What I’m Watching – Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka (Episodes 1-5)

This post discusses plot spoilers through episode 5 of the anime series.

Check out my first impression HERE!

When I have time I usually like to try to watch anime that’s not at the top of my watch-list. I like to distinguish this from “hate-watching” a show, which is something I try not to do – it’s a practice that makes me angry, makes fans of the series in question angry, and doesn’t really serve a constructive purpose. Instead, I look at this as an opportunity to expand my horizons or even push my boundaries in some cases. Establishing personal boundaries is a good practice, but I’ve found that every once-in-a-while a re-examination and re-centering can be helpful.

I’m not a huge fan of extreme violence, children and teens in peril, or the fact that the magical girl genre has been alternatively popularized by taking its original appeal to young girls and transforming it into something incredibly grim-dark for adult otaku. Considering this, Asuka might seem like the direct antithesis of something I’d watch for pleasure. One thing that impressed me in the first episode, however, was the show’s willingness to examine the aftermath of violence and to portray the trauma of the characters in a way that felt realistic.

The show continues to be somewhat stomach-churning through these episodes, featuring more brutal violence, as well as a torture scene that would have done much better for itself to leave things to the imagination. However, it also goes out of its way to ensure that the the violence and trauma is reflected in its effect on the characters, which is something I find to be a rarity in most anime (and honestly, most popular fiction). After Asuka’s friend is caught in the crossfire of a terrorist attack, the sounds of police sirens and the popping of food wrappers cause her to re-experience the fear and helplessness of that day anew. Her heart races and her mind begins to draw the most horrible conclusions, even when she’s currently in a safe environment. Speaking from a place of personal understanding, the way the anime is able to capture that frantic, dissociative experience does some service to those of us whose lives are occasionally disrupted by intrusive thoughts and terrifying memories.

As I’ve mentioned, it’s rare for stories to follow-through on this kind of material. Many writers seem willing to draw attention to their stories through brutality, but much less willing to do the difficult legwork of allowing the victims of that brutality to work through their experiences of survivorhood. For those who have had rough experiences in real life, this can feel trivializing. Asuka is by no means some highbrow production, but it at least acknowledges that horrible actions can have horrible, life-altering consequences, and that by itself is somewhat unique.

The story takes an interesting turn when Asuka’s friend is kidnapped and tortured due to her connection to a law enforcement official. She suffers extreme PTSD from the ordeal, and the magical girls are faced with a terrible choice – allow her to keep her memories intact but to suffer horrifying PTSD (related specifically to magical girls) for the rest of her life, or to remove memories, both good and bad, of the previous week so that she can live her life normally. They ultimately go with the second choice, but of course Asuka remembers the experiences they had together and has to now reckon with that disconnect. I appreciate that the actions in this story seem to have consequences, and in general they’re approached thoughtfully.

The series does “cross the line” in some respects, at least as far as my tolerances are concerned. As I mentioned above, the story arc that comes to a close in episode 5 features a graphic torture scene that would have been more effective if left to the imagination. As it stands, it serves mostly to be extremely disgusting – the character being tortured has an arm lopped off and flesh burned from her body, and she spends some time being tied up on top of some kind of apparatus that reads as somewhat sexual. I get that the series aims to be shocking and extreme, but the scenes in question don’t add anything useful that couldn’t have been handled better with a little bit of restraint.

I feel as though I’m on the same page with a lot of other reviewers I read – this anime has some issues and isn’t really to my taste, but for some reason I feel compelled to continue watching in spite of that. While I’ve outlined some of my reasons, I think more broadly I’d like to see a “gritty” magical girl series succeed and to do so without succumbing to the nihilism and torture-porn that’s defined a lot of the Madoka copy-cats in the past several years. In this series the characters have been through hell and continue to deal with the aftermath, all while the violent present begins to catch up with them. They’re active players in their story rather than passive victims. The brutality might be a bit much but at its core is a pretty interesting story of individuals overcoming their situation and I can appreciate that.