I made the mistake of not writing about this episode before watching episode 8. But I’m gonna force myself to say something about this episode before getting to the next.
This time around, we’re introduced to the Russian representative of the Magical Five. She’s Phoenix, and she rocks a magical lighter that turns into a flamethrower. She’s also working with the Spetsnaz, Russia’s special forces.
I know this show’s called “Magical Girl Spec-Ops, and having these girls be amalgams of magical girl cliches and special forces/spy thriller cliches, but step back and think about this from a “how would this go down in reality” perspective. Where else would a highly-trained child soldier with this level of combat knowledge go when her initial duty is over?
I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen any of these girls working in the private sector. I wouldn’t be surprised if one ended up working for some sort of Blackwater-like contractor after the war. With all of the magical mercenaries and terrorists we’ve seen in the show so far, and with the world’s governments working on their own magical combat teams, this kind of warfare, and the procurement of the weaponry needed to sustain it, is basically the wave of the future. I guess with only five surviving magical girls, none of the more “enterprising” girls survivied? You’d imagine even freelance “advising” would be lucrative.
Maybe that’s where the Chinese magical girl ended up? Probably not, given the series’ trajectory.
I doubt there’s any legal obligation these girls have towards their respective countries. Asuka was clearly living a “normal” civilian life before being dragged back in, and while her military contacts routinely asked for her to return, there was nothing binding her to a military career. I’d wager the same goes for all of the other magical girls. They’ve already sacrificed so much, it’d be ludicrous (and possibly dangerous) to force any other responsibility upon them.
So what leads them to choosing this lifestyle after the fact?
Look at Kurumi. She didn’t want to become a magical girl initially, but did so because Asuka was her friend and she made the request. Asuka’s clearly a caring, nurturing sort of person, but she took to the lifestyle more than Asuka, who’s dream was to become a magical girl. Kurumi could use her abilities to become a practicing doctor, either in a normal hospital or maybe a Doctors Without Borders type, but she’s opted to remain in a military position.
It seems like she may have found her “calling” in this world, but what about everyone else? Does the American magical girl really want to be working with the CIA busting drug dealers? Does the Russian one want to be hunting down magical terrorists? Have they been changed irrecoverably? Can they really not return to being “civilians?” Have they even tried, like Asuka?
Is the life of a Magical Girl one of permanent war footing? We’ve seen the PTSD and other psychological effects, but is there something else going on here? Is the thought of being a “regular” kid so foreign to them that they never even considered another life post-war?
Is Asuka, the only one who wanted to be a magical girl, also the only one who wanted to stop?
That’s kind of horrifying to think about.
SHIN MECHA GUIGNOL 