Matoi Sumeragi wishes for nothing more than to lead a normal life away from the spotlight. She is quite satisfied alternating between school and her part-time job at her best friend Yuma Kusanagi's family shrine. But this routine life is permanently disturbed when a Night—an evil extra-dimensional entity—attacks the shrine. Matoi is able to drive it off after unwittingly calling upon the powers of a god, the natural enemies of the Nights.
Matoi and Yuma are soon joined by Claris Tonitolus, an experienced exorcist from the Vatican, and agent Haruka Luciela, who works for the secretive Night defense organization IATO. Despite not knowing the perpetrator behind these attacks nor their motive, Matoi must come to master this newfound power in order to protect both the people around her and the once normal life she holds so dear.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
jc9622
I know you're looking at the studio right now and thinking "Hmm White Fox? I bet this is also going to be dark like Steins;Gate or Re:Zero". I'll get right to the point but this is NOT a magical girl show with a dark atmosphere. This is just a regular magical girl show. However, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this show. [Story]: (6.5/10) The story of "Soushin Shojou Matoi" (or Matoi The Sacred Slayed in English) isn't anything special like Madoka Magica or Yuki Yuna is a Hero. It's basically about a normal middle school girl named "Matoi" who wants to livea simple, ordinary life. Due to a sudden turn of events, she suddenly became a magical gir-...woops, my bad....I mean, an exorcist girl whose job is to exorcise the demons known as "The Nights". She and other exorcist girls teams up to defeat the Nights that's ravaging their world. Think of other magical girl shows out there and you'll barely notice any difference between this show and other magical girl shows. I guess the only slight difference here is that the girls here have their own "familiars" or what the show likes to call them "Kami" (Gods) which fights alongside them.
Now that doesn't mean the show is bad. Sure, this type of story has been done before but the show was surprisingly pleasant to watch. The show had a very mediocre start (1st episode was honestly bad, albeit really boring) but it progressively got better bit by bit as the show went on and by the 2nd half of the series, the show was enjoyable to watch and I ended up enjoying the story (The mystery about the Nights, who they are, what they're doing in this world and their purpose) as it unfolded. I also enjoyed the development between Matoi and her dad, which is, in my opinion, one of the best aspects of this show. Just ignore the scene where Matoi's dad accidentally groped her daughter's boobs, which is very disturbing even if it was only used for comical purposes.
Speaking of grabbing someone's boobs, the show doesn't have a lot of fanservice. Most of the fanservice scenes that you'll see are only present in the first half of the series. 95% of them are Matoi getting stripped and running around naked because anime. Thank God, my mom didn't walk in and spot a naked middle school girl running around on my screen or else she would have called the cops on me immediately even though I'm her son. Anyways, in the second half, the fanservice got very light. There's still the "obligatory" beach episode but unlike the other beach episodes out there, it wasn't some useless filler fanservice-heavy episode. The episode was still relevant to the plot which kinda surprised me.
The comedic aspect of the show was alright. Yuma is supposed to be the comic-relief character of this show but before the "Yuma-focused" episode, Yuma's actions weren't funny for the most part and at that point of the show, it became apparent to me that the show was just trying too hard to be funny. However, the episode that focused on Yuma was legit hilarious and it's when Yuma truly shined. Moving on, the dramatic aspect of the show was also ok but I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't one part of the show that made me emotional.
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[Art/Animation]: (8/10)
If you've watched any of White Fox's shows before then I can almost guarantee you that the first question that will pop up in your mind when you look at this show is "White Fox made this?" or somewhere along those lines. Judging by the art style, this doesn't even look like a White Fox show. This looks like something "Studio Trigger" made. That cheap-looking but somehow beautiful and unique looking art that Studio Trigger is known for is what Shoushin Shojou Matoi looks like. It makes me wonder if this is White Fox's insurance policy just in case Re:Zero flops because this show looks cheap compared to their other shows. Anyways, I actually like the art style. It looks somewhat unique and beautiful. The animation for the action scenes were also fairly smooth and wasn't a pain to watch.
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[Sound]: (9/10)
The OSTs for this show is awesome. No, it's not awesome. It's AMAZING!! Reading it off my review can't properly convey to you how amazing the OST is though so you have to listen to it for yourself. The OSTs for this show's action scenes is what made them more exciting to watch. I actually decided to research who did the OST and it turns out that Tatsuya Kato is the person who composed the OST. The same person who also did the OSTs for both seasons of Shokugeki no Souma (Food Wars) which explains everything. Now the OP and ED theme song(s)
The OP theme song is "Chou Musubi Amulet" by Mia REGINA. This OP is one of my Top 10 OP for this season. The song sounds very...I don't know how to say it properly....powerful. You'll understand once you listen to the song. The song is also very catchy and the singer's voice sounds wonderful.
The ED theme song is "My Only Place" by Sphere. I love songs that have dramatic/melancholic tune and the song was exactly just that which is the reason why I love this ED.
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[Characters]: (7/10)
Matoi Sumeragi, the main protagonist of the series, is a character that I ended up liking more and more as the show progressed. At first, I thought she was an annoying and useless character and I thought she was going to constantly whine throughout the series about her wanting a regular life despite the fact that she was chosen to become an exorcist girl but I'm glad she changed for the better at the end. Matoi isn't just some character who wants to fight because "Fuck it, I'm a Mahou Shoujo". She clearly doesn't want to fight because she wants a regular life but she fights because she wants to protect those she cares about. Especially her Dad.
