Maji de Otaku na English! Ribbon-chan: Eigo de Tatakau Mahou Shoujo

Tamala Dec 6, 2017

9

A pretty enjoyable comedy show, very short episodes, and the gags usually hit their mark really well! I was surprised with the outrageousness of this show, just as I'm surprised by the low scores it's gotten. First off, while it does indeed have "Repeat After Me" segments in English, this is NOT an English-learning show; that entire aspect is for comedic effect. Most of the time this serves to parrot what happened on screen in amusing ways, or to say something cryptic, or sometimes it just plays it straight and parrots without changing the statement in an interesting way, which is rather disappointing. I should also note here, the English often has incorrect grammar/spelling, which is totally fine in other anime but since this show hinges on that gimmick, I feel like they should've ensured they're executing this concept right. The comedy itself in the show is very self-aware, and you've got parodies thrown in there but it's never too much. Most of the show is about the magical girl cast dealing with the fact that they're in a TV show. The girls themselves are pretty enjoyable, none really can come into full bloom as characters because the episodes are so short and packed with humor, but what we can tell about the characters are enjoyable enough! (Shoutout to poor Nerd-chan, no idea why she's called that since she's not particularly geeky, but she's always getting shafted which is a shame because she's cute and sweet) Lastly what drew me to the show in the first place was that I'm a fan of the magical girl genre, and these designs are really eyecatching, the girls are all very nicely designed, although the lack of noses from the front does grate a bit, especially for facial structures like Garnet and Valk. That said, it is of course not gonna be a typical magical girl show, but people that do like the genre will find hints of it here with what the characters do (when they're not seeking publicity and dealing with budgeting issues), and even a Madoka-esque surprise! All in all, I think it's worth a watch, for a good comedy with appealing characters!