Magic User's Club [Archive]

EmperorBrandon

09-02-2006, 11:26 PM

Well, I was planning on starting this one up soon, and I just did (first two episodes of OVA! /images/graemlins/happy.gif). Doesn't seem to be any recent threads about it other than some interesting speculation on the recent Princess Tutu/Utena thread (which was neat to see), so thought a discussion thread would be nice as well.

Still loving this series as usual, even though I've watched these episodes well over a dozen times. I cite the character designs (and muchly the characters themselves) a lot when describing its appeal to me, but I definitely really appreciate Michiru Oshima's musical score. Just really nice, relaxing, and easy to get stuck in my head. Also interesting know that some of the jokes don't wear out on me.

One thing I was wanting to consider was which I liked the better between it and Princess Tutu, now that I have all of Tutu and likely will be getting the chance to rewatch. When I find series I really like to rewatch, it's kind of hard to rank one higher than the other. I had faced the possibility that Tutu may be a higher favorite, but at other points have thought Magical Project S and Cardcaptor Sakura coming close either (hard to decide between the great four of mahou shoujo...) They are all quite different from each other, and I enjoy them greatly for different reasons, so trying to add up which I enjoy more gets tricky. Magic User's Club seems to come to the top of my mind most of the time for nostalgia purposes, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the only reason I enjoy the series. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Shsway

09-02-2006, 11:38 PM

Yeah, I recently got in the mood to rewatch this one as well. I blew through the whole thing surprisingly quick!

My favorite aspect of Magic User's Club is how delightfully naughty it is, for a magical girl show (especially as it doesn't really hit harem territory, with its rather balanced cast). I certainly didn't expect it to be so shameless, to a degree, which enhanced my first viewing of it considerably (it was a show though that I immediately needed to get, having made the connection between it and the first couple of volumes of Princess Tutu). Also, fans of Onosaka Masaya and Koyasu Takehito, doing a somewhat non-standard voice, need to see/own this one (the awesome Iwao Junko is in it too!)

Also, Miki-sempai is so cool! I could have watched at least a half-dozen more episodes relating to that character. Oh, and I totally missed Jeff in the TV version of the series too.

This is one of the few shows that I've seen where the open-ended conclusion to everything works really well. The whole thing leaves me amused and satisfied, except for the dub, which I just couldn't get into. I really wanted to like it, I promise...

aquapermanence

09-03-2006, 10:06 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:
My favorite aspect of Magic User's Club is how delightfully naughty it is,

[/ QUOTE ]

This was part of its appeal to me, but I also very much enjoyed that most of the cheesecake shots were kept in characters' imaginations. The "reality" portions of the series were that much more believable when the characters weren't half naked half the time.

In terms of design, the two big draws for me were the hairstyles and the clothes. It's rare to see characters wearing sweaters, and it's even rarer to see them changing between different clothing sets (and I mean actually changing--not snapping on armor or magically transforming clothes). That they were able to not only use a variety of non-standard clothing designs, but also make the characters look comfortable wearing them, was very enjoyable to see. I further enjoyed the fine attention on the hair, especially Sae's. The many interior lines gave it a great shape and really made it stand out from the usual, and all the eyelashes are just adorable.

/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif I wish I knew some more technical terms for what I was trying to get at here, but suffice to say, I loved this show's visuals, and pretty much everything else about it.

EmperorBrandon

09-03-2006, 10:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
aquapermanence said:
[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:
My favorite aspect of Magic User's Club is how delightfully naughty it is,

[/ QUOTE ]

This was part of its appeal to me, but I also very much enjoyed that most of the cheesecake shots were kept in characters' imaginations. The "reality" portions of the series were that much more believable when the characters weren't half naked half the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is a good point. I have definitely felt like most of the fanservice comes from Takeo's daydreams, though not really the thought of it being more believable than with other fanservice series (and I agree there).

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it's even rarer to see them changing between different clothing sets (and I mean actually changing--not snapping on armor or magically transforming clothes).

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Indeed. The last episode of the OVA probably has one of my favorites when it comes to clothes-changing scenes.

