Magical Destroyers Is an Unorthodox yet Exciting Spin on the Magical Girl Genre

The freedom to enjoy whatever one likes (as long as it’s not hurting anyone) is both difficult to find but also an easy thing to take for granted. Imagine if, after spending a long time finding a community that is into the same thing you are, the right to enjoy it was suddenly snatched away from you.

If this sounds like a worst-case scenario to you, then you’ll surely sympathize with the oppressed heroes of the exciting action-comedy Magical Destroyers.

Bibury Animation Studios

Created by Jun Inagawa and produced by the relatively new Bibury Animation Studios, Magical Destroyers was released in early April of 2023.

The story follows a group of otaku (essentially the Japanese word for “geek”) who have had their whole worlds turned upside-down by the sudden invasion of group known only as the SCC. Nobody knows exactly who they are or why they do what they do, but their purpose is crystal clear: to destroy anything and everything related to otaku culture and imprison the ones who live by it. The few who have managed to escape the initial onslaught have joined forces in order to fight back against the SCC and reclaim their beloved otaku lifestyle. Chief among their ranks are the leader Otaku Hero and the three magical girls—Anarchy, Blue, and Pink—who lead a grueling revolution in which every day contains a high-stakes battle.

Our protagonist is Otaku Hero, a viewer-insert character who is the leader of the otaku revolution, but who admittedly does not have much of a personality. The real stars of the show, however, are our titular magical girls who fight alongside him: the hot-blooded Anarchy, the lascivious Blue, and the mysterious Pink. They are the main driving forces of the war against the SCC, due in no small part to their unique and powerful magic.

Besides this, however, the three magical girls have the most interesting personalities as well as the best chemistry of the entire cast, which leads to some great comedic moments that are nice breaks from the high-octane battles. Speaking of the humor, while there are plenty of little quips and gags during the more intense moments, there is a good smattering of purely comedy-based scenes too. They’re about as low-brow and obnoxious as one would expect from a cast of characters such as the magical girls, but any kind of humor is welcome in a bleak dystopian setting.

Another thing I particularly enjoy about Magical Destroyers is how well-animated everything is, from the intense battles to the more slice-of-life moments. The overall color palette is appropriately dull and unsaturated, which adds to the overall bleakness of the situation. Bearing in mind that Bibury Animation Studios was only established in 2017, it’s a shock that a studio so new could produce an anime that could very well have been the product of a triple-A company. This, in my opinion, is a testament to the creators’ passion for animation.

Magical Destroyers is available on Crunchyroll and still ongoing as of the writing of this review, but what I have watched gets an A+ from me, and a recommendation for the studio that created it!