Magical Girl Raising Project: QUEENS is the eleventh volume of Asari Endou’s Magical Girl Raising Project light novel series. After two anthology volumes, this one gets back on track with the main story as it focuses on the clash between two out of three factions of the Three Sages.
Front cover of Magical Girl Raising Project: QUEENS, featuring Puk Puck
WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?
Puk Puck’s plan to reform the Magical Kingdom is proceeding smoothly now that she has the help of her new friends Shadow Gale and Snow White… but friendship only goes so far. Uluru has defected from the Puk Faction in order to aid the magical girl Pfle, who has several risky tricks up her sleeve to stop Puk Puck’s devious scheme. What kinds of drastic measures will Pfle and her allies take to rescue the brainwashed Shadow Gale and Show White?
A new entry in the Magical Girl Raising Project series means new magical girls… most of the time. Actually, the cast for QUEENS is mostly made up of magical girls who have appeared before in the series. Lots of familiar faces to be found here, but this is Magical Girl Raising Project, so there’s no guarantee that any of them will be making it through unscathed.
The plot of QUEENS is something that has been steadily building up ever since Limited, where it started as naught much more than a background event. The Magical Kingdom became slowly more prominent as the series progressed, and now the fate of the entire place hangs in the balance in this volume.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Puk Puck’s desire to save the Magical Kingdom is a noble one, right up until her actual plan is revealed. Amusingly enough, it’s a plan that ties in with her ability really quite well.
On that note, Puk Puck’s ability might be the most terrifying that we’ve ever had from Magical Girl Raising Project. I won’t go into detail too much, but I will say that it’s such a simple ability that she wields flawlessly.
With two different factions clashing, it’s only natural that battles become big, and very bloody. QUEENS might have the highest count of magical girls out of any volume so far. Probably also the biggest body count, too…
Just like all the other volumes, this one introduces its cast of magical girls at the beginning with coloured chibi illustrations of them. But there are also a handful of named magical girls who don’t get any illustrations, whilst still contributing to the plot. Generally as enemies to be fought, but at least they get to do something.
After having two anthology volumes, it is so nice to return to Magical Girl Raising Project‘s overarching plot – one that gets it climax in this volume. Well, at least one thread, there’s still loose ends that have yet to be tied up – which means more content for future volumes.
Really enjoyed what we did get out of this volume, though. Lots of devious schemes afoot, and it is a lot of fun seeing them all unfold as the two factions clash.
And then when the clash does happen, lots of thrilling action. The way in which the magical girls utilise their unique abilities is always fun to read, and when the time comes for them to pit those abilities against each other, we get some pretty creative battles. Not to mention creative deaths, as well. Always lots of death in Magical Girl Raising Project.
Every volume of Magical Girl Raising Project has been a joy to read (even when favourite characters are killed off…) so far, and QUEENS is no exception to that. The plot for this particular one had been built up little by little by previous volumes, and it has been satisfying to see what the pay off for all that has been.
Rory Muses 