Matoi and her Dad's relationship is one aspect of the show that I really enjoyed watching. Hell, I loved watching their relationship grow. At first, their relationship was a bit weird. The fact that Matoi calls her dad by his first name should already tell you that they have a strained relationship. As the story progressed though, you'll understand what happened between Matoi and her parents and why Matoi calls her Dad by his first name. The last 2 episodes which further enhances the father-daughter relationship are the scenes that they handled really well. It wasn't too melodramatic and it was a right amount of drama that admittedly made a guy like me emotional.
Matoi is a really good main protagonist and she also got a good amount of character development but unfortunately I can't say the same thing about the other characters. Yuma Kusanagi, a friend of Matoi, is at best a decent character. She was annoying at the start and truth be told, she almost ruined the show for me with her annoying-ass personality and her unfunny jokes but after she got her own dedicated episode, her character improved but she's still not as good as Matoi's character. She also got a decent amount of character development. Her backstory pretty much explained almost everything about her and why she's an exorcist girl.
One last character that I want to talk about is Claris Tonitolus. If it wasn't for the fact that she's one of the main character of the series, she would have been a completely forgettable character. Her personality is boring and they did explain why she is the way she is and her purpose for fighting the Nights but that doesn't change the fact that she was boring to watch at the first half of the series, besides her being a badass when she turns into an exorcist. Although, her character improved slightly on the second half so she was more bearable to watch on the second half.
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[Enjoyment]: (7.5/10)
Soushin Shojo Matoi was painful to watch at first. It was boring and I even thought of dropping this show but thank god, I stuck with it because it ended up being a good series at the end and a show that I enjoyed watching every week.
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[VERDICT]
I had somewhat of a high expectations when I decided to watch this show because it was being animated by White Fox and while it didn't really live up to my expectations, I still like the show for what it is. A regular magical girl show that isn't trying to be too dark or edgy and with a decent story and a good cast of characters which took time to get used to. This show is definitely recommended if you just want a magical girl show that isn't too dark in nature or characters suffering in despair.
[OVERALL]: (7.5/10)
Shingster
Soushin Shoujo Matoi is a magical girls genre anime that follows a rather ordinary girl as she inadvertently summons the powers of a god that gives her the power to become a magical girl whose purpose is to exorcise evil spirits. While certainly sounding like a average magical girls anime which was my initial thought as well the anime actually has a deeper lesson which is that of friendship that can overcome the hardest of hardships and that if your wish for something is strong enough they may very well come true. Soushin Shoujo Matoi follows the lives of Matoi Sumeragi a rather ordinary 14year old that just moved into the area to live with her father. Matoi is also a trainee shrine maiden that works at the local shrine. One day Matoi and her best friend Yuma inadvertently summon a god that grants Matoi the power to become a magical girl and thus becoming a rather unwilling defender of the city that she and her father live in. Matoi's appearance draws in different parties to determine who she is and at the same time she must defend the city against the evil spirits called nights that seek to unite the various dimensions that Earth is part off and rule over it. Along the way Matoi also discovers what made her mother leave her family and must also find and rescue her while fighting her own battles.
Matoi
Matoi voiced by veteran seiyuu Ayaka Suwa of Absolute Duo and Asterisk wars fame is one of the main characters of the show. A 15 year old trainee Miko that works at the local shrine with her best friend Yuma Matoi recently moved into the area to live with her father Shingo after her mothers sudden departure. Because she lived mostly with her mother she has little experience in living with her father and their attempts to know each other is one of the central points of the story. Matoi is a rather ordinary girl in that she cares little for fame or fortune and her one wish is to be an ordinary girl that has a ordinary family. Upon being granted the power of Divine possession by her friend and being granted a god and being able to transform into a magical girl Matoi was scared of the power and did not want to use it and want it as she just wanted to be ordinary. However this attitude of hers changes as she saves more and more people and finds the meaning of this and thus gaining the courage and reason for being a hero.
This slow gradual evolution of Matoi from the meek and easily scared girl to a girl that understands that her powers can be used to help and save those in need as well as protect those dear to her i felt was well done and one of the highlights of the show. Heroes are rarely ready for their duties and roles that they have been thrust into and most often they must find the reason why that they must fight for and the people that they should be protecting. Matoi's evolution i felt exemplified this belief perfectly. Ayaka Suwa i felt did a great job portraying the character of Matoi.
Yuma
Yuma voiced by veteran seiyuu Naomi Oozora is one of the main characters of the show. A 13 year old girl Yuma is Matoi's best friend and they both actually work at the shrine that her family owns. Cheerful, Hyperactive and loyal Yuma acts as the comic relief for the show always managing to cheer Matoi and co up when things look grim. Unlike Matoi Yuma wanted to become an exorcist because many of her ancestors were and will go to any lengths to become one. Yuma's inadvertent ritual was what gave Matoi the power of Divine Possession. Yuma's determination to become a exorcist forms one of the subplots for the story and was actually quite an enjoyable one when one sees just how much Yuma wants to become one and i was glad that the arc ended with her becoming one.
