Magic User's Club Vol. 2 |
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After watching the second volume of
Magic User's Club, I don't think I've ever laughed so
much at an anime series. Sure, I've laughed at anime for
bad reasons before... Gasaraki's boring plot, Digimon's
static animation, Sonic the Hedgehog's bad... everything.
This time around, however, I was laughing for all of the
right reasons. Magic User's Club is almost pure
fan-service, but in the end isn't that what all of us
fans want? If you haven't watched the first volume, here's the lowdown. Several years ago, a giant bell appeared in outer space, bringing with it lots of alien invaders. Attempts to fight these invaders have ended with horrible results, so the people of earth have learned to coexist with the aliens in peace. However, at a High School somewhere in Japan, there exists the Magic User's Club, devoted to somehow defeating the bell and returning the world to the way it once was. The real aliens have never been seen, only their robotic scouts that patrol the earth and seem to take an interest in those who can use magic. The third episode of this six part OVA introduces us to Akane, the more conceited of the group. Previously only seen in short scenes with her boyfriend(s) in the past two episodes, she finally gets a little screen time of her own this time. Akane uses magic for her own personal means(like disposing of said boyfriends), which makes a few of the members of the club, namely Sae and Nanaka, not too pleased with her. Meanwhile, the mysterious man and his photographer are investigating the incident in the last episode, trying to figure out just how the Magic User's Club is connected to the Bell. Not soon after retiring after a long night of dating, Akane finds herself being carried away by one of the invaders' scouts, and it's up to the unsure Sae to save the group from imminent doom. The way she does save them is a little... odd, and has something to do with her little bear, Jeffy, much like in the last episode. The fourth episode on the disc was probably my favorite episode so far, as the group stops fighting aliens to go on a trip to the beach. Hey, it doesn't advance the plot, but you get to see all of the girls run around in swimsuits. I'm perfectly O.K. with that. Their magic training is soon interrupted, however, when the busty Miyama, president of the comic club and Takakura's rival, shows up to rain on their parade. Takakura and Sae end up getting hired to do a few magic "tricks" for the club, with chaotic results. The rest of a team gets a chance to split up and we get to learn a few more things about the characters because of this. Nanaka's love for Aburatsubo(it'll never work) and Sae's love(?) for Takakura really come out in the last scene of this episode, and a very touching one at that. I guess dramatic moments are in Magic User's Club's forte as well. Being such a short DVD at only sixty minutes, I was only left wanting more after this release. Thank heavens Media Blasters is releasing the Magic User's Club TV series after all of the OVA series is out. I just can't get enough of these characters. It says a lot that after only four episodes you have a group of characters you have gotten to know so well. Some of them may not be the most well-developed, no pun intended, but I never got tired of them while watching this volume. In fact, I watched this DVD again the next day after I initially watched it the evening before. That's a rare thing for me, and even though the DVDs only give you the show in small doses, I was completely satisfied with what I saw. They did a great job with the writing, and I'm already counting the days until the next volume is released. I also wanted to point out that for a comedy series, the animation was really excellent. Mostly everything moves very fluidly, and that OVA budget really shines in the action sequences. The characters themselves are some of the most animated characters in all of anime, and they just don't stand there while their mouths open and close. They're always moving, and have about a million different expressions, given the situation. It's the little things like body language and facial expressions that not many people consciously notice, but really add a lot to a show like this. The last big thing I wanted to point out is the dub. Usually, "dub" is a four-letter word to me, as I tend to lean more towards the original Japanese language track. Fortunately for me, the dub cast in Magic User's Club did an excellent job and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing(based on the out-takes that I watched). There's not a weak voice in the bunch, and I'm hoping some of these actors will get to play more roles, as I've only heard one of them on a different show before. I love Sae's voice actress, she portrays the character perfectly, adding that little bit of uncertainty that the character has in her. It may be easier to dub a comedy show, but it was an excellent job all around. Video quality has actually improved a lot on the second volume. The rainbows that plagued the first disc are almost completely nonexistent, except for one instance of them. Everything looks really great, and it looks like Media Blasters took their time to improve this aspect of the DVD. The sound remains the same, some great, whimsical music with a decent stereo mix. The presentation of this volume gets high scores in my book. Out-takes, a Media Blasters standard, are included in this release. I have to say that these were hilarious, including eight minutes of bloopers from the first four episodes. Sae's voice actress seems like she's having WAY too much fun at her job, with most of her slip-ups being intentional. I want to meet this girl... Also included is the creditless version of the calming closing song, always a nice treat. Magic User's Club may only be sixty minutes but I guarantee that you will be howling for all sixty of those minutes. I picked it up on a whim, and now that you've read my review you have a reason to pick it up. I'm waiting... - Bob Mackey |
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