Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete

A team of three magical girls known as Tres Magia protects the town where Utena Hiiragi lives. Like many others, Utena loves these magical girls who valiantly fight in the name of justice. One day, a mysterious black mascot character appears before Utena and grants her the opportunity of a lifetime: a chance to transform into a magical girl.

However, the offer is not what it seems, as Utena has been recruited for an evil organization to fight the magical girls she has always admired. Utena is then forced to confront Tres Magia in battle; but instead of feeling remorse, she unexpectedly finds pleasure in inflicting pain on the magical girls. Completely giving in to her desires, Utena embraces her role as a villain, slowly transforming her adoration for magical girls into a new sadistic obsession.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hiiragi, Utena Main

Izumi, Fuuka Japanese

Araga, Kiwi Main

Koga, Aoi Japanese

Morino, Korisu Main

Sugiura, Shiori Japanese

Tenkawa, Kaoruko Supporting

Ikeda, Misaki Japanese

Minakami, Sayo Supporting

Kazama, Mayuko Japanese

Akoya, Matama Supporting

Aisaka, Yuuka Japanese

Hanabishi, Haruka Supporting

Maeda, Kaori Japanese

Anemo, Nemo Supporting

Tsuda, Minami Japanese

Venalita Supporting

Fukuen, Misato Japanese

Sister Gigant Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Kouchiyama, Takashi Producer

Nishimae, Ayaka Producer

Usukura, Ryuutarou Producer

Matsuda, Taiyou Producer

Reviews

Jul 6, 2026

EleonoraViolet

Recommended

(Originally written on 2025/06/01, one day after I finished watching this title)

(Actual score - 9.5/10)

Overall, it was a really, really good experience with no flaws whatsoever - a very pleasant surprise.

ARTSTYLE

- Great; even though, at first glance, it may have looked like a standard style that many other anime have, it had its' own "flair" in this series - it struck a good balance with its' very fluid approach in terms of how things could look (exaggeration, more "artistic" / stylized presentation, etc.), w/o leaning into too over-the-top / ridiculous.

- The shading and lighting were very good, especially when it comes to how effectively ... it changed the look of characters / enhanced the atmosphere of a given scene at times.

DESIGNS

- Amazing; the way the backgrounds and such looked was already great and very fitting for the artstyle at the time, but the designs of characters themselves and their outfits were incredible.

- In regards to those last two things - all of them looked very distinct and were just really pleasant to look at; the outfits specifically were just stunning, both the fantasy ones and the casual / "normal", with a lot of detail and style, perfectly matching the character wearing them.

ANIMATION

- Very, very good; there was not a single moment where the quality dropped even in the slightest way and all the moving parts looked great in motion.

- Still, even with the high quality of movement in things such as fights and dialogue, the facial expressions / gestures of characters were a step above even that - there was so much complexity to it, so much detail, so much variety; just amazing. It perfectly conveyed characters' emotions and their mental condition at the time, enhancing the feels of a lot of scenes.

MUSIC

- Awesome; each track was fantastic, with a lot of variety in terms of the vibe of a given musical piece - a couple of silly tracks for comedic moments.... different hype music for cool sequences and fights.... some really tense and intimidating tracks for those more serious moments.... and of course, plenty of emotional music for both sad and heart-warming scenes.

CHARACTERS

- Super good; pretty much every single character had a lot of depth and growth throughout the entire season, plus all of them were very different from each other.

- I absolutely loved the dynamic / chemistry between all of those different characters - every single interaction they had, regardless of whether it had a more comedic, serious, or emotional (or all three combined) background, was simply fantastic.

- The combination of great animation and all VA's doing a phenomenal job at expressing the emotions of their respective characters, made each of those chars feel very lifelike - it was so good.

- This anime was actually one of the very few I've seen so far where vast majority of characters felt like main characters - actually, here the distinction would be only in regards to "background" chars (the ones that appear for one or two scenes just to breathe life into the world, and don't do much / anything) and the rest; not "main" and "side".

