Gushing over Magical Girls – 13 (Fin) – Love’s a Game of Give and Take

Vena gives the Enormita girls a much-deserved day off at the beach. Utena rejects the tiny purple micro bikini Kiwi picked out for her, going with a cute lilac one piece instead. Turns out Tres Magia also got the day off, so Haruka, Kaoruko, and Sayo are also there.

Big Sis Haruka builds sand castles with Korisu, Kiwi competes with and shouts at Kaoruko (the two could either be sisters or lovers), and Nemo teach Matama swimming lessons. Sayo ends up with Utena under the umbrella, but perhaps wisely doesn’t bring up last week’s intense massage. Instead, she notices Utena’s Tres Magia bag, and Utena starts to gush about how cool the magical girls are, it gives Sayo a big boost. I can’t help but ship these two.

Unfortunately the peaceful day takes a turn when Kiwi witnesses two drunk girls butting in line ahead of Utena and transforming into Leoparde to threaten them. The Tres girls sense Enormita and transform. Since this is the seaside, Gushing finally has an excuse for Utena to summon a tentacle monster, which not only captures and has its way with Tres Magia, but Kiwi, Matama, and Nemo as well.

Kaoruko, who really hates octopi and tentacles, is almost at the end of her rope when Sayo breaks out her elegant and badass “Maiden of Hoarfrost” new form, much to Utena’s delight. When Utena tosses a couple of her own attacks Sayo’s way, Sayo catches the black bolt in her white shawl, seemingly to deflect it—only to direct the attack back onto herself!

This is the new-and-improved Sayo, who is now able to maintain her dignified façade while embracing her deep-seated love of the punishment Utena is doling out. Utena’s attacks are a form of love, so it’s only right and proper for her to not only take that love, but give some back in return. Haruka is confused, but Kaoruko knows what’s going on: Utena the sadist and Sayo the masochist are having an all-out S&M battle.

Even though Enormita regroups and throws everything they have at Sayo, she’s able to blast them all into the sky, which is just fine with Utena, who has always exhibited switch tendencies. Sayo’s win also allows everyone to transform back into their normal selves, with no one being the wiser about who they just fought (and did … other things too).

It all ends with a (relatively) peaceful night on the beach with fireworks and everyone getting along. Sayo notes how happy Utena looks, and she admits that she is: she has so many lovely friends, and when she’s Baiser she gets to interact up close and personal with the magical girls she loves so much. For all its ecchi raunchiness, Gushing closes out on a sweet note of joy and fellowship.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 12 – Playtime is Back

Utena is now Supreme Commander of Enormita by unanimous vote of the other girls, but morphing Lord into a kid took a lot out of her, and she’s worried about Tres Magia and Azure in particular. When she hears from Matama and Nemo that not only are Tres Magia just fine, but Azure has developed a new ability that was able to crush Lord’s goop monsters, she’s over the moon.

The heads into town where Tres Magia are rebuilding, but without her transformation star, so that there’s no chance of her cover being blown. Azure recognizes her classmate, but has to pretend not to. Utena, barely keeping her composure, offers Azure an innocent back rub that soon gets entirely out of hand(s) when she goes below the equator. I have to think Sayo won’t look at Utena the same way next time they cross paths in class!

Since Utena and Kiwi are essentially Korisu’s parents, they take her to a toy store to treat her to some new toys to replace the ones she sacrificed in the battle against Lord & Gigant. While there they encounter Haruka with her adorable triplet sisters, who proceed to play with Korisu. Haruka notes that it would be nice if days were always like this: quiet and peaceful.

Alas, it’s neither Utena nor Kiwi who ruin the peace, but a Neroalice excited to play with her new toys: a Godzilla-like lizard she blows up to the size of a building, and a magic wand that she uses to similarly size up Magenta once she responds to the disturbance. Unable to stop Alice from having her fun, Baiser and Leoparde join in, climbing up into Magenta to mess with her.

