The winter anime season has really taken off now with most new series having started, it’s hard to keep track of them all. Luckily “Mangirl!” is only a small addition to one’s watching list considering it has a short running time of only three and a half minutes.
Adapting the “まんがーる!” four panel comic strip manga by Tamaoka Kagari into anime form, this show is all about the silly adventures of four girls trying to publish their very own manga magazine.
The first two episodes were rather fun, although not very striking. As an all out comedy that is a near rapid fire of gags or silly scenes, “Mangirl!” feels very hectic, going at a rather frantic pace.
No doubt this largely due to the production having to cram a lot in such short episodes, not entirely unlike “Yama no Susume”. The animation quality by studio Dogakobo is fairly good tough.
The four main characters do not seem to have anything close to well known voice actresses. Feisty editor in chief Hana is voiced by Miyamoto Kanako, she voiced Kou in “Tamayura ~hitotose~” and Naru in “Eureka 7 Ao”.
Ringo is voiced by Ohashi Ayaka who also voiced Fleur in “Eureka Seven Ao”. Komagata Yuri who voices bespectacled Aki and Otaka Moemi who voices Tsugumi do not seem to have any other roles credited to them.
Bigger names voice the supporting characters, with Kitamura Eri voicing Hikari, Kayano Ai voicing Shinobu and Taketatsu Ayana voicing Sayuri.
Kitamura Eri previously voiced Karen in “Nisemonogatari”, Allean in “Queen’s Blade”, Sayaka in “Puella Magi Madoka Magica”, Uchida in “Minami-ke” and Yachiyo in “Working!!”.
Kayano Ai has tackled roles like Inori in “Guilty Crown”, Mayaka in “Hyouka”, Saori in “Girls und Panzer” and Muginami in “Rinne no Lagrange”. Taketatsu Ayana voiced characters like Azusa in “K-ON!”, Kirino “Ore No Imouto Ga Konna Ni Kawaii Wake Ga Nai ”, Fuu in “Tamayura ~hitotose~” and Eclair in “Dog Days”.
Wonder how “Mangirl!” will fare against “Ai Mai Mi”, another four panel comic turned into anime that revolves around girls and manga.
Even though “Mangirl!” requires but a few minutes per episode to watch, am not sure it will have the potential to keep my attention and entice me to watch it every week.
