I have been reading the 5th volume of Magical Girl Raising Project recently, and now that I have finished that it is about time for me to share my thoughts on it. This is the fifth light novel in the Magical Girl Raising Project series, Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (I) – ‘I’ as in part 1, by the way.
The front cover of Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (I), which features 7753 (pronounced Nanakosan)
A whole new batch of magical girls!
During what was supposed to be a typical after-school club meeting, a small fairy named Toko appears out of nowhere with incredible news: All seven attendees have what it takes to become full-fledged magical girls! In exchange for their newfound abilities, they promise to save Toko from the evil mages who are hunting her down. But the girls may be in over their heads, as theses bad guys have special magical-girl powers of their own…
Limited introduces a new group of magical girls for the Magical Girl Raising Project series, and I honestly feel that they may be my favourite group from any of the light novels I have read thus far. One magical girl is actually returning from a previous volume, but everyone else is completely new.
It is another sixteen magical girls, though there are three different factions who clash during the events of the light novel. This volume even briefly touches upon the politics of the Magical Kingdom, as one of the factions is working directly with them.
If you asked me to pick out my favourite magical girls from Limited, I would probably have to go with Captain Grace, Tepsekemei, Archfiend Pam and Tot Pop. I won’t go into details about what their powers are, but if you’re imagining Captain Grace having a pirate theme you would be entirely correct.
Also, Archfiend Pam; probably not as evil as she sounds. The actual antagonists in Limited are a very interesting group of magical girls – ones that terrorised England hundreds of years ago.
There is one other magical girl whom I absolutely adore, but I won’t spoil who it is here.
A great bunch of characters, but what about the plot? Well, seven new magical girls are created and told to fight against evil mages. This being Magical Girl Raising Project, though, things aren’t as cut and dry as all that.
There is an assassin present, and the factions are hunting them down in the confines of B city. A magical barrier prevents any magical girls escaping the place, hence the ‘Limited’ in the title.
One particularly amusing part has one of the magical girls discuss what magical girls actually are – as far as they are concerned, they are closer to beautiful fighting girls or battle girls. Said magical girl is an otaku, as she gives quite the speech on what a magical girl actually is.
Limited (I) serves mostly to introduce each of the three factions of the magical girls, which includes a confrontation between two factions. Being the first part of a two-part story, Limited (I) ends on a cliffhanger, which is really frustrating. At the time of writing, it appears that Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (II) won’t be available until March 2019, so I’m going to have to wait a few months until I am able to find out how the rest of the story unfolds.
The fact that I am so eager to read the next part is a pretty good indicator that Limited (I) was a compelling read, introducing a manner of very interesting magical girls and including enough action to keep things interesting.
Being a light novel, there are also a few illustrations scattered throughout. Marui-no’s art is as good as ever, with the illustration of the new magical girls reacting to their forms being one of my favourites.
Should Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (II) maintain the quality of its first part, then Limited may very well end up being my favourite entry into the Magical Girl Raising Project light novel series.
Rory Muses 