Yuma's seiyuu Naomi Oozora i felt did a great job portraying the energetic and lively Yuma and even in the most dire of situations her voice still makes me smile.
Clarus
Clarus voiced by veteran seiyuu Haruka Tomatsu of Sword Art online fame is one of the main characters of the show. A 15 year old girl and member of the Fatima which in the anime is the Vatican's secret anti creed service that deals with nights and creeds which are powerful demons. Clarus is an interesting character as she exhibited the most change out of all of the main characters of the show so much in fact that she seemed to have two different personalities. Clarus's first personality was a rather cold one that was all business with her only goal to eliminate the enemies of her organisation. Her only other goal at this time was to destroy the creed killer that was responsible for harming her former partner. This version of her i didn't like much as she was too focused on revenge and didn't care about anything else.
Clarus's personality does eventually change after she meets Matoi and Yuma and she quickly discovers the joys of having friends and someone that she can do what 15 year old girls should be doing namely hanging out, going shopping and eating delicious food. As a result of this Clarus actually become more positive having made friends that she cares about and with them plenty of good memories. This ultimately caused her to reevaluate herself and resulted in Clarus becoming happier and deciding to fight to protect their friendship.
Haruka Tomatsu i felt really did a great job here as the character of Clarus had many facets of personality that demanded great attention to which Haruka was easily able to portray.
Luciela Haruka
Luciela Haruka is one of the support characters on the show and is voiced by veteran seiyuu Ayako Kawasumi. A member of the IATO that also fights against the nights her character originally came to Japan to find out about the divine possession that was housed in Yuma's shrine but later become one of Matoi and Co's strongest allies.
Shingo
Shingo voiced by veteran voice actor Hiroki Touchi is one of the support characters of the show and is Matoi's father. A hard working police detective Shingo in addition to his job also has to deal with living with a daughter that until recently was living with his wife. Shingo's attempts to get to know his daughter form one of the central points of the anime and it was rather enjoyable seeing them try their hardest to get to know each other. As a police detective Shingo often has to deal with the effects of nights attacks on civilians within the city which often makes it hard for Matoi to operate and as such watching Matoi hide from Shingo during and after such a operation is quite funny. Watching the bond between the two develop over the series though was pretty heartwarming and even more so when the third arc stepped in.
Azumi
Azumi is a high ranking shrine maiden that works with Yuma's grandfather. Despite being a rather short woman Azumi is actually quite powerful and also has a rather mischievous personality that allows her to deal with different types of people quite easily and quite humorously for those involved. Azumi was played by veteran seiyuu Mayumi Shintani.
Hideo Tezuka(Pochi)
Hideo Tezuka that Shingo calls Pochi is a police detective that assists Shingo in his cases. Lazy, carefree and a womanizer one wonders how he become a police officer and indeed Pochi mainly serves as comic relief for the show along with Yuma. Later on it becomes clear that Pochi is not who he seems to be.
Amane Yayoi
Amane Yayoi voiced by veteran seuyuu Ayahi Takagaki of Sword art online fame is a shrine maiden that works for an organisation that fights the nights in Japan. Amane knew Matoi's mother Shiori and respected her a great deal and was also her best friend. Amane and everyone that she works with knows the sacrifice that Shiori made in sealing the hole that threatened the world. As such Amane took Shiori's words and wishes too heart and took care of Matoi and Shingo. When Amane discovered that Matoi had also become a magical girl Amane was surprised that she was following in the footsteps of her mother and provided her with advice on her fears and worries that she had. Most importantly Amane was able to tell Matoi her mothers reason for taking up her task that caused her to vanish further easing her burdens and making Matoi understand the reason her mother chose that path.
Amane's seiyuu Ayahi Takagaki i felt did a great job portraying Amane and despite being a support character i felt that she could have been a good main character as well.
Arts and animation
Art style for the series i felt was pretty well done with the character designs being pretty well designed. The fight scenes were very well animated and detailed and the environments were nicely drawn and designed.
Music
The series had some really good music and i loved the opening and ending themes. The series also made skillful use of insert songs which was all pretty good.
Voice acting
Voice acting for the series i felt was top notch with particular praise going to Ayaka Suwa, Naomi Oozora and Haruka Tomatsu who voiced Matoi, Yuma and Clarus respectively. Ayahi Takagaki who portrayed Amane also did a great job playing her character.
Conclusion
Soushin Shoujo Matoi i felt was a great anime that had a great story, excellent setting, excellent fight scenes and well designed characters that was played by an excellent voice cast. Initially i wasn't so sure of Matoi as a character as i felt that she lacked the motivation and the reason to be a hero but i stuck with it and i have to say that im glad that i did. Seeing Matoi's gradual evolution as a character from being scared and indecisive to a determined and skilled magical girl that finds a reason to fight and the things that she wants to protect was really heartwarming and im glad that in the end Matoi was able to seal the hole and save the world while also using her wish to save her mother. Matoi's ultimate goal and wish of finding her mother and bringing her back so that she can have an ordinary family like an ordinary girl does sound silly when you put it that way but it was a great wish that emphasized on Matoi's personality which is that of an ordinary girl. This was an anime that started slow but gradually got better as it went on with each character getting plenty of character development ultimately making them better characters.