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I further enjoyed the fine attention on the hair, especially Sae's. The many interior lines gave it a great shape and really made it stand out from the usual, and all the eyelashes are just adorable.

[/ QUOTE ]

One thing I've likely mentioned several times before, but one aspect I love of the hair detail is how it looks when it's wet. This goes for characters in Princess Tutu as well (scenes with Ahiru in the final volume reminded me of this)

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/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif I wish I knew some more technical terms for what I was trying to get at here, but suffice to say, I loved this show's visuals, and pretty much everything else about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have a hard time using the right terms for describing anime myself. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

chloes_fork

09-03-2006, 10:53 AM

Interesting timing. I'm scheduled to start watching this show (for the first time) starting next week. Hopefully this thread will stick around for a few days.

EmperorBrandon

09-03-2006, 11:59 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:

Also, Miki-sempai is so cool! I could have watched at least a half-dozen more episodes relating to that character. Oh, and I totally missed Jeff in the TV version of the series too.

[/ QUOTE ]

She is really cool. Only thing I wondered about her is that she is one element of the TV series doesn't really seem to fit in my mind as far as the OVA series is concerned. Watching the OVA series, it really seems to heavily imply that Sae has just gotten started, not that she already had a mentor before.. Not that I really mind much. Her role in the TV series was nice.

Shsway

09-03-2006, 01:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
aquapermanence said:
[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:
My favorite aspect of Magic User's Club is how delightfully naughty it is...

[/ QUOTE ]

This was part of its appeal to me, but I also very much enjoyed that most of the cheesecake shots were kept in characters' imaginations.

[/ QUOTE ]

And sometimes, in the viewer's imagination! /images/graemlins/blush000.gif The whole thing was purposely doused in Yaoi/shoujo-ai undertones, despite the established attractions in the only believable love quadrangle that I can think of, at the moment.

[ QUOTE ]
/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif I wish I knew some more technical terms for what I was trying to get at here, but suffice to say, I loved this show's visuals, and pretty much everything else about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Madhouse just did a bang up job, all across the board. One of the first things that I noticed about the show, floored me really, was the beauty of the animation, the colors!

Like EB, I also thought the music was great, fitting every scene appropriately and making things stand out when needed. I really like the opening songs for both incarnations of the show, and grew to like the lullaby sweet OVA ED. These had great accompanying animations too, really nice or fun.

I only wished that Sae hadn't been such an apologetic person, but given the other characters and the direction of the plot, I guess that she needed to be.

EmperorBrandon

09-03-2006, 01:08 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Shsway said:

Madhouse just did a bang up job, all across the board. One of the first things that I noticed about the show, floored me really, was the beauty of the animation, the colors!

[/ QUOTE ]

The main animation studio for Magic User's Club is actually Triangle Staff (on both series). Madhouse is credited for some animation work in the series, though, like in the last episode of the OVA series.

Shsway

09-03-2006, 01:14 PM

Ah, corrected am I. Still, one can't deny how lovely everything turned out!

martod

09-03-2006, 06:28 PM

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Shsway said:
I only wished that Sae hadn't been such an apologetic person, but given the other characters and the direction of the plot, I guess that she needed to be.

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Sae being apologetic is very important to the OVAs. The central story of the OVAs has nothing to do with magic and aliens--it has to do with Sae, who blames herself for literally everything that goes wrong, learning to have self confidence. The ending of the OVAs is easily one of my favorite endings of all time. It works on so many different levels.

That's one of the reasons why I didn't like the TV series nearly as much. It felt like the series mission had been accomplished in the OVAs and the TV series was just stretching it. Also the animation is such a clear downgrade from the OVAs(I know it had to be a downgrade, but still...). And just what happened to Jeff and why is he completely forgotten with Miki taking his place in the TV series?

EmperorBrandon

09-03-2006, 07:19 PM

Just finished the OVA series, and noticed one small thing I've never caught before. In the third episode, when Akane and the journalist duo are being chased by the Bell robots, Akane has Nike shoes on. I was wondering about that since she just got out of the shower... but looking carefully, she apparently put them on just as she was running out of the apartment... very quickly...

