mahou shoujo

While Eiko’s hijacking of the shop is complete, with Yuina and her friends forgetting their memories about each other and Maebashi Witches, all is not lost. While the girls’ main memories are gone, it’s thanks to Yuina’s exploration of Tokyo that the girls are given another chance.

As for Eiko, well, she is the dark witch. Her idol out is the dark magical girl version of Maebashi Witches. She sings a song that tells the person just to give up her feelings. Well, it’s not too surprising since her real-life situation is not improving, as she lacks the drive to become a doctor. Her test results have gotten worse ever since she became a witch. She runs away when her mother wants to talk about her future. It shows the state of the shop, which looks run-down. Eiko’s dark, magical girl idol outfit is on point.

While Yuina is having the time of her life in Tokyo, she notices after a while that things are getting weird. Eventually, she finds the shutter that is glowing and tells her to open it. With that, she opens it and finds herself in a rose garden with a blue-haired lady drinking tea. It’s amusing how the lady gives an insult that Azu would say, referring to Yuina as thin and flimsy. Yuina forgot what happened after that incident.

Eventually, Azu, Choco, Mai, and Kyouka appeared after the lady called them over. They haven’t forgotten everything about Maebashi Witches. Kyouka still has the goal of making Maebashi a better city. Thus, she runs for student council president. Choco’s younger sister and brother pretend to sing “teru teru bouzu” while hanging it at a window near Azu’s bed, and Mai finds out that Yua placed third in a beauty pageant. It’s the impact of being witches that they still remember. They hope to make a wish to hopefully regain the shop back, but without Yuina, they can’t make it possible

I find it amusing that it took Yuina a while to remember. It was only Azu getting angry at her and her insults of Yuina as a cheap, trashy bimbo that Yuina started to remember. While it doesn’t top Azu’s insulting Yuina buying her clothes off not-Shein, it’s still funny. Yep, she needed a shock to the system to finally remember. That is while the lady seems to laugh and enjoy the whole thing. Thankfully, the girls are happy to have Yuina back.

With that, what is their wish? They came off a train after crashing into the shop. They saw the flower shop in disrepair. Eiko seems prepared to defeat them again when the girls say they are there to collect their belongings. It makes you wonder, will they open a new shop? If so, where? We’ll see soon enough.

Note: Final quick impressions will be released next Sunday on the main blog.

Now that Eiko has taken over the shop, Kurope shows his true colors. Yes, he is in it for the entertainment and doesn’t care how the candidates feel. Essentially, he sets high goals, and if the girls don’t meet them, he moves on to the next.

With that, we see that Eiko seems eager to do the witch training immediately. That is when we find out that she got upset over her mom going through her trash, and the paper her mother discovered showed that her daughter failed the practice exam. Eiko got upset, but no wonder why she wanted the witches’ power. She wants to use it to take the easy way out.

That said, Yuina and her friends find themselves in a challenging situation, having lost all the memories they made together. Additionally, Azu becomes upset as she cries under the cover, and her confidence is shaken due to her weight. Somehow, after she makes it out of the covers eventually, none of her friends make fun of her appearance or weight issues. They probably knew all along why she lashed out at the plus-sized female model several episodes ago or why Azu refuses to go out.

That said, the girls had a sleepover and eventually went to Maebashi to find the shop. Sadly, they didn’t see it as time was about to run out. That is after Yuina said she found it, but it was just a shutter for an open machine shop. They decide to meet each other before they lose their memories of being witches for good.

Another interesting thing is that despite Yuina’s cheerful and kind personality, she doesn’t have many friends. She admits that she is too annoying. I can understand why, but somehow, she managed to make it work out with Azu, Mai, Choco, and Kyouka. The question is, can they ever come back together, regain their memories and retake the shop? From the looks of it, not everything has been completely erased, so there is some hope despite failing to retake the shop. Nobody said they couldn’t take the shop back after failing, right? Kurope is in it for the entertainment, so he doesn’t care if Eiko doesn’t make it either.

Yuina, Azu, Mai, Choco and Kyouka find themselves having a massive influx of customers. Either way, they now have about 20k magic points as a familiar girl comes to visit. Yes, it’s Eiko, the first customer they granted the wish to. We find out she is doing well, except her parents do not want her to go down that path. After granting another wish, we find out that she didn’t disappear as she has the potential to become a witch. But with a girl this ambitious, is it a good idea for her to join?

I believe that Yuina’s carelessness and lack of thought before jumping in are what caused the problem that will unfold soon enough. First is inviting Azu to see the fireworks festival. They don’t realize that Azu has an image problem of being overweight and her ideal appearance when she is in the shop is fake or, instead, the idealized version. I thought they would catch on to why she never goes outside.

What would they think of her if Mai, Choco, Kyouka, and Yuina saw that she is fat and the fact that her ideal figure is fake while accusing Yuina of wearing cheap clothing? Even so, there were signs that Azu was going to appear in person and show her actual figure, indicating that she had grown since that time.

In the end, Yuina and her friends figured out why Azu seemed hesitant and brought the festival to the shop. They bought the food so they could have it in the shop while seeing their fireworks display.

