Sóšin šódžo Matoi

Anime season Fall 2016 is really full of mahou shoujo, those anime series featuring magical girls or Lolita girls and magic, in general, were right up my street. Well, at least there is something to compare this show to, and Matoi the Sacred Slayer is not that bad at all, in my opinion. It may be a very big patchwork quilt with gods, demons, gates to other dimensions, regalia (whatever that means this time), and who knows what else. However, this show has a simple narrative. In fact, I would say this show is just another one of those classic shows about main protagonists saving the world, fighting demons, family values, and the importance of friendship - so this is literally nothing new under the sun, really. However, in my opinion, the main reason Matoi the Sacred Slayer saves the day and what makes me like this slightly confusing, yet quite clichéd spectacle are the characters and their performances. As far as the characters are concerned, Matoi is friendly enough, Yuma is quite cute, and I even quite like Claris. However, my favorite character is Detective Shingo. As for the execution, besides the soundtrack, which I quite like, and the animation style, which I could not really find fault with, I would also like to mention that this anime series really works for me. I found this show quite moving and believable. I also really enjoyed the way the different relationships were portrayed and worked out. Even though from the middle of the anime series on, it is quite predictable ninety-nine percent of the time, it does not really bother me at all. So this is not anything brilliant or even anything I would consider to be above-average, although it is still quite a good show, in my opinion. I am going to throw in a few more points for a very well done (although very predictable) ending. So - 6.4/10. (2016.10.11)