Anime Hajime Review: Mangirl

***Warning, the follow may contain spoilers for Mangirl. Reader discretion is advised.***

Series Synopsis

What does it take to create the biggest and greatest manga magazine in the world? Years and years of experience. Because you make fewer mistakes with experience. But you don’t get experience without making mistakes. And failures. And problems. And a slew of other unexpected issues.

This is a reality the editors of Comic Earth Star face every single day.

Although motivated and determined, these four young go-getters have no idea what they're doing. Hana Sasayama (voiced by Kanako Miyamoto), Aki Torri (voiced by Yuri Komagata), Tsugumi Haraki (voiced by Moemi Otaka), and Ringo Nishijima (voiced by Ayaka Ohashi) can only take it one day at a time.

With everything going wrong at every moment, all they have is their drive. Though their ambition is limitless, their budget isn't. And deadlines are closing in fast. If they hope to make it in the publishing world, they had better be quick learners.

Series Positives

Oh…this isn’t going to be a long review at all, is it?

Mangirl is three minutes an episode. Takes less than forty-five minutes to complete. The opening song takes up a good chunk of an episode. There wasn’t much to work with. So explaining how and why this series is either good or bad becomes limited.

That said, Mangirl was just meh. And with a show this short, that’s not a good thing. I mean, I don’t need to be blown away. But at least leave an impression.

Now I’ve seen awful short form anime before, and this wasn’t that. But I’ve also seen great ones too. I know good things can be done in limited time. Having something so bland is difficult to talk about. Because at least with a bad series, I can rip into it.

To give credit where it’s due, I'd watch it again. Or at least I’d consider checking out the original source material. I do think there’s something to this idea. The possibility of pulling something fun from Mangirl is real.

This series did make me chuckle. That was all it managed to do, but it was better than nothing. In fact, Mangirl did much better when it was more subdued and subtle. When the comedy calmed down and wasn’t all up in your face, it wasn’t that bad. It’s unfortunate that these moments were few and far between.

What could Mangirl have done?

Well, it needed to be longer. That’s a given. Not full length, but doubling the runtime would have helped. The OVA, which was nine minutes, proved that.

Then it hit me. I’ve seen a show that succeeded where Mangirl struggled.

Replace the publishing industry with video games, and you kind of have the makings of New Game. Granted, New Game had a lot more going for it. Better characters. Better pacing. And funnier overall. These two shows are different and there isn’t much that would close the gap. But Mangirl could've been bigger.

Series Negatives

Early last year I reviewed a series called Miritari. It was also a short, three minute per episode series like Mangirl. What’s that? You have no idea what I’m talking about. I don’t blame you. I forget about it all that the time.

And the same will soon be true about Mangirl.

I can sit here and point out any potential promise this show may have had. It’d be meaningless since the fact remains. There’s nothing worth highlighting. There was nothing which stood out.

At best, Mangirl was amusing on occasion. At worst, I tuned it out. You’re not with this series long. But it leaves your mind the second you stop focusing on it. There are much better things you could be doing.

Make a sandwich, take a nap…take a s@#$, anything would serve you better.

The Comedy

Mangirl's the type of show that won’t annoy you. I don’t think it'll make you laugh. But it won’t annoy you.

This series relied on speed and constant movement. No rest. Not waiting. Just constant joke after joke. This is a strategy that can work. Except it only works if the comedy lands. Or lands most of the time. Something Mangirl wasn’t able to do.

Sure, every now and then there was a winner. But a broken clock is right twice a day.

If the problem was due to Mangirl being adapted from a four-panel comic strip, I don’t buy it. Not only can it work, it has worked. And it has worked wondered.

Hidamari Sketch, Joshiraku, and Seitokai Yakuindomo, all were like Mangirl. They didn’t have stories. They didn’t go on big, grand adventure. They were simple. But they still managed to succeed in their anime incarnations.

Not in short form mind you.

And maybe that’s the biggest problem with Mangirl. This may be the type of series that doesn’t work in this format. Could it have survived as full standard anime? I doubt it.

I mentioned it earlier. The OVA found a good balance. It could breathe a little more. That alone made it more enjoyable. Nothing I'd go crazy about. I think I’d still not remember Mangirl.

From left to right: Ringo, Aki, Hana, and Tsugumi

Final Thoughts

In the past, a short form anime’s length has been enough to earn it a recommendation. It doesn’t waste that much of your time. Thus, why not give it a watch yourself?

I can’t do that here. Mangirl wasn’t awful. But it wasn’t good either. Going into this show, you need to know you won’t get anything out of it. So in this case, why would you even bother?

Whatever promise this show may have had gets lost in its blandness. Ask me what I think about Mangirl in a week and I imagine I’ll have no idea what you’re talking about.

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