Live Action: Innocent Lilies 2: Shiro Majyo Gakuen ~ Owari to Hajimari (白魔女学園 – オワリとハジマリ)

August 11th, 2015

IL2In 2013, we had the questionable pleasure of watching the idol group Denpa-gumi starring in the servicey and silly Innocent Lilies: Shiroyuki Gakuen. It was subtitled in multiple languages and streamed on Viki.com.

Now it’s 2015, and Innocent Lilies was apparently popular enough to get a sequel. Only 5 episodes this time and, as I mentioned in YNN, more money for costumes and less for scripting. But, pleasantly, more for casting!

If you recall, at the end of the first series Moga and Eimi are the only survivors of White Which Academy. In the beginning of Shiro Majyo Gakuen ~ Owari to Hajimari (白魔女学園 – オワリとハジマリ), Eimi is killed by 3 black witches. A new white witch protects Moga, then is captured by the black witches. To find the meaning of all this, Moga joins the black witch school and is embroiled in a plot that will destroy the world as we know it. In between visions of a singing maiden surrounded by thorns. Moga is joined by another girl in the school, Ran, who is here to save Rina, the captured white witch. Complicating matters is a Red Prince…is he good or bad? You’ll have to watch to see.

The subtitles are slightly off in key moments, so instead of “bonds” between Moga and her friends, they have “bondage.” It added an extra eye-rolling component to the experience. ^_^

The series is an amazing combination of vile and wonderful. It’s almost nauseating to watch with constant in-and-out of focus as the only real cinematic technique and incessant quick cuts for no reason. The beginning of the series, like the previous series, wallows in mild and bland torture fetishtry, adorned with thigh -staring (ugh), but the end is a concatenation of  mythological and magical, with some hand-to-hand combat and a little Bodhisattva flair.

On the positive side, the world is not destroyed. On the bad side, everyone else is.

Ratings:

Cinematography – Bleeerggggh….
Story – Silly, preachy and confused
Characters – Chewing up the scenes
Service – Not as bad as the first series, but yes
Yuri – Not enough

Overall – 7

If you’re a Madoka fan, you might enjoy this series. It’s got a lot of the same wallowing in pain and salvation. I’m not sure who else might enjoy it. I’m not sure I did. ^_^; The ending  was fun and I like the moral of the story (insofar as there is a moral) but could have done with less nauseating camerawork and a little more Yuri.

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