Magical Destroyers

Episode 8

The first thing I thought after finishing this week's episode of Magical Destroyers was, “Ah, crap. How the hell am I supposed to review this?” I wasn't worried because the episode was particularly heavy, extraordinarily creative, or otherwise peculiar in its themes or construction. Rather,…whatever you want to call the “things” that “Dancing Queens” is trying to accomplish are just so specific that I'm not even sure how to evaluate them outside of the larger context of the finished show.

In short, the whole episode is a riff of Evangelion-style head-trips that force their protagonist into an abstract dreamscape to confront some challenging or traumatizing psychological conflict. In this case, our Otaku Hero is unraveling on account of his desire to…put on an Otaku convention/musical concert, I guess? With the big emotional roadblock being that he is…lacking in the confidence to put on a convention? I'll be honest, the first hurdle to overcome in figuring out whether or not this episode works is this fundamentally silly character flaw that Otaku Hero is suddenly being crippled by. Sure, the whole thing is also supposed to be allegorical for the larger problem of the otaku being unable to express themselves and yada yada, but it still isn't the kind of dramatically compelling subject matter that usually warrants such navel-gazing, but the material is played straight enough that I can't quite convince myself that we're not supposed to be taking it seriously.

In keeping with the Eva influenced aesthetic, the journey into the mind is rife with dreamlike pacing and editing, lots of confrontations with the female characters who embody the protagonists' inner monologue, and some Brechtian allusions to multi-media/cross-genre fourth wall breaks (i.e. the DVD-extra style interviews that Otaku Hero gives to the camera about the behind-the-scenes process of putting on a big show like the Wanku Convention). The show does a solid job in aping its more famous predecessors' efforts to, like, totally blow the minds of their audience, man—but I am again forced to wonder what end this is all working towards. It isn't funny enough on the surface to work as a comedy, and the inherent novelty of Magical Destroyers sharp change in focus isn't enough to hold our attention for an entire episode.

The thing is, I've been hoping for some kind of tonal shift in Magical Destroyers for a while now, but I just can't fully endorse the way it was executed here without knowing where things go in the future. If the series manages to achieve some genuine depth and pathos in its final run of episodes, this here could very well mark an interesting creative turning point for the better. On the other hand, if the show fails to stick the landing, or if it doesn't even try to go beyond a one-off spoof, to begin with, then I can't help but feel like “Dancing Queens” will end up feeling like a wasted opportunity. With all of that said, take the score I'm about to give this one with a grain of salt. I'm sure we'll all have a much clearer understanding of whether or not “Dancing Queens” was a success or a failure in the coming weeks.

Rating:

Magical Destroyers is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.