EmperorBrandon

09-03-2006, 07:33 PM

[ QUOTE ]
marko said:

Sae being apologetic is very important to the OVAs. The central story of the OVAs has nothing to do with magic and aliens--it has to do with Sae, who blames herself for literally everything that goes wrong, learning to have self confidence. The ending of the OVAs is easily one of my favorite endings of all time. It works on so many different levels.

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Agreed.

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That's one of the reasons why I didn't like the TV series nearly as much. It felt like the series mission had been accomplished in the OVAs and the TV series was just stretching it.

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I don't really think so. The TV series has a mission too, just quite different from the OVA. Sae has become confident in her abilities to use magic, but then there comes the question to how she should continue to use magic and how it will affect her life (and the lives of her friends). It reflects well on that theme. The OVA is held higher in my mind, but I don't think less of the TV series. It's got a decent amount of the "fun" material the OVA has, though it lags in that department nearer the end.

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And just what happened to Jeff and why is he completely forgotten with Miki taking his place in the TV series?

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If my assumption is correct, magician Jeff does kind of appear in the end of the TV series, as one of the dolls in Sae's old doll house. It kind of made me think, as with Jurika, Jeff is a manifestation of Sae's magic. After all, Jeff himself claims that no one has been helping Sae; it was her all along. So in my opinion, it is more like Jurika was the one who took Jeff's place, and his intentions reflects the "different mission" of the TV series. As for Miki, she's an anomaly as far as connecting the OVA and TV series goes, but it doesn't bother me too much.

aquapermanence

09-03-2006, 09:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
If my assumption is correct, magician Jeff does kind of appear in the end of the TV series, as one of the dolls in Sae's old doll house. It kind of made me think, as with Jurika, Jeff is a manifestation of Sae's magic. After all, Jeff himself claims that no one has been helping Sae; it was her all along. So in my opinion, it is more like Jurika was the one who took Jeff's place, and his intentions reflects the "different mission" of the TV series.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's how I saw Jeff as well--once Sae gained confidence in her magic, she no longer needed to rely on the image of Jeff. Jurika was then born from Sae's feelings, and disappeared when the conflict of the TV series was resolved. Their appearance in the dollhouse may be both a clue to their origins and a representation of their roles being fulfilled.

Tomcat

09-03-2006, 10:10 PM

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aquapermanence said:
That's how I saw Jeff as well--

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Ah, yes... It's been a few years since I watched this series, but now that you mention it, this was my exact thought as well on Jeff and Jurika.

I always thought that Akane needed more time in the series, but since she was not the main character, I'm just glad with the time she got.

Maybe I'll queue this up again in the near future.

-TC

Amasawa

09-04-2006, 12:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
...The TV series has a mission too, just quite different from the OVA. Sae has become confident in her abilities to use magic, but then there comes the question to how she should continue to use magic and how it will affect her life (and the lives of her friends). It reflects well on that theme. The OVA is held higher in my mind, but I don't think less of the TV series. It's got a decent amount of the "fun" material the OVA has, though it lags in that department nearer the end.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree, but think romance is also part of the TV mission. Sae has to acknowledge her feelings for Takeo and express them. She only half succeeds at this, IMO.

martod

09-04-2006, 12:17 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Amasawa said:
[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
...The TV series has a mission too, just quite different from the OVA. Sae has become confident in her abilities to use magic, but then there comes the question to how she should continue to use magic and how it will affect her life (and the lives of her friends). It reflects well on that theme. The OVA is held higher in my mind, but I don't think less of the TV series. It's got a decent amount of the "fun" material the OVA has, though it lags in that department nearer the end.

[/ QUOTE ]
I agree, but think romance is also part of the TV mission. Sae has to acknowledge her feelings for Takeo and express them. She only half succeeds at this, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]
I think the relationship between Sae and Takeo was considerably less pronounced in the TV series than in the OVAs. They still like each other, but Sae isn't nearly as in awe of Takeo, and Takeo has a lot of things on his mind other than Sae. I was still frustrated with the cop-out ending though.

jecca-neko

09-04-2006, 12:53 PM

One of my favorite things about MTT (I tend to refer to this series by the Japanese name of Mahou Tsukai Tai!) is that it's a magical girl show that doesn't feel like a magical girl show. It has other elements to it such as the fanservice-ish aspects of Takeo's daydreams. They are a group that are not given this special power by some outside being. Rather, their power comes from within. It's also one of the rare shows with magical guys. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

It's an adorable show that I haven't watched for at least 3 years. I need to rewatch it. The OVA is pretty quick and easily watched in a day. Maybe I should do that sometime soon.

