It starts as a magical girl show and then refuses to behave like one. Five stolen seeds out of Evergreen, a Queen's agent named Natsuki who can't finish the job himself, and a middle schooler told she's "the only one" who can, which is the kind of line that sounds like destiny until you notice what it costs her. Chihaya becomes Magical Warrior Carmine and the fights stay small, quiet, almost domestic, because the real damage is that the people carrying the seeds are ordinary humans someone loves. Then her mother shows up where a mother has no business being, and the series stops being about retrieval at all. Yes, the source was an erotic game, and yes, this thirteen-episode version spends its runtime on grief and obligation instead, which is exactly why half the audience bails by episode three and the other half never shuts up about it. If you want spectacle, go elsewhere. If you want a transformation sequence that feels like a burden, stay.

A middle school girl named Chihaya is suddenly recruited by Natsuki, a boy sent to Earth as an agent of the Queen of Evergreen, a magical land. Five dangerous seeds have been stolen from their vault in Evergreen and carried to Earth, where they take possession of humans. Natsuki cannot recover them on his own, and he insists that Chihaya is the only one who can help. With his aid, she transforms into Magical Warrior Carmine to rescue the people the seeds have possessed. Puzzles surround her new role, though. Her mother seems to know all about this secret work. Chihaya remembers a father who supposedly died before she was born. She also dreams of Evergreen, a place she has never seen. Adapted from an adult game by Terios, the series blends magical girl action with drama and supernatural fantasy.