Summary
Anime studio GoHands unveiled the first official trailer for its upcoming original anime,Momentary Lily.The video, which deceptively hides an action-packed sequence at the back of a trailer full of cute girls doing cute things, shows the anime’s intent to mix slice-of-life antics with elaborate battle scenes. With a promised premiere in January 2025, the year promises many more magical girl shows ahead of us.
GoHands has teasedMomentary Lilyfor a while, up to an early first episode preview, as reported byAnime News Network. While the trailer and the synopsis for the anime seem straightforward,Puella Magi Madoka Magica’sstrong influence on the magical girl genre cannot be ignored.
This leaves an uncertainty thatMomentary Lily’scute facade may crumble in the face of the battles the trailer almost intentionally tries to brush under the rug.
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Trailer Shows off Cooking and Monster Slaying
According toAnime News Network,Momentary Lily’spremise is such:
MOMENTARY LILY will follow the daily lives of High School girls surviving in a world ravaged by otherworldly invaders. Cooking together, battling mechanical monstrosities with their iconic weapons, and uncovering the secrets of their mysterious past and world, all of these moments and more will appear in GoHand’s one-of-a-kind visual style!
GoHands has recently gained some attention from anime fans this year for their adaptations ofThe Girl I Like Forgot Her GlassesandThe Masterful Cat Is Depressed AgainToday.Notably, director Katsumasa Yokomine, who helmed both anime, returns to handleMomentary Lilyas well. GoHands clearly has lots of confidence to give him their third project in a row.While the trailer emphasizes the domestic activities of the main characters, the anime’s description shows there will be much more going on with the story, though whether it will be a straightforward action anime, or something more subversive is unclear.
This year will see a number of magical girl shows that play with genre conventions, such asThe Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies,Magilumiere Co. Ltd., andAcro Trip. WhereMomentary Lily’strailer differs compared to the others is the possibility that it is being intentionally deceptive with its premise. While trailers for other shows explain their gimmick,Lily’soveremphasizes cute activities to the point it feels insincere, bringing to mind howMadokakept up similar pretenses early on. Perhaps, as this anime’s story goes on, the cooking and comedy will be slowly phased out.
This is, of course, speculation. Both of Yokomine’s prior projects were not subversive, soLilycould simply be what it appears, with the elaborate action sequences revealed in the trailer being in itself “the twist” that both dishes and destruction will be served up. If nothing else, if the choreography maintains a high level of quality, this anime would find a niche by which to distinguish itself - other magical girl anime have not pushed the envelope for fight scenes. WhereMomentary Lilywill fare in terms of battle sequences is unknown, but that makes its premiere all the more exciting.
