, also known as ''I Admire Magical Girls, and...'', is a Japanese

magical girl is a Genre#Subgenre, subgenre of primarily Japanese fantasy media (including anime, manga, light novels, and live-action media) centered on young girls who possess magical abilities, which they typically use through an ideal alter ego into wh ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Akihiro Ononaka. It began serialization on

Takeshobo is a major publisher in Japan. Takeshobo was founded in 1972 by Kyōichirō Noguchi, starting Japan's first Mahjong magazine . Other magazines, such as a magazine dedicated to mahjong-themed manga, as well as a magazine dedicated to yonkoma ma ...

's ''Storia Dash'' website in March 2019. Eleven volumes have been released as of January 2024. It is licensed in English by

J-Novel Club J-Novel Club is a publishing company specializing in the translation of Japanese light novels into English. It streams light novels and manga in regular installments before publishing finalized e-books. As of August 2021, J-Novel Club has licens ...

. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation produced by

Asahi Production is a Japanese animation studio established on 1 June 1973. It is located in Nerima, Tokyo. History Asahi Production was founded in 1973, initially establishing itself as a specialized shooting studio and PR movie company. At its inception, ...

aired from January to March 2024. It is licensed outside of Japan by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC (or simply Sentai) is an American entertainment company. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is Sentai Studios. The ...

for streaming and home video. A second season has been announced.

Plot

Utena Hiiragi is a normal, introverted girl with a strong admiration for magical girls, especially the beautiful trio that protect her town, Tres Magia. One day, a mascot named Venalita approaches Utena and gives her magical powers, but rather than becoming the magical girl of justice she always wanted to be, she instead becomes an evil general of the Enormita organization. Despite the misfortune in being forced to fight against the magical girls she admires, Utena soon discovers that she has a hidden sadistic side, and revels in torturing her idols with her newfound obsession.

Characters

Due to magical powers, the true identity of Tres Magia's members when transformed is unknown to Enormita's members and vice versa. As the magical girls' power come from their emotions, some of them later learn to assume a more powerful form known as "La Veritas" when their emotions grow stronger.

Enormita / Evil Magical Girls

; / : : A shy and introverted school girl who admires magical girls, but also loves them in a twisted sense. She was forced into joining Enormita against her will, but soon comes to revel in her sadistic side, eventually becoming a perverted villain. As Magia Baiser, she wears a

succubus A succubus () is a female demon who is described in various folklore as appearing in the dreams of male humans in order to seduce them. Repeated interactions between a succubus and a man will lead to sexual activity, a bond forming between them, ...

dominatrix A dominatrix ( ; or dominatrices ), or domme, is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. The BDSM practice is called female dominance, or femdom. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily l ...

motif, and is able to use her crop to transform inanimate objects and animals into sadistic monsters. After defeating Lord, she develops a much stronger form, which evolves into spider motif when she attains her La Veritas form. She has an interest in sewing, and her grades have been affected by her interest in Enormita. She later becomes Enormita's new leader following Lord's defeat. ; : : A black mascot character who tricked Utena into joining Enormita, blackmailing her into staying through sharing a video of her on social media. Its motive is unknown and it seems to be very manipulative, but nevertheless supportive of Utena and her friends. ; / : : A member of Enormita who is in love with Utena, to the point she even decides to transfer to her school. As a civilian, she is an Internet celebrity, but grows to hate Tres Magia and magical girls in general for stealing her fans. As Leoparde, she wears a military motif and attacks using various explosives and guns. During her fight against Sister, she reveals a more powerful form. ; / : : A member of Enormita, a quiet girl in elementary school who does not speak much but loves playing with toys. As Nero Alice, she wears an

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

motif, able to manipulate toys in various ways, such as trapping victims in doll houses, influencing a person's mind, or making stuffed toys giant. ; : A robot girl given life by Utena and Korisu's combined powers. Originally a doll that was given to Korisu by her mother and fixed up by Utena, and a plastic model given to her by Kiwi, she is sworn to protect Korisu. ; / : : A member of Enormita and former member of the Lord Squad who aspires to be an idol, but is terrible at singing. As Loco Musica, she wears a

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. While the term ''sailor'' ...

motif and uses sound waves to attack her enemies. ; / : : A member of Enormita and former member of the Lord Squad who cares for Matama. As Leberblume, she wears an

assassin Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

motif and is able to transform herself into a shadow and manipulate others. ; / : : A member of Enormita and The Lord Squad who wears a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

motif and has the ability to change her size to become gigantic or tiny. Following Lord's defeat, she goes into hiding to continue serving Venalita behind Utena's back.

Heroic Magical Girls

Tres Magia

; / : : Utena's classmate. A naïve, kind, pure-hearted girl. Wielding a spear, she starts out with no unique ability, but eventually gains the power to heal others. Following an incident in which Baiser's magic went out of control and manipulated her, she ends up obtaining a Dark La Veritas form, Fallen Nurse, which enhances her healing abilities in perverted ways. ; / : : She is a shrine maiden who likes to clean the temple. She loves peace and she prefers cute, modest outfits. She seems to have a secret masochistic side to her, as she likes spending time with Magia Baiser. She has power over water and ice and gathers water around her wand to form a sword. After nearly succumbing to Baiser's sadism, Azure obtained the La Veritas form Maiden of Hoarfrost, giving her the ability to power herself up by taking on enemy attacks. ; / : : She is the tough, quick witted, no nonsense team member. While seen as the defensive member of the team, she secretly wields massive knuckledusters for pummeling her enemies. She obtains the La Veritas form Blizengel, which gives her lightning speed and the ability to launch projectile fists. ; : : Tres Magia's mascot, who is the same kind of creature as Venalita, but is white instead.

