Why would anyone want to be a magical girl who has epic transformations, sparkles, and fights against bad guys when you could work a minimum wage cashier job?
Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl (Mercury Filmworks) is not a regular magical girl show, where characters become magical girls and enjoy their destiny. Aika, the star guardian, guardian of the stars, doesn’t want to be a magical girl and would rather live a normal human life on earth. She would prefer to go to high school and work a minimum wage job. While the reason for her wanting to abandon her past life as a star guardian is unknown, she seems very intrigued by the life of a teenager on earth. Zira is your average socially awkward, manga reading highschool student. Aika and Zira live such different lives, contrasting each other in desires, one being magical while wanting the teenage experience, and the other being the typical gawky teenage girl who finds interest in magical girl books. Despite their differences, the two immediately become friends.
Pretty Please is a YouTube animatic show created, written, and directed by Kiana Khansmith, otherwise known as Kiana Mai on social media platforms. Khansmith is most known for her other work on Big City Greens and Pokemon: Path to the Peak.
The character designs and expressions speak so well for who characters are. Zira, who is described as ‘a real high school loser,’ has a very visually quiet and edgy design with a chronic slouch. In contrast to Zira, Aika holds a very bold stance, she has star pigtails and yellow in her color combo to show she holds a lot of confidence and optimism. Although Aika seems to be a cheerful character, her dislike towards being a magical girl really shows when she transforms, having an uninterested look and sluggish movements. While this is an unfinished animation, I still think it’s a beautiful piece.
Pretty Please uses humor to expand on characters. From the irony of a magical weapon being as simple as a metal pipe to the shins, to boba without the tea, Aika is a perfect example! She appears to be a cute magical girl, but actually just wants to leave the life as a star guardian behind, taking the easy way out of her responsibilities. Aika finds herself enjoying the little things of human life on earth which brings laughter to watchers.
Overall, this show is written very well and I’m very excited for more episodes to be released.
If you enjoy other adult cartoons, The Owl House, or even She-ra and the Princess of Power, you might enjoy Pretty Please.