Sadly, good things come to an end. I feel that Yuina is a bit naïve and didn’t look into what kind of person Eiko is before actually letting her in. Still, it is not too surprising to see Eiko seize it, given the amount of ambition she has. If she can utilize that power, she can easily achieve her dreams, regardless of what her parents think.

She seized control of the shop. Thus, Yuina and her friends lost their witch’s powers. What is worse is that Azu reverts to her original form as she hides under the cover. I think the girls have worse problems than Azu, being fat. They might lose their witch’s powers for good unless they take the shop back. From the looks of it, they probably won’t make it, so I guess it’s the end, or is it?

From last time, Yuina finds out that Choco spends much time with family chores while caring for her grandma. Meanwhile, Kyouka is not herself in Choco’s absence and almost falls into a trap with a predator, VTuber. Now, she feels betrayed, and it becomes apparent that she wants to get back at the mole VTuber, throwing away all the merch. Still, Kyoka appears to act strangely, and Yuina, Azu, and Mei start to notice.

This episode serves as a conclusion. On Tanabata day, Choco finally came back and apologized for her absence. It was nice to see what Yuina experienced with Choco despite the challenges of her father passing away. She has to help her grandmother while taking care of her mother. Interestingly, she was not alone as she received help from hers to manage her situation. In short, she officially revealed why she became a witch to help her family. It can explain why she has the power to turn back time so she can do more.

Of course, the girls eventually find out what is up with Kyouka. Yep, they found out the VTuber that she follows is a sexual predator, and she feels ashamed. Sure, Kyouka acts responsibly and thoughtfully. In reality, Kyouka is the more sheltered and more childish one. Sure, she doesn’t like her parents deciding what she should do, but she is more free than Choco. Thankfully, Choco’s little brother and sister pay a visit as customers, and their wish is for Kyouka to stop crying. After all, they look up to her the most. Still, it’s interesting that with this, Kyoka’s goal is to become the mayor of Maebashi. It’s an ambitious goal, for one.

While it’s sad that the mole pervert Vtuber didn’t get the justice he deserves trying to groom Kyouka, I do hope it will get resolved at some point in him going to jail. That said, a teenage girl holds a flyer in the shop. I guess she may be the next customer.

After Choco had an outburst cursing the grandmother as an old hag, her friends had to come in and fix it. Eventually, that grandmother had her wish granted, but it’s evident that Choco is not herself.

Interestingly, after they finish the day of work, Choco heads out, and Yuina notices that she collapsed. Choco is using magic to turn time back so she can finish all those chores. Choco being overworked is one of the reasons Choco became a witch. We find out that her mother works as a nurse, but her leg was injured.

As a result, she can’t work as she has kids to care for, too. Yuina covered for Choco as she rested. I can see why Choco is not like her usual self since she has much to do to care for the kids and her mother. No wonder why she cursed the grandmother out because of the stress she is in. While Yuina might not be the brightest, at least she is kind and considerate as she covered for Choco.

On the other hand, Kyouka is acting a bit more cheerful than her serious self. It looks like Choco and Kyouka changed places. Kurope encourages Kyouka to use some magic points on herself as others do. She was reluctant to do so since she wanted the group to succeed. However, she eventually uses the points to donate to her favorite VTuber. That is while her parents talk about moving and being concerned that there is a bad influence on their daughter.

However, those frequent donations eventually caught the attention of Mogutan, who turned out to be a groomer He sent pictures of Kyouka out in public and eventually photos of his body only wearing underwear, attempting to groom Kyouka. These messages creep Kyouka out. That is where things got dark.

I have a feeling that Choco is the one who has the least freedom since she has her mother and kids to take care of. Meanwhile, Kyouka has more freedom despite her parents wanting her to go in a specific direction for their daughter’s future. We’ll find out what happens to Kyouka after that revelation next time.

After Mai granted Yuu’s wish of resetting the status quo after Mai handing over the Kumai account was a trainwreck, at least the girls are back to where they started. Now, the shop is brimming with customers, with them performing for a girl who messed up her bangs and wants them to grow back.

In short, the girls finally broke the 1000 magic point goal. The girls have some setbacks, but it’s nice to see them finally getting the hang of things. It’s funny how Kurope is now a bit plump, as he doesn’t have to help the girls as much. Of course, the place is getting hot, and I wonder if using magic points to get air conditioning is worth it. After all, they went for it since it would improve working conditions.

The primary focus of this episode is, of course, preparing for Choco’s 16^th birthday. We see Mai, Yuina, Azu, and Kyouka discussing their plans to throw a birthday party. Interestingly, we finally know a pump, and Azu is trying to massage her legs.

That said, Kyouka mentions her favorite VTuber, Moutan, to Yuina. She donates to it once in a while. What does that have to do with her problems? As we see after the call, when Kyouka’s mother gives her a present, it’s evident that her parents are controlling.

Her mother wants Kyouka to grow her hair and attend the university they pick. Her father wants her to go to dinner with the dress he picked out. As a result, Kyouka feels that she has no control over her life. That is why she wants to enter adulthood to chart out her part of doing her own thing and helping people. I can understand why they want their daughter to follow a particular path, but being too strict and not allowing her to make some decisions will eventually strain their relationship.