- All of those characters had plenty of screen time, multiple moments dedicated almost entirely to them, many memorable scenes, and they all felt equally "important" in the grand scheme of things.

- My favorite char was obviously Utena - not only did she have an incredibly complex personality, with a great contrast of her "usual" and "evil" behavior (which also would sometimes mix with each other).... a super interesting journey of personal discovery.... and an abundance of great comedic & emotional moments, but her VA (Fuuka Izumi) delivered one of the best performances I have ever heard.

- Like, wow, her range was actually incredible - the way she conveyed a really broad range of emotions, from small / subtle, to extreme, while still always making it feel like this was exactly how Utena would react in a given situation, was so, so, so good.

STORY

- Really great; from the beginning, to the very end, it was both very interesting and enjoyable to watch.

- It had a very unique main theme, which I haven't seen explored like this in anime before - specifically, self-discovery in a more physical / intimate way - but it also tackled other topics, such as being uncertain about one's own feelings.... lack of confidence in and insecurity about one's own abilities.... struggling to fit in.... and many others.

- Of course, I have to mention the elephant in the room - the ecchi. Yes, there was plenty of very graphic moments with butts, tits, BDSM, and at least one actual sex scene. However, it was there to visualize the process of that main theme I mentioned before, as well as to show even the most extreme elements that accompany it and a few other topics I also mentioned.

- I never felt like those sexual elements were used for no reason, or inappropriately - there was not a single moment where it made me uncomfortable, or had me questioning the purpose of its' inclusion. In fact, along with some great comedic value, the ecchi accompanied many very emotional moments, some of which were actually quite touching (no pun intended).

- Ecchi aside, the story had a great mix of very cool action moments.... slow-burn / chill sequences where members of Enormita and/or Tres Magia would just hang out together.... and plenty of emotional scenes, ranging from really cute / heart-warming, to sad and tense.

WORLD BUILDING

- Great; the exploration of things that "good" (Tres Magia) and "evil" (Enormita) organizations had to deal with, the unique challenges they had to face, the impact it all had on the general public, as well as the different magic systems, were all very detailed and interesting to watch.

VIBES

- Amazing; there were a lot of really funny / comedic, serious, and emotional moments, so there was a wide range of emotions / feelings present - some of them made me laugh, others had me on the edge of my seat, and there were also some that left me with a huge smile on my face.

FINAL WORDS

- For me, this was the biggest and most pleasant surprise in terms of anime I've watched so far - I genuinely did not expect to enjoy my time with this title so much. Incredible experience that I highly, highly recommend!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 25, 2025

caneandtie

Mixed Feelings

Informative

This show tries to both be a serious, meaningful mahou-shoujo romp and a plotless ecchi at the same time. Needless to say, it doesn't work. It is incredibly jarring when scenes where the characters have deep interactions with one another are followed by inexplicable sexuality, and this juxtaposition happens repeatedly throughout the show, muddling any gravity the character interactions actually had. It feels like the writers haphazardly mixed together elements from standard magical girl anime and hentai without any attempt to reconcile the differences between the two genres.

If you're just interested for the anime titties, you'll probably like the show. But if you were ... drawn in by the interesting premise, then unfortunately, its insistence on gratuitous eroticism makes the delivery of the plot fall incredibly flat.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Mar 19, 2026

spiralsnaill

Not Recommended

This anime. THIS ANIME. oh my god. All I have to say is it's really funny, the plot is actually interesting, but the amount of fanservice actually kills me. I get that it's an erotica, but the thing I have an issue with is that they are literally highschoolers.. that's the weird thing. Oh well, that's what fanfics and AUs are for; you can always age them up. I think the plot actually has a lot of potential and I enjoyed seeing the characters transform (some of the outfits were... interesting to say the least). The way Utena slowly realises she's a sadist but doesn't ... want to accept it, it's pretty funny how different she is when she isn't transformed into Magia Baiser 😭 I got a lot of good laughs from this show and I got attached to some of the characters like Utena, Kiwi, Korisu, and Sayo.. but I definitely do NOT watch this. I loved it and hated it at the same time.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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