Magilumiere Co. Ltd.
Entry updated 10 February 2025. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2024; vt Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc.; original title Kabushiki Gaisha Majirumie). Moe. J.C.Staff. Directed by Masahiro Hiraoka. Written by Shingo Nagai. Based on the Manga by Sekka Iwata and Yu Aoki. Voice cast include Fairouz Ai, Akira Ishida, Yumiri Hanamori, Hiyori Kono, Rikiya Koyama and Daiki Yamashita. Twelve 24 minute episodes. Colour.
Being a Magical Girl is "a respectable line of work", well paid and popular: they are responsible for exterminating Monsters called Kaii, an increase in whose numbers has caused a Magical Girl industry boom (see Economics). There are over 500 Magical Girl companies of varying sizes, with Magilumiere being one of the smaller. Hitomi Koshigaya (Hanamori), their Magical Girl, realizes she needs support to deal with a particularly troublesome Kaii; Kana Sakuragi (Ai), who was being interviewed for a job at the stricken office, volunteers to help – proving so useful that Hitomi offers her employment as a Magical Girl; Kana accepts. Magilumiere has only a handful of staff, all likeably eccentric, including company President Kouji Shigemoto (Koyama), who cross-dresses as a Magical Girl, and bashful magical engineer Kazuo Nikoyama (Yamashita).
Hitomi is confident and reckless; Kana is shy, but is good with Computers, observant and studious; unlike her new friend she also reads the operating manuals. Magic operates through Technology, with spells created on Computer software and uploaded onto devices. When using their Weapons to cast spells, Magical Girls do not use magical incantations but programming terminology, particularly "execute function!". They fly on a broom-sized machine called a BROOM, invented by Scientist/engineer Ginji (Kono), a young, lab-coated girl (see Children in SF; Flying).
Kana's first job as a Magical Girl (accompanied by Hitomi) is at a historic shopping centre: she realizes its structures are too old to withstand the traditional methods of dealing with a Kaii infestation, but conceives a potential solution which, back at the office, Koiji and Kazuo are able to work with, quickly designing a new spell which they upload to her weapon. Other companies' Magical Girls rely on a fixed set of spells to deal with Kaii: Magilumiere uniquely rely on teamwork – a Magical Girl will reconnoitre a location, feeding back to Koiji and Kazuo, who come up with a tailored spell if the situation requires it. This also causes less collateral damage, something their competitors dismiss as being covered by insurance. Kouji places an emphasis on aesthetics and teamwork, with everyone supporting each other: qualities less important to the other companies, most notably the largest of them all, AST, whose President Kei Koga (Ashida) sneers at Kouji's idealism, though it is clear they were once friends, or at least close colleagues. This changed after a Disaster fifteen years ago which has shaped their attitudes.
The origin of the Kaii is yet to be explained: they are not so much rampaging monsters as animate growths, usually with eyes, that infest buildings. In the present day they are beginning to evolve (see Evolution), with increasing signs of mutation: it is observed that, just as pesticides can lead to more resilient pests, so the use of magic produces more dangerous Kaii (which will doubtless prove pertinent); the event fifteen years ago was an early example, though we are told very little about it. The opening season's last two episodes have Magilumiere dealing with a particularly powerful mutation; then, in the finale's end credits, Kouji arrives for a meeting of the Council of Magical Organizations.
Magilumiere Co Ltd is a good new Anime, as much about the staff of Magilumiere and ethical business as it is about Magical Girls and fighting monsters. To some extent season one is scene-setting, introducing characters and themes before the main plot gets underway. A second season has been announced. [SP]
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