FireEmblemIke24
DISCLAIMER: Had to re-upload because of fallacies in my opening statement. Matoi the Sacred Slayer is an under-viewed show but don't let that stop you from watching it if you are a fan of the magical girl genre. An area that I find MtSS to be particular lacking is the plot/story department which is what this show struggles with to a large extent. I can’t confirm whether it wants to be an episodic show with an overarching storyline or that it undergoes the linear format which is not the case through retrospection. It all takes off with shrine maiden Sumeragi Matoi being shocked with the fact thatshe has managed to awaken her latent magical abilities. This act of transforming in to a magical girl is called a Divine Union, which is the process of undergoing a physical connection with a supernatural God that has manifested itself and is unique to that individual. This enables her to consciously borrow powers from her aligned God to partake in battles involving demons that are commonly known as Nights. These ‘Nights’ are evil demons that take possession of unsuspecting individuals, hence allowing them to manipulate their bodies to their liking while deriving the host of their own consciousness.
There isn’t much to add to this point as most episodes follow the same format of encountering a Night at some point. The lack of variation is the downfall for this series, the residue of depth that is left to be filtered is a quick process because in the end its just magical girls fighting enemy demons. There is expansion in the form of how the world functions combating these walking disasters known as the Nights. The anti-creed of Fatima is an organisation based in the Vatican with the objective of banishing all the Nights from the world. They send out two individuals with one of them being Clarus Tonitolus aiding in the efforts of fighting these atrocities that are out to do harm. It is known she can activate Divine Union herself but it is usually controlled due to the fact she is supervised by her superior Cariot, who she reports to on a timely basis.
A character known as Haruka Luciela makes her introduction representing a scientific organisation called the IATO. Her role is basically to record the findings of Nights through special instruments which can detect their presence as they appear which isn’t hard to do considering they all turn up next to Matoi. There is some exposition with regards to the world and the number of dimensions that exist in the universe. The peaceful Gods and mischievous Nights vacate a total of 24 dimensions which sounds kind of silly at first, it just feels like an arbitrary number. They could instead have a single different dimension housing the supernatural entities to simplify things but that’s just a minor gripe of mine.
The lack of plot does not give rise to poorly written characters, quite the contrary in fact. Matoi having just reunited with her detective father Sumeragi Shingo is struggling to adjust with her new surroundings. The idea of calling her father on a first name basis feels strange but understandable when you consider the fact she was living with her grandparents just recently. The absence of her mother who disappeared without a trace is noticeable which was brought up countless times by Shingo.
The awkwardness is there, as Matoi finds it a challenge just to make small talk with her only existing parent. The longing of her mother is a dream that she wants fulfilled sincerely and her father shares the same exact sentiments through his inner monologues. An aspect that irks me is the lack of openness between each other, as Matoi keeps her identity of being a shrine maiden of Divine Union a secret to avoid implications.
Kusanagi Yuma is apparently the cousin of Matoi considering she is also a shrine maiden herself and is quite clingy at times. She comes from a family of priests who specialise in the act of exorcism and are quite informed about Divine Unions and Gods in general. Yuma is known to have had her abilities sealed, as they leaked out during her early childhood but has managed to reawaken them through determination and sheer persistence.
The other user of Divine Union Clarus is given some characterisation during her screen time which is seen through her flashbacks. A close friend of Clarus’ was left in a vegetative state after being attacked by a Night which has only fuelled more fire to her hatred of the Nights. Her objective in the end is to help the goals of Fatima to prevent similar situations from reoccurring. Other than that, she doesn’t progress that much and remains largely a static character.
I didn’t mention this until now but one aspect I found to be just stupid and quite frankly unnecessary was the reversion of Divine Union. The reversion causes the magical girls to lose all their clothes, effectively leaving them buck naked for all to see which in this case are middle schoolers, who are under the age of 16 and are classified as children. It got so bad to the point that Matoi was contemplating on stocking up on clothes considering her closet was running bare. This isn’t a pet peeve but an actual concern of criticism. This would be resolved if this wasn’t inserted in the script and countless shows have gotten around this issue – see One Piece and logia devil fruit users.
Now on to the general aesthetics of the show, the character designs are looking smooth but for the females is giving them that moe look to appeal to the targeted audience (them otaku). The designs are kind of exaggerated with the eyes being enlarged but not to the level of Clannad. The characters are distinct in terms of appearance making them easily distinguishable. For example, Haruka is the blonde lady wearing the cream office suit accompanied by her large bosom. That was an extreme example but the fact of the matter is, she’s only there for fan service.
The animation by White Fox is fine but there was no ‘Sakuga’ scenes I could find and it feels inferior to Re;Zero’s animation which finished last season. It might just be the art style in general but nothing stood out apart from the flashy colour palette which contributed to the glitter and flashiness. The sound is composed by Katou Tatsuya who is known for his works Mirai Nikki, Shoukugeki no Souma just to name a few. The show incorporates a lot of wind composed music which is evident in the opening and other segments.
The use of the drums is emphasised to the point it may be a standalone piece or in combination with other instruments. The drums are personally to my liking as it’s complementary to the Japanese setting which involves shrine maidens, who are most familiar with its usage. The voice acting for the characters was alright but for characters like Yuma felt way too childish compared to their age, other than that nothing stood out as being noteworthy.