Azure and Sulphur head in to help Magenta out, but having four tiny magical girls crawling all up and down her body have the opposite effect. Everyone eventually gets too overheated to keep fighting, and gravity sends them down into Magenta’s panties, which then tear. Having had quite enough of this, Magenta blasts Utena and Kiwi into the sky, then reverts to her normal size.

All’s well that ends well, with Haruka reuniting with her sisters, who report that they saw Magenta’s butt, but she was still really cool. As for Korisu, after having fun with her toys and Tres Magia, she falls into a peaceful, satisfied sleep beside Utena and Kiwi. So begins Utena’s reign as Supreme Commander, whose standing order is to have fun messing with Tres Magia, not eliminating them!

Gushing over Magical Girls – 11 – Asserting Dominance

Having surprised Sister Gigant by revealing her three stars (along with most of the rest of her body), Leoparde proceeds to beat and bomb the shit out of her huge opponent in a rude profanity-laden assault.

The slime hearts are a nice touch

Even when Leoparde starts to cough up blood from overuse of her power, she’s revitalized by her boundless horniness and the promise of a hotel liason with her beloved Magia Baiser. She also uses her brain, creating cracks in the pavement beneath their battle that eventually swallow up Gigant and make her cry real tears of utter defeat.

Korisu has Lord’s slime monsters pent up in her dollhouse, but when she falls asleep, shes transforms out of her Enormita guise Matama and Nemo protect her, they’re soon surrounded. That’s when Tres Magia makes a stylish entrance, and because everyone is in street clothes they don’t recognize them as enemies. Sayo takes on the slime monsters herself and vaporizes them en masse with her nifty new powers.

Meanwhile at Macht Base, Utena is struggling in her battle with Lord Enorme, but due to lack of motivation and boredom with her schtick. Noting that Lord talks about world domination like a kid, she starts to visualize her as a little brat, and suddenly all her accumulated wounds are healed and she reveals a new, even gaudier form, with what looks like eight star tattoos on her face to Lord’s mere four.

By the time Matama and Nemo arrive with a still-tuckered-out Korisu and a heavily bandaged Kiwi, Utena has things well in hand. She turns Lord’s own slime monsters against her, uses them as restraints, then tears off Lord’s clothes starts giving her a spanking. It’s no longer a battle, it’s punishment for Lord’s misdeeds. Lord begs her former allies to help her, but they want no part of what this particularly unhinged version of Baiser is dishing out, thanks!

After sufficient humiliation has been doled out, Utena finally gets a tearful, blubbering apology from Lord Enorme, who seems to have been relieved of three of her four stars. Turns out Venalita let her borrow the other three all along unlike everyone else, who gets their power from within. But her use to Vena has come to an end, so he has Gigant, who was working for him all along, finish Lord off, which presumably means death.

All’s well that ends well. Kiwi is eager to get her hotel date with Utena started as soon as possible, despite being in no condition for any kind of physical exertion. She even looks Matama and Nemo’s way as if inviting them to get a room themselves; they respond by blushing in unison. Korisu clearly looks like she could nap for days.

As for Utena, Venalita makes her the new Supreme Commander of Enormita, and her response is very Utena-y. Apparently Lord Enorme going rogue was all part of Vena’s plan to make the other girls more powerful, and it appears to have succeeded. The question for the final two episodes of this bonkers show is where Utena and her friends go from here.

Gushing over Magical Girls – 10 – Matchmaker Baiser

Even when they were small, Matama always loved to sing, and Nemo hid in the shadows. No one would listen to Matama, and no one would play with Nemo. They essentially became friends because no one else would have them and it worked out for both of them. Now that Matama has decided she’s joining Utena, Nemo ends up following her, because why split up now?

Utena is ready to welcome them with open arms, but they first have to be “purified” of the sin of hunting all those poor magical girls. She traps the pair in a soundproof, shadow-proof dollhouse labeled “The room you can’t leave until you satisfy Magia Baiser.” Utena notes their constant bickering (which they continued here) is a sign of their close friendship, but is certain it goes much deeper than that.