EmperorBrandon

09-04-2006, 08:27 PM

Into the TV series now and just got to my all-time favorite, ep. 6. Yay! /images/graemlins/happy.gif I was wanting to watch that one so much that I actually went and watched it again in Japanese (even though I'm doing a run through of the English dub right now).

Speaking of the dub, there is one of the few things that irk me about in the script there. It may be a little thing, but in a conversation with Sae (after Sae got hit in the head with the volleyball), Nanaka calls Takeo by his given name which just was odd (she calls him Takakura just like the other girls). Not to mention Nanaka wasn't even directly talking about Takeo in the first place but implying about the nature of Sae's dream and how it felt to her (kind of more gentle teasing than what the dub made it out to be). I love the "Sae's feeling frisky" in the subtitles. Can't say the dub really has many mistakes like that, though. For the most part the script is fun.

bctaris

09-05-2006, 11:45 PM

Not fair. Having written so much about this show over the years I just don't have much left, EB! /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif Won't squeeze in time to watch it very soon either, though I can try.

But...

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
I don't really think so. The TV series has a mission too, just quite different from the OVA. Sae has become confident in her abilities to use magic, but then there comes the question to how she should continue to use magic and how it will affect her life (and the lives of her friends). It reflects well on that theme. The OVA is held higher in my mind, but I don't think less of the TV series. It's got a decent amount of the "fun" material the OVA has, though it lags in that department nearer the end.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agreed.

[ QUOTE ]
aquapermanence said:
[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
If my assumption is correct, magician Jeff does kind of appear in the end of the TV series, as one of the dolls in Sae's old doll house. It kind of made me think, as with Jurika, Jeff is a manifestation of Sae's magic. After all, Jeff himself claims that no one has been helping Sae; it was her all along. So in my opinion, it is more like Jurika was the one who took Jeff's place, and his intentions reflects the "different mission" of the TV series.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's how I saw Jeff as well--once Sae gained confidence in her magic, she no longer needed to rely on the image of Jeff. Jurika was then born from Sae's feelings, and disappeared when the conflict of the TV series was resolved. Their appearance in the dollhouse may be both a clue to their origins and a representation of their roles being fulfilled.

[/ QUOTE ]

And agreed.

EmperorBrandon

09-09-2006, 08:48 PM

Well, finally got around to finishing up on the TV series today. Got to love the last two episodes. Ep. 12 is about as action-packed as Magic User's Club gets, but the way it does it is really fun (while keeping in line with what has been going on before). Ep. 13 ties up things really nicely. Though it leaves me wanting more, it's not a bad ending by any means, and I interpret Takeo's little misunderstanding at the end pretty lightly. Even if Takeo was a little unsure of whether Sae had confessed her feelings, it seemed to me Sae was pretty sure of what she had accomplished, at least to herself. To say everything was back where it started after that scene just seems to be reaching too far in my opinion. It's likely not a misunderstanding that would last for long. It's interesting looking at Jurika's and Miki's roles in those episodes as well. They ooze of coolness and mystery. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Speaking of which, one thing had me thinking of Ghibli references. The OVA's seem to have quite a few references to Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa: The Castle in the Sky (partly I think some of it may come from Mahiro Maeda, who was an animator for Ghibli when Laputa was being made). One such moment in the OVA that reminds me of Kiki's is when Sae briefly loses the ability to use magic following lack of confidence, but gains it back eventually. However, I did notice something even in the TV series that somewhat reminds me of Kiki's. In ep. 12, Sae goes over and borrows a banner from some random guy off the street in a time of crisis, when she needs something to fly. I remember something similar to that happening in Kiki's Delivery Service. Ahh well, pretty neat looking at that. It's actually been a while since I've seen those two movies, so probably should give them a rewatch pretty soon.