Maho Girls was one of the series I was most excited about solely for the theme. I think witches and magic schools are cool, and it seemed like a pretty awesome concept to base a Precure season on. What I didn't expect, however, was for Maho Girls to essentially function as a full-on throwback to the good old days of the Washio era, for better or worse.
Maho Girls is about Mirai, a normal human, and Riko, a magician, who run into each other and discover that they share pendants and can both become Cures. So now they have to team up to find the Linkle Stones before the bad guys do, while also having to attend each other's school. It's a unique take on this kind of story, not just shoving Mirai in Riko's magic school for the whole season, but instead jumping between the magic and normal worlds to develop both halves of the series. I'm a bit split on this approach. On one hand, when you make a show about a magic school, you'd expect it to be mostly about said magic school. It is the more interesting setting after all. On the other hand, it basically gets you two different fish out of water stories rather than one, and both towns get super developed and vast side casts to get attached to. That's a really good thing because Maho Girls... kinda has no plot. Similarly to Smile, the main story of Maho Girls is pretty much just a MacGuffin chase with a goalpost that keeps moving until the show ends, and even then it lacks the interesting and fun villains or even the semblance of urgency that show had. As a matter of fact, I'd say these are the worst villains since Futari, if not even worse, only worsened by the decision to split the season into two groups of villains. And that's not even getting into the exhaustingly dull exposition every single time Kouchou shows up, I don't think I've ever flat-out hated a character this much solely for being boring, but I dread every time Kouchou comes on screen. Blue is less of a drag, I swear. So without an engaging plot, it's up to the characters and world to do most of the heavy-lifting.
Similarly to Futari and Smile, Maho Girls mostly focuses on a duo of polar opposite Cures, Mirai and Riko, and they're great. They have stellar chemistry with one another, it's fun to watch them interact and bounce off each other, and their bond grows naturally. I will say that Riko is the more interesting of the two, the concept of a witch who sucks at magic is very fresh and well-executed, but I do love both of these dorks (and also they're very gay, even by Precure standards). A perk of having a pair of Cures is that we also get a wide array of fun and quirky classmates, this time around in both schools. Jun, Emily, and Mayumi are just plain enjoyable characters, and Maho Girls is at its strongest when Mirai and Riko's classmates are around. There's also the two mascots Mofurun and Ha-Chan. Mofurun is a fan favorite, but it took me a while to warm up to her. She seemed a bit too perfect and cloyingly cute, like a discount Hummy, but as the show gives Mofurun more to do and several genuinely great subplots, I did come around to her. Ha-Chan meanwhile is a baby character, but aside from one episode where she cries a lot, I'd call her one of the better ones. Her fairy design is cute, her periodic aging up is a neat gimmick, and halfway through the season, she ages into a teenage girl named Kotoha, who in turn becomes Cure Felice. That's right, Kotoha is essentially the Shiny Luminous of the cast, but unlike in Max Heart where I feel Hikari dragged down the show, I think Maho Girls got noticeably better once Kotoha showed up.
So the first half of Maho Girls, while having the novelty of watching Mirai and Riko bond and adjust to each other's worlds, kinda suffered from trying to act like it had a plot and not fully committing to it. So its episodes tried to be slice of life heavy but also involve the Cures getting the Linkle Stones, so it instead seemed like the duo was making progress without actually doing anything. So to put it simply, it started to feel a lot like Max Heart for a bit there. Once Kotoha showed up and the Cures had gotten all the Linkle Stones, the focus shifting from finding the stones to protecting them. The second half is where Maho Girls fully commits to slice of life and is all the better for it. Without being bogged down by the Linkle Stone hunting, the second half had way more fun, satisfying, and creative standalone episodes that used the show's cast and magic system to greater effect. As a matter of fact, the second half's weakest episodes often involved lore or plot progression (once again, usually because of how much of a bore Kouchou is). And to my utter surprise, Kotoha does a lot to lend the show some extra energy. Compared to Hikari's muted and often boring personality, Kotoha is a joyous ray of sunshine, often causing problems due to her overreliance on her magic, which in turn leads to a pretty solid character arc and several fun standalone episodes. Her daughterly relationship with Mirai and Riko is adorable too, so unlike with Hikari, she feels like a genuine natural part of the gang rather than just the third wheel. They're like a little family, it's so heartwarming. Speaking of which, this is the point where the season shifts focus to the main trio (plus Mofurun) trying to stay together no matter what the cost, which lends the season a more melancholy tone, culminating in one of the most emotionally powerful climaxes in the entire franchise.
