# Magical Girl Raising Project

Magical Girl Raising Project (魔法少女育成計画, Mahō Shōjo Ikusei Keikaku) is a Japanese light novel series written by Asari Endō and illustrated by Maruino. Takarajimasha has published seventeen volumes since 2012 under their Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! Bunko imprint. The series is licensed in English by Yen Press. A manga adaptation with art by Pochi Edoya was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine between September 2014 and October 2015. An anime television series adaptation by Lerche aired in Japan between October and December 2016. A second season adapting the Restart light novel has been announced.

## Plot

A viral, popular social network game known as the "Magical Girl Raising Project" has the capability to grant players a 1-in-10,000 chance of becoming a real-life magical girl. Each of the magical girls possesses unique skills and special abilities and earns Magical Candies by protecting people and performing good deeds. However, at some point, the administration decided that sixteen magical girls in a certain city were too many, announcing they would cut the number in half by having the magical girl with the fewest Magical Candies each week lose their powers. As the rules of the game get out of control, the girls eventually find themselves dragged into a twisted life-or-death battle against each other.

## Media
### Light novels

The first light novel volume was published on June 8, 2012 under Takarajimasha's Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! Bunko imprint. Seventeen volumes have been published as of April 2022. Yen Press has licensed the series in English and began releasing translations of the light novels starting June 20, 2017.

#### Volume list

| No. | Title | Original release date | English release date |
| 1 | Magical Girl Raising Project 魔法少女育成計画 | June 8, 2012 978-4-7966-8039-4 | June 20, 2017 978-0-3165-5857-0 |
| 2 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Restart (Part 1) 魔法少女育成計画 restart（前） | November 9, 2012 978-4-8002-0182-9 | November 14, 2017 978-0-3165-5991-1 |
| 3 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Restart (Part 2) 魔法少女育成計画 restart（後） | December 10, 2012 978-4-8002-0525-4 | March 27, 2018 978-0-3165-5996-6 |
| 4 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Episodes 魔法少女育成計画 episodes | April 10, 2013 978-4-8002-0934-4 | July 17, 2018 978-0-3165-5999-7 |
| 5 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (Part 1) 魔法少女育成計画 limited（前） | November 9, 2013 978-4-8002-1849-0 | November 13, 2018 978-0-3165-6008-5 |
| 6 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Limited (Part 2) 魔法少女育成計画 limited（後） | December 9, 2013 978-4-8002-1852-0 | March 19, 2019 978-0-3165-6010-8 |
| 7 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Jokers 魔法少女育成計画 JOKERS | August 9, 2014 978-4-8002-3070-6 | October 29, 2019 978-1-9753-8666-5 |
| 8 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Aces 魔法少女育成計画 ACES | September 10, 2015 978-4-8002-4586-1 | March 10, 2020 978-1-9753-8660-3 |
| 9 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Episodes Φ 魔法少女育成計画 episodesΦ | April 9, 2016 978-4-8002-5443-6 | July 21, 2020 978-1-9753-8662-7 |
| 10 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Peaceful Days of 16 Magical Girls 魔法少女育成計画 16人の日常 | October 15, 2016 978-4-8002-6369-8 | November 17, 2020 978-1-9753-8664-1 |
| 11 | Magical Girl Raising Project: QUEENS 魔法少女育成計画 QUEENS | December 10, 2016 978-4-8002-6217-2 | March 23, 2021 978-1-9753-8667-2 |
| 12 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Episodes Δ 魔法少女育成計画 episodesΔ | June 10, 2019 978-4-8002-9571-2 | January 18, 2022 978-1-9753-3544-1 |
| 13 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Black 魔法少女育成計画「黒（ブラック）」 | October 10, 2019 978-4-8002-9656-6 | May 24, 2022 978-1-9753-3909-8 |
| 14 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Breakdown (Part 1) 魔法少女育成計画 breakdown（前） | March 11, 2021 978-4-2990-1441-2 | October 18, 2022 978-1-9753-4801-4 |
| 15 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Breakdown (Part 2) 魔法少女育成計画 breakdown（後） | May 10, 2021 978-4-2990-1458-0 | February 21, 2023 978-1-9753-4845-8 |
| 16 | Magical Girl Raising Project: White 魔法少女育成計画「白（ホワイト）」 | February 10, 2022 978-4-2990-2640-8 | September 19, 2023 978-1-9753-7343-6 |
| 17 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Episodes Σ 魔法少女育成計画 episodesΣ | April 8, 2022 978-4-2990-2861-7 | February 20, 2024 978-1-9753-7889-9 |
| 18 | Magical Girl Raising Project: Red 魔法少女育成計画「赤」 | November 27, 2023 978-4-299-02642-2 | August 20, 2024 978-1-9753-9827-9 |

### Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Pochi Edoya was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine between September 26, 2014 and October 26, 2015. It was collected into two tankōbon volumes released between June 26, 2015 and March 26, 2016. An adaptation of Magical Girl Raising Project: Restart, illustrated by Nori Senbei, began serialization in Comp Ace from June 2016. The first tankōbon volume was released on September 30, 2016. A spin-off manga illustrated by Ryouta Yuzuki, Magical Girl Raising Project FTP, began release on the Kono Light Novel wa Sugoi! WEB service from August 29, 2016.
Yen Press began releasing translations of the manga series starting December 19, 2017.

