Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden

What made Madoka Magica soar was its clever playing with the pre-established tropes of the magical girl genre and how it created characters with depth and complexity that could not exist outside of the story's darker take on the tropes. Magia Record...does not do that. There's nothing wrong with the story, per say, but it's really more like these characters just so happen to be magical girls. It does not focus in on the inherent trauma that is becoming a child who fights monsters and having your emotions exploited for personal gain like its parent series does. And why set a story in the Madoka universe if you're not going to do that? It's moreso just a magical girl story played completely straight that happens to be dark. These girls fight witches, but they don't feel like they're under the constant pressure of the knowledge they're living on borrowed time. Granted, this is because the characters don't know the truth about what being a magical girl is until the end of the show, but 1) no one was making the writers keep them in the dark and 2) more offensively, that means is it's a huge missed opportunity to utilize that dramatic irony to disturb the audience. The characters of Puelli Magi Madoka Magica could never exist in another story. The characters of Magia Record could exist in any slightly darker magical girl story. Hell, they could exist in any dark fantasy story, really. It's definitely the Madoka universe, with it's witches, soul gems, wishes, and incubators, but it really doesn't need to be. It took the bones of Madoka but none of what actually matters: the flesh. Furthermore, this show features a cast of original gaiden characters, but the main cast of PMMM make cameo appearances. These cameos feel awkward, shoehorned in, and unnecessary, clearly only included to draw more viewers in. It would be much stronger of a show if it didn't include these classic characters, clearly relying on them as a crutch when it should be naturally folding the gaiden characters into this world. This is especially bad because the cast of Magia Record was already bloated, so the characters really needed much tighter focus (and probably to kill some darlings). I'm not going to say not to watch it because it's a functional story set within the PMMM world. It's easy to watch and be entertained by. But for something spawned of such an incredible source material, it's unfortunately mediocre. The story is fine. The characters are fine. It is easy to watch and makes sense. But for a Madoka Magica series, it has so little of the Madoka spirit.

This is a review of seasons 1, 2, and 3 I was wanting to rewatch Madoka Magica since it had been so long since I've seen it. But now that we know a new movie is in the works, I'll probably time my rewatch to be closer to that film's release. So then. What the heck is this thing? It's a non-canon side story based off a mobile game that I have no knowledge or experience with. It's not a sequel to Madoka, nor is it an ideal introduction to the series as a whole. It seems that even diehard Madoka fans don't really care for this show. Can't say I have much to praise about it, either. While it still boasts the signature visual and audio style of Madoka, aka some of the absolute best music and visuals I've ever bore witness to in an anime, I just can't bring myself to get attached to this parallel world. There are a LOT of characters to keep track of and it can be very easy to get lost in it all. It's easy enough to follow the story in the moment, but I often found myself asking "Wait, how'd we get here?" "Who are they, again?" "How do these characters know each other?" "What happened to them?" I find it kinda pointless to get upset about things like this existing, because it's quite literally an extra. If you wanna ignore it and just focus on the main Madoka series, you can easily do so. But I guess I get if you REALLY love Madoka and have been frothing at the mouth for new content from this series, only for it to not turn out how you had hoped. All I can really say is that I'm looking forward to the movie. 5.5/10

season 1 of magia record was ALOT. there was an entirely new setting, a new cast of characters, a group of magical girls called magius. based off on the mobile game magia record, the anime tries to write an enitrely new story where this timeline will fail. all of the characters are fucking amazing. they all get their own arcs, yachiyo is gay with iroha. (which is wierd, iroha is only 15) magia record expands on the world that madoka magica introduced, there's groups of magical girls, an entire city full of them. a god damn boarding house that yachiyo owns to live with her team mates. there is alot going, but at the same time it doesn't feel cramped or unfocused. the show really just focuses on the main cast. SNAA, felicia, yachiyo, iroha, and tsuruno. the characters are endearing as fuck, snaa is a cinnamon roll, felicia is basically kyoko, yachiyo is gay as fuck with iroha, and iroha wants to find her sister. The main goal of magia record is for iroha to find her sister. the great part is that we get attached to ui through flashbacks of ui with touka and nemu. so we as the audience also want iroha to find ui as quickly as possible. 8/10 great start!

