This is a kind of a magical girl show, but “Magimoji Rurumo” (or “Magi Moji Rurumo”) does not follow the same arc as others of this genre. It all starts at school (as does a huge amount of animes and mangas).

Kota Shibaki (that’s him on her right) is a high-school boy whose only interest is girls, but he is so openly perverted about it, the ladies avoid him. Well, he IS kinda icky. One day, he finds a book in the library about how to summon witches. (I don’t remember my library having books like this. Sure, maybe a science book talking about the just-launched Sputnik satellite, but we can’t ever be up to date on things.)

He tries it as a joke, but it turns out to be the real thing: an apprentice witch named Rurumo appears, to grant him a wish. Shibaki helps Rurumo and she, in return, refuses to take his soul. Well, that’s the nature of contracts with witches. Time passes and Shibaki wishes he could see Rurumo again. His wish is granted immediately as Rurumo falls from the sky and crash-lands in front of him. Well, a lot has happened. He finds out that as punishment for Rurumo not taking his soul, she’s been busted down to an apprentice demon.

Now, she must complete the task of getting Shibaki to use up 666 magic tickets that grant his wishes before she can become a witch again. However, what she doesn’t know is that each time he uses a ticket it shortens his life. When the last ticket is used up, Shibaki will die. Shibaki knows this because Rurumo’s familiar black cat, Chiro tells him as part of the “contract” for giving him the tickets. Now, Shibaki has a choice, make a wish and help Rurumo become a witch again or resist the temptation and try to save his own life. Oh, and Chiro is that rather fetching woman crouching next to Rurumo, but in her human form.

Now, here are some other things you need to know: depending on the caliber of wish, it can gobble up more than one ticket (which is a bit of a stiff) and she is going to push him as hard as she can to make him use up all those tickets. Adding to this, Shibaki is a member of the Mysterious Discovery Club, which is how he came across this book in the first place and the president of the club is always on the hunt for the mysterious (oblivious to this witch in witch garb hanging around the school). It’s not that she can be missed; aside from the traditional outfit, she is both totally clumsy and completely oblivious to things. She needs to learn lessons about 500 times before she can make it work. She gets a job in the school cafeteria, where she is quite liked by all who meet her, despite her dropping and slopping.

It is a charming little series, despite the rather grim conclusion for it (in order for Rurumo to succeed, Shibaki must die) as he figures out ways to get what he wants and needs without going through the tickets, but help Rurumo in the meantime. Certainly her dead-pan demeanor belies a rather determined mind for her to succeed. But this is poised as a long-form series. I mean, even if you used one ticket a day, that is about two years’ worth of actions and since he doesn’t follow that path, it’s going to take a lot of time, potentially enough time to figure out how she can get her dream (being a full-fledged witch) and he can avoid his nightmare (death and the loss of his soul.)

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 7 (Standard anime)
Plot 8 (Faust lite)
Pacing 7 (Moves along consistently)
Effectiveness 7 (I wish she wasn’t so dense)
Conclusion 7 (It reaches a ‘coupler’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service 2 (A similar show would be “Okamisan”)

Overall 7 (A bit weepy at the end)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. Use the ticket, use the ticket.