Magic User's Club

Director
Junichi Sato
Production
Triangle Staff, Madhouse, Bandai, WOWOW
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
12 episodes
Year
1996

Magic User's Club

By Jonathan Chapman
20th May 04

I was at the video store with my friend and we noticed this one. He dared me to buy it, and since it was only 10 bucks I did. We were surprised in a good way. This anime was hilarious - turning out to be well worth the expense.

Ok brace yourself. Apparently there are these aliens that have invaded Earth (I know it's a big shock), but they only destroy things if they are assaulted. They move around in flying 8-balls. Oh yeah, and they have infinite power (they vaporize jets, tanks, you know the deal). After the government gave up trying to destroy the aliens they just decided to hang out. They even obey the traffic rules. One clip shows the huge 8-ball walking an old lady across the street at an intersection.

Now to relate something totally non-related, there are these kids at a high school that are practicing magic - apparently magic is real, but no one else seems to know about it. If you want to fly or turn an alien into a giant teddy bear (no,this really happens I swear) you have to use really dorky (totem-pole-looking) wands. Oh yeah, and you have to have a card with your "spell" put in the wand. Now that we've gotten the basics out of the way we can move on to why this anime is good. For one thing, the plot is so bad that it's good. Between magic and aliens there's plenty of action. But that's besides the point. The true reason this anime stands out is the ridiculous sexual innuendo, cute characters, and hilarious animation. If you've ever seen Slayers you might know what I'm talking about (Naga juxtaposed to Leena for example).

Sae Sawanoguchi is the main character, a female who's trying to become a magician but who can't focus. She's very cute, carrying around a small teddy bear named Jeff - that's all I have to say about that. Sae's friend Nanaka hates the club and wants Sae to leave, but Sae can't get the willpower to say that she's through (not that she wants to leave anyways). The first episode basically gets started when Sae accidentally gets her broom to fly (she couldn't do it on purpose) and flies off into the sunset (out of control, of course). All the characters go flying after her on broomsticks. They just happen to run into some aliens and that's where the fun begins. Takeo is a sex-starved pervert and also the club leader. This is where a lot of the humor comes from. He tries to shy away from Ayanojyo (very similar to a character in Suikoden, the Movie), a cross dressing club member with a crush on Takeo. Takeo's day dreams are hilarious. In one he has all the girls pining over his death, and in another they're all caressing him as they bind his wounds. Although Takeo has strange tendencies, his heart is usually in the right place (unlike his head).

Akani is a very magically-talented cheerleader who doesn't really care about the club but somehow got stuck in it. She only shows up in emergencies, as sort of a foil to show how dorky all the rest of the club members are.

The enemies are also very entertaining. Takeo's nemesis is the leader of the Manga club, a sharp-tongued girl with large breasts - so of course Takeo's speechless when he's around her. The whole feud between the Manga and Magic User clubs is also very funny. The aliens either look like giant 8-balls or those fan-headed mechanical guys from Megaman. The art is very sharp and there's even CGI at the opening of the first episode. The characters are well drawn in the manga style (the whole show really has a manga feel to it). The music is quaint (kind of like something on Slayers - overly dramatic but tolerable). When the characters have emotions (especially Takeo) their entire face is covered in text - funny and probably more meaningful if one understands Japanese. Oh, and the dubbing was pretty good. I've heard bad dubbing and this one is decent (far better than Knight Hunters). This series doesn't deserve too much but all-in-all it's not half bad. Maybe if you see it and you're with a friend or bored give it a try.

7/10

-- Jonathan Chapman 20th May 04

Magic User's Club Images