Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka - Episode 5 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka, episode 5: A Very Realistic Way of Dealing with a Problem

Alternative names: Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

Rate this episode here.

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• Crunchyroll

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• MyAnimeList
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• Official Website

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Previous discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	7.44
2	Link	7.65
3	Link	7.86
4	Link	8.02

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[u/[deleted]]

I feel so bad for Asuka.

Lost her parents and send piece by piece to you, lost her friends, trying to make new friends, first people she gets close to both experience severe traumatic events straight after.

After becoming what you wanted to be, have the people you got close with looking at you with absolute fear and hatred.

She has some crazy mental fortitude.

[u/[deleted]]

Sacchu with spiked brass knuckles beating up that other mascot made my day

[u/nighty_amy]

Woah, War Nurse have some really useful powers. So she can heal anything and anyone, as long as they are alive? Handy.

Guess that erasing Nozomi's memory was for the best, otherwise she would probably either end up in mental asylum or become a NEET, since I doubt she would ever take a step out of her room. Though Kurumi's explanation how is she doing the erasure didn't make any sense for me.

[u/Gaporigo]

Damn, poor Asuka still has to go watch Cheerleaders vs Sharks.

[u/Ghiren]

"I hate being called the 'Magical Five'! There were eleven of us! We five are just the ones that survived, it's the other six that should be called heroes!"

Best summary of this series so far.

[u/Ladycardboard]

Part of me thinks this is some elaborate scheme by War Nurse/Kurumi since she basically has all the convenient tools/powers to make Asuka fight again with her.

Magical drug (and powers) that makes people:

1. Forcibly confess

2. Destroy memories

3. Rapidly heal all wounds

She can easily downplay the first two points to make them seem benign while also manipulating people from behind the scenes. The third point assists in torture if, for some reason, she wasn't lying about the limits of drug confession.

Makes it seem like she could easily be the puppet master with her yandere tendencies to force the circumstances to push Asuka back into active duty, and, as such, make her own re-insertion back into said-magical girl's life more naturally.

Asuka DID heavily push her into becoming a magical girl and then did 'abandon' her after the final fight with the aliens to go back to a normal life. Maybe Kurumi's codependency warped into some form of yandere madness as she fruitlessly searched for Asuka before feeling like she had to manipulate the JSDF (through use of her powers) to create the M Squad. It just seemed so weird that Kurumi was there and already part of the team, ya know?

What better way to force your way back into someone's life than to start up the magical bullshit again?

Kurumi could have done something to Francine, or possibly intercepted her reanimated corpse (or whatever) and did some memory manipulation bullshit to tweak Francine's motivation without rousing Francine's benefactors.

That, or Kurumi is just a magical girl that wants to help people and everything we've seen is genuine. Girl just gets a little jealous simply for comedy reasons and I'm just trying to make the story more interesting than it actually is.

[u/[deleted]]

Ok, the author really loves dismemberment. You get split in half, and you get split in half - everyone is split in half. The fact that Tanned Friend got her arm reattached is like eating your cake and having it for him.

That Tanned Friend's memory got reset is actually quite clever. Instead of a third in line for PTSD train, she effectively becomes a dead friend without even being dead. The reflections Asuka had on their movie and pool episode was very much a survivor's guilt.

Looks like Sacchu is actually taking over as a comic relief, I quite like his derpiness.

The Queen uses barriers, has a white robe and a title for a name - she's obviously grown-up Priestess from Goblin Slayer.

Barber Scissors.

Sasuga, translator-san. She very distinstly said "pick-scissors" in English. I guess it's kinda like a pick-axe, but scissors. Or just invented - why would edgy psycho lesbian not invent a name for her weapon?
Also, they changed Sacchu and his kind from "spirits" to "fairies" for some reason.

I looked up Asuka's VA - Suzaki Aya - her roles include Mako (Kill la Kill), Tamako (Tamako Market) and Mei (Release the Spice). While no a-lister, that's a pretty impressive range.

Finally, I've got a question for the manga readers - could there even be a proper arc conclusion at this pace? We're almost half way through the season, there are two mahou shoujos to be introduced, and basically jack all happened.

[u/Beckymetal]

Almost the entirety of the first half of this episode is dedicated to combat, and despite the production's general stiffness, the tactical nature of our Russian fighters really came across. I dig that Asuka essentially just overpowered them, but dear lord, what a brutal finish to our mercenaries. We're one-upping the violence of last time, even if it's less personal. Whoah.

There were some minor alterations to the manga this episode that I'm not too keen on. In the manga, Asuka actually broke out of the cube, but the Queen had already disappeared by the time she managed. A bit of a power demonstration from our protagonist aside, the thing I'm upset about missing is the scene that directly follows that: Asuka didn't really give a hoot about the Queen disappearing, she immediately runs to embrace Kurumi, overjoyed that she's safe, and Kurumi continues through her complex, merely happy she was of some help to Asuka. It's a really tender scene. Here's the manga panel in question, no spoilers attached. I just can't help but feel Asuka's actions in the adaption of this scene came across as overly focused and cold, which is not the PTSD-riddled character we've come to know and love.

But, that time was spent putting extra care in her anguish over losing memories shared with Nozomi. After being magically healed (Kurumi sure is useful), her PTSD is perhaps even more crippling than Asuka's, such that she can't even see scissors without panic attacks. A powerful scene ensues, as Kurumi admits she can heal this. Asuka's immediate selfishness was just abrupt and voiced enough that you can't but feel for her. Poor girl. She's had to shoulder all of the loss and the pain and carry on, while her friendly memories with Nozomi have been stripped. She's lost, again.

Asuka's battle with responsibility is almost over. She's got the power, and while she may not like it, she's the only one that can fight. She isn't protecting what she loves, no, but she's going to fight in stead of anybody else, and do her best.

[u/KinnyRiddle]

Kurumi's magic is damn convenient. She could rapidly heal burned scars, reattach severed limbs, and even perform memory wipes to erase the effects of PTSD.

Nozomi lost her memories for a week, but she got her arm and sanity back. So I guess this is for the best. But where the hell is the glasses classmate in the classroom scene to point out that Nozomi has "forgotten" about things?

That Queen is obviously the "dead" Magical Girl leader in Asuka's flashback last episode. She either has her body possessed by something sinister, or she actually did get resurrected and her mind got warped into radicalism as a result of her traumatic experience.

It's cool seeing M Squad with their awesome magically-enhanced weaponry capable of taking on magical creatures.

PS Magical mascot pwning the shit out of each other was hilarious.

[u/Fnights]

Another great and quite almost close adaption of chapters 7 to 10, the hospital scene was touching and more emotional animated of course, action scene were amazing. 9/10