Alternative title(s): Mahoutsukai ni Narenakatta Onnanoko no Hanashi
Novel Adaptation by J.C. Staff
Streaming on Crunchyroll – Simulcast Pending

Premise

Ever since an encounter with a witch as a child, Kurumi Mirai has dreamed of attending the prestigious Redrun Magic School. Yet somehow, despite topping her junior high classes, she’s failed the admission test for the main course. Now she’ll have to adapt to life lower down on the academic scale, and deal with the quirky new teacher who’s been assigned to her.

Zigg’s verdict: Bit of Witch Academia

It’s a little hard to talk about The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians without acknowledging the elephant in the room that is Studio Trigger’s much beloved TV & OVA series, and indeed there’s a lot of similarities between this show and Little Witch Academia. The thing is though, I think that’s actually a strength rather than a weakness. To whit, what we’ve got here is a visually striking show that, while not necessarily narratively complex, is packed full of charm and broad humour, refreshingly family friendly, and with a thankful de-emphasis on complex magic systems or rankings.

J.C. Staff’s work here is certainly not up to the best of Trigger, but The Stories of Girls is nevertheless a very attractive looking production thanks to its unique flat-shaded and pastel dappled art style. The distinctiveness is further enhanced by some pretty striking character designs by noted mangaka Lily Hoshino (of Mawaru Penguindrum fame) including her trademark insane school uniforms. There’s even an opportunity for the studio to show some flash with the spectacular Fire Demon effect in the tail-end of the episode.

Narratively we’re on slightly less fertile ground here – the tale of the over-eager student and the quirky teacher who brings the best out of her class is something LWA also did, as have countless stories before it. I do think that there’s some neat character interactions here which have the potential to blossom into interesting dynamics, particularly around Kihel Heim Yuzu Edel and her burgeoning Mean Girls posse. The implied class divide between the students from the two courses could make for some good stories as well.

Overall then I don’t think The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians going to be a world-changing event, but this first episode gave me good vibes about it being a fun, cute, and charming show with a little spark in the visual department, and right now I’m going to say that’s more than enough for me to give it a few more episodes with high hopes.