To conclude, the show is not that imaginative compared to other similar series. You'll get a happy ending in this one for those seeking that type of finale. It's kind of meh to me as it never really resonated with me.
BlueSkylark
Soushin Shoujo Matoi For my rating system I did not use the 1-10 scale. I used the 1-5 "The Little Man" Scale. For more information check out my profile. Story: (2) Let's start of with the weakest part of the show, which is the story. In general it is a basic light-hearted magic girl story. The main character just one day stumbles into this world of exorcism and needs to learn everything about it before fighting evil.(sound familiar ?) In each episode they face new monsters to save themself or others, but rather than having a clear set end goal the show is more about the character interactions, theirbackstory or what they wish for. That is why I would argue that the show is rather character-driven.
One of the biggest problems that the show, in terms of story has is that in the early stage the writting fails massivly to engage the viewer into the story. At first it felt convoluted in some aspects and made next to no progress, also they made no effort to develop the main cast. That is why they were kinda awful at first.
A major factor that it felt convoluted was that there were two organisations introduced early on and both of them were for the most part of the show completly meanigless. One is a bit understandable since one of the main cast was with them, but the other one was completly pointless and felt tacked on.
There are also some things about the different dimensions which were poorly explained as well.
What you also should expect coming into this is your typical deus ex Machina Shoujo/Shounen type writing. So if you want some smart tactics to turn the tides of battles or a well thought out plan before engaging this will definitely not be your cup of tee.
The other thing that Shounen/Shoujo battle type writing is also present in here, which means that there is a clear cut between the good/bad characters. You will find next to no gray areas in this show.
The positive side of the story is that all loose ends are tied up and I found no majoy plot-holes.
Animation: (4)
The studio that is responsible for this Anime is White Fox and the art director in charge was Yoshito Takamine, who also made the art for Re:Zero Kara and Akame ga Kill. With that being said, you can probably imagine what type of quality the animation in this show has.
Let's start off with the battle scenes they look gorgeous. The attacks look stunning, especially the one from the main character. There are next to no flaws with that. The only nitpick I have is that they did nothing insanely great like rotation-shots or highly dynamic scenes. This results out of the fights being most of the time either ranged attacks or one-shot melee attacks.
Next are the backgrounds they have a consistently high standard and do not feel cheap. The only thing I wished for would be that they should have had more variety on the higher dimensions(besides the highest one which was fascinating to look at).
At last we come to the characters and how they looked. The thing I disliked the most about them is their faces. There are 2 different types of faces in this show, which is sometimes a bit strange.
Other than I really liked the costumes. They were unique for each character and they fit the personality of the character quite well.
For the design of the villains they were easy to differentiate too. However I think some of their designs looked too simple.
Sound: (5)
Now we get into the good part. The music for this show is done by Katou Tatsuya his other works include the OSTs for Mirai Nikki, Free and Shokugeki no Souma.
The OST he created for this show is orchestral for the most part, yet it also has some pieces which are played on flute.
He also uses vocals on his soundtrack. Some are used in the form of a chorus and some are used as a solo, not as a language, but to add the sound of a human voice to his pieces.
One Track in particular is exceptionally well made, which is the one that plays after most fights shift in favor of the good side.
The OP/ED are not outstanding, yet I listened to both of them a couple of times.
The seiyuus did also a fine job in carrying the emotional weight that their respective roles had. I especially liked Shingo's Seiyuu. However I thought that one in particular was over-the-top cartoonish. The sound is definitely not the best one I heard yet, but it is really memorable and terrifically made.
Character: (4)
Have I mentioned that the show started of uninteresting yet ?
Well the weak start, on the side of the story, was like poison for the characters early on too.
At first sight the main cast consisted of an annoying-loudmouthed sidekick, a badass sidekick and our main character which ran around like a headless chicken for the first 4 Episodes.
However all of the 3 main cast members improved tremendously when each of them got their dedicated episodes to them. Especially the main heroine went from really cowardly over a phase of struggle and doubt to become someone capable accepting her fate. This is a rather standard development for most heroes/heroines, but I really want to point out that it was done well in this show. All of the characters had also clear and understandable motivations for what they did.
Besides the characters individually their relationships also grew a lot. For me personally the best depicted one, was between Matoi and her father Shigeo. It had layers and was well constructed from start to finish. From the awkward interactions to some stuff I won't spoil here, it was a really heartfelt story.
From the 6-7 supporting cast members there was only one character, which was, in my eyes, completely pointless and had no reason to be in the story at all. The rest had either and emotional weight or were crucial for the story progression.
A bit of a letdown in the character section were also the villains. Most of them had no real backstory, no motivation for what they did and were overall completely lackluster. In some regard it felt like that some of them were only there to be smashed.
Enjoyment:(4)
I had no expectations coming into this show, but it positively surprised me and exceeded my expectations, because I probably enjoyed it more than I should have.
Still the target audience was not my demographic, because of that I did not like the storytelling of too much black/white. I could have been layered better with some shades of gray.
It also started of rather generic for the first 4-5 Episodes. Which made me drop it for around 2 weeks.
However as the show progressed the characters grew more and more up to the point, where they started to become likable.
