The official website for the television anime of Akihiro Ononaka‘s Gushing Over Magical Girls (Mahō Shōjo ni Akogarete) manga posted a preview video for the anime’s first episode on Wednesday. The preview features clips from the first episode, as well as Utena (Fūka Izumi) introducing the show’s premise. (The character Haruka, played by Kaori Maeda, wryly remarks that Utena is simply reciting the story introduction from the show’s website.)
©小野中彰大・竹書房／魔法少女にあこがれて製作委員会
The anime will premiere on the AT-X channel on January 3 at 11:30 p.m. JST (9:30 a.m. EST), and it will also run on Tokyo MX, BS11, Sun TV, and KBS Kyoto. The anime will have three different versions: the TV broadcast version, the “gushing” version on streaming services, and the “ultra-gushing” version on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. The TV broadcast version will censor the audio and visuals, the “gushing” version will censor the audio and some of the visuals, and the “ultra-gushing” version will not censor either.
HIDIVE will stream the anime as it airs in Japan, and will have the series’ “gushing” version available for streaming.
The anime’s main cast includes:
- Fūka Izumi as Utena Hiiragi/Magia Baiser
- Kaori Maeda as Haruka Hanabishi/Magia Magenta
- Misato Fukuen as Venalita
- Aoi Koga as Kiwi Araga/Leopard
- Shiori Sugiura as Korisu Morino/Nero Alice
- Mayuko Kazama as Sayo Minakami/Magia Azul
- Misaki Ikeda as Kaoruko Tenkawa/Magia Sulfur
- Yuka Aisaka as Matama Akoya/Loco Musica
- Minami Tsuda as Nemo Anemo/Leberblume
- Kana Asumi as Vatz
©小野中彰大・竹書房／魔法少女にあこがれて製作委員会
Tadato Suzuki (2019 Fruits Basket episode director) and Atsushi Ootsuki (Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox, Motto To Love Ru) are directing the anime at Asahi Production. Noboru Kimura (Gundam Build Divers, Skate-Leading Stars) is in charge of series scripts, and Yasuka Ōtaki (A Galaxy Next Door) is designing the characters. Satoshi Motoyama (16bit Sensation: Another Layer, Dragon Ball Z Kai) is the anime’s sound director, Yasuharu Takanashi (BASTARD!! -Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy-), Akinari Suzuki (Giant Beasts of Ars), and Johannes Nilsson (Bakugan: Evolutions) are in charge of music, and Lantis is in charge of music production.
J-Novel Club licensed the manga, and it describes the story:
Hi, I’m Hiiragi Utena. I’m a normal magical-girl-loving middle school girl—or at least I was, but then some talking mascot showed up out of the blue and cast a spell on me! Now’s my chance to join my beloved magical girls as…a villain? Hang on, something’s wrong with my outfit! This can’t be happening!
Watch this shy magical-girl fan transform into a sadistic dominatrix! When good and evil collide, who will be the one to submit?!
Ononaka launched the ongoing manga in 2019 in Takeshobo‘s Manga Life Storia magazine. After the magazine ceased publication, the manga moved to the magazine’s Storia Dash website.
Sources: Gushing Over Magical Girls anime’s website, Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
