Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka (2025)

ExemplarCayman

Recommended

Metal Gear Homura.

Do not be misled by the words “Mahou Shoujo” in the title, this is a military/sci-fi drama about an anti-terrorist unit, it is far more in line with Ghost in the Shell/Metal Gear rather than with any actual mahou shoujo series. In fact, Metal Gear is an almost complete thematic match for this show - gut-wrenching military drama plus “twenty minutes into the future and the world has gone to hell” sci-fi plus wacky tongue-in-cheek comedy.

As a military drama, it touches on the themes of child soldiers (that is, magical girls), terrorism, PTSD of soldiers and civilians (one of the best and ...

Stark700

Mixed Feelings

It’s beautiful…is what I would say if Mahou Shoujo Toushusen Asuka managed to bring in a magical girl show worthy of glory. But beautiful isn’t a good way to express this anime. From what I’ve seen from the first few episodes, it’s a show that takes on a darker, edgier, and grimmer side of the magical girl genre. Adapted by LIDENFILMS and based on the manga, this was a peculiar anime to talk about.

For starters, there’s a clear reason why the show airs late at night on the MBS block. Like the manga, this adaptation actually keeps the censoring to a minimal. Here’s an early ...

Snapshot426

Not Recommended

Unconfidence

Not Recommended

Preliminary (4/12 eps)

Dropped at EP4.

This anime had a lot of strong points going for it, and managed to ruin every single one of them with overt appeals to sex and violence which reduced it to a childishly bad experience. The ero fanservice is immediate and constant, with every woman character having constant boob shots. In the swimming episode they lingered on a pointless buttshot for like four seconds. The characters are all just fighting concepts given scantily-clad form. The entire draw of this anime seems to be seeing scantily clad women inflict graphic violence onto others, or to have graphic violence inflicted upon ...

Vancomycin

Mixed Feelings

Do you know these kinds of shows, which have relatable protagonists, interesting villains and a strong plotline, but are no fun to watch? Well, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is the opposite.

As anybody can probably guess by the title, this show is another edgy magical girl show trying to jump on the edgy magical girl Anime bandwagon. Premise of the show is that after the successful repulsion of an invasion of killer-plush animals from another dimension our now retired magical girl protagonist Asuka and must deal with PTSD and her new peaceful life. Wait, doesn’t this sound like this could be a potentially interesting story?

Unfortunately, with ...

BadAshley

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (5/12 eps)

Off model: the anime.

They blew the budget on ep 1 and it's been downhill since.

There's dark magical girl anime, and then there's whatever this is--some kind of anti terrorist task force with magical girls, and they will kill your ass.

So ep 1 opens up with Asuka, some kind of shell shocked magical girl veteran of some terrible magical war where giant stuffed animals literally ripped people and her friends to bits who is now trying to get back to a normal life. The pacing is great, character design is great, it's even believable how the most ordinary things set her PTSD off, and how she's ...

Agent_Redacted

Recommended

"There are no happy endings in the real world."

[YURI CLARIFICATION] : This show has 100% Yuri, but they do not go to an extent ( meaning that their feelings are confirmed but they don't do things such as kissing or fingering )

Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka is all about magical girls with PTSD fighting terrorists. Add uncensored tortures, oversized-looking breasts, Yuri, banger OP & ED, and you get this fine piece of art which everybody seemingly hates for some reason.

I won't go too far with this review so I'll just tell y'all something. This is fucking edgy and only edgy people could ...

ForgottenCake

Not Recommended

Have you ever seen those videos on instagram of some shop/cafe/etc in LA that makes these crazy concoctions? Ice cream with cereal, bananas and sprinkles, and then its frozen and fried? That's the best way I can describe this show. While the core idea of a grittier take on the magical girl genre is appealing, the show fails spectacularly in just about every way.

Plot 2-3/10:
In general, the method of how girls become magical girls is hard line to skate between reasonable suspension of disbelief and stupidity. It can be done well which can be seen in the go-to gritty magical girl show Madoka Magica. ...

LegendAqua

Recommended

Hey what if Magical girls turned into mercenaries?

Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka maybe look like your typical "dark magical girl" that Madoka Magica has still in 2019 has a lingering presences with it's imitators however Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka feels like it fully embraces it's own thing, yes "edgy dark" but still.

Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka looks at Asuka Otorii voiced by Aya Suzaki, a veteran magicla girl who fought in a massive war to defeat the Disas, magical plushies demons out for humanity and with the five that remained at the end, she along with the 4 others were branded as the Magical Five that saved ...

Deepfry_Water

Recommended

So what do magical girls do after defeating the big evil?
Ofc, fight terrorists, mercenaries, join the army, special forces, etc.... there is no happy ending here.

That was the basic idea. The fact that they don't really do this and go again to the big evil is stupid.
There isn't any big reason why everything is happening, we're getting scraps about the actual plot and after I finished it I don't really care about it, because the reasons look shallow.

