Ooof, Hana looks alpha as fuck, but is a total self-loathing softie underneath. The hurt/comfort potential between her and Junna is off the charts.

What if Junna defeated the older magical girl and took the charm and Hana's shock comes from realizing she wasn't able to protect that older magical girl?

Why would an evil general take some random charm from a defeated MG? The motive is entirely missing here. Junna falling to the dark side while Hana was off having her MG training montage requires far fewer assumptions, so it makes the most sense to me at this point...

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 4:22PM

What if Junna defeated the older magical girl and took the charm and Hana's shock comes from realizing she wasn't able to protect that older magical girl?

If that were the case, Hana would hate Junna. But she loves her. That supports the idea that Junna is the older magical girl that saved her life.

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 4:26PM

Does this mean there's a "fall to despair" system in the magical girl contract or was it willing? If willing why did she become an evil general? Does being a magical girl age you up?

The metaphorical underpinning of traditional magical girl series is the transformation from child to adult - becoming prettier, more powerful, with more agency and the ability to determine your destiny and impact the larger world around you. It’s a core appeal of the fantasy to the target audience’s age group. So, yes, a lot of times the girls’ transformed state makes them visibly more adult than their regular identity.

This is true but those series didn’t have the today magical girl formula of enemies. They were more slice of life and romance/idol focused, the magical power was not for fighting, and was for the girl herself to have agency as you said. In the format we have today I can’t remember a aged-up magical girl, now even if they are 5yo they fight just like that, the last aged-up magical girl I remember is from Doremi and if I remember correctly PreCure

Either way, yes, she appears to be consistently the same age (aside from her defeated state) while Hana seems to progress from maybe 6 or 7 to 13/14 to now 16 or 17.

Yes this is what I mean, you can see Hana age progression but don’t Junna’s

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 5:20PM

There can be like dozens of theories for Juuna's backstory of how she become a evil general (Former magical girl).

Examples for Junna's backstory/history how she become a evil general
1
Memory wiped state after defeated.
2
Joined due to amnesia [Did not get defeated by got seriously injured and recruit by evil afterwards without knowing she was a former magical girl [Gem destroyed but still magic potential]]
3
Switch to the evil side...For some reason???? Either due to her goals changing or being unsatisfied with magical girl life.
3.5
Juuna was actually a spy in the end!!! Joined the magical girl side then betray them (Former magical girls/her former teammates got rekt by her and reason why new wave of magical girls joined [Hana and her friends])
4
Juuna simply pick up the charm (Either by accident or the former purple hair magical girl giving to her, like Juuna was a former magical girl but due to the organization's fks up her friend/purple hair died and she kept the charm [Seems very unlikely theory though but it not 0% either!!!])
5
Juuna just simply joined the evil side due to them paying money/better benefits lol (How much money does magical girl organization pay you??? I mean sure you can easily make money by using your magical girl power IRL technically...Easy chopping down tree to sell firewood within a few seconds instead of hours of hardwork, flying around to save on bus tickets and etc. [])
6
Juuna had to join to save her chronic ill/dying teammates/friends/family member life then Juuna stay loyal afterwards.
7

---

For Juuna's age theories/guess/examples???
1
Juuna is simply truly just 1-2 years older than Hana. Simple, probably just use illusion magic to appear older or something/ or had access to a adult form when heart gem evolves into winged-heart gem mode.
2
Juuna is technically about 6-7 years older than Hana (She just looks young due to good genes or magical powers...Possibly both. Asians look younger than they often are, not always but hard to tell at certain age range at times depending on genes and body type.)
3
Juuna's body was in stasis (slow down normal aging) after defeated from evil group (Memory wiping happening during this time)
4
IT fking magic!!! ( I am pretty sure if you can reverse a failed baking/cooking meal attempt...You can easily extend your lifespan or slowly down your aging easily.)
5
Juuna age was around the same age as Hana (is just 1-3 years older) but her magical girl gem just gave her an Teenager//older/adult form for some reason.
6
Perspective issues and memory issue from Hana perhaps (Perhaps Purple hair was actually a bit shorter in reality and Hana was just very short at the time a few years ago (can be 3-5 years ago before present day)), Shrugs???
7
Purple hair was just wearing very high-heels and looks older due to Hana's perspective lol.

Also...Yes the charm did keep her safe...She still alive after all or possibly avoid getting rekt further while unconscious lol XD

I look forward to seeing more of the backstory, history, etc and stuff about their past and past interactions.

So any guesses on what the evil organization's main goal is??? (World domination seems most likely, world destruction...Nah/// -insert some other random cliche common goal of big evil organization here-)

EDIT:
Hmm, didn't know I can make my front very very large lol. Had to edit it to normal front after making it large by accident

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 5:34PM

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 5:43PM

Okay, but serious speculation aside, I'm wondering if "closest adjutants defeated" means we won't get to see the green-haired demon maid or if only Junna was high-ranking enough to stand in the "final battle". What can I see, her face looks so funny that it makes her look sympathetic !

Oh, and since I don't think it was mentioned - the haircut of the older MG matches Junna's, except her hair is bright instead of dark.

