250https://i.ur.com/LFCaeHQ.png Whats fascinating about the beginning of Cosmic Baton Girl Cometsan is how it initially establishes the sort of magical ideas youd come to expect in a Mahou Shoujo. Amidst a luxurious ball in the hopes to establish a connection between royal families the princess of the Harmonica StarWorld stumbles into a mysterious prince in a hallway who continues rushing past her. With his face shrouded in the darkness of the hallway all she knows about the mysterious prince is the gem he dropped during their encounter. The Harmonica StarWorld is a magical planet found far from earth and inhabits little creatures known as starworlds which in themselves contain unique worlds and personalities. The people living in the Harmonica StarWorld harvest starpower from these creatures to use as magic. This world is full of magic wonder extravagance and endless possibilities. Yet its revealed that during this royal ball the prince of the Tambourine StarWorld has gone missing. 600https://i.ur.com/yDWen0U.png Episode 1 Cometsan running through the hallway just before she runs into the prince. Upon learning his whereabouts are headed towards earth the princess Cometsan who was initially ecstatic that the ball was cancelled and showed a disinterest in searching for the prince because I cant fall in love with someone Ive never even met jumps at the opportunity to go search for the prince by herself. However its quickly made clear the reason why she went is to explore earth. Thats right despite establishing the kind of fun magical ideas youd come to expect in a Mahou Shoujo a magical space girl from a planet full of extravagant royal parties tiny floating planets that supply magical powers and gorgeous colourful space landscapes the series instead decides to explore boring old earth. Well of course shes still required to search for the prince with the only clue of his appearance being that he has a twinkle in his eyes. But upon arriving on earth Cometsan shows little to no interest at all in finding the prince nor her responsibilities as a princess. 350https://i.ur.com/DW9hkJo.png 350https://i.ur.com/f2Y24DD.png Episode 1 Cometsans colourful space room on the left and to the right is a scene when she first starts exploring earth. This sentiment is maintained throughout the majority of the first half of the series as Cometsan explores earth meets new people and tries new things. What was initially established as a way to search for the prince Cometsan quickly learns that anyone can have a twinkle in their eyes which the series uses nonexplicitly when referring to individuals who have passion creativity and love as well as a list of other positive emotions. This was the aspect I fell in love with when starting Cometsan as its used to explore the many different facets of human life and human emotions. The series is surprisingly slowpaced in its first initial episodes as Cometsan explores and adjusts to her new life on earth with Tsuyoshi and Nene two adorable toddlers from a family that offered Cometsan to stay with them on her visit. The way each episode operates is more akin to an Iyashikei series than Mahou Shoujo because the series emphasises Cometsan exploring and appreciating the little aspects of life the type wed usually take for granted as humans. The many sentimental messages and lessons learnt Cometsan experiences on her journey is also emblematic of this with of course a touch of fantastical magic and silly comedy representing its Mahou Shoujo side. And when I say silly I mean that Cometsan can be very silly at times. https://.red/A2cH. Episode 29 This scene is so fucking funny to me. Cometsans writers have a great sense of humour and many of the jokes land because of their impeccable sense of comedic timing. This series is such a joy to watch for these comedic moments. Its in the stories such as episode 5 where we see this idea developed. Cometsan alongside Tsuyoshi Nene and their father start a garden patch to grow fruits and vegetables. In Cometsans eyes using magic to speed up the growth of the garden over the night would be nothing but beneficial as she can surprise everyone with fresh produce in the morning. When the father wakes up and see all the fruits and vegetables on the table who is of course unaware of her magical abilities only Tsuyoshi and Nene know he tells Cometsan that the fun of growing these crops isnt the end product but rather putting in the hard work to plant grow and maintain the crops over time. The crops will be tastier after all that hard work as in the satisfaction of seeing your hard work pay off significantly outweighs any immediate but short gratification. Cometsan takes this lesson to heart as seen at the end of the episode where she decides to stop using her star tunnel for the day a magic ability that lets her travel long distances because in her words Maybe its not a good idea to get there in a flash implying there is value in taking life at a slower pace. The episode ends framing this lesson as an understanding of what makes life beautiful with Cometsan taking in the surrounding views of the town. 600https://i.ur.com/l8MoeiK.png Episode 5 The end of the episode where Cometsan looks out upon the city and reflects on the lesson learnt. We see more of Cometsan taking in her surroundings when she takes a trip up to a rural home that Tsuyoshi and Nenes father had designed. Up in the nearby mountains Cometsan and the kids take in the luscious green hills the bright blue skies and even remark about the taste of the air all scenery unfamiliar to them coming from their humble little town. However during the same scene Rababou alerts Cometsan that there is a twinkle nearby which if you remember refers to anyone filled with creativity passion or even simply love. To Cometsans surprise the wife of the man living in this rural home is nonother than her aunty Spica who left the Harmonica Starworld for a life on earth after falling in love with not only this world but a human man too. Much like Cometsans adventure on earth Spica was a princess inline to become the next queen and also visited earth. However despite returning to the starworld Spica had so much fun on earth that she ended up going back and staying there after marrying her husband. In a moment of self reflection Cometsan tells her aunt how much fun she has had on earth how much she appreciates the family shes staying with treating her well how every day is so fun and full of new experiences how she has fallen in love with this planet called earth. Aunt Spica reminds Cometsan that when things get hard that shell be there for her and encourages Cometsan to indulge in life a little more. This scene puts into perspective everything that has happened in Cometsans journey up until this point. 