Now, for the parts that I liked. Lesbians, 90% of the girls in the show. And big tits. Huge badonkadonkas. Also, magical spanking.
The ...

WillinglyGiven

Not Recommended

I went into this show with low expectations, but it still managed to surprise me with its sheer appalling tastelessness.

The constant over sexualization and over-the-top violence make it clear that this show is meant to be an edgy teenage jerk-off fantasy, and as such, I'm sure it does it's job effectively. Where it gets me is the attempts at discussions of real-world issues like terrorism, war, child soldiers, sex slavery,torture, abuse, and trauma, resulting in some of the most jarring tonal shifts I have ever experienced. Its pretensions towards some level of depth and seriousness just make it all the more laughable.

The main character, ...

Esperi

Not Recommended

I'd like to preface this review with a warning. Firstly, I'm somewhat of a magical girl fan, particularly that dark and edgy take on the magical girl series. Secondly, I know not everyone is going to read this entire review, so if you're interested, jump ahead to the tl;dr section where I overview the review in a pros and cons list.

I went in with high expectations, I'll freely admit that. I was looking forward to this gruesome take on the magical girl genre. An anime that wasn't afraid to shy away from the blood and gore of open warfare. An anime that might even push ...

SanaeK10

Mixed Feelings

Going into Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka initially without any prior knowledge kind of left me not knowing what to feel beyond some sort of weird repulsion towards the series. However, once I understood that the anime was in fact, more of an 80s buddy action film homage more than anything, my expectations were properly adjusted and I ended up thoroughly enjoying most of the show.

Asuka is a barrage of tonal inconsistencies, sometimes violent, sometimes comfy, sometimes incredibly lewd and sexual. But all the more, these vast tonal shifts just somehow work. Like any good 80's schlock, you have your share of tits, gore, violence (all ...

Otorez

Recommended

Preliminary (5/12 eps)

First review, 12/02/2019, contains minor spoilers.

To describe this anime as its finest, I would like to introduce it as "a magical girl show in a modern world where magic does not always have a bright side".

Indeed, here in Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka you get to follow Asuka, a retired magical girl who used to fight - as well as her 4 comrades + 6 deceased - weird creatures named Disas. However, this part of the plot is explained early but gets forgotten after that.

But peace cannot be maintained forever obviously. One day our retired magical girl who started going to high-school as a regular ...

CandleNekra

Mixed Feelings

Story (5/10): A veteran mahou shoujo is a wonderful idea, but the anime did a poor job with the concept. There were too many plot holes which in the end, concluded with many questions not being answered. How were they chosen to become magical girl? Why were the humans the one being used as energy? How did the humans get in touch with these magical being? And so on. Due to the confusion, I could not attach myself to the show nor show any sympathy towards those who died. It was very difficult to continue watching the anime.

Art + sound (10/10): The animation and the ...

AeroGunz

Not Recommended

“Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka” is what happens when You have a pretty interesting premise but lack the writing skills to elevate it into something great.

War against the magical race called the Disas suffering from a boner for murdering humans ended. Mainly thanks to the efforts of 11 magical girls. Only five of those girls survived. After the conflict ended the squad was disbanded and the girls went their separate ways.
Now, 3 years later, a new conflict is threatening to start.

“Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka” is a show that tries (and mostly fails) to juggle different genres. I went into this show blind and oh boy, do ...

The_Walker

Recommended

When going through MAL and looking at a shows average ratings many people have come to notice quite a few rules. Long running Shounen for example, is generally overrated by a full point. Older anime made before 1999 is often underrated by half a point and a full point for 1980. You get the idea.

One very recent rule I have realized that strangely only applies in the last decade, is that any time you see people in the reviews complaining about a show being "edgy" you can safely add a full point to the average score. This is the case with Mahou Shoujo Tokushushen ...

WhiteWolfKiba

Mixed Feelings

TevishSzat

Mixed Feelings

Every once in a while you get a work that's legitimately transformative, taking a stale, stagnant, or just under-explored genre and bringing it to a state that's truly new and different. Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is not that show. It wants to be, but it isn't. That doesn't mean it's a bad show, but if the show were a rocket it would aim for the moon and hit an urban center with a payload of nerve gas. Did that comparison seem disturbingly excessive? If so, it's the right one for this show.

Because what needs to be gotten out of the ...

jelle_tendon

Not Recommended

Preliminary (5/12 eps)

(may include minor episode 1 spoilers)

How do you squeeze magical girls, fanservice, terrorism, blood, gore, and teddy bear monsters all in one anime? Answer: you don't.

Story. Well, "story". Terrorists are attacking humanity with special chemical weapons dressed up as teddy bears. The world depends on the Magical Girls to defeat these terrorists. That's it really. They try to make it passable by adding lots of - frankly unnecessary - gore, however, this falls quite flat since the rest of the show is magical girls fighting teddy bears.

Art. Since I'm no artist myself, I'm not one to quickly spot obvious flaws in art direction. However, even ...