Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka

Mahou Shoujo Spec-Ops Asuka is story about highschooler Asuka who is trying to fit in everyday life after taking part in military before. She is strongly against joining military again, but as the story progresses she realizes she doesn´t have much of a choice.

The art is outstanding, very clean and clear, so the reader knows immediately what is going on. As a bonus, every volume begins with color pages.

Characters are strong individuals with interesting personalities. The story focuses not only on Asuka, but also on other magical girls and characters. It is easy to choose your favourite and also the most repulsive character.

As for enjoyment and overal feelings I give Asuka 8/10, mostly for the reasons I can´t write here since I would spoil the story. The story itself might be a little complicated if one is not familiar with Japan military services. But that´s not degrading its value.

My review is preliminary, but as soon as I get to the new chapters in EN, I might add further details. But I recommend it to everyone who likes for example Madoka and dark stories involving magic.

There's this dilemma with most dark magical girl shows, in which i come specifically for dark material, but get put off by... dark material.
What I mean by this is that i have no problem with horrible things happening in a story, but its the tone they are done with that really disturbs me. Most of these shows are clearly done by and for people who romanticise and find some kind of pleasure in the torture of young girls. Pages are littered with these underage characters almost naked being tortured both sexually and violently in compromising positions and with great focus on things that leave little need for analysing the authors intent. And these scenes are treated with little repercussions for the evil character doing them (often these predators are redeemed or treated with the "look at this morally grey lovable goof") or with discussing the mental scar they leave on the victims. I think the over all pedophilia problem with anime and manga becomes so prominent and clear here where it isn't just immoral titillation but full on guro on minors.

So Tl;dr is that im not sure if it's morally sound to support or follow series like this.


However, I have personally finished it myself so here goes. The manga is honestly really enjoyable on all other accords. The art is incredible and all the combat scenes are choreographed both with incredible artistic skill and tactical understanding of combat and its different styles. Almost to a point that makes you wonder if any of the authors have legitimate military history.

Characters are mostly jus best girl caricatures made to please the viewer, but come off kinda likeable in the end and have clear motives and actually kinda multidimensional personalities. Most of them have some incredibly heavy and powerful scenes and personal struggles in the story. Personally I found Asuka's relationship to her military service and the PTSD it caused her a really interesting and well written. Kurumi might have been a trope as all of the girls are, but I found myself really loving her contrasting personality and the burden she carried.

In the end I indulge with pieces of media like this less from a plot or thematical standpoint and more so for the shock factor, tropes and aesthetics. Mahou shoujo Tokushusen Asuka delivers that. Even the plot keeps you interested in the mystery, be it a bit underwhelming in the end. It's like a mindless blockbuster action movie. You go into it expecting very little and leave it happy, remembering maybe a cool one liner and some showdown, explosions still present on your eyelids when you close them.

So if youre really ready to push through all the shit for a few mediocre but kinda shiny crystals, I think this show is a little worth it. It has some incredible scenes among the dirt.