Also for the Animation White Fox brought their A-Game and put a lot of effort into most of the scenes. Besides that the OST is gorgeous and elevates the show with well timed orchestral pieces and a beautiful battle theme.
Overall I would say besides the weak story and the shallow antagonists the show had everything I hoped for and I enjoyed watching it.
Silyon
What does living an ordinary life mean to you? How much of it would you be willing to give up for the sake of protecting it? Soushin Shoujo Matoi is here to bring us answers to these questions from the perspective of a middle school girl who, as most magical do, accidentaly gets magic powers and is forced to save the world. And with that one sentence I have pretty much summed up the story of Matoi. Story is not the forte nor is it the focus in the anime. It much more serves as the backdrop and device to keep the characters busy rather than actually beingthe point of interest. And I can't say I was bothered too much by this fact. Everything else in the anime, especially the characters and overall atmosphere of the anime, manages to keep it an interesting watch.
Before I go ahead and talk a bit about the characters I want to take some time and address what I think were the goals of the anime. Storytelling goes out the window since as I've mentioned earlier going into the anime and expecting a good story is as foolish as going into AnoHana expecting a knee-slapping comedy.
But the anime manages to even make what little story it has not boring by going against and embracing certain magical girl tropes. The anime in the beggining almost feels like a parody of the entire magical girl genre, except it really isn't. I don't know if parody was their goal but the entire middle part of the anime feels like one big joke. Heck at one point, one of the main characters even hijacks the opening sequence.
In all seriousness though, I think the writers for the show must have somehow forgotten their original plan when writting past the second episode, since the first episode starts out as regular mahou shoujo fair and is by far the most boring episode of the series. After the second episode and up until the later parts of the final arc there is little to no seriousness to be found in the show. I don't know why the show is like this, but it works and if it weren't like this and would instead go for a more standard and cliched, more cliched than it already is, route it would have been way less entertaining.
But enough about the seriously confused writing, I'll take some time now to talk about the more important characters of the show starting with, obviously, our main exorcist girl Matoi.
Matoi feels like a main character that's also part of the comic relief duo of the show. Which is really odd considering that at one moment she needs to act like the straight man to her counterpart Yuma, and the next moment she needs to be super serious tackling some super-dimensional threat.
In the beginning of the show she is the unwilling mahou shoujo with an attitude that makes her instantly likeable. She doesn't want to be a magical girl and she let's you know it.
As far as her character development goes, she might be the only character in the show to undergo any major developement with her slowly warming up to her job as a magical girl.
After Matoi we have the sidekick characters Clarus and Yuma who could form a comedic duo in their own right. In fact, any character in the show when put together with Yuma will probably seem like the straight man of the duo. You'd think that her constant hyperactive, loud, obnoxious antics would get old and annoying quickly but they miraculously don't. In fact she might be my favourite character from the entire show just because she has the "loudest" personality, even when every other character is dead serious, she isn't. She manages to be obnoxious to the characters in the show without being obnoxious to the viewer. Probably because we never actually see a character get annoyed at her, which makes her feel less frustrating than she actually is.
Clarus on the other hand is the most serious character on the show, if you discount her dead-inside partner that is. Once again we are presented with an extreme to round off our trio of magical girls. She is the extremely focused on her job, no-nonsense, blonde who balances out Yuma's shennanigans. If you've ever seen this type of character before, you can probably guess how her story plays out especially after finding out that wishes empower the beings that give the girls their powers.
You can't have characters in an anime without animating them and holy hell did White Fox ever screw the pooch on that. The anime uses a mix of CG and handdrawn animation in most of it's scenes and for the most part the special effects and fight scenes look decent and there's not much I can comment on there. The animation for the less action-packed parts of the anime sometimes looks like it was done in 2 minutes by an some unpaid intern. Faces often times look derpy and limbs, especially hands look like there was little to no effort put into them. Sometimes when characters are in motion they look a bit gooey and the linework all around looks a bit unstable.
It's not the worst I've ever seen, Studio Pierrot has done worse, but it would still pull me out of the experience whenever I saw a derp face or a misshapen hand or leg.
All in all I think Soushin Shoujo Matoi deserves a bit more recognition than it got because it is a genuinely fun anime and should appeal to most mahou shoujo fans. Even if you're generally not a fan of magical girls this anime does away with a few of the cliches that make magical girl anime be a bit repetitive. It doesn't pull a Madoka on the genre, nor does it perfectly embrace the tropes of the genre like Cardcaptor Sakura but it does what it wants to do really well and manages to create a very entertaining experience.
If you're looking for a more recent entry into the genre I suggest you give this title a shot.
LegendAqua
"Being ordinary's is the best!" - Matoi Sumeragi Matoi just wanted to have a normal life...however this is a magical girl anime, so she becomes an magical girl who exorcises demons.....Oops. Soushin Shoujo Matoi in the early episodes falls under the "Demons of the Week" a la traditional magical girl anime fair and simultaneously giving character development to our 3 main magical girls of Matoi Sumeragi voiced by Ayaka Suwa, Claris Tonitolus voiced by Hisako Kanemoto and Yuma Kusanagi voiced by Naomi Oozora. Soushin Shoujo Matoi does have a bigger picture outside from all this as well and it does kinda make Matoi herself a somewhat messiahcharacter HOWEVER bringing in Matoi's family and friendships can be used as a compromise.
