Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku: restart

Magical Girl Raising Project: restart is a new anime season in a very dark magical girl franchise. It premieres on October 5, 2026, on TV Tokyo. Hiroyuki Hashimoto, who directed the first anime in 2016, returns as director, and Takao Yoshioka returns to write the scripts. The animation studio has changed: SynergySP takes over from Lerche, which made the first series. Masako Ito designs the characters, based on the original art by Maruino. Minori Chihara sings the opening song, "No tears here," and Daisy×Daisy performs the ending song, "ReMind."

The series is based on the light novels by Asari Endou. This season adapts the "Restart" volumes, which tell a new story with a new cast. The first anime aired from October to December 2016 with 12 episodes. It was famous for taking the cute, bright style of magical girl shows and turning it into a brutal survival game.

In this world, magical girls are real. A very small number of people are chosen to become one. When they transform, they gain beautiful looks, great physical strength, and a unique magic power. Being a magical girl sounds like a dream. But in this franchise, the dream usually hides something deadly.

In restart, sixteen magical girls are brought together for a strange challenge. Every three days, their special Magical Phones pull them into a game world that looks like a role-playing video game. Inside, they must work as a team to fight monsters, solve puzzles, and earn Magical Candy so they can move forward. There is one terrible rule: if a player dies inside the game, she also dies in real life. The game is run by a game master who says the goal is to test whether these girls truly deserve to be magical girls. The players have no choice but to keep going. Some, like the calm and clever Pfle, try to stay in control and find a plan. Other players include Tot Pop, Clantail, Rain Pow, Pechka, and Masked Wonder.

The story is a tense mix of fantasy, mystery, and survival thriller. Since not everyone can be trusted, the girls must decide who to work with while dangers grow. Like the first season, it is expected to be violent and emotional, and main characters may not be safe. It is meant for older teens and adults. Since it has a new cast, viewers can start here, though the first season adds background.