#### Volume list

| No. | Title | Original release date | English release date |
| 1 | Magical Girl Raising Project Vol 1 魔法少女育成計画(1) | June 26, 2015 978-4-0410-3140-7 | December 19, 2017 978-0-3164-1418-0 |
| 2 | Magical Girl Raising Project Vol 2 魔法少女育成計画(2) | March 26, 2016 978-4-0410-3867-3 | April 24, 2018 978-0-3165-2131-4 |
| 3 | Magical Girl Raising Project Restart Vol 1 魔法少女育成計画 restart(1) | September 30, 2016 978-4-04-104791-0 | TBA |

### Anime

An anime television series adaptation animated by Lerche and directed by Hiroyuki Hashimoto aired in Japan between October 1, 2016 and December 17, 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. An English simuldub by Funimation was streamed weekly during the summer of 2018, starting on July 29, 2018. The anime was released across four Blu-ray & DVD volumes containing three episodes each. The opening theme is "Sakebe" (叫べ, Shout) by Manami Numakura, while the ending theme is "Dreamcatcher" by Nano.
An anime adaptation of the Restart light novels was announced on January 29, 2023, with Hiroyuki Hashimoto reprising his role as director. It was later revealed to be a second television season.

#### Episode list

| No. | Title | Original air date | Ref. |
| 1 | "Welcome to a World of Dreams and Magic!" "Yume to Mahō no Sekai e Yōkoso!" (夢と魔法の世界へようこそ！) | October 1, 2016 (2016-10-01) | |
| While playing a mobile game known as Magical Girl Raising Project on her smartphone, Koyuki Himekawa, a middle school girl who loves magical girls, is chosen by the mascot character, Fav, to become a real magical girl known as Snow White. As Snow White uses her ability to hear people in danger and help them, she uses her Magical Phone to talk to the other magical girls residing in N-City. The following evening, Snow White is called out by one of these girls, La Pucelle, who reveals herself to be her male childhood friend, Souta Kishibe, and forms a partnership with her. The next day, Fav informs everyone that he plans to reduce the number of magical girls in the city down from sixteen to eight. ||||
| 2 | "Collect Magical Candies!" "Majikaru Kyandī o Atsumeyō!" (マジカルキャンディーを集めよう!) | October 8, 2016 (2016-10-08) | |
| Claiming that there is not enough mana within the city to support sixteen magical girls, Fav announces that whoever earns the fewest Magical Candies from performing good deeds each week will lose their ability to transform. Reluctantly accepting these new rules, magical girls Ripple and Top Speed recall their encounter with the dangerous outlaw Calamity Mary. Meanwhile, as Snow White continues her duties with La Pucelle, she speaks online with Nemurin, a magical girl who can enter dreams. When the first results are announced, Nemurin ends up with the lowest score and is eliminated from the running. After using her remaining time to visit one more dream, Nemurin is found dead by her mother the next morning. ||||
| 3 | "Update Notice!" "Bājon Appu no Oshirase!" (バージョンアップのお知らせ！) | October 15, 2016 (2016-10-15) | |
| Top Speed is asked by Swim Swim to give her a lift to the mountains where her leader, Ruler, is having her group bury trash in order to try and earn more Magical Candies. Meanwhile, Snow White and La Pucelle, along with robot girl Magicalioid44, are contacted by Sister Nana and Weiss Winterprison, who reveal from a conversation log between Fav and Cranberry the Forest Musician that magical girls allegedly die when they lose their powers. As Magicaloid relays this to Mary, suggesting that they join forces, the Peaky Twins Minael and Yunael rope in dog girl Tama into helping increase their rankings with a promotional video. Eventually, all the girls learn from Fav about what will happen if they drop out, confirming that Nemurin had died as a result. As Snow White is torn over what the right thing to do is, an update is added allowing the girls to exchange Magical Candies with each other. Taking this to mean that magical girls can now steal candies from each other, Ruler tasks her followers with stealing candies from Snow White. ||||
| 4 | "Add More Friends!" "Furendo o Fuyasō!" (フレンドを増やそう!) | October 22, 2016 (2016-10-22) | TBA |
| Yunael, Minael, and Tama lure La Pucelle away while Ruler has Swim Swim steal all of Snow White's Magical Candies. However, when the weekly results are announced, it is revealed that Swim Swim had actually only taken half of Snow White's candies and split them among all the other magical girls except for Ruler, who ends up in last place and dies as a result. It is revealed that Swim Swim, having been influenced by Nemurin when she visited her dream, conspired with the Peaky Twins to betray Ruler and become their new leader. Meanwhile, as Top Speed and Ripple meet up with Nana and Winterprison, another magical girl is searching for a white magical girl. ||||
| 5 | "New Character!" "Shin Kyara o Tsuikashimashita!" (新キャラを追加しました!) | October 29, 2016 (2016-10-29) | TBA |
| Nana suggests to the others that they work together to find a way to stop the cruel system, but Ripple seems unwilling to co-operate. Nana then turns to Magicaloid, who had secretly been using her for monetary gain by supplying her with useless gadgets from the future which she wanted to use to make Weiss into a magical girl, offering her more money in exchange for negotiating with the admins. Nana and Winterprison are then called out by Cranberry, who reveals she is perfectly happy with the current nature of the game and launches an attack against them. Weiss fights using her earth magic, along with Nana's enhancement magic, but is overwhelmed by Cranberry's ability to manipulate soundwaves, which forces them to retreat. The next evening, as Nana and Winterprison meet the most recent magical girl, Hardgore Alice, who goes off in search of Snow White, La Pucelle is confronted by Cranberry. ||||
| 6 | "Get the Super-Rare Items!" "Geki-Rea Aitemu o Getto shiyō!" (激レアアイテムをゲットしよう！) | November 5, 2016 (2016-11-05) | TBA |
