After the cute and original fun in the Pretty Sammy OVA,
Magical Project S falls into dreadful mediocrity. The setup is basically
the same with some minor changes. Sasami now has a mother and father who are thankfully
more entertaining than Karaoke-singing Chihiro from the OVA. Tenchi is not her
brother anymore, in fact Tenchi only appears in one episode. Missing in action
are also Ryoko and Ayeka. Though they do appear later on in another guise, their
constant bickering over Tenchi is sorely missed. We're left with too many scenes
of Mihoshi the airhead, while Kiyone is reduced to a screaming hull of hate and
anger. At least there's still Washu.
This is a TV
show, and the production values make that painfully obvious. Sometimes the art
becomes really dreadful with shaky lines, inconsistent character art, and horrid
animation. The sound effects must have come from a stock sound effects library,
and the music is hardly there at all. This production is a very poor effort on
AIC's part (Battle Athletes Victory, Tenchi Muyo, El Hazard,
Now and Then Here and There). Even worse, the humor is quite poor. Poorly
timed, poorly conceived, no originality whatsoever. And repetitive to boot. Sasami
is doomed to fight Pixy Misa's Love-Love monsters in weekly encounters which fail
to excite. Characters are flatter than the cels they're drawn on - Konoha, Eimi
and Ramia are simple, and the beating Ramia deals out to her brother Rumiya is
just plain mean. This isn't just simplistic kiddy fare, it's just embarassingly
bad. Only Pixy Misa retains some amusement value.
However,
the show is saved two-thirds into the show, when a real plot emerges and the humor
substantially improves. Gone is the monster-of-the-week repetitiveness. We finally
see the feelings Rumiya has for Misao, Misao struggle with herself is more apparent,
and there is more of Pixy Misa, who really is the star instead of Pretty Sammy.
Did they get new scriptwriters at this point? Anyway, You're better off looking
elsewhere if you want your magical girl anime to have better production values
(Cardcaptor Sakura), better story (Princess Tutu) or more fun (Ojamajo
Doremi).
(3.5)
