Review of The Cosmopolitan Prayers (2004)

Moving picture, 105 minutes

A bunch of girls with superhuman powers battle the guardians of various towers which, it is said, seal the prison of Amaterasu, main goddess of Shintō. The latest addition to the team accidentally causes the death and/or disappearance of the team’s male leader before she gets to join.

Stylized magical girl action meant to be titillating. Starts out pretty bad, has some brief moments of kitschy fun and mood-switching before lodging itself permanently in the risqué/cliché swamp. This is one third of a larger franchise which supposedly improves after this, but I’ll never let Kaneda Tomoko’s involvement drag me through a series again.

moving picture Japanese production animation fiction series magical girl