| La Pucelle battles against Cranberry, who seeks to kill opponents stronger than her. Overwhelmed by Cranberry's strength, La Pucelle is brutally beaten before being thrown in front of an oncoming vehicle and killed. Although Fav announces this to be an accident, a slip of tongue causes Snow White to realize that La Pucelle was in fact murdered. Fav also announces a set of first-come first-served items, which girls pay for in exchange for taking years off of their lifespan, that are quickly sold out before Snow White can buy one for herself. Just then, Snow White is approached by Alice, who is instantly beheaded by Magicaloid under orders from Mary. Before she can kill Snow White, however, Magicaloid is herself killed by Alice, who somehow managed to survive her beheading. ||||
| 7 | "Up Your Friendship!" "Shinmitsudo o Ageyō!" (親密度を上げよう!) | November 12, 2016 (2016-11-12) | TBA |
| Snow White, still traumatized over the previous night's events, finds herself with a Rabbit's Foot item that Alice had left behind. Meanwhile, Mary, having learned about Magicaloid's death, goes to confront Alice, quickly discovering she has powerful strength and regenerative abilities. Despite using various methods to try and kill her, Mary finds that Alice has still somehow managed to survive following Fav's report. Later, Snow White once again comes across Alice, who reveals she wanted her to have the Rabbit's Foot, while Winterprison and Nana go to meet with Swim Swim's group. ||||
| 8 | "Sudden Event in Session!" "Gerira Ibento Hassei-chū!" (ゲリライベント発生中!) | November 19, 2016 (2016-11-19) | TBA |
| Upon Winterprison and Nana's arrival, Swim Swim has the Peaky Twins use Nana's appearance to sneak up on Winterprison and stab her with a knife. Urging Nana to escape without her, Winterprison kills Yunael as an act of revenge before she herself is killed by Swim Swim, sending both Nana and Minael into despair. The next evening, Mary, who sets out to try and kill Ripple and Top Speed, begins killing innocent civilians on the highway in order to prevent their escape. As Swim Swim sees this as an opportunity to kill any magical girls heading towards the scene, Cranberry becomes determined to fight the one who killed Winterprison. ||||
| 9 | "Notice of New Rules" "Rūru Henkō no Oshirase" (ルール変更のお知らせ) | November 26, 2016 (2016-11-26) | TBA |
| Ripple goes to confront Mary head on, only to end up stepping on a landmine that will explode as soon as she steps off of it. After rescuing her from that situation, Top Speed responds to Ripple's desire to do what is right and goes back with her to confront Mary. Sneaking up from below, Ripple manages to kill Mary with a shuriken to the head, only for Swim Swim to suddenly appear and kill Top Speed as well. After Swim Swim escapes, Ripple is saddened to discover that Top Speed was pregnant with a child. Meanwhile, as Snow White and Alice are briefly confronted by Minael and Tama while trying to help out civilians, Nana hangs herself over the loss of Winterprison. Despite the number of magical girls in the city being reduced below the planned eight as a result of all the deaths, Fav announces that there are now plans to further reduce this number down to four. ||||
| 10 | "Sudden Battle Chances Up!" "Ran'nyū Batoru Kakuhen-chū!" (乱入バトル確変中!) | December 3, 2016 (2016-12-03) | TBA |
| Just as it seems they are finally getting along with each other, Snow White vent her frustrations at Alice following Fav's latest update on the new deaths and rule changes. On her way to school the next day, Alice is attacked in her civilian form by Swim Swim, who had learned of her secret identity after Minael disguised herself as Alice's stuffed rabbit. In her final moments, Alice calls out to Snow White, thanking her for giving her a reason to live and leaving her with the Lucky Rabbit's Foot before passing away. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Cranberry and Fav arranged the deathmatch as a selection exam to recruit magical girls for the Land of Magic. Later, Swim Swim prepares to confront Cranberry, who thwarts an ambush attempt from the others, injuring Tama and killing Minael. ||||
| 11 | "Server Down for Maintenance" "Sābā Mentenansu Chū desu" (サーバーメンテナンス中です) | December 10, 2016 (2016-12-10) | TBA |
| Attempting a pincer attack, Swim Swim is knocked back after Cranberry uses light and sound to attack her liquid form. Upon becoming distracted from discovering that Swim Swim is actually an elementary child, Cranberry is killed by Tama after she hits her with her hole creation ability. However, Swim Swim then suddenly kills Tama for discovering her identity, after which Fav gives her the new role of Master. Sometime later, Snow White meets with Ripple, who is determined to kill Swim Swim in order to avenge Top Speed. Although Snow White tries to reason with Ripple not to become a murderer, Fav spurs her on by telling her Swim Swim's weakness and declaring the game won't end until two magical girls are left standing. ||||
| 12 | "File not found" | December 17, 2016 (2016-12-17) | TBA |
| As Ripple goes to confront Swim Swim, Fav informs Snow White that he is actually a scout for the Magical Girl Recruitment and Training Project, where successful magical girls are either recruited into the World of Magic or made into a Master to oversee the next exam. He further reveals that he intentionally riled up Ripple and Swim Swim, who he feels wouldn't make suitable Masters, so they would kill each other, wanting Snow White to be his new Master instead. Learning that it was because of Fav that everyone had to kill each other, Snow White breaks her magical terminal and rushes to try and stop Ripple and Swim Swim. While losing an eye and an arm, Ripple manages to knock out Swim Swim with a flash grenade, killing her in her civilian form before passing out. Arriving at the scene too late, Snow White attempts to destroy the Master Terminal, which Fav gloats can't be destroyed so easily. Thanks to Snow White's Rabbit's Foot, however, Ripple manages to regain consciousness and uses Swim Swim's magical weapon to destroy the terminal, along with Fav. Six months later, Snow White is receiving training from Ripple to become a stronger magical girl who can help others around the world. ||||

