What do you think?
Rate this book
Magical Girl Raising Project Light Novel #4
魔法少女育成計画episodes
『魔法少女育成計画』『魔法少女育成計画restart』で、過酷な死のゲームを繰り広げた魔法少女たち。そんな彼女たちに魅せられた読者の声に応えて、本シリーズの短編集がついに登場！少女たちのほんわかした日常や、不思議な縁や、やっぱり殺伐とした事件などなど、エピソード山盛りでお届けします！本編とあわせて楽しんでいただきたい一冊ですが、この本からシリーズを読み始めるというのもアリ、かも!?
269 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 10, 2013
9 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 14, 2018
This volume of Raising Project is a bit different, in that it is an anthology of fifteen short stories taking place before and during the first three volumes of the series. The stories focus mostly on magical girls who did not get as much page time in the regular volumes, including such underutilized characters as Akane, Magicaloid 44, and Cherna Mouse. Every single magical girl who has been in the series so far is at least mentioned, and a few new ones appear, albeit unnamed. The author's requirement of including every character leads to some interesting parings, such as Nokko and Detec Bell, La Pucelle and Genopsyko (plus a surprise third character), and even Ripple and Rionetta.
On a technical level, the translation is much smoother and less awkward, although there are still a few typos and odd turns of phrase. Once again, the illustrations are sort of frontloaded, with the last two stories having none, but because of the format, we finally get some good quality illustrations of girls who didn't get them before, including one for Akane and multiple for Cherna.
At first glance, this book might seem inessential to the series, but I would argue the opposite. Episodes gives important context to several characters who simply didn't have any before, which can actually change the way many of them are perceived in the main story. This especially applies to Restart - if you want to know why Rionetta will do anything for money, Cherna's incredibly bizarre origin, or literally anything at all about Akane, you'll only find it here. Several of the stories focusing on characters from the first book were also included in the anime adaptation, and the characters did seem more developed thanks to that. If you're a fan of the series, do yourself a favor and don't skip Episodes.
On a technical level, the translation is much smoother and less awkward, although there are still a few typos and odd turns of phrase. Once again, the illustrations are sort of frontloaded, with the last two stories having none, but because of the format, we finally get some good quality illustrations of girls who didn't get them before, including one for Akane and multiple for Cherna.
At first glance, this book might seem inessential to the series, but I would argue the opposite. Episodes gives important context to several characters who simply didn't have any before, which can actually change the way many of them are perceived in the main story. This especially applies to Restart - if you want to know why Rionetta will do anything for money, Cherna's incredibly bizarre origin, or literally anything at all about Akane, you'll only find it here. Several of the stories focusing on characters from the first book were also included in the anime adaptation, and the characters did seem more developed thanks to that. If you're a fan of the series, do yourself a favor and don't skip Episodes.
December 24, 2020
help
Simply depressing. This is basically what first volume lacked, it's not really a light novel so much as it is a collection of short stories connected to everyone in the prior volumes. Which kinda feels a LITTLE late considering what happens in th- couGHS
Loved every moment of it. I hear the next volume gets back on track with the main story, though... oh boy
Simply depressing. This is basically what first volume lacked, it's not really a light novel so much as it is a collection of short stories connected to everyone in the prior volumes. Which kinda feels a LITTLE late considering what happens in th- couGHS
Loved every moment of it. I hear the next volume gets back on track with the main story, though... oh boy
July 6, 2025
Picked up this series again because we're finally getting season 2 of the anime! Only took them 10 whole years to get to it, but better late than never!
It was nice to learn more about the backstories of all the characters from the first 2 story arcs and some more tidbits about the land of magic, but man, this book was such an emotional gut punch.
It was nice to learn more about the backstories of all the characters from the first 2 story arcs and some more tidbits about the land of magic, but man, this book was such an emotional gut punch.
February 2, 2025
I wasn't expecting the second story arc to be followed immediately by a short story anthology. As with most collections like this, the quality varies, but it's hard to rate each one like I'd normally do, since so many of them are interconnected to some degree. Instead, I'll try to summarize.
