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Thursday, October 20, 2016

Stella no Mahou Dropped:

There's nothing really offensive about this series (though the granny threatening her guests with a knife was going too far even as a joke), but there's nothing that sets it apart either.  The characters seem boring and lifeless compared to New Game, which does everything Stella does but infinitely better.  They don't seem to have any true 'character' to them at all.  They're just the 'writer,' the 'musician,' the 'leader,' and the 'artist.'  There's nothing that really sets them apart, like the wonderful goddess in Konosekai, or the mage who only casts explosion magic.  It's possible to have someone be a 'job class' and still retain their individuality and charm points.  Bakuman was fantastic at this.  Stella no Mahou just doesn't know how to do it.

Its humor is lifeless compared to New Game.  The girls aren't cute enough for the bath scenes to do anything.  Everything is lacking.  I think the biggest issue is that the writing is lacking.  Who cares if four girls want to get together and create a crappy game no one will play or care about?  If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone care?

They've never given me any reason to care about anything that happens in this show.  It's like watching paint dry.  If I want to watch cute girls do cute things, shouldn't I be watching adrenaline pumping Girls und Panzer or Brave Witches, where they do that while fighting with freaking heavy machinery and putting their lives on the line?  What does Stella no Mahou have that isn't redundant and made obsolete by other shows that are all strictly superior to it?  I can't think of anything.  This feels like such a cookie cutter series.  No imagination, no individuality, no theme.  I don't have time for mediocrities that can't establish anything likable about themselves individually in even three episodes.  Maybe someday Idol Memories will come out subbed.  Until then my watchlist is narrowed down to just 9 shows.  (7 of which are part of long running great franchises, 2 of which may well be great anime themselves, but at the very least are definitely good series I'll watch to the end.)

Girlish Number and Shuumetsu no Izetta are more than enough to justify the fall anime season.  Like how one season only had Sakura Trick and Mikakunin de Shinkoukei.  Any season that can produce two great new shows is worthwhile.  Nonetheless, I'll be looking forward to Naruto's return, and so many other things, come winter 2017.

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