Let's talk about the magical exorcist main girls with Claris, she is your strict, by the book and at the start is rather volatile to Matoi, but thankfully because of Matoi and Yuma breaks her out of her shell, she becomes more compassionate towards them and a more honorable magical girl and she gets a rather executed resolution towards her "duty" vs. "her own beliefs" by the end of the anime. Yuma on the other hand is quite the meta-character, due to her wanting to be a exorcist girl and before she became one, she was your token best friend of the main character/token comic relief, but once she did and gave her character development, she one part meta-took over the OP with images of her plastered all over the place, the other part brought in more supporting characters to move the plot forward, Yuma was LA's favourite character by the way. Finally we have Matoi, the titular character, really she is the central character both helping Yuma and Claris during their character development episodes, helps exorcise the demons at times, tries to conceal her exorcist persona from her once-estranged detective father Shingo voiced by Hiroki Touchi (to solidify their relationship is distant is that Matoi calls her by his first name, not "Dad" yeah) and finally her wanting to find out what happened to her mother...yeah Matoi really has the central character focus on her and it really isn't a bad thing.
In terms of minor characters, like Cariot voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama a higher up to Claris of the Fatima, Yuma's extended family and Haruka Luciela voiced by Ayako Kawasumi a secret agent investigating the demons (Nights). For their extent, they really are just support characters as well as giving crucial information to the main trio.
The bigger picture comes from the higher up Nights planning something behind the scenes along with Matoi's plotline of her missing mother and these two plotlines coincide with one another, really even though this is in the background for the majority of the anime, it does bring it in through plot twists along with final 3 episodes where it's in the foreground and quite open to many of the character revelations and opening up to one another, this especially great emotionally intense by Matoi and Shingo's relationship.
In terms of fanservice, well the biggest problem is that although there are transformations scenes of the main trio, well...uhhh FOURTEEN YEAR OLDS...-sigh- fine..fine...call it a Sailor Moon allusion in some sense, but nonetheless..FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, the other and only other fanservice material comes from Haruka Luciela, mainly from the camera shots of her god damn cleavage and many of the adult male characters tends to bring it up.
In terms of animation, done by Studio White Fox, the animation is utterly gorgeous to watch, as the background work in this anime is just "crisp" and just pops with it's bright colorful aesthetics when you look at it, LA is mainly saying the animation that emphasis the "Higher Dimension" world and to contrast the more "Night" dimensions brings on the more more grungy kaleidoscopic splash of blacks, greys and green their dimensions give out. The characters designs are fairly moe but still colorful and detailed especially with Claris, Matoi and Yuma's magical outfits, though the other minor character designs are rather "exotic" especially Haruka and many of the Higher Night's character designs. The Higher Gods animation being what LA can see, a blend of traditional animation and CGI was decent though not to the point blatancy of being CGI..and *cough* horrible looking. Really a HUGE strength to the animation done by White Fox easily goes to the beautiful background work and colorful battles.
In terms of voice acting, for the majority of the cast, they did rather decently and yes there are some squeakers in the form of Yuma and Matoi (Naomi Oozora and Ayaka Suwa respectively), but it wasn't for LA, to the point of annoyance, the standout to Soushin Shoujo Matoi's voice cast would go to Hisako Kanemoto as Claris and Hiroki Touchi as Shingo Sumeragi.
The ending did a good job in giving a satisfying ending in the form of tying up all loose ends, although the execution all falls under Matoi's ultimatum and considering LA's quote at the beginning of this anime review is anything to go by, you "might" have an inkling as to how this kind of ending turned out. LA really love how the finale didn't push Matoi into some messiah figure (though the buildup certainly did for this very reason), instead giving every character a bit of the limelight and it's not just Matoi trying to solve everything herself, she had support from Yuma, Claris, the Fatima and Yuma's extended family etc. towards her ultimate goal in order to grant her wish.
Soushin Shoujo Matoi look at first a typical traditional magical girl anime just with the added twist with family issues, but Soushin Shoujo Matoi really delved deeper in how a strained daughter, father relationship is from all it's strengths and weaknesses it has for all the cliches and magical girl cliches it invokes but being mature about the matter, on the hand it also brings up "duty" vs. "your own beliefs" all manifested to Matoi and Claris respectively making the character development towards these character really investable. The ending "might have took the easy route in some respects but for an anime ending that ties up all the loose ends, in LA's books, it was a good way to end things due to the build up and massive scale it lead to in both plot and character-wise. Nonetheless Soushin Shoujo Matoi holds it's belief that "ordinary is the best" much like Matoi does, thus a "traditional magical girl" anime isn't that bad either what with it's characters and gorgeous animation being it's strengths to back it up.
pinkraichu
Unlike many magical girl anime, Matoi The Sacred Slayer didn't include magical girls. Instead, it featured exorcist girls- girls that could harness the power of different gods to fight demons. The beginning of the show felt like it was having an identity crisis. It's almost like the writers tried to include every element they could, and fell flat on their faces. Firstly, it jumped into things way too quickly. I honestly had no idea what was going on. This is normal for many first episodes, but there were a lot of other elements included that distracted me. The first episode tried to include alot of comedy (hence the fan service), and it didn't work. The fan service was thrown in the audience's face, which took away from the show and was distracting, as I said. After the first few comedic opening scenes, the show became darker. The concepts of demons and possession were exposed, and the creators did a good job of making these parts very creepy. But then... the show would go back into the goofy, funny scenes. It didn't transition well and clashed with the eerie themes. It made me wonder, "Is this show trying to be funny or serious? I can't tell." I think this mixed message is what turned off a lot of viewers.
