While Mahou Shoujo Site as a series was a major flop due to its over-the-top edginess and blatant failure at being the next Madoka Magica, the magic system brought into the plot is a unique mechanic that still sets it apart from other magical girl series to this day. It breaks the tradition of how most magical girl series function, and on top of that, it offers a unique visual appeal that changes the narrative from what is expected of other titles in the genre.
While most magical girl series depict a major transformation and a secondary design for each character, Mahou Shoujo Site doesn’t follow that tradition even in the slightest. Instead, it introduces other, more unique elements that bring their charm to the series’ dark and gritty narrative, allowing it to stand out among all others, whether that attention is positive or negative.
The Magic Item Behind It All
At the beginning of the series, the protagonist, Aya Asagiri, is contacted by Nana, one of the Administrators of the Magical Girl Site, and is given a Stick — a magical item that all magical girls contacted by the site are given. Her Stick in particular is a pink toy gun with a heart-shaped barrel, and when used, it transports her wherever she desires to go. When she is first given the Stick, Aya unintentionally causes two of her classmates to get run over by a train. This causes her to meet one of her other classmates and fellow magical girl Tsuyuno Yatsumura.
The Sticks can take the form of any object and be used for any purpose. Instead of a magical girl transformation, when a magical girl uses her Stick, an Emblem appears in their eyes and on their body, and the ends of their hair change color as if dyed. On top of this, the user typically bleeds from one part of their body. While all of these factors can almost count as a magical girl transformation in its own right, no other magical girl series uses these elements, which makes this series stand out from similar shows.
The Lore Behind The Stick
The Sticks were created by the King, the incarnation of the planet Earth, who created them to have incredible powers beyond human comprehension, as well as to siphon the user’s lifespan until their eventual death as part of a “test.” She determined that whoever has the most negative energy at the time of the Tempest, the destruction of humanity, will survive and be able to live on. However, there is a contradiction to this, as there is no true way to gather the amount of negative energy needed without dying or using up most of the user’s lifespan.
When a user dies from anything other than using up their lifespan, they will die as a normal human, and no changes will occur. However, if a user dies through using up their lifespan, they will become an Administrator themselves. Such a system does not currently exist in any other magical girl anime, making it a one-of-a-kind approach to storytelling in the genre.