First of all keep in mind that if u will compare magia record with the original madoka magica u will never enjoy this anime.So just chill out and enjoy this anime. This anime is fine and not excellent. I think this anime will be more appealing to those who don't like very complicated stories with sad ending.I think it will be more appealing to young teens .Unlike madoka original,magia record is a blend of friendship,flashy magical scenes,cute girly dresses,young girls,fun,cuteness,mystery.They have used the same concepts but there are new additions too.The magical girls have found a way to deal with the curse (truth)of magical girls. In the original series we get to see the negative aspect of being a magical girl but Magia record not only shows a negative aspect but also positive aspect of being a magical girl .In the original,the story revolves around knowing the truth of magical girls one after the other and that's all but in magia record ,you can see other plots as well like missing sister,missing memories,baby kyubbey,new types of witches,friendship,mystery,a girl in dream calling all the magical girls to the city of Kamihana ,good animation,awesome soundtrack,girls having fun together.In the original,the story revolves around very few magical girls but in this spin off,there are several magical girls with different types of magical powers and even more new magical girls will appear in the second season.I loved the plot.It keeps you hooked till the end.

I watched + rewatched because i needed wash my brain is not about madoka magica the original. And now i can find some good thing from this anime but not enough good to recommend it Liked : I loved so much 4 5 ost from this anime but they are not fully exploited well with image or build strong emotion. It miss something to create the magic trick. I liked the foreshadowing and i'm bit excited and curious to look the 2nd season Visual are really cool love this ambiance Futaba, Sana too short but lovely moment Nanami, Yachiyo the background reveal at episode 8 all fan of this serie be like it starting boys leeeeeet s go Tamaki, Iroha : This one has potential to be really good season 2 Dislike : No enjoyment before episode 8, boring boring boring They develop so many character in 12 episode it kill the emotion build its too short to love the character for their past/present Poor end Low tense/emotionnal Conclusion 5/10 i don t recommend it at all i try to convince myself it can be better next season. Because Magia record take the case of realistic. The main goal of the series look like the wish Tamaki, Iroha. And she run after rumor to collect the thing she need to achieve goal. And this is super interesting because they give some foreshadowing or fanservice at episode 8 it give some tone of dramatical way the season 2 could be. My first watching of this anime is probably not over 2 score because when you love so much madoka magica u feel betrayal by this or you are too simp to recognize this show suck. But with my second rewatch i was focused on how this show want to talk to us. And to me its like real life. Not dramatical/dark event every episode. Its more a very slow show with one goal are really difficult to achieve like a dream. I can feel like the parents lose their children on Tamaki, Iroha.

