Writer Makoto Fukami and artist Seigo Tokiya bring their own dark modern fantasy with their series “Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka”.

Four years ago, mysterious creatures called Disas that threw the world into chaos. Thanks to the powers granted by their opposing group, young Asuka Otori and her four comrades defeated them. The world knew them as the legendary magical girls, but Asuka wanted a different life. She ended up continuing her education at a new high school, hoping to get back into the normal grove of society. However the battle never truly ended and her guardian Lt. Iizuka tells that there was an opportunity for her to work again. She refused but when a criminal group attacked a crowd with her new friends, Asuka summoned her powers to take them down. She had to go back since her foes took on a new form. Asuka hoped this time will be final in order to protect and also suppress her bloodlust.

“Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka” is a bit of a combination of “Puella Madoka Magica” grim drama and the twisted gruesomeness of “Magical Girl Site”. Tokiya’s detailed art shows clear paths of action within the mayhem. The creative team shows the effort in the details by bringing in Naoya Tamura as their military advisor. In Volume One’s afterword, Tokiya thanked writer Fukami and the rest of the staff with references that helped bring their world into life. Unlike some of the other magical girl stories, “Asuka” brings the readers after the initial formation and even its “epic” fight. Bits of the past appears throughout the story as Asuka and her crew tackle through their missions. The pieces come together and the bizarre drama unfolds.

Kadokawa’s YouTube page posted a Japanese teaser of the upcoming anime adaptation that is planned to arrive in Winter 2019.

Volume Five will hit shelves in January 2019. Visit Seven Seas Entertainment’s page for more information.