Not sure if I like how MC handled the situation, but grumpy girl is HOT so I'm in.
Seriously, the hair over one eye and the prominent fangly teeth, then the blush...

The fact that the MC is handling things poorly (an understatement tbh) could've been narratively fine, but the real issue imo is how all of her love interests are essentially (unintentionally) charmed into engaging in a relationship that they very much THINK is toxic but they're convinced to be fine with it because they "love her" enough to ignore the huge red flags.

Usually you want to make relationships with a start like this one work by clarifying that the red flags were imagined or a misunderstanding, but so far this story seems to be running on the premise that the girls still believe the red flags to be true and just choose to ignore them out of blind faith, which is absolutely NOT a healthy way to approach relationships.

This is literally how plenty of real abusive relationships start, ignoring someone's red flags until you're too emotionally attached to leave even after they become explicit and destructive. They're essentially just getting lucky the MC isn't actually a scumbag and won't actually take advantage of them knowingly.

The Legendary Hero put something in the genepool to make the frickin' Demons Gay!

Since when does checking out a club equal having signed up for it?
I hate it when characters make blatantly ridiculous leaps in logic just to facilitate a misunderstanding for the plot, and as interesting as this is so far, it seems to be absolutely running on that as it's bread and butter.

How does saying "I'll do all of it" bind her to join 2 clubs just she got a text message about visiting? No one who can misunderstand that is even there to hear it to misunderstand it in the first place! She's acting like she has to commit to something she just told herself and no one else knows about! At BEST she's promised to join the gardening club and the part-time job, and even the part about having to join the gardening club is debatably contrived too!

WOMAN. TALK. WORDS. USE. (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

last edited at Aug 1, 2024 4:18PM

Muscle Mommies are usually my jam, but Fuyama is honestly drop-dead gorgeous already and doesn't need to diet at all imo. Judging by how THICC the artist draws her normally, I have a feeling they agree anyways.

I just realized two things. First, the summary specifies that all the students at this school are orphans, which I don't think came up in the first chapter, but feels pretty significant.

Second, she's just starting middle school, so she's what, 12? That makes the "find a lover" command even more weird. Are there any other possible interpretations or connotations that could have been lost in translation, like the Villainess thing, or that she might be missing in universe?

"Lover" in japanese is not as much of a sexually loaded term as it is in english.
In Japan, a partner is typically called your "lover" regardless of age or actual sexual status, it's generally more of a straight-up synonym for boyfriend/girlfriend than in english.

The manga is literally called "the role of the femme-fatale" are we sure "villainess" isn't supposed to be translated as "femme fatale"? Especially since "Villainess" is a generic evil person whereas "femme fatale" is specifically associated with seduction, which is the only angle I can see as to why she was given the role because of her questionnaire answer.

I know that villainess yuri has become something of a genre in recent times, and it's one that I quite enjoy myself, but I don't think the term should be misused just to be fit into the genre if that's why it was done.

...I swear, for a solid minute there I thought she called the song "Maths 3-3 Koga Mitsuki"

...This mangaka's creativity is seriously underrated.
I was not expecting to see bondage wasps this morning, but here we are!

New kouhai!
...Shit, she's adorable. T_T

Intelligent lifeform without blood? Did I miss something? I thought she was a human before?!

I think "blood" in that instance is still being used as a metaphor for "magic."

Because the Protag didn't have magic at all in her previous life, she's now hypersensitive to it because it's something about her anatomy that's completely alien compared to what it used to be.

Though I agree it was a bit confusingly worded and took me a bit to get as well.

The manga's page just got cut on TV Tropes because the mods there decided it's underage porn without plot. facepalm

You mean it isn't?

...it has a plot. >__>

GOOD plot even, with character development and lessons and everything.
TvTropes has always been run by shitty people so nothing new there, I still remember when they purged all sexual tropes because they weren't advertiser friendly.

I'm so glad to see the author's heard people are loving chubbyama, because good Lawd that woman is doing things to my mind that ain't christian.

I'm not getting an onee-loli impression from their interactions so far, I think it's just because Fujiyama gets sexualized and stripped all the time even while interacting with Mamu that some people might be reading into it.

That said, I don't think the manga is defined enough yet that we can really say one way or the other if it's gonna go down that road later, and personally I'm fine with whatever. Fujiyama is outrageously sexy in a disaster kind of way, which isn't super common to see so that's refreshing, and the art is fantastic.

Super glad to see Looking Up To Magical Girls is clearly inspiring similar works, "Mahou Shoujo Parody + BDSM" is a premise rife with potential and I'm curious to see if this one will ever use it to dive into deeper topics like self acceptance and sex-positivity like LUTMG does.

last edited at Apr 12, 2024 8:27AM

There's something about how Venalita still has long sleeves even though their hands are disconnected from their body that really tickled me for some reason.

Also, I just found out after googling them to see if they have a confirmed gender that their name means "bribability" which I'm sure is just a coincidence!

It's unlikely that the anime would deviate from the manga's portrayal of Magia and Azul. It would be very misleading. We'll definitely get more of Sayo's "love" though, that's for sure. So if that's what you mean, I agree. But I don't think they'd add anime only scenes.

As for the fandom stuff: the early Azul fandom was largely based on her having the first prominent arc in the manga, but after these key moments, the series' direction becomes clearer. The upcoming episodes, including the Kiwi/Utena hotel scene and confession/promise, will solidify the direction of the relationships just like in the manga and the series never looks back after that:

That's what I meant though, because KiwiTena becomes more tangibly canon after that, IF they ever want to milk the Utena x Azul fanservice with extra scenes between them at all, now would be the last time to do it since afterwards the KiwiTena ship definitely sets sail and Azul falls into a more permanent "enthusiastic sub for anyone" role.

But for sure, since Kiwi managed to be endearing from the get-go in the anime, I don't think the anime-onlys will be as split on who Utena should be with as the manga readers were back at the start, so there may just not be much to milk there anyway.

Other characters have their own arcs, UtenaXKiwi develops and becomes a constant, Sayo molds into a leader (really only focused on supporting others and "love"), and Magenta and Sulfur become a pair, etc. They really can't mess with that, the rest of the series depends on these relationships. Plus Kiwi is very popular as well, as you said. It's been a long while since those early days.

Personally, I would love for them to add in some hints of Sulfur's feelings earlier than the manga did, because let's face it; it kinda came out of nowhere in the manga. I still like it and don't mind how it was done, but I think it would be better if they'd laid the groundwork earlier.

last edited at Mar 28, 2024 3:36PM

All in all, it was pretty satisfying. The Utena+Sayo moment was really sweet and I hope we get more of those in the manga. I kinda want Azul to be the first to figure out Baiser's identity and then keep it to herself for a long while.

Michiko already knows Utena's identity (and Utena knows hers). As rivals, they both agreed to keep their identities a secret from the others to maintain the balance. Sayo is too busy being touched by everyone she can get access to, to worry about anything else lol. She and the girl from Michiko's crew are in their own category at this point.

I'm looking forward to SulfurxMagenta figuring their feelings out, more LocoxLeber and Kiwi and Utena continuing their steady progress, as a couple and as stand-in "mothers" to Alice (their dynamic with Alice is one of my favorites). When the two of them team up to "play" with the magical girls it's always a fun time. They have too much synergy, its almost unfair. That ASMR play was just another hilarious example. Hope we get more seasons.

Enorme (Michiko) doesn't learn her identity until later, so it's not impossible to retcon that Azul learns it first and keeps it secret. (Not that I would put much stock in that happening, I'm just pointing out the possibility.)

That said, I could see them amping up some Utena x Azul goodness just for fanservice because it's one of the bigger ships and arguably the first one to take off in the fandom. (Utena x Kiwi, though canon, didn't really endear itself until later I feel, though the anime managed to make it endearing much sooner somehow.)

Final episode of the anime just dropped, and I was about to comment on how they obviously skimped on the animation at one point when they completely skipped showing Azul freezing that octopus, but then the big fight happened and I now understand where the whole season's budget went, good lord that was well done!

And as I had hoped, they finished the season with arguably the core character arc that represents the entire series in general; Baiser awakening Azul to her repressed desires, coaxing them out and helping her accept them as a part of herself regardless of cultural and social norms, steering her away from getting carried away with it when she delves too deep while still too inexperienced to do it safely, and eventually culminating in Azul figuring out a healthy outlet for it that ends up making her happier and healthier than ever before.

Wish they'd refined some of the checkpoints on that journey, but all in all the road was there. Here's hoping against all odds for a next season!

last edited at Mar 28, 2024 1:00PM

This is the best adaptation we could have gotten from the studio. Even with the obvious lack of budget, you can clearly see they put a lot of effort into it. But it seems most people here just like nitpicking and expect a 1:1 perfect adaptation.

"Nitpicking"
We're literally saying it has two notable issues that hold it back but is otherwise fantastic, everything else has literally been praise. Ditch the smug sarcasm please, there's no reason to be so confrontational.

The manga got across pretty well that Enorme was never really in Utena's league and it was always just a matter of Utena getting into her groove, but the anime put it across as more akin to a power-up than an "I am not left handed" moment.

What I feel is most missing in the anime here is just power in her voice. Sure, she does sound confident enough, but still barely breathing the words out. While the manga's thick lines on the speech bubbles, even more so in the second part, made Baiser just sound very, very powerful, with extra emphasis put on her words to truly drive her point home.

I actually don't think it's the voice acting that's the problem necessarily, it's the presentation and pacing of it.
There's no emphasize on the moment at all, it just kinda passes by as just another thing that happened.