Shio-chans

; : : Former leader of Enormita who defected to create the Lord Squad in the hopes of ruling the world and is now the leader of the Shio-chans. As Lord Enorme, her magic allows her to create monsters out of black goop. After she is humiliatingly defeated by Utena and ambushed by Sister Gigant, she escapes with heavy injuries and is later nursed back to health by Randa. She uses a stolen magical girl item to become the magical girl Imitatio, using her

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

-themed La Veritas form constantly to masquerade as Shion Imita. As Imitatio, she wields a large sword and can utilise various potions to affect her enemies. Initially driven by revenge against Utena and Enormita, she eventually reforms and becomes a true magical girl in order to protect Randa. ; / : A member of the Shio-chans who wears a

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

motif in La Veritas mode and enjoys indulging in perverted behavior. She is able to manipulate the earth to her liking and create golems. ; / : A masochistic member of the Shio-chans. Formerly known as Magia Blanc, she fell in love with Michiko after being spared from her magical girl hunt due to being considered "too weak" to hunt. She can transform her own blood into sharp weapons and wears a

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

motif in La Veritas mode.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Akihiro Ononaka, ''Gushing over Magical Girls'' began serialization on

's ' website on March 29, 2019. It was also serialized on the company's ' magazine, until it ceased publication in July 2019. As of January 2024, eleven volumes have been published.

licensed the series for English release, and began pre-publishing it in March 2022. Previously, Coolmic licensed the series and published the manga divided in, as of late December 2022, 68 "episodes" consisting of about 10 pages each, on a smartphone-only website, under the title "''I Admire Magical Girls, and...''.". On March 15, 2024, it was announced the manga would go on hiatus due to Ononaka's health issues. In January 2025, J-Novel Club announced that a print release would begin publication in July 2025.

Volumes

Anime

television series adaptation was announced on March 16, 2023. The series was produced by

and directed by Masato Suzuki and Atsushi Ōtsuki, with series composition by Noboru Kimura, character designs by Yasuka Otakil, and music composed by

Yasuharu Takanashi is a prolific Japanese composer and arranger for anime and video game series. His anime composition credits include ''Naruto Shippuden'', ''Fairy Tail'', '' Log Horizon'', '' Shiki'', '' Hell Girl'', and '' Record of Ragnarok''. Biography Tak ...

, Akinari Suzuki, and Johannes Nilsson. It aired from January 3 to March 27, 2024, on AT-X and other networks. The series aired censored on all television networks and partially uncensored with censored audio on AT-X and streaming sites, with the fully uncensored visuals and audio being featured on the home media release. The opening theme song is "My Dream Girls", performed by Nacherry (a voice unit composed of Chiemi Tanaka and Natsumi Murakami), while the ending theme song is performed by Fūka Izumi,

Aoi Koga is a Japanese voice actress from Saga Prefecture who is affiliated with 81 Produce. She started her voice acting career in 2014 after being inspired to do so at a young age. She played her first main role as Sora Kaneshiro in '' Angel's 3Pie ...

and Shiori Sugiura (with additional vocals by

Yūka Aisaka is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is affiliated with Apte Pro. She voiced Sophie Neuenmuller in the video game series ''Atelier'' and in the crossover game '' Warriors All-Stars''. Filmography Anime series *'' Amagi Brilliant Park'' ...

and

Minami Tsuda is a Japanese voice actress from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. She is affiliated with Aoni Production. Early life and career Since she was eight years old, Minami Tsuda was fascinated with voice acting as she was influenced by her sister and gr ...

from episode 10 onwards).

licensed the series in North America, Australia and British Isles for streaming on its

Hidive Hidive (stylized in all caps) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service was launched in June 2017 after the dissolution of The Anime Network's online service, which survived after the liquidation ...

platform and home video through

Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films, is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside ...

, simulcasting the AT-X version as it aired. A second season was announced during an event for the anime series on October 5, 2024.

Episodes

Reception

In 2020, the manga was among 50 nominees for the 6th

Next Manga Award The is an annual award for manga series presented by Kadokawa Corporation's '' Da Vinci'' magazine and Niconico streaming website. It is divided into two categories: one for print manga, and one for web manga. Overview The award was originally ...

s in the web category.

Notes

References

External links

* at ''Storia Dash'' * at

* at Coolmic (smartphone only) * * {{Asahi Production 2019 LGBTQ-related literary works 2024 anime television series debuts Action anime and manga Adventure anime and manga Anime and manga set in schools Anime series based on manga Asahi Production AT-X (TV network) original programming BDSM literature BDSM-related mass media Censored television series Comedy anime and manga Ecchi anime and manga J-Novel Club books Japanese webcomics LGBTQ-related anime and manga Magical girl anime and manga Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Takeshobo manga Upcoming anime television series Webcomics in print Yen Press titles Yuri (genre) anime and manga