Magic girl meet reality
This anime is a very nice change from your traditional magical girl anime. As to where most magical girl anime follows a generic formula that makes them light and kid-friendly, this anime does not. The anime takes an interesting approach to the idea of magical girls and how they can show up in the world. The anime will also take into account how this might affect the world at large. Yet there are still enough magical girl elements to make it feel like a magical girl anime. My favorite part about this anime is the abridged introduction.
Most magical girl anime start off with a bunch of nonsense about how the girls get their powers. This anime falls more into a second-season role. The initial bad guy has been defeated, and the world gets to be changed by what has happened. It is interesting to see the choices that each girl has made. The main character Asuka has made a choice to live under surveillance for the rest of her life instead of being a magical girl. After all, no one could really blame her. After all, the anime shows what would commonly not be seen.
As is normal with a lot of these colorful transforming anime, there is always a monster rampaging. However, when the anime is more kid-friendly, there is generally a reason or method for why the people who are victims do not die. That is not always the case, but it is rare for us to see harm come to everyday citizens. Not in this anime. When the bad guys attack, there is lots of blood and violence. It is weird and terrifying because all the bad guys are cute. Kind of imagine a cute teddy bear biting the head off of a little girl and then eating her. While the anime does not get into that kind of stuff too much, it is still implied that violent painful deaths are a part of the invasions. As expected, this screws people up.
Some magical girls are screwed up beforehand, but most are normal girls who get thrown into war. That kind of thing fucks up adults so one can understand why Asuka and the others are so screwed up. You also get to see the effect that getting sucked back in has on Asuka. The other girls are not too different. I guess that war really changes people. The ones who were not broken, to begin with, like Mia or Tamara. The anime even gets a couple of jabs in about the pointless cycle of terrorism and suppressing it. Which means the rest of the world is involved.
As expected, the rest of the world is involved. So all magical girls are equivalent to nuclear weapons. So we get to see what happens when the world has to unify and then via for dominance. Seeing the layers of government involved adds another layer. Unlike normal magical girls who can just kind of do whatever they want. There is a lot that has to be considered when one is going to be making a move. Asuka learns this or has to accept this the hard way when she gets dragged back in.
Overall the series is definitely worth a watch. There is a lot of potential for the anime, and it is a nice, if somewhat jarring, change from the usual magical girl genre. You just need to be patient, and slowly the world and setting will unravel as all the girls are... insane is the most excellent way to put it. I am looking forward to what happens next.