It seems as though there's a lot of potential reasons for why Junna had the charm, but what's of note is that she seemingly previously tanked the attack that gave her the chest wound, but something that Hana did finally almost did her in the same spot. And Junna's identity was likely not known by Hana beforehand, seeing her shock at her unmasked. So either Junna stayed the same age and defected, or Hana grew up when she became a magical girl.
Also, isn't it interesting how Junna has the power to erase memories and that's been used twice already? I wonder if she falsified the charm memory, or erased her history as the general before that point.

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

that could just be angle/perspective. we only see her face and her hand, it really doesn't give us much of an idea of her actual height.

incidentally, none of the shots showing Junna as a magical girl or evil general show her whole body and they all use pretty aggressive angles. seems intentional

Does this mean there's a "fall to despair" system in the magical girl contract or was it willing? If willing why did she become an evil general? Does being a magical girl age you up?

The metaphorical underpinning of traditional magical girl series is the transformation from child to adult - becoming prettier, more powerful, with more agency and the ability to determine your destiny and impact the larger world around you. It’s a core appeal of the fantasy to the target audience’s age group. So, yes, a lot of times the girls’ transformed state makes them visibly more adult than their regular identity.

This is true but those series didn’t have the today magical girl formula of enemies. They were more slice of life and romance/idol focused, the magical power was not for fighting, and was for the girl herself to have agency as you said. In the format we have today I can’t remember a aged-up magical girl, now even if they are 5yo they fight just like that, the last aged-up magical girl I remember is from Doremi and if I remember correctly PreCure

Counter point: Sailor Moon.

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

As Giftnova said, that's probably just the angle of the shot.

All in all, there's no reason to overthink this. Even Hana seems to believe Juna is the magical girl who saved her, which explains why she likes her so much, why she feels so guilty and why she hugged her while saying she won't make the same mistake again.

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 7:03PM

Maybe whatever magic Hana used to heal Junna caused her age considerably and develop her own scars?

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

As Giftnova said, that's probably just the angle of the shot.

All in all, there's no reason to overthink this. Even Hana seems to believe Juna is the magical girl who saved her, which explains why she likes her so much.

I don't think it's just the framing just look at the size difference with their hands. Junna looks like her high school form while Hana looks much MUCH younger.

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

As Giftnova said, that's probably just the angle of the shot.

All in all, there's no reason to overthink this. Even Hana seems to believe Juna is the magical girl who saved her, which explains why she likes her so much.

I don't think it's just the framing just look at the size difference with their hands. Junna looks like her high school form while Hana looks much MUCH younger.

I really don't think she does. Compare HS Junna at the bottom here to magical girl Junna. her facial proportions and stuff look way different.

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 7:14PM

Does this mean there's a "fall to despair" system in the magical girl contract or was it willing? If willing why did she become an evil general? Does being a magical girl age you up?

The metaphorical underpinning of traditional magical girl series is the transformation from child to adult - becoming prettier, more powerful, with more agency and the ability to determine your destiny and impact the larger world around you. It’s a core appeal of the fantasy to the target audience’s age group. So, yes, a lot of times the girls’ transformed state makes them visibly more adult than their regular identity.

This is true but those series didn’t have the today magical girl formula of enemies. They were more slice of life and romance/idol focused, the magical power was not for fighting, and was for the girl herself to have agency as you said. In the format we have today I can’t remember a aged-up magical girl, now even if they are 5yo they fight just like that, the last aged-up magical girl I remember is from Doremi and if I remember correctly PreCure

Counter point: Sailor Moon.

I mean, is not a counter point because Sailor Moon is old too, also, I didn’t use Sailor Moon because in their case, it’s a evil transformation, their regular magical girl form is as kids, so Doremi for a old example and Precure for the modern example, aside from those I cannot think of any other one (but I am sure they are some in between), nowadays the kid magical girl just fight in her own body age.

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 7:29PM

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

As Giftnova said, that's probably just the angle of the shot.

All in all, there's no reason to overthink this. Even Hana seems to believe Juna is the magical girl who saved her, which explains why she likes her so much.

I don't think it's just the framing just look at the size difference with their hands. Junna looks like her high school form while Hana looks much MUCH younger.

We know that Hana grew up a lot in just one year. And as for Juna, she actually looks a bit younger as a magical girl compared to her current self.

Besides, if Juna is not the magical girl, then all of Hana's odd behavior around Juna can NOT be explained. The reason Hana feels so guilty and why she hugged Juna and said she won't make the same mistake again. All of that makes sense ONLY if Juna is the magical girl.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I didn’t think they said that Junna was explicitly a year older - just that she was in the class year ahead of Hana. I think it’s entirely possible that Junna aged differently (maybe even backwards in the end) as her arc progressed from magical girl > evil general > defeat > resurrection > “ordinary” life. She wouldn’t be the first for something like that (see e.g. Sailor Saturn).

