Magical Sempai Series Review: Smoke, Mirrors, and Tight Sweaters

Series Positives

Magical Sempai wasn’t all that bad.

As long as you go into this series knowing fanservice and slapstick will be its mainstays, then you’ll most likely find it to be a lot of fun. But even if those concepts do bother you (which, if they do, you made a gross miscalculation when you decided to watch), there was still a considerable amount of charm to this show to have it be more than ridiculous boob physics and penis jokes.

Getting right to the heart of the matter, I enjoyed Magical Sempai far more than I ever expected.

If I were to narrow down this show’s success to a single element, I would have to give credit to its simplicity. Nothing ever became complicated. This series never bothered to delve into the personal lives of its characters. There was no great obstacle to overcome. Heck, there wasn’t even any fan fair to indicate the anime had reached its final episode.

It would not surprise me in the slightest if Magical Sempai managed to obtain a second season. Not because it was a surprising gem, but because it worked, plain and simple.

Magical Sempai ’s straightforwardness was only part of the equation, though. I wouldn’t argue with anyone if they said, “This show’s characters were one-note.” Where I might differ is by countering with, “Exactly. That was the best part.”

Everyone in Magical Sempai was based on a single personality trait. However, this series went all-in on that one trait.

With Sempai, she was high-energy and gung-ho. She was enthusiastic about magic and did put a lot of hard work into her act. With a natural desire to perform, she was always on stage, and when things went wrong, she refused to let the trick die. Therefore, when you mix stop-for-nothing ambition and crippling stage fright, you get Sempai, who was a decent magician when no one was looking. The second she had eyes on her, though, nothing would go her way.

To counter Sempai’s forcefulness, this series had Assistant, who could just absorb the insanity. I love me a good straight man routine, and Assistant nailed that. It wasn’t so much that Assistant didn’t react to Sempai’s antics; it was that his energy levels were the polar opposite to hers. Why have an overdramatic freak out when a more subtle sarcastic comment could be so much funnier?

Together, these two created a perfect balance of give-and-take. It was this balance that allowed Magical Sempai to be as funny as it was. Sempai and Assistant were what this series needed to complement its sketch-comedy presentation better. And that was another thing.

No one episode followed an overarching storyline. Everything was quick and to the point, and once a joke was made, that was it; time to move on.

Magical Sempai, being only thirteen minutes an episode, was the ideal length for the type of show it wanted to be. This series isn’t something you’re meant to invest your time in. It is merely a way to pass a few extra minutes with something fun. If you can accept that, then I think you are going to find this to be sufficiently satisfying.

Series Negatives

Do you want to know the level of fanservice you would be getting with Magical Sempai? Well, here it is:

The sweater Sempai wore throughout the show was the most latex-looking cotton top I have ever seen. The way the light shone on the stitched fabric was something else; I tell you what. Oh, and Sempai had a massive set of boobs. Like, damn, they were big.

Now you know. Plus, I didn’t want to release this review without commenting on the sweater.

I am going to go on a limb and assume most of you reading have already decided whether you will watch Magical Sempai or not. If you haven’t and you were waiting for me to expose some sort of Achilles heel in this section, let me disappoint you.

Nothing was infuriating, troublesome, problematic, or annoying about this series. This show was what it was.

Thus, it would be fruitless to criticize how absurdly sexual the situations Sempai found herself in were. There would be no purpose explaining why certain jokes were funny and why others weren’t (I laughed while watching and, to me, that was good enough). There would be zero reasons to explain why this series isn’t going to be the breakout hit of the 2019 summer season.

Magical Sempai was purposely fanservice-heavy. Its jokes were low brow. This was a short-form anime that ran at the same time as far more outstanding shows, like Demon Slayer.

If you wrote in the comments, “This series didn’t work for me,” I can understand that. Magical Sempai is a coin flip that will land, or it will not.

In the end, there needed to be something irredeemable about this show for me to rip into it. I mean, yeah, this wouldn’t be the anime I would use to introduce people to the medium. But if you have three hours you need to kill, this will do that nicely.