That said, Kyouka spoiled the birthday party they were planning for Choco. At least the birthday party was nice with the birthday song Yuina made. That said, a customer came in, which is a grandmother. Choco becomes annoyed and calls the grandmother an old bag. It’s the opposite of her cheerful and outgoing personality. I guess we’ll find out the full story next time.

As expected, Mai tries to butter Yua up, her former best friend, to convince her that magic can fix her problems. However, after Mai handed over her Kumai account, things didn’t quite go as planned. Yua showed no appreciation as she took the account as her own, hoping she could make it to the top of the beauty pageant. Even after overhearing that nobody cares about beauty pageants unless an influencer participates.

The funny thing is that Yua used the Kumai account to get ahead, but it didn’t quite work out. Everyone became suspicious of her, thinking she was not the real Kumai. After all, Mai was managing that account. As they say, cheating leads to failure when they get caught. After all, we find out that Yua only got into video games to use Mai’s sister’s makeup and stuff. She pretends to be Mai’s friend, and Mai thinks she is best friends with her and will do anything to help her, although Yua takes advantage of her. Even Mai used the magic points to help Yua receive more votes, but Yua is still ungrateful

As for the magic point situation, they went to the barebones as the count goes below 1 to .7. If it goes to zero, the girls no longer become witches. It’s probably not something Azu wants for apparent reasons. Thankfully, they managed to get Yua back into the shop to perform. She wished to return everything to the status quo before Mai handed over the Kumai account. Maybe it’s for the best that Mai and Yua remain distant until the time comes to make up. At least the Magic Point is back to where it was, as the girls get two new customers. Maybe the tides are turning? We’ll see.

Now that Azu has finally loosened up, it comes to Mai. It’s funny to see all the video game references, even the inverted Konami code. That said, it’s weird how the girls realize that their magic points balance appears very low, wiping out all the gains. Mai eventually fesses up to using all the points for a temporary power boost. That means the girls are almost back where they started.

The primary focus is on Mai. Mai used to play video games and write strategy guides but eventually tried to follow in the footsteps of her older sister, Yua, who is quite fashionable. She works as an influencer. Sure, Mai is trying to pretend who tries to be like her sister. She even tries to impress her with magic and convince Yuina to use magical points to impress her. Mai and Yuina did things like summoning drinks and nice stuff like an air purifier. That is so she would ask to allow the girls to grant a wish.

The thing is, when it comes to revealing follower counts on social media, this is where things take a turn for the worse. Yua only has 6800 followers, which is good, but not as much as she stated, especially for an influencer. When Yua finds out that Mai has 10k followers, she gets angry that her little sister has more followers than her. She even goes to the apartment demanding Mai’s social media account. Maybe Mai should set her path instead of following her. Either way, wasting magic points to brownnose Yua into asking Mai to grant a wish didn’t quite work out now that they are in the red. I guess they won’t become completely fledged witches at this rate.

One of the aspects I missed from the last episode after the credits is what Azu is hiding. Azu is cold and acts like a mean girl. She lashes out at Rinko for assuming she wants to take the easy way out to lose weight. We find out that students in her school fat-shamed Azu, which caused her self-esteem to go down, which is not surprising. Fat shaming does not help get people to lose weight but instead makes the problem worse. Even at a clothing shop, when the shop employee tells her she doesn’t have her size, Azu becomes upset.

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Note: Since many shows are airing this season, I can’t possibly cover them all. The only shows I will cover in full are Slime Taoshite 300, mono, Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite, Aru Majo ga Shinu Made, and Zatsu Tabi. Any other shows I watch will have short impressions every week at Kireina Yuri (this blog). Impressions are usually less than 300-400 words.

As expected, Azu remains cold towards Yuina as they look for their second customer. After all, they only got 3 points out of 30,000. Unless they improve, they will be old ladies at the rate they are going.

Besides that, the primary focus is on clothes, as Azu doesn’t like the kimono uniform the frog mascot offers despite Yuina thinking they are cute. Azu even lambasted Yuina over her clothing choices. I know that fast fashion, from the likes of Shein, has a lot of ethical issues, such as safety issues, exploitation of workers, and even stolen designs. I’m against Shein and even Temu because the stuff they make is usually of poor quality and, as a result, ends up in landfills, thus ruining the environment.

Sure, Azu’s insults get to Yuina, but with Kyoka and Choco, they go to an upscale clothing store to try stuff on, but of course, they find out how expensive it is. Azu acts this way since she can afford designer clothing while normal girls can’t. What shows how mean Azu is when a plus-sized model, Mitsuba Rinko, comes to the shop. When the others came back, Azu won’t perform because she outright stated she hates fat people. Azu is probably the most prejudiced person as she shames people who can’t wear expensive clothing and now outright admits she hates fat people, perhaps from past experiences. It makes me wonder if Azu can ever redeem herself. I guess we’ll only find out next time.

The problem with Fast Fashion like Shein and Temu in a nutshell.