While she may be (much) older than Hana chronologically, there are lots of possibilities for her biological age not reflecting the true gap.

last edited at Aug 12, 2026 11:00PM

Okay, here is some basic remainder for information (Chapter 2 and other chapters):

Hana is age 17 and Junna apparently is age 18 (According to author or the perceived public information...But this can possibly be a lied/false information as well possibly...Or some other reason like physically 18 year old technically [Body aging slower/staying same age] but mentally older).
We at least know 99% they are all in high-school at least (Hana currently second year and Juuna in 3rd year/last year of highschool in japan often instead of America school 4 grades sometimes. Present timeline now.)
This information is once again confirm in Chapter 6.

Chapter 4 (Timeline of 3 to 5 months of downtime/peace since the so-called potential shown battle I think, evil organization less active and showing trouble except for random monster attacks. Barren hollow's demon maze...What a truly chunni name XD)

Chapter 12 (Height comparison page from 1st year to 2nd year. There is no more hope for growth once you hit 18-20.)
Hana grow from 150cm (Feet) to 165cm (Over 4 more inches)
Sou 160 to 162cm (Simple 2 cm grow)
Lemon (155cm) to 155cm...RIP lol. Now official shortest of the group. (Perhaps her magical girl former is taller, she does have green eyes instead of orange plus longer hair)

Chapter 11 (I pretty sure both Hana and Junna regret hurting each other during their battle(s). Though Hana probably feels more guilty about it due to winning lol)

Chapter 12
(Pretty much implied that the other two magical girls, Sou and Lemon knows that Junna knows that Hana is a magical girl in present time and there is no major secrets between their whole group except perhaps them...Or maybe just Lemon in general about Junna being a former evil general due to her mental comment how Junna was relax/calm/nonchalant about being taken hostage while Sou on the other hand was just amused at Hana once again breaking Junna's ribs in a bear hug. Though Sou and Lemon might actually know as well...Lemon is just shock at how casual Junna was, thinking she just lost her powers fully/permanently perhaps?)

Their magical forms/magical girl forms might be subtly different as well, we know they can have different eye color (Tiny star or other symbol in their eyes), hair length (Though hair color change might be a possibly as well...We only seen 2 true, well technically 3 magical girls in action to compare sample size. Only Hana and Lemon plus the purple hair magical girl that might be Junna/heavily implied to be Junna).
Hana's magical girl form is pretty much the same as her normal form (Just tiny subtle different like perhaps having brighter blue eyes compared to her normal blue eyes and possibly magic recognizing/identity magic perhaps)

I mean Juuna's evil general form (Her lost power self that she is still trying to recover) seem to be a bit more 'mature and taller' than her normal body self from the images perhaps??? Could just be the tall heels doing all the work though?

Also curious if there are at least 3 other generals like how demon king has 4 heavenly kings most of the time, might be just 2-3 generals at most sometimes?

Giftnova posted:

I really don't think the age thing is such a mystery? they already established Junna is a year older than Hana, why would they lie about that xD

And we already know that Junna used to be taller before Hana had her growth spurt too. Nothing we've seen contradicts any of that, i don' think?

yeah but they're only one year apart yet purple magical girl is gigantic compared to 6-7 year old hana

Yep, for comment way way above, everyone knows Junna is 'at least' 1-2 years older than Hana. We just don't know if Hana was just a very smol/short kid compared to other kids her age or if other reason like Junna is actually somewhat older or her magical girl is just a bit taller or something?

Also, apologizes, I know I am nitpicking and sorry about that but I think Hana was just perhaps 10-11 at the time??? Not sure though, perhaps I am wrong? I mean it said only a 'few' years ago so I assumed it was just about 4-6 years ago at most? Might be just joking around though with your comment and I didn't notice since I can't hear your voice or read your facial expression to tell, just text on screen lol XD

Shrug

Maybe junna aged back when almost dying? I remember she said before that she didn't have her full power after being defeated

First page says "a few years ago", so Lil Hana should be like 12... but then page 4 says "when I was a kid"

Welp I'm confused, I appreciate everyone doing their best to explain everything but I think the information in this chapter could have been written in a clearer way lol

Maybe there's some time shenanigans involved? The MadoHomu parallels would become all but impossible to ignore at that point though.

Oooooooo!!! Major plot drop!!!

Being meguca is suffering.

When Hana was younger, she was saved by an already active magical girl Junna. After ensuring Hana's safety, Junna went to face off against the leader of Barren Hollow's Demon Maze and lost. Junna was corrupted by the evil organization and probably was put into stasis at this point.

That is until Hana's Precure-style story begins; Hana becomes a magical girl in her first year of high school (already older than the usual middle school magical girls). Junna, fully corrupted (and released from stasis) as one of the evil generals of Barren Hollow's Demon Maze, goes to high school in order to spy on the Floria Knights.

After a year of story happening, there was a final showdown between Barren Hollow's Demon Maze and the Floria Knights where it was finally revealed the status of the magical girl who saved Hana in the past. Junna is saved, but she no longer can be a magical girl and still retains some of her powers as an evil general. At this point, she is retired and now considers herself a regular citizen of the town they live in.

Anyways, I love the flowers representing the gore and bloodshed instead of actually showing what that would look like. Very good choice.

last edited at Aug 13, 2026 3:46AM