She orders Matama and Nemo to fully explore those depths of their unspoken love, starting with a simple kiss. The girls don’t really put up much of a fight, and not just because they’re trapped. Needless to say, things get quite a bit nuder, hotter, and heavier. It occurs to Nemo that she might’ve always loved Matama like this, as they proceed to go at it with gusto.

Utena watches the whole thing go down and is well and truly satisfied. As a result, the girls are freed from the dollhouse and end up still entangled on the ground, but now fully clothed, before a somewhat confused Kiwi and Korisu. Now that they’ve completed the task Utena set for them, they are now officially allies.

But the fact remains, the four-star Lord Enorme and three-star Sister Gigant are still formidable foes against the two-star Baiser, three-star Neroalice, and zero-star Leoparde. When Lord launches an attack on the town, the girls are overwhelmed by her globular soldiers, who are an extension of Enorme’s power and will only fully disperse if she’s defeated.

Even with Leberblume and Loco Musica on their side, it’s a tough fight, and there’s a point where I was worried Kiwi, tired of being told how weak she is, was going to sacrifice herself for Baiser. Turns out she was hiding the fact that she’s actually a three-star, and thus on equal footing with Gigant.

That leaves Utena free to head to Macht Base to do battle against Lord Enorme, who to this point has been fully clothed, but likely won’t remain so once up against Magia Baiser. And then theres the matter of Sayo continuing to train. Will she finally be a match for Enormita when they return to town?

Gushing over Magical Girls – 09 – Out of the Shadows

This week Tres Magia is reduced to bookends, content to train in the wilderness. That said, when she tries to meditate under a waterfall, Sayo only ends up getting turned on by the weight of the water and how wet she’s getting. When the trio bathe together, she covers up her breasts, still remembering what a Dollhouse-influenced Kaoruko did to them. Will these three end up strong enough to take on Enormita? We’ll see!

For now, Enormita is busy fighting the Lord Squad, but first we’re introduced to the sisterly bickering of Loco Musica and Leberblume, who is treating her back wounds from Lord Enorme’s whipping. Loco is eager to get back on stage, partly to lure Enormita girls into a battle, and partly because she truly believes she has the makings of a top idol.

Loco Musica’s next show is Utena’s first opportunity to hear her, and Kiwi isn’t surprised by her reaction. Loco is also playing for a crowd of seeming fans, though something is a bit off. It’s a nice touch that they’re just as out of tune as Loco is, but when Leberblume reveals she has the power to use shadows to control people, it’s clear the crowd is under her influence. Leberblume also features my favorite outfit, showing none of her front and back, but all of her sides.

Utena and Kiwi also end up under her control, but Magia Baiser has a plan. The mortal enemy of shadows being light, she uses Kiwi as bait to lure Leber in, then Kiwi releases a flash grenade. In Leber’s moments of blindness, Neroalice traps her in a darkened dollhouse. Utena threatens to smash the house unless Loco strips and performs naked.

At first, Loco is hesitant and embarrassed, but once she actually starts singing, everyone is shocked to find she can actually carry a tune, as if the discomfort (or comfort?) of being in her birthday suit unlocks the talent she always believed she had, but never demonstrated. She also gets rather hot and bothered by the thrill of performing nude, and when she finishes and Baiser, Leopard, and Neroalice offer their enthusiastic (and genuine) applause, she accepts that his battle is her loss.

With their defeat, both Loco and Leber’s identities are revealed as Akoya Matama and Anemo Nemo. Surprising everyone, including her longtime partner, Matama declares that they’ll be (re-)joining Enormita, and will henceforth be their allies against Lord Enorme and Sister Gigant.

I like the twist because it makes sense: Nemo doesn’t want to be stripped and whipped by Enorme, while Matama is indebted to Baiser & Co. for her true idol awakening. Does this mean next time Tres Magia shows up, it will be five against three … or will Enorme and Gigant team up with the good guys to even the odds?