## Reception
### Previews

The anime adaptation's first episode garnered generally positive reviews from Anime News Network's staff during the Fall 2016 season previews. Paul Jensen saw potential in this being a good series, highlighting the early character setup of Koyuki and the mobile game mechanics being used as a possible critique of the "dark and bloody approach" that magical girl shows took in recent memory. Jacob Chapman criticized the "laughable tone obfuscation and pregnant pacing", and that viewers will be aware of where the series is heading towards but commended Koyuki for being a "generally likable" heroine and the stylishly diverse cast of magical girls, concluding that this Madoka Magica imitation carries potential entertainment value. Theron Martin praised the decent animation, character aesthetics and the perverse intrigue of a blood-soaked magical girl competition but criticized the producers for stringing viewers with said promise shown in the opening. Nick Creamer praised the thoughtful introduction of its ensemble cast, the "grounded but funny approach" it takes with magical girls and the solid production having consistent and colorful animation, saying it's an engaging start that has him hooked to follow more episodes. Rebecca Silverman saw the obvious influences to Madoka and was optimistic of the show moving towards similar series like Nurse Angel Ririka SOS and Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne in later episodes but felt it will go into the "presumed subversion of making magical girls into a violent murderfest" foreshadowed in the opening.

### Series reception

Fellow ANN editor Amy McNulty placed Magical Girl Raising Project at number two on her top 5 best anime list of 2016, praising the contrast of "primal brutality with the cutesy art style" and the various ways the female ensemble approach the grisly game, concluding that: "While the series largely gets by on spectacle and shock value, many of its key players—good and bad—are flawed, complex, and sympathetic, and their respective backstories and motivations run the gamut from "downright silly" to "genuinely moving."" Martin reviewed the home video release in 2020 and gave it a B− grade, praising the magical girls for their varied outfits and diversity amongst its cast, the overall plot having decent story twists and action set pieces, but was critical of the tonal inconsistencies throughout the series.