In short, they’re happy to see it.
Summary:
- The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies anime is scheduled for July 2024.
- It will be produced by Studio Bones.
- It will likely have an anime original ending.
A recently announced anime adaptation of Cocoa Fujiwara’s romance manga, The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies (Katsute Mahou Shoujo to Aku wa Tekitai shiteita), is definitely not something fans ever expected to see.
The reason for that is the manga being unfinished due to the author's death: and with the last chapter having come out almost 10 years ago, it’s definitely not something they expected to ever be adapted.
Yet somehow, the manga is going to receive an adaptation — which makes fans of the original very happy. While they speculate about a possible original ending, they’re still happy to see it being made into an anime in the first place.
What is it about?
This is a romance manga built on a classic “enemies to lovers” trope. Fans compare it to series like Love After World Domination (Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de) and The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil (Oroka na Tenshi wa Akuma to Odoru), although it seems that The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant will be more serious in tone.
Who is making it?
The anime will premiere in July 2024 — just a few months away from now — and will be directed by Studio Bones. The director of the series will be Akiyo Oohashi — she previously worked on the OVA for Given, as well as the BL movie The Stranger by the Shore (Umibe no Étranger).
Fans are very happy about the anime being made by Studio Bones. The studio has a very good reputation when it comes to visuals — this season’s Metallic Rouge is made by them, and while it is criticized for many things, it still looks very good.
The revealed trailer was very short, though, and barely showed any animation — we can’t really make any predictions yet. That said, fans are confident Bones will treat the adaptation with care.
Fans’ speculations
This also makes fans speculate about the second season for the adaptation of Fujiwara’s other manga, Inu X Boku Secret Service (Inu x Boku SS). While that had a somewhat satisfying finale in anime, there’s still more content in the manga to be adapted.
With The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant manga only having 21 chapters, an anime original ending is practically required. While such endings are normally disliked by fans, here they want to see the story conclude in at least some form.