Matoi, the main chararcter, didn't help at first either. She was a typical teenage girl who was unknowingly thrown into crazy circumstances. At the beginning, she was used for a lot of the comedic scenes. For example, her exorcist girl outfit evaporates when she undoes her transformation, which leaves her naked. Whenever this happened, she would shriek and run away, making a fuss. What was supposed to be funny came off as irritating. Matoi seemed useless, demeaned as someone to laugh at, with no other quality traits.
The poor executed comedy really took away from the show. The only comedy this show needed was Yuma. She was enthusiastic and funny without being over-exaggerated, but the writers didn't seem to understand this until later.
After the first few episodes, around the half way mark, the show started the become much better. Vital background information was explained, and things started to make sense. We learned a lot more about Matoi and Shingo's past, which made me understand and appreciate them more as characters. As the story's conflict became more complicated and Matoi began to learn about her past and personal responsibilities, Matoi began to mature. Instead of focusing on her blunders, the writers emphasized her character development, which helped make her more likable.
The overall tone of the show became more serious as well. The fan service lessened (except for the swimsuit episode), and without it or the dumb comedy as a distraction, the show felt more real and less forced. This made the darker moments more believable and enjoyable. Whenever there was a funny moment, it was usually thanks to Yuma (that's my girl!), but it was actually funny and didn't take away from the show like the fan service did.
I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the ending was truly great. With the background story revealed and the characters'personal development, the ending was meaningful. Some could argue that it was little typical or overly sentimental, but I enjoyed it. Besides emotional appeal, the last episode had visual appeal as well. The upper dimensions looked colorful and beautiful as Matoi travels through them. The music added an exotic feeling that matched the colors and Matoi's ascension. The very ending of the show was very sweet, and can pull some heartstrings. The end was also funny as well, but in a good way. No fan service- just Yuma and her shenanigans.
So, why did this show have so much trouble in the beginning? One obvious reason could have been that the writers were trying to find their groove, and didn't figure things out until later. But I think there is an underlying issue that the writers were grappling with, and that's the audience. Usually, magical girls shows are geared toward a younger audience. However, this anime had themes that may not have been appropriate for younger viewers. I am not talking about the fan service here- I'll get to that in a minute. What I am referring to is the concept of the show.
Most magical girls get their powers through some supernatural means, but the reasons why aren't very complex. But Matoi had a rather complicated concept. Her powers as an exorcist girl were granted by gods, beings from an alternate dimension. According to the show, there were multiple dimensions and various gods. This is something that a younger audience may struggle to comprehend. Gods and higher dimensions may be a bit over their heads. A lot of Matoi's character development may have been hard for children to understand as well. Matoi is a teenage girl who doesn't know her mother. She struggles with getting to know her father and her identity as a person. There is a fair amount of teen angst she goes through. Some younger viewers may understand her plight, but it is definitely more relatable to someone who is a teenager, and may be going through something similar.
Therefore, I think the creators were trying to cater this anime toward teens and adults. If kids aren't going to be watching it anyway, why not add some elements that will attract more teens and adults? This brings in the fan service. You cannot deny that fan service on general has gotten more and more popular over the years, and the creators probably thought it would help them get more views. However, in this particular anime, the fan service hurt the show, rather than adding to it.
Despite its inadequate beginning, I enjoyed this anime. What impressed me the most was the concept. The idea of an exorcist girl who controls the power of a god is fascinating to me. The concept of other dimensions was interesting as well. If you want to watch something that uses a different take on magical girls, I highly recommend this anime. Unfortunately, the fan service, and the sloppy execution of the story and other elements did hurt the show as a whole.
ismichi
In order to avoid spoilers, I'll sum things up instead: The story allowed room for so much simple, generic mahou shojo goodness. What did the series decide to do? Ignore at least half of the things it set up to be done. Which left both loopholes and a lack of theme to prevail. Instead making it super complicated with no resolve to be had. Like, I could've gotten behind this series. But every time something was set up, my disappointment was rising -- time was running out and nothing seemed to be getting resolved SO MUCH AS TOUCHED AGAIN. I wasn't even expecting it tobe something super serious or "groundbreaking", etc. I just wanted something simple and cute. But I was met with half-attempted storytelling, and got angry instead.
Lorone
The anime has a flew cliches here and there, but overall, the anime is good. The story follows the same cliches like "Friendship saves the day" and such. However, it did make me uncomfortable on the first few episodes due to fan-service. The other cliches are quite fitting for the story. The art actually caught my eye, which kept me watching throughout the whole series, which not many can do. Sound on the other hand, was quite good. The voice actors did a good job. 'Plause to them! Character development is awfully shocking. Not in the bad way, but in the good way. Every character was ableto adapt fast, if not, changed a ton from where they began.
Saying that, the anime is good.