600https://i.ur.com/9jxofdr.png Episode 19 A sentimental moment in the episode where Cometsan starts to retrospectively reflect on her experience on earth up until this point with her Aunt Spica comforting her and reminding her that she is cared for here. But of course Cometsans journey isnt just limited to appreciating earth. Many of the character encounters Cometsan has throughout her journey are from those who have a twinkle in their eye. She develops friendships with them as a result of their passion which often motivates Cometsan to support them in any way she can. Cometsan has a very interesting relationship with Tsuyoshi and Nene because despite being preschool children she learns a lot about relationships alongside them. Such as the time Tsuyoshi and Nene got into a fight with Nene later transforming into a giant robot with the help of Cometsans magic leading into a chaotic episode finale with a mecha and kaiju fight with the message of the episode portraying how petty arguments can turn into something much larger. We see this again when Tsuyoshi and Nenes parents get into a fight. This time the children are hurt seeing their parents act this way with them both making a wish on their tanabata papers for their parents to make up. Only after the parents see this wish of theirs do they realise how their actions have hurt those they care about. Cometsan learns a lot about relationships throughout these various encounters on earth however theyre never conflicts aimed directly at Cometsan herself. 350https://i.ur.com/VslvHRq.png 350https://i.ur.com/X90GLcS.png 350https://i.ur.com/ME1HeYh.png 350https://i.ur.com/Kw7724M.png Episode 14 Tsuyoshi and Nenes parents get into a fight with the Tanabata symbolism is used to convey the childrens feelings. So what happens when shes suddenly thrusted into conflict? Thats where Cometsans relationship with Keisuke comes into play. Keisuke is a character with a twinkle in their eyes infact one of the first characters with such a description with his passion being protecting lives by doing beach lifeguarding. However despite this hes one of the only characters Cometsan cannot understand and feels a strange discomfort around him. This misunderstanding of Keisuke and his feelings reaches a breaking point when the two get into a fight. Suddenly Cometsan has to experience feelings she has never felt before heartbreak. Not every aspect of life on earth is beautiful and being confronted with hard feelings can be difficult to navigate. Cometsan naively makes mistakes and while its hard to watch these are lessons both Cometsan and Keisuke can learn from. They eventually break off their fight after they both realise the reason they got into this mess in the first place was due to a misunderstanding. However on Cometsans end its much more than that. Those feelings she didnt understand when around Keisuke were feelings of love and its not until Keisuke leaves Japan to participate in lifeguard training in Australia does she fully understand these feelings for Keisuke. Unfortunately the romance between Keisuke and Cometsan is halted half way through the anime which to me felt like a shame as their relationship was only getting started however it became clear what the series was trying to achieve with its second half leading into the finale. There is one important aspect that not only Cometsan has forgotten about but the audience has too. Shes supposed to be finding the prince 600https://i.ur.com/ko2oYoI.png Episode 1 Cometsan bumps into the prince in the hallway to the ball. Their first encounter together. Cometsan had fallen in love with earth and her many unique experiences and encounters that finding the prince became a nonissue to her. She values her love and appreciation of earth and her friends more than her obligations as a princess. Despite this she is still required to find the prince and return to her home planet. This should come as no surprise that the finale finds Cometsan finally encountering the prince however it plays out in a unique way youd never imagine. Im going to save most of the specifics for spoiler reasons but the prince echoes similar struggles as Cometsans obligations as a princess expressing a disdain towards the labels and obligations forced onto him simply because he was born into royalty. Fortunately for the prince his encounter with Cometsan ignites a fuse and in a very extravagant manner both Cometsan and Meteo return to their star worlds to proclaim a disinterest in being inline to be the next queen. Meanwhile the prince acknowledges that he isnt prepared to take up the role as the prince and wishes to explore more facets of life which in this series means going to earth to find his twinkle just like Cometsan had. 350https://i.ur.com/t51XJ3T.png 350https://i.ur.com/B5lNa4v.png Episode 43 Cometsan returns to her home planet with a plan to confront the prince alongside Meteo. And so the series ends with all three characters returning to earth with Cometsan changing direction and heading towards Australia where Keisuke is continuing to develop their relationship beyond the series end. While this ending may seem abrupt leaving some plotlines openended especially with regards to Keisuke and Cometsans relationship I was completely satisfied with this ending. This ending ties together everything beautiful about Cometsans journey up until this point. All the experiences made and lessons learnt all the peaceful moments and chaotic emotions. Im satisfied with this ending because I dont need to see more of her relationship with Keisuke to understand where its headed. Everything in Cometsan is portrayed in such a heartfelt and genuine way that makes for a unique Mahou Shoujo with a vibe and atmosphere unlike any other. There is a lot more that happens in this show that I havent talked about in my review so if youre interested I cannot recommend this anime enough. 600https://i.ur.com/zv0Fe1I.png Thank you for reading 3