They needed to slow down the pace and focus more attention and build-up on her speaking moments, not just zoom past them like they have been. Overall, I'm finding that the directing and pacing has been the real issue of the anime in general, which leads me to believe the problem is specifically the director not feeling the project, or at least not understanding what moments need emphasize and attention.

The two major moments that arguably define the entire series (Azul's fall and Utena disciplining Enorme) have both been very underwhelming.

? Slightly different wording from the translation team aside, the explanation was the same in both versions.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/looking_up_to_magical_girls_ch20#12

O_O

Have I gaslit myself? Mandela effect? @_@

Baiser's big lines were kind of disappointing though. The delivery didn't feel powerful enough, imo

Have to agree, sadly. :(

I thought it was better than expected but still not as good as it should've been.
I think my expectations were lowered by how underwhelmingly they did the delivery of Utena's disgust at Azul falling. I love the anime in general, but it seems to struggle a lot with the delivery on the big umph moments like Azul's falling and Utena's reversal against Enorme.

The manga got across pretty well that Enorme was never really in Utena's league and it was always just a matter of Utena getting into her groove, but the anime put it across as more akin to a power-up than an "I am not left handed" moment.

last edited at Mar 14, 2024 6:33PM

Episode 11 dropped and aside from, again, some questionable pacing and presentation issues, I thought it was fantastic.
Although, I either watched a bad translation of they changed the context of Lord Enorme's lolification slightly but notably.

In the manga, Utena transformed her to better match her appearance with the character that Enorme had just proven herself to be; a shallow one-note villain who's unrealistically clinging to childish and vague goals like "world domination" because she's just THAT childish and immature as a person.

The anime I watched just said Utena just did it because it would be easier to bully her... Which, honestly, kinda robs the whole event of it's point. It's meta-commentary of villains like her in general pop-culture, wrapped in character development for both her and Utena, progression of the plot and cementation of the greater tone and point of the series' essence; Utena is a Big Bad who exists to facilitate Magical Girls, playing the bad guy and doing "bad" and taboo things exclusively because it brings out the best in everyone around her.

Unless the translation team did a fucky-wucky, I'm not sure how I feel about the change.

last edited at Mar 14, 2024 2:33PM

The hottest chapter in the manga, chapter 10, is already on air, the studio also has the heart to make a story that is not in the manga for this episode alone. Explain why Utena likes mahou shoujo so much, let Kiwi go on a trip, add Azul's mental struggle, and the fight scene also has more tricks than the manga. I think the stage on panda is a bit quick, but I understand that if I concentrate more, it will become 18+. But when Azul begged, it was beyond expectations, her voice acting was extremely excellent, it sounded extremely sexy.
Oh and the villain of ss1 is already on air, uhm, we should call it the villain of the villain, right? Along with that is the debut of the second OTP pair in this series: the bottom couple Loco x Leber. Now all I need to do is wait to hear Loco's ridiculous song :V :V :V

I both agree and disagree about the anime; I think the voice acting is fantastic but the pacing and directing is severely lacking. Azul's begging was acted amazingly but the scene was completely devoid of omph and flow in presentation, looking and feeling more like just any other scene flying by rather than the arguable APEX of the entire series that it actually is.

I remember the early 2000's animes, when the big important scenes had intentionally slower pacing, musical crescendos, creative angles to frame events with the gravitas they deserved and it made them stand out as major memorable happenings, but modern anime to me have this persistent issue of everything just kinda zooming by at the same pace, more like they're just stating that these things happened and moving on than really telling the events with emotion or weight.

Remember in Naruto, the first time he uses the Fox's chakra against Haku and we get like solid MINUTES of just different shots slowly building up his transformation and the changes his body's going through before he revs up and explodes with violence? A modern anime would've just shown him with red eyes and then gone right into the action, and I feel like that's the same approach this manga's anime has.

last edited at Feb 21, 2024 7:43AM

At this point it seems obvious to me that Kopeko has subconsciously already rejected the idea of actually eating the other girl. If she wanted to do it then she could, but she keeps making up nonsensical excuses to not do it like "having to figure out how to break her neck" when that's not even an obstacle to doing it in the first place.

The idealist in me wants to think the setup of their circumstances is simply that she's an obvious dangerous monster that they're trying to rehabilitate into being able to coexist with humans and the girl is a trial run of sorts, but I wouldn't be shocked if it turns out the facility is much more insidious than that.

There's nothing wrong with being needy so long as you accept when that trait makes you incompatible with someone without holding a grudge and allow them to part ways with you.

You're allowed to set whatever boundaries you want or need in a relationship, as long as you extend the same courtesy to your partner and accept it when someone isn't suited to be with you because they can't accommodate your boundary and that they're not "at fault" for that.

Ayooo that hand going down at the end of page 3 kinda spicy!!

This is another universe Kase san

Page 1 of "chapter" 1 is literally her saying she's a bottom and gets really horny. xD