic and science? Why was their world losing it’s magic and thus coming to destruction?

Still, Mahou Shoujotai Arusu is a pretty interesting show. I heard an OVA is on the way. I hope it will be good.

Oh, and pardon me for the cheesy title.