Spellbooks and Horoscopes: Boueibu Happy Kiss! Episode 1

Having taken on Mahou Shoujo Ore episodes 1 and 2, Astral and Aria are only just beginning to get into the swing of things. However, Astral seems kind of nervous…

Astral: Oh boy, we’ve got quite a bit to discuss here. Boueibu Happy Kiss definitely isn’t the kind of show I usually go for, but as of episode 1, i’m actually really enjoying myself. It’s been luring me in with a combination of great animation, flashy colors, and some hilarious gags that hit just the right sweet spot. This show is going to be a tough opponent, for sure.

Aria: …I guess it’s pretty obvious I chose this one, eh? These sorts of tourist traps, give or take elaborate language jokes, are my kind of thing. Well, once again, Boueibu outdoes itself with the visuals. We’ve certainly come a long way from season 1 of LOVE!.

Astral: I’m a bit of a sucker for bright, flashy colors, and Boueibu certainly delivers that in spades. Combined with very smooth and consistent animation quality, the show is extremely easy on the eyes. Compared side-by-side with Mahou Shoujo Ore, it’s definitely the better looking of the two.

Aria: I’m curious – from one episode, which of the boys did you gravitate towards? (Probably Kyoutarou, right?) I feel like Taishi and Wakura have issues they have to work out – in Taishi’s case it’s pent-up anger and for Wakura, it’s…whatever he was implying he’d do to Ryoma. I was thinking I’d like Wakura when I saw him in action, and I’m surprisingly not feeling too much about him aside from mild shock.

Astral: Yeah, Kyoutarou definitely seemed the most relatable to me. Lazy, somewhat grouchy, but a nice guy… and pretty socially awkward as well. Somewhat similar to me, in some aspects.

Aria: I still think En is better in most regards, but maybe that’s just bias for the first series speaking.

Astral: Coming into the series blind, I found the episode somewhat overwhelming at points, like maybe there’s factoids that I don’t really know about, bits and pieces from the previous seasons that might have made it make a little more sense. Is that the case?

Aria: Now that episode 2’s out as I’m typing this, the references are more than just one-offs because currently there’ve been 2 references to season 1 for each episode. For example, that Pretty Boy Contest poster you saw the eventual monster of the week find? It’s a running gag from previous times (“every month on the 27th is Pretty Boy Day (Binanshi)!”).

Astral: Subtle references are all good, but do you think, as a noob to the series, i’ll end up getting overwhelmed? I like to think i’m pretty good at keeping up with stories, but there’s always the possibility.

Aria: I think it’s still understandable from a newbie’s point of view for the moment, but I worry you might get lost later. For some reason, nothing ever seems to point to season 2, so binging season 1 is probably the best course of action.

Astral: In that case, Aria, you must hold out in this battle until I have stored up the power of binge-watching in order to defeat this foe! (It’s an ancient and powerful training technique used by the most dedicated of Magical Girls)

Aria: I don’t think these foes are headed anywhere anytime soon, so I’ll keep an eye on them just in case.

Astral: Lovely! In any case, I think this show definitely might end up being one of the highlights of the season for me, at least based on what i’ve seen of it so far. High production values, a good sense of humor, a pretty interesting cast… it just seems like a pretty nice watch, even if it is a bit satirical to my beloved Magical Girl genre.

Aria: C’mon, satire’s a great thing for the magical girl genre! You can’t go around watching normal magical girl shows and deconstructions all the time.

Astral: I definitely agree. Satire is able to add some very interesting and dynamic viewpoints to a show/genre, especially well-executed like this show seems to be. So, with that said, shall we go about taking down this foe?

Vanish into the darkness! Twilight Void!

Twilight Void is a special attack that feeds on color. The more colorful and glamorous an enemy is, the more flashy its techniques, the more effective this attack will be.

Aria: I think our foe is ready for one last hit.

Magical Explosion!

Aria: …wait, did that not work?

The foe seems to have taken some damage from the attacks, but it can still fight. It’s fled the battleground for now, but it’s sure to return eventually…

< To be continued in the next post… >

Well that was super fun! Aria and I have been having a great time livening up this collab and being Magical Girl geeks, and I hope you guys are enjoying it as well. I’m a bit overwhelmed by this particular show right now, but i’m planning to binge it in my free time when I get a chance, so i’ll be caught up soon enough!

Make sure to check out The Animanga Spellbook where we take on the first two episodes of Mahou Shoujo Ore simultaneously, and we’ll see you next week!!