Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku

First of all, I should say that I expected this to be a carbon copy of Madoka Magica, and one that would score a 5 at best. My reasoning was that it is a "darker" series about magical girls, and the main character, Snow White, even bears a striking resemblance to Madoka. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how this series stands on its own and is a solid 7.

I will write some pros and cons, as I do in all my reviews:

Pros

Quite a unique storyline. It was an excellent mix of the magical girl genre and the battle royale genre, both of which I love. The elements of these two genres were well-portrayed.

The manga hopped right into the action. There was not a lot of build-up, which worked in the manga's favor. The storytelling was also appropriate for the length of the manga.

Characters all got a brief, albeit good backstory. It really helped the reader understand their behavior, but did not take up too much time.

Some of the timings of the deaths for characters were quite unexpected for me.

The art suited the story and was aesthetically pleasing.

Cons

Some of the action scenes were slightly hard to follow. I had to go back a few pages sometimes to grasp exactly what had happened, which is a major pet peeve of mine in manga.

Other than the backstories, characters were mainly traditional archetypes. I would say the most unique characters were Top Speed and Swim Swim. Other than that, I didn't really fall in love with any of them, especially protagonist Snow White.

There could have been more backstory on the game the magical girls were playing and why exactly things had come to that. I felt the reasoning offered was very weak, and I would have liked more information.

It could have been grittier for a battle royale/dark magical girl story. I would say Madoka Magica was grittier, and this was one respect where I would have appreciated some Madoka rip-offs.

Overall, this was a good manga with flaws and some underdeveloped parts. Considering it was only two volumes, I can recommend it. I know there is a light novel, and maybe that is more developed? Either way, this was a nice short read.

7/10

Hello this is my review!! :")
Note: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible mistakes.

The novels of Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku have really immersed me completely in their story without any moment of boredom. The story full of unexpected events or moments when you do not know what will happen next are great.

I managed to immerse myself in these novels thanks to their adaptation to anime (as most people imagine), I loved anime and a lot, without saying anything it was unexpected to see a world that at first sight was kind, cute and typical ... the first chapter I thought it was another magicals girls anime and that's it, but since the second episode I simply could not stop seeing and enjoying each episode, as well as suffering, since no character that appeared to us was safe, we they showed a story of killing or dying, of pure survival, in a very dark story you hallucinate thinking that it is magical girls, in this you can not avoid thinking of Madoka Magica another very good anime of the same genre and is that both suffer unjustly many comparisons when they are essentially not the same, the only similarity between the two is that it is a dark story in a world of magical girls but nothing more than that and the novels help to increase these differences.

I could write a lot and lengthen too much if I talk about each arc of the novels that have come out (6 main arcs at the moment I write this with several complementary and some spin-off) the first arc is amazing, the idea of ​​a breeding game for get magical girls is very striking, to put them all to compete for their lives, with the goal in mind of the creators of the game of "get the ideal magical girl" although all in reality can only be driven by the morbid and boredom from them, is even more interesting, it seems to be simple and if it is, but mixed with certain emotive, shocking and cruel scenes, it becomes a reading that anyone who likes this kind of stories will love.

His characters are yes, mostly to be presented and in the end remove them in the most cruel way possible, after reading the first two arches some person can think "ahh this is interesting, but it's the same always, magic girls group gathered and put in a kind of game of survival and does not change "but no, this breaks after the second arc (Restart) and from the third one begins to deepen more about this magical world, to put ancient criminals or acquaintances of the land of magic which was perfect and even include something that could be called war in one of the last arcs (Queens) showing that the author has had very good creativity in making increasingly interesting arcs, because personally each arc has been improving and liking me more , having said that I consider the first arch one of the least done or good, this first arch (unmarked) has been the only one adapted to the anime so far,so it would be very interesting to see some of the following arcs being adapted.

The characters, although as I have said before, are mostly for us to lose in a cruel way during the course of the story, they really manage to convey sympathy, many stand out the characters of the arc two, for example, or the three (limited) and four (jockers), this can be ugly, but it is that practically makes you want to continue reading and reading to know what will happen and what character you will dismiss.

I would like to make a correct review of each arc that has come out, but seeing that this is "general" is better not to stretch out and just leave my general ideas about the work in question, because if, I could not really write a long review for each arc.

I could leave some points that I liked most (some are personal, so you might not take them into account).

1- The evolution of the protagonist, Snow White undergoes an almost unrecognizable change after the events of the first arc, it is a very fundamental change for the whole story and we must accept it as the protagonist in the first story (unmarked) it was not very good let's say, but later she became one of my favorite characters, her evolution led her to become a magical girl of leadership and strength, in someone we could trust and even follow and this is reflected in the magical girls that they have sharing with She in the various later stories.

2- Ripple, without more than saying was my favorite character probably from the beginning, this type of characters I love and it is with the protagonist that probably has suffered more, more deaths have seen and more traumas has had, I have taken great sweetie.

3- Fav and Fal: the inclusion of these mascots characters of the magic girls is one of the best things that leaves me, on the one hand we have Fav one of the antagonists of the first story that without a doubt won the hatred of many, a ruthless character in a lot of sense and on the other hand we have Fal a character exactly the same as Fav in appearance, this even at the beginning of the second arc we are presented as another defective and evil mascot, but in the end we discover that this is not the case, the story plays with the automatic hatred that the reader may have towards him just for the simple fact of resembling Fav, it is as if you hate a son for something his father did, for example, but in the end character ends up being Snow White's mascot (when she rescues him) and not only that but ends up being one of the kindest, purest and best characters that we probably see in all the novels.

4- The villains, like any good story has to have good antagonists and these novels are not left behind, showing us antagonists taken to madness by some trauma and creating a survival game with the excuse of getting the ideal magical girl, someone that obsesses with this and tries to replicate it anyway to characters that in essence are not bad, but believe in this form or ideology and clear psychopathic characters as such, we also have those who seek to achieve a greater good by doing something that most may not like or seem (Puc Puck) either because they do not want to be enslaved or controlled, I get good characters in this area also being my favorites: Pukin, Cranberry and Pythie Frederica.

5- The arches themselves, each arc we are presented with new protagonists but this does not make you separate from the story as if it can happen in many other stories, we have that in the second arc all the protagonists are new and only mention to the survivors of the first arc and at the end a appearance of one, the same could be said of the third arc (restart), which makes the story work on its own without joining or that idea, but really everything is well spun and united to such a point that the events of the first arc are the main event that triggers many of the later events and the same happens with the following ones which likewise take their relevance ... finally we have that big return of several characters from past arcs that make his appearances in next arcs or resume that leading role.

My favorites arcs: Jockers, Restart, Queens, Limited.

OVERALL: It is a great story that will keep the reader busy without a doubt, a story that invites you to continue reading and reading to know what will happen, what will be revealed, who will die and how it will end, it is not perfect, but it takes my 9 / 10 without any doubt and looking forward to the followings or next arcs!!

Well ... how do we get started….

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku is the first light novel I've ever read by friend recommendation, and I enjoyed every moment.

According to the synopsis in Mal, it looks like another generic death game of Magical Girls that wants to be like Madoka ( And Madoka is my favorite anime) , but it is much more than that.

The "Death Game" actually happens in Volume One, the sequel go to other places:
Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku has created a special magic system so that each Magical Girl has her own unique ability/magic, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku made a wonderful magical world with politics, divisions and more..

The characters were excellent, for example the characters of Arc 2 in my opinion were amazing; some entered my heart (like Pechika and Daisy).
However, one of the problems is that that there are some characters who did not really get enough development or a way to to them (especially in arc 4).
The plot was so flowing, arc 4 and the beginning of 6 was a bit boring but it went
through pretty quickly.


If you don’t know how to read:
Unmarked (vol 1)--> Restart (vol 2+3)--> Episodes (vol 3.5 side stories that important to the future)--> Limited (vol 5+6) --> Jokers (vol 7) --> Aces (vol 8) --> episodes II (vol 8.5) --> Queens(vol 10)

I can't wait for arc 7, and I hope that you enjoyed reading my review.