A young man is reborn as the “annoying sidekick that nobody wants,” Takioto Kousuke, from his favorite bishoujo game, Magical Explorer, also known as MagiEx. At first, Kousuke doesn’t like his chances here—the character wasn’t particularly liked in the game, had zero prospects, and was terrible at magic. Or was he? Kousuke remembers that this character was pretty talented at a specific kind of magic, and having been accepted into magic school, maybe he could make this work after all? And what’s this: adoption by the older, beautiful character in the game, Hanamura Marino? As routes begin to open up for him, Kousuke realizes he could live a pretty good life here—but what role is he to play in this world?
Magical Explorer launches with two episodes, and there’s both promise here—especially for an ecchi series. And that’s where I want to start: with the good. Dismissing the first panty shot thirty seconds into the show, there’s really an encouraging vibe to the series. Kousuke is definitely smitten with the girls, but he’s brave and his desire isn’t to marry all the girls (at least not at this point in the series); it’s to become as strong as he can be. What he says at the end of episode one to one of the young ladies really kind of tugged at my heart strings: “If I can’t protect you here, I can never become the strongest.” Together with the upbeat music in that scene (both the OP and ED are always equally optimistic, heartfelt pieces), and I was ready to say, Hey, this ecchi series ain’t so bad!
But there is some bad, particularly in episode two, where the series reminds us that this world is meant to be like an eroge game where contrived scenarios like to toss in fanservice. Quite a lot of it. The worst is when, in episode one, the series makes sure to give some fanservice shots during an attempted rape. Yikes. That was the worst scene and, honestly, felt a bit out of place because the rest of episode played the fanservice up for laughs. I also appreciated the writing; it won’t set the world on fire (one character’s story involving her family being at odds with a dangerous cult is just retreaded fantasy stuff that The Eminence in Shadow would have a field day satirizing), but it’s thoughtful for a series where I assumed there wouldn’t be any thought at all. Just as with the manga, I realize that the ecchi stuff is too big a part of the plot (eroge game, after all!) for me to want to continue the show, but I think those who like harem series and don’t mind that type of material as much as I do may be pleasantly surprised.
Magical Explorer can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
