This anime is what made me lose interest in magical girl deconstructions. Not only because everyone kept trying to mimic Madoka Magica until it became its own stereotype, but also because as a subgenre it is just a placeholder. It doesn’t mean anything on its own; only what you do with it. Basically, I wasn’t seeing it as a cruel take on cutsy mahou shojo, since that’s the bare minimum every single one of these shows is doing so it can be called a dark subversion, or whatever buzzword you want to use in an attempt to make it sound better than what it is.
I was seeing it as a twist on the death game formula. Ever since Battle Royale and The Highlander established the basic rules, everybody is copying them and none managed to create a better alternative. The thing that initially attracted me in Raising Project was exactly that. There didn’t need to be only one winner at the end. You don’t win by being the last man standing; only half of the participants needed to die. It doesn’t sound like much, yet it is because it completely changes the character dynamics. If you know you don’t have to kill everybody, making alliances becomes far more crucial, and it’s also permanent since it doesn’t lead to backstabbing each other once the opponent is defeated.
Another thing the show was doing a great job at first, was showing actually meaningful character interaction. Every girl was somehow affecting the personality of another girl. They were not stuck in a specific mentality from beginning to end. They were changing based on how others treated them, which is something extremely rare in any show.
Snow White: Triggered Hardgore Alice’s protection syndrome
Calamity Mary: Turned Ruler into a control freak
Ruler: Forged Swim-Swim’s cruel mentality
Nemurin: Motivated Swim-Swim to turn against Ruler
This didn’t last long, since later interactions were far more superficial. It was always about a death making someone sad or taking things more seriously thereafter. Stuff that would have happened anyways in any death game. Essentially, it was the same change for everyone, in a predictable manner, and with nowhere near the gravity and unique feeling of the initial reactions.
La Pucelle: Broke Snow White’s perception of good-hearted magical girls
Magicaloid44: Drove Calamity Mary off the edge
Yunael: Made Minael use dirtier tactics
Winterprison: Self-destructed Sister Nana
Top Speed: Made Ripple cruel
Also, a big chunk of the girls was nothing but fodder. They were there just to die without offering anything to the plot. Although expected because of the sheer number of characters, it still poses the question of why did you have so many characters in the first place. Having half of them, doing more meaningful interactions would have made the show infinitely better. Having excess characters that exist only to be killed, came off as edgy, in the sense that they were there just for shock factor instead of somehow being in service to the narrative.
Sister Nana: Why couldn’t she adjust without Winterprison?
Hardgore Alice: What was her contribution to the plot again?
Minael: What kind of anti-climactic ending was that?
Tama: Completely needless character
Also, there was no time to flesh out 16 characters in only a dozen episodes. The best they were getting was a quick flashback which explained why they became the way they are in the present. It’s better than nothing, but it was also too rushed to make an impact. Especially when all flashbacks happen in the same episode the girl in question dies. Yes, they flesh them out a few minutes before they kill them, the laziest way to try making you give a shit.
Also, even the death tournament became less interesting as it went on. The initial battles were about mind games, where they would outsmart the opponent by taking advantage of her character flaws. It wasn’t about superpowers, it was all mental. Later battles said fak it. It was just who had the biggest energy attack or the most broken power. It no longer mattered what their personality was like, it only mattered how overpowered their abilities were.
Hardgore Alice: Undying avatar
Swim-Swim: Blocks physical attacks, travels through solid objects, uses super blade
Cranberry: Titanic strength, nuclear burst
The final straw that made me hate the show was when they eventually broke their own established rules and nothing was consistent anymore. Remember how I said only half of them needed to die? It was a lie. It was still the usual “There can be only one” we’ve been getting for decades, and power levels don’t mean anything. Thanks a lot for making me trust you were not one of the same, you lying sack of shit.
Snow White: Has the power to read minds, does absolutely nothing with it
Swim-Swim: Changes back to human even when not mortally wounded
Cranberry: Freezes for no reason when seeing a child, and gets owned by the least capable character in the show
Ripple: Has the ability to never miss a target, wastes hours in direct attacks when she knows they have no effect
So yeah, it’s another crappy modern anime, with a pretty damn good start that just couldn’t last for more than a few episodes, because by the end of the day it’s still a light novel adaptation for edgelord otakus. Princess Tutu will forever be the best magical girl deconstruction, because it’s retro, and shame on me for giving modern trash one last chance to not make me be sick of their bullshit writing. Never trust modern, retro always wins.