As far as the presentation goes, it's also a bit mixed this time around. The base art is pretty pleasing, with an inventive and beautifully-realized magic world. However, the action is the weakest it's been in a long time, often feeling choppy and uncreative. It's not always bad, there are some good fights in the mid-season and season ending arcs, as well as some exhilirating broom-stick flying scenes, but as a whole, the animation is a big step down especially coming off the heels of Happiness Charge and Go Princess. The one thing I do like about Maho Girls' fights, however, is how forms are implemented. The season takes the form concept from HapCha and expands them into full movesets rather than just one-off attacks, it's just a shame the animation wasn't able to fully do them justice. The music is also fine, not super memorable but this is also the point in a composer's run where 50% of the soundtrack starts to get reused from the last three seasons, as is par for the course with Precure.
Highlights:
A New Magical Tale! Mofuderella is the Star (episode 29): Cindarella episodes in Precure are always some of the funniest, and Maho Girls' interpretation might just be the most surreal, perfectly fitting for the season with canonical magic. You have Mofurun as Cindarella, Kotoha biting into a frozen clementine, nonstop mice puns, Riko being an absolutely awful fairy godmother, a giant turtle evil stepmother, a dance fight, kaijus, Kouchou doing a flip complete with cheesy shojo roses (thus doing the only somewhat interesting thing he would do in this entire season), tiny Cure Felice, and Mofurun turning into a magician. What a trip, I wish more Maho Girls episodes were this off the wall.
Heart Pounding! First Love Tastes Like Strawberry Melon Bread!? (episode 34): If there's one thing Precure nails in regards to romance, it's tackling unrequited crushes, and how utterly crushing it can be to get rejected especially if you're a kid. But even by Precure standards, this one was especially well-done, from. Mayumi's fear and constant procrastination to the heart-sinking moment when her crush's girlfriend comes into frame. It was so nice to see Kana and Mayumi get an episode too, and seeing them become even better friends at the end was very sweet.
Also, the villain showing himself only for the Cures to keep walking was just perfect. Very Futari-esque.
Mirai and Mofurun, and sometimes Chikurun! Wait, Who!? (episode 36): While I found most of the Maho Girls villains to be pretty bad, Chikurun is the sole exception. The concept of an mischievous fairy who spies on the Cures seems so obvious I'm surprised we haven't gotten it until now. In the grand scheme of things, Chikurun's arc isn't that much different from someone like Kiriya, but his fun personality and sweet friendship with Mofurun make for an entertaining episode.
Never Ending Chaos! Deusmast's World!! (episode 48): Now this is a fantastic premise for a final arc. Maho Girls has always been split between two worlds, so why not end the series by merging the two. It's almost like a psuedo AU episode where the Cures are forced to deal with all their friends and family suddenly being fine with magic and the professors having no idea something was off. Given how weak the action is in Maho Girls, I really like how character drama-heavy this final arc is, especially once the Cures learn that splitting the two worlds may mean splitting them for good...
Goodbye...Magical Users! Come Once Again, Miraculous Magic! (episode 49): What an emotional tour de force of a finale. From the moment Deusmast is killed, this is an absolutely brutal episode to watch, as Mirai, Riko, Mofurun, and Kotoha are forced to split up for years. Everything about the time jump was perfectly executed, from the transition itself, to seeing Mirai as a teen, to that heartwrenching "Cure Ra Pa Pa" sequence. The voice acting and animation is on-point throughout, and if the show had ended here, it would've probably been the best season finale to date.
Dishonorable Mention:
Cure Up RaPaPa! Tomorrow Will Become A Good Day Too (episode 50): However, that's not what happened. A denouement after the emotionally intense Episode 49 about the Cures as teens is a neat idea, and it does reveal that Liko became a teacher, their friends achieved their dreams, and the mermaids became students, but man, the execution is weird. The Cures de-aging themselves is a massive disappointment and feels almost regressive, and while I'm fine with Ichika from KiraKira debuting early, the storyline about Dokurukushe's teeth feels like such an awkward way to implement the sweets theming.
Overall, I wouldn't be lying if I said Maho Girls was a bit of a disappointment, especially at the start. It's got such a cool magical setting and likable cast, but with a minimal plot, awful villains, and weak action, it didn't really take advantage of it like I would've hoped. However, once Kotoha shows up and Maho Girls commits to being a breezy magical slice of life about a found family, that's when it becomes genuinely great. So while the season itself may not have been one of the better ones, I can't wait to see Mirai, Riko, and Kotoha return for the sequel series. No Kouchou, though, fuck him.
3/5 Stars
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