Volume 4 is at its best, when it helps build upon the overarching storyline. It's nice, conceptually, to learn more about characters like Magicaloid 44 or Numurin, who didn't get fleshed out much before they died...but at the same time, they died without impacting the larger story much, so it's hard to be too invested. But when we get glimpses behind the motivations of certain others, or even the occasional look behind the scenes at the most recent villain, this collection feels more worthwhile.
And really, my biggest complaint remains the same as it's been for awhile: I don't know why magical girls exist in this world. Put aside the gross mismanagement that seems rampant in the Magical Kingdom--recent real-world politics seems to suggest that isn't so farfetched after all--I just mean, why are magical girls a thing? There isn't some big, existential threat like an evil organization or demons for them to fight against, which relegates them to performing really small, inconsequential acts of kindness, like fixing broken bikes most of the time. And even then, they're not supposed to let anyone know they exist, so...why do you need to be able to fly, or throw kunai with unerring accuracy, to find someone's lost dog?
It's like if you had a story about giant robots, who weren't built to fight aliens, or even other countries, but instead just...warn ships about bad weather on the ocean, or something. Do they really need to exist, if that's all they do? I have the same problem with Magical Girl Raising Project, and while the manufactured fights, and the death games are entertainingly-written, none of it explains why magical girls are a thing at all. I'm really hoping that gets addressed in the next volume.
Volume 4 is at its best, when it helps build upon the overarching storyline. It's nice, conceptually, to learn more about characters like Magicaloid 44 or Numurin, who didn't get fleshed out much before they died...but at the same time, they died without impacting the larger story much, so it's hard to be too invested. But when we get glimpses behind the motivations of certain others, or even the occasional look behind the scenes at the most recent villain, this collection feels more worthwhile.
And really, my biggest complaint remains the same as it's been for awhile: I don't know why magical girls exist in this world. Put aside the gross mismanagement that seems rampant in the Magical Kingdom--recent real-world politics seems to suggest that isn't so farfetched after all--I just mean, why are magical girls a thing? There isn't some big, existential threat like an evil organization or demons for them to fight against, which relegates them to performing really small, inconsequential acts of kindness, like fixing broken bikes most of the time. And even then, they're not supposed to let anyone know they exist, so...why do you need to be able to fly, or throw kunai with unerring accuracy, to find someone's lost dog?
It's like if you had a story about giant robots, who weren't built to fight aliens, or even other countries, but instead just...warn ships about bad weather on the ocean, or something. Do they really need to exist, if that's all they do? I have the same problem with Magical Girl Raising Project, and while the manufactured fights, and the death games are entertainingly-written, none of it explains why magical girls are a thing at all. I'm really hoping that gets addressed in the next volume.
June 8, 2019
I wish some of these stories were in the actually novels they were associated with. A lot of them gave further insights to characters that might have been confusing or otherwise not very interesting and helped to make sense of previous plotlines (though the anime incorporated a lot of these series). Definitely a buy for those who are collecting the series or who want more insight into all the side characters.
November 28, 2019
I'm glad that they put some of these in the anime! Most of the short stories are really good like Rionetta's and Lapis Lazuline's.Top speed's story hit me hard the most, I was tearing up. God the author is so evil.
A few of the stories were really boring or maybe because I just didn't like these characters, for example the Detec bell one and magical daisy. I wanted to skip them so bad even though they were like 5 pages.
A few of the stories were really boring or maybe because I just didn't like these characters, for example the Detec bell one and magical daisy. I wanted to skip them so bad even though they were like 5 pages.
June 12, 2022
One of my favorite popcorn series. This short story collection provides some very interesting insights into the characters who didn't get as much spotlight during the main stories. It's very interesting!
April 25, 2021
A nice collection of stories that answered some questions I had about the characters in their novels. It's also nice to see more of the characters that did get much time in the their original books.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews