Welcome, one and all, to my continuing series of weekly reviews for the ecchi comedy anime, Magical Sempai, aka Tejina Senpai. With the last episode being a mixed bag – albeit an entertaining one – I was hoping for an improvement here. Did the series manage to do so? In a word, yes. Let’s have a look at each part of the episode.
Creative Sempai
We opened up with cookery class! Saki wanted to make her brother Ma the best cookies ever, but they turned out…well…terrible. Luckily, she noticed Sempai at the back of the room, which meant she could ask her for advice so that she could remake them. She wandered over and Sempai referred to her as ‘Miss Balloon Person’. That made me chuckle. During Saki’s second attempt we actually got some backstory to the magic Club too, as she asked Sempai why she’s so obsessed with it. As it turned out, it was a real club when she was a first-year, but all the sempais graduated at the end of the year. She went all-in on recruiting, but couldn’t get anyone to join, so the club was scrapped. She’s now trying to revive it.
Saki wanted to try eating Sempai’s cookies, but she said that she’d prepared them especially for Assistant, and they were not safe to eat. Of course, it backfires. Assistant was initially suspicious of the cookies but found them to be delicious. Ma had ended up with the trick ones and pulled a string of flags out of his mouth. Saki got mad, the cookies went everywhere, and two jam ones landed on her breasts, leaving her to get upset about nipple size.
That was really good. Sempai being unsure what to talk about with Saki wasn’t surprising, and I really liked the flashback bit. The trick-gone-wrong was a good one, and the nipple joke was too ridiculous to get anything worse than a sigh out of me. I also like that Sempai doesn’t seem to refer to anyone by their actual name. All in all, a good section.
Fund-Raising Sempai
Sempai arrived with the official club funds, but they were disappointingly small. So, it was time for the club to do some public fundraising! Things get off to bad start when Sempai’s stage fright caused her to barf, so Ma suggests switching to street performance. Sempai tried to be a human statue but found it difficult to stay in position for too long. She doubled down on her efforts when some young lads seem to be impressed, but really, they just wanted to try looking up her dress. Panties ahoy! Saki and Ma do a bit better, with their balloon modeling getting plenty of donations. Assistant started falling for her how nice Saki seemed but was shocked when she threw the non-monetary donations away. Finally, we see an old guy offering Sempai 50,000 yen for making such a good statue.
That was pretty good too. The panty shot was not really needed, but otherwise, the whole scene saw the club getting along well and doing their best. A good, happy scene.
Pool Sempai
The pool was open, so Sempai decided to do some water magic. She had her swimsuit – which she wore all day, despite her year group not having swimming classes – and both Saki and Ma were dressed for the occasion too. Sempai explained how the water escape trick worked, then mentioned that some magicians do almost die. The trio stopped Sempai from attempting it, as Assistant was afraid she might drown, but Sempai was really upset. She was so certain she could do it.
Saki then jumped in the pool and pretended to drown, claiming she’ll die without mouth-to-mouth from Ma. Ma was obviously used to this though; he put a CPR face shield on her face and said they could leave her like that for a while. Sempai was still upset, so Assistant came up with a compromise: he’d only bind her wrists. She told him she’d do the real thing once she proves she can do it and went underwater. When she didn’t emerge after a few seconds, Assistant dove in after her! She was upset because she almost had them off. Assistant was more upset that he’d accidentally pulled her swimsuit off one shoulder.
Okay, so the stuff with Saki is pretty bad. I did like that Ma is just dealing with it though, so that’s good. Sempai was ready for action too, and it was nice seeing her so adamant she could do the trick without any sense of fear. The fan service at the end was something you could see coming a mile off, but I’ll let it slide, as it at least made sense in the context of what was happening.
Overcoming Sempai
Assistant turned up for club, and actually came up with a nice idea. He’d noticed that Sempai doesn’t always get stage fright, so thought they should put it to the test. After all, Sempai was fine doing the street performance at the park. She explained that she always gets it right on her own, but when she’s performing, the thought of needing to make it work gets her sweating. Assistant came up with the idea of taking a video of her doing a trick, as if he’s looking at the screen and not her, it may remove the stage fright.
It didn’t work, which left Sempai worried she may never be able to do it in front of a crowd. In an effort to build up slowly, Assistant gave her a cicada husk to perform in front of. Then a living cicada. And an eyeball balloon. By the time she got in front of a stain that looked like a face, she started to get things slightly wrong. Assistant with a blindfold was too much, and she lost her cool. When he left for the day, Assistant left a wooden cutout for her to practice in front of.
Sempai attempted the note cutting trick, unaware that Assistant was hiding behind the cutout. Though nervous, she actually managed it! Assistant leaped out and congratulated her, but the moment she realized he was there, she barfed again.
That was really good. Assistant’s efforts to help Sempai were a big improvement for him, and for a moment, it seemed like he’d helped her make a breakthrough. Not necessarily funny, but definitely entertaining.
Overall
That was a really good episode. The lewd moments didn’t particularly bother me this week, and the Saki-loves-Ma stuff was kept to a minimum too. Assistant actually managed to redeem himself a little in my eyes too, showing some genuine care for Sempai. If he could stay on that track, that would be great! I’m still not finding the series to be laugh out loud funny too often, but it’s keeping me interested at least. So, barring a disaster of an episode, I think I should get through to the end of this one.
Those were my thoughts, but what about yourselves? Did you enjoy these episodes? Do you agree or disagree with any of my observations? Let me know in the comments below.
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