Yoshida Yuuko is a sickly girl who has spent a lot of time in the hospital. Everything changes when she starts high school. One night she has a strange dream where she meets her ancestor and learns that she has the blood of ancient demons and must defeat the Magical Girl residing in her town to restore the Dark Clan to its former glory. The next day she wakes up with grown horns and a long tail. Her mother unsurprisingly explains that their family is descended from the Clan of Darkness, banished to a life of poverty and misery by their eternal enemies – the magical girls of the Clan of Light. The only way to lift the curse of their ancestors would be for Yuuko to find a magical girl, murder her, and douse her ancestor’s demon god statue in blood, and her true name is Shadow Mistress Yuuko.

Unfortunately, Yuuko is one of those clumsy and clueless girls, so the very same day she almost dies under the wheels of a truck. Ironically, she gets rescued by a magical girl, Chiyoda Momo, which she has to defeat. Unfortunately for her, she also happens to be her classmate.

Machikado Mazoku – Audiovisual design

J.C. Staff has nailed the visuals. Without hesitation, I can rate this series as one of the studio’s best looking. The animation is smooth and very creative. The character designs are simply gorgeous, and the level of detail, including shading, is stunning in practically every scene. It’s hard to see any 3D inserts here, even in the background.

The audio side is similar. As usual, the voice actors (actually actresses, since none of the twelve episodes features characters of a different gender – the exception being the narrator who comments on the main character’s actions at the beginning, middle, and end of each episode, which enhances the comedic effect) were perfectly matched to the characters, but Kohara Konomi playing the main female character, Shamiko, was simply stellar. Anyway, she plays a lot of roles of heroines that I love. Apart from her, a lot of other famous names make an appearance here too (e.g. Kitou Akari, Oowada Hitomi, Satou Rina). The song used in the opening (Machikado Tangent) has been playing on loop at my place for a few days now. In addition, the soundtrack itself is great too.

Machikado Mazoku – Plot and Characters

Machikado Mazoku is another manga adaptation published in the magazine Manga Time Kirara engaged in publishing seinen stories about everyday life in the form of yonkoma, usually mixed with comedy. For the most part, these stories benefit greatly from being adapted, as the voice actors perform literal miracles with the help of the dialogue directors and creators of the source material itself. The result is the creation of unforgettable characters. The manga itself is a simply adorable piece of work, but the adaptation brings out so much more in the characterization, while greatly diluting the episodic nature of the source, tying together the various plots of adjacent chapters, and adding content that wasn’t present in the source. I am impressed – J.C.Staff together with director Sakurai Hiroaki did wonders here.

Characters and plot

The plot is about a normal girl named Yuuko. One night turns her whole life upside down. She learns in a dream from her ancestor that she comes from the Clan of Darkness, and her main goal is to eliminate a magical girl living in the same town that is a member of their eternal enemies, the Clan of Light. However, it soon turns out that Chiyoda Momo, the magical girl, has no intention of fighting her – on the contrary, she saves her life and helps her develop her hidden powers, while showing a friendly attitude by fondly shortening her demon name – Shadow Mistress Yuuko to Shamiko, which is quickly picked up by her classmates.

The series is full of all sorts of references, but these are more references to general themes than to specific titles. Obviously, the premise of Mahou Shoujo has been turned upside down here, with the main character Yuuko (a clumsy young demoness) and the focus on her friendship with Momo and Mikan (the two magical girls) instead of creating conflicts with lives at stake. On top of that, there’s the slow reveal of more plotlines revealing the secret of the Yoshida family and their relationship with the magical girls in the past. The whole thing is served in a very humorous manner, and the dialogues run at a speed similar to that of the Monogatari series. Although the plot feels like an episodic slice of life, the creators have somehow managed to create something that feels like a continuous series – more or less like K-On (which, by the way, was also an adaptation of the yonkoma published in Manga Time Kirara). As is the case with most Japanese stories, the entire strength of this series are the characters – the rest is just background.

Evaluation and Summary

Machikado Mazoku is a series aimed rather at people who are quite familiar with Japanese pop culture (including games) and fans of series about everyday life. Such audience will be able to fully appreciate it from both the visual and plot sides – including the characters and the way the interactions between them are presented. I finished it in only two sittings, absolutely don’t regret a single minute spent watching, and can’t wait for the release of the second season this spring.

Finalny werdykt

Final evaluation

Which translation do I recommend to watch Machikado Mazoku

• Nyanpasu – subtitles based on the Taedium release (using Mad le Zisell’s subtitles) which had quite a few problems (although still significantly improved compared to the official translation). Here, the vast majority of those problems have been corrected, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

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