Mahou Shoujo Tokushuusen Asuka

The "edgy mahou shoujo" story has already been done to death. It's pointless to deconstruct it anymore.

I say keep the current format waterflame. Either that or the different font option.

Having looked at the raws,

Amusingly enough, the ones that apparently don't repeat it... are Asuka and the Russian chick.

Maybe those two are heretics who believe in process over outcome, and means over ends.

Also, an interesting note. The Magic Five's motto has appeared before:

Amusingly enough, the ones that apparently don't repeat it... are Asuka and the Russian chick.

Those are some godawful examples.

Well, it's just the same sort of things as "Murica saves the day" you see in all Hollywood films ?
To each their own. Also if you try reading Korean or Chinese light novel, you see a clear tendency to hate Japan.

I wonder just who designed

Magic!

Spoiler

I'll admit that I only recently became aware of this manga's existence, but I must ask what is up with that strange looking outfit on the cover. There are so many different pieces put together that I wonder just who designed.

I've wondered that countless times myself. From looking at a few full-body drawings, it is at least possible to describe the components:

1. A tiny, black string bikini (or soft-cup bra).
2. An orange top consisting of breast cups and sleeves.
3. Cycling shorts.
4. A mini-skirt.
5. Thigh-high laced boots.
6. That ridiculous tactical garment (I do not pretend to know its name), which is a series of flaps hanging from the waist with large storage pockets (presumably for magazines and assorted ammunition), all suspended by an abdominal harness with a clip over the belly-button and another right below the breasts. It might be less ridiculous-looking if there were actual clothes underneath it.

The whole costume appears when she "transforms", so I guess each piece is part of her mahou shoujo uniform.

ch10 v2 still has the same error on transmitter (pg 26)

 

Out of the Magical Five, the only one I really trusted was Kurumi

What a terrible judge of character you are, Mia Cyrus. Then again, even Asuka doesn't seem to have caught the hints that Kurumi is almost certainly a yandere lesbian.

Kurumi is the least likely to be the mastermind, which means she probably is.

That was some damn good teamwork from Team America World Police. I'm hoping that this isn't one of those "show that a group is capable so you can have them get curbstomped later to show how strong another group/character is" things.

That stupid cat-thing wearing the flak vest got way too hard of a laugh out of me for how stupid it was.

Damn. The shipment of Adidas Tracksuits +10 is at risk. Those makes you keep your ground no matter what, while squatting. Slavs will fight firecly for those.

The second mid-villian in story, and allso russian. Did author doing this because need of putting that russian girl in the plot or something?

Or because a lot of Japanese fiction has a... tendency, to be nice and not go up to "obsession", to go overboard with nationalistic pride. It's a fair bet that if a show introduces a new form of plotanium, from scientific (Gundam, Heavy Object, Index, Akira, Terraformars) to the magical (this manga, GATE, more light novels than I care to remember), Japan is going to be either THE best in the world or a major power. It's practically a cliché at this point.

Well, it's just the same sort of things as "Murica saves the day" you see in all Hollywood films ?

To each their own. Also if you try reading Korean or Chinese light novel, you see a clear tendency to hate Japan.

Or because a lot of Japanese fiction has a... tendency, to be nice and not go up to "obsession", to go overboard with nationalistic pride. It's a fair bet that if a show introduces a new form of plotanium, from scientific (Gundam, Heavy Object, Index, Akira, Terraformars) to the magical (this manga, GATE, more light novels than I care to remember), Japan is going to be either THE best in the world or a major power. It's practically a cliché at this point.

Those are some godawful examples.

It's brought up frequently because Japan is the poster child of turn-key nuclear power / nuclear latency.

Meaning that they have all the ingredients to make a nuclear bomb: economy, technology, engineering expertise, a credible ballistic missile capability and a fuckton of weapons grade fissile material. If started today, they can have a bomb after one month. The only thing holding them back is political willpower / public support.

Or because a lot of Japanese fiction has a... tendency, to be nice and not go up to "obsession", to go overboard with nationalistic pride. It's a fair bet that if a show introduces a new form of plotanium, from scientific (Gundam, Heavy Object, Index, Akira, Terraformars) to the magical (this manga, GATE, more light novels than I care to remember), Japan is going to be either THE best in the world or a major power. It's practically a cliché at this point.

I think examining whether this is a subversion or deconstruction of magical girls is a good conversation that can be had but at the moment I also feel that it has enough going on that it's not tethered to either definition and locking itself into what those would mean for it. Perhaps later it will go further in one of those directions and we can see how effective it is at both threads but as it is right now I think whatever it is doing it is doing fairly well.

I focused a lot on that before, but now I think you're right. It works fine as a dramatic action series on its own terms. It feels more and more self-contained and sincere as it continues, so the connection to the magical girl genre is more a jumping off point than the purpose of the story.

Huh, this manga is still surprisingly good.

It's heavy and deals with strong subject matter in an attempt to be a "realistic" interpretation of magical girls if they existed in this world and were used militarily, but it rarely strays into grimdark edgy territory which is kinda surprising.

I think examining whether this is a subversion or deconstruction of magical girls is a good conversation that can be had but at the moment I also feel that it has enough going on that it's not tethered to either definition and locking itself into what those would mean for it. Perhaps later it will go further in one of those directions and we can see how effective it is at both threads but as it is right now I think whatever it is doing it is doing fairly well.

I think the reason nukes are brought up so often is that in any work dealing with global conflict and power politics, Japan's position in the world will be an important factor in the plot. Nationalists in the story will seek to increase Japan's power projection, but will be limited by public and diplomatic antipathy towards military expansion and acquisition of nuclear weapons.

That's the context in which the military officers bring it up here - they want Japan to "take its rightful place in the world", but acknowledge that the easiest way to do that is off the table. Thus, as circumstance and research have given them an advantage in magical warfare, they push to develop it as a more acceptable replacement for nuclear weapons.

It's brought up frequently because Japan is the poster child of turn-key nuclear power / nuclear latency.

Meaning that they have all the ingredients to make a nuclear bomb: economy, technology, engineering expertise, a credible ballistic missile capability and a fuckton of weapons grade fissile material. If started today, they can have a bomb after one month. The only thing holding them back is political willpower / public support.

I would also add being neighbours to both Koreas and China, I doubt they would like the idea of Japan having a nuclear arsenal.

He'll be back.

Still, has anyone noticed that the issue of Japan not being able to become a nuclear power is raised pretty often? In Akira, they tried to fill the power vacuum with psychics, in Terraformars with bioengineering, here with magical girls.

It's brought up frequently because Japan is the poster child of turn-key nuclear power / nuclear latency.

Meaning that they have all the ingredients to make a nuclear bomb: economy, technology, engineering expertise, a credible ballistic missile capability and a fuckton of weapons grade fissile material. If started today, they can have a bomb after one month. The only thing holding them back is political willpower / public support.

you couldn't wait one more chapter huh

He'll be back.

Still, has anyone noticed that the issue of Japan not being able to become a nuclear power is raised pretty often? In Akira, they tried to fill the power vacuum with psychics, in Terraformars with bioengineering, here with magical girls.

Nine chapters in and best girl still hasn't joined the cast, time to tentatively drop this.

you couldn't wait one more chapter huh