Breaking stereotypes and clichés, this title shows what happens to brave heroines after all the feats are done.
Many have tried to reimagine magical girl stories, often by adding more violence to the genre. Director and screenwriter Hiroshi Nishikiori took a different approach, placing a heroine in the moment after the happily ever after.
What happens to magical girls when they grow up? Do they get an amazing future in a futuristic city like in Sailor Moon? Or are they stripped of their magic, only to use it later in life?
My Wife Is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes Uses a Unique Approach
Magical girl anime don't often explore this aspect: the story usually ends when the young main character achieves her current goal – defeating evil, saving the world and her friends, or building a relationship with her beloved boyfriend.
The series My Wife Is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes by J.C. Staff is dedicated to what happens to the heroine after the credits roll. Thanks to its unusual approach to the genre, the anime still feels fresh today.
What Is My Wife Is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes About?
Ureshiko is a young woman who lives with her grandmother in a big old house. She rents out rooms to visitors, and one of her tenants is Tatsumi, a modest guy who recently moved to town and got a job at a publishing house.
He often spends his free time with Ureshiko and begins to fall in love with her, but the woman has a secret.
In fact, the town they live in was created a long time ago by Ureshiko's mother, a sorceress from a parallel dimension. Over time, the task of protecting it was passed on to her daughter, and now it's time for the adult heroine to give up her post to the next magical girl.
Along with Tatsumi, the wayward elementary school girl Cruje, a young sorceress who is supposed to become the next guardian, comes to the town. But Ureshiko does not want to pass on her power to her: the town is the only reminder of her deceased mother.
Cruje, on the other hand, wants to change the town, where even the school is still wooden and old. She tries everything to harm Ureshiko and even to fight her, but the heroine proves to be too strong a sorceress.
My Wife Is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes Is Both a Funny And Profound Work
My Wife Is a Magical Girl: Bewitched Agnes was released at the height of the fanservice boom, when harems for male audiences dominated. You can see the influence of that trend in it.
At the same time, the anime raises serious questions: about personal boundaries and trust, about loyalty to tradition and fear of change, about a failed marriage and guilt for past mistakes.
The series proved to be surprisingly mature, while wrapped in a bright and seemingly humorous package. And this is an unusual treat, the taste of which you will not want to forget.