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Mahou Shoujotai 2April 30, 2004Title: One Hundred Sprites Our hero Alice learns that witches get their strength from magical creatures called sprites.
Alice accidentally destroys the central sprite storehouse.
The angry high witch curses Alice's two witch-friends.
The End. * * * RATING: B First of all, this episode is quite small, weighing in at barely eight-and-a-half minutes. Initially, I wasn't expecting anything good, since most mini-series are fairly bland (*cough* Cosplayers 1). However, this proved to be a refreshingly original piece of work. As noted in Kabitzin's review, the plot for this series moves at a pretty fast clip. Although our human protagonist has only been in the witch world for barely one episode, she has *already* wreaked havoc and incited the wrath of the high council. The rapid plot development in this series is well complemented by the visual style, which is both snarky and well-done. As one can see from the screencaps, this series eschews the standard big-eyed anime style in favor of a more realistic motif. Although this particular style runs apropos to the traditional 'magic-girl shojo' style typically seen in productions like Pretty Cure [screencaps by Reika], it imbues the series with a unique Halloween-esque flavor. Right from the start, you just *know* that our hero (Alice) could beat the crap out of Card Captor Sakura. This iconoclastic approach matches well with astounding level of creativity shown in this production. Within this brief episode, we're introduced to a huge variety of magical contraptions, including flying metal cages, huge red-eyed robots, and giant animated balloons. Although it seems that the setting is a sort of pre-industrial steam-punk society, it's impossible to precisely pigeon-hole it, due to the sheer variety found within the environment. In any case, if you haven't watched Mahou Shoujotai (aka "Teeny Witches"), you should definitely take a look. Regardless if you love or hate it, this production is truly one-of-a-kind. * * * disagree? read 4 comments! * * * Related Reviews
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