A Blockbuster Budget to a Gacha Game Display(LR); Last years Magia Record came and went with little fanfare, as someone who recently re-visited the series I decided to watch Record for the first time this week and as my title would suggest I found it to be another brilliant showing of anime industry talent from the now infamous studio shaft but as a narrative to be ultimately held back by it's mobile game source. Lets breeze past the spoiler free section first. The Story - This is definitely the show's weaker area, though not to the extent some have implied. If you know anything of my other work, I judge all media by it's individual merit however if you compare Record to it's parent show you will be disappointed. This is in large point because the two shows aim for alternative methods. Where Madoka is a deliberate deconstruction of the magical girl genre, taking a more pragmatic look at each of the fields many facets, Record while having some of those elements is far more akin to a traditional magical girl show, with far less casualties and greater focus on the team work elements of the genre. This is not by itself an inherently bad thing, I spoke to a degree in my Rebellion review about appreciating the idea of spin-off media or OVA's dealing with a more light hearted story with-in the Madoka universe and this is almost that - almost. The story's biggest issue (with-out spoilers) comes from it's attempts to be more like it's older sibling, when the show strives to do it's own exploration then it comes across as a breath of fresh air and a mature understanding of what made the decade old original great (There's a YouTube video I watched with a similar opinion to this by AH Brandon Reviews if you like this line of thinking). All told the story is quite serviceable but far from the stand-out narrative that was Madoka and un-content to stick to it's own path. The Characters - Like the story the characters are by no means bad, often times endearing but wholly too shallow. This is to be fair an issue with the original and to give credit where it's due, it's more an aspect of this style of story telling then a fault. Allow me to explain, in the original you have Mami and Kyouko whom are both used fairly sparingly, however thought great visual characterization and solid story writing, weaved into their themes and that of the show's, both of them have managed to become highly iconic and beloved characters with-in the various anime communities. Record attempts to mimic the same giving characters striking appearances and sparse backstory, however it doesn't quite work as well. While the characterization is nearly as strong as the originals, it falls flat due to the story, quite simply we don't see enough of these characters to really get a proper feel for them. The strength of Madoka's method for doing this was in it's small primary cast which is never bigger then 4 members at a time (It wasn't till rebellion that all 5 girls were ever on screen together) however while Record also has team of 5, it's got a plethora of other magical girls to give time to. Mind you this could still work but as mentioned the story leaves many of them wanting more, their by no means bad characters and simply their astatic and personalities make them likably enough in a Moe kind of way but they land far short of their OG counterparts. The Music and Animation - With returning composer Yuki Kajiura the Ost is unsurprisingly a marvel once more, I've heard some suppose it doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor and that's definitely a fair reading however from the intro to the battle themes and the bonus vocal track by ReReGraphics, there's a-lot of good in here that has it standing far above almost any other soundtrack from it's respective aired season. The animation falls into much the same category, it's great to re-experience this world and its psychedelic visuals once more. Some of the witches are a little less inspired but all in all you'll get your fix of mesmerizing eye candy, my favorite sequence being that of when Sana visits home after her initial arc and appearance, I also quite appreciate the stylistic references to Revolutionary Girl Utena, espically in the 'rumour sequences'. In terms of fights, the first against the wings of the magus and the final fight in episode 13 stand out on top in terms of fight choreography, contrastingly and while I'd like to view Record separately I'd be remiss not to comment that the many of the other fights feel clunky and fail to match those of the original's flare. Non-the-less Record, while not quite to the standard of its parent is a fantastic looking and sounding anime, up their for the best of the year and these glorious production values make even the stories weakest segments an entertaining viewing experience. To conclude our spoiler free journey, Record's first 2 thirds are a thoroughly enjoyable romp into an alternate Madoka-verse, it's got the restrain to not simply copy the original and presents intriguing character threads and stunning production values, however it loses it's way severely in it's final act and fails to leave a satisfying aftertaste as it becomes bogged down in gritty detail and poor references to the original show. Madoka fans and those of darker magical girl shows will most likely enjoy this one for the ride that it is and while it may disappoint some looking for a repeat of the first story, I think it's worth giving a watch, doubly so once the sequel comes out. A 6.5 out of 10. Spoilers Ahoy; -Speaking of poor references one of the shows most egregious must certainly be Sayaka, her inclusion comes with her third ever 'fire extinguisher diversionary throw' and while this might make some smile, off the back of rebellion it feels exceedingly like hollow pandering. As we're here lets talk about the use of the old magical girls for a moment. As stated above I find one of Record's weakest characteristics to be the inclusion of these classic characters, it reminds me strongly of how the second seasons of most Gundam anime end up over-shadowing their new cast members with increasingly regular cameo's from the first series cast (I'm looking at you most of all Gundam Seed Destiny). It's a method I've seldom, if ever seen pulled off in a satisfying light and that's unfortunately the case here too. Kyouko I'm rather happy to say fairs the best in this regard as she's solely used to illustrate a similar world view between herself and Felicia (While reminding us that she's called a veteran magical girl for a reason with one of the two great fight scenes I mentioned earlier) and she acts in character for her whole time on screen. Her inclusion is fairly unneeded however it's relatively harmless and welcome fanservice that does serve some function to the story. On the other hand we have Mami and Sayaka who fair much worse. Mami at first seems to be going the same route as Kyouko, being used to illustrate elements of Yachiyo's character, however by the show's close this quickly goes south. It's not that her joining the wings of the Magus is out of character but that her motives for doing so become rapidly clouded by the ever collapsing world building, furthermore the degree to which she's under-some form of mind control is really unclear, further mudding her role as an 'antagonist' in the story. This cumulates in the shows final set-piece, where we also get the re-introduction of Sayaka. Her screen time is minimal but equally intrusive, what should of been the final fight of the series with the 5 girls fighting a greater foe, becomes akin to a bullet hell mission between Mami and Sayaka with some minor assistance from Yachiyo. Again I like this final fight on a technical and visual level but narratively it's a complete disaster, how can it even be possible for one thing? What series of events could occur so that Mami can live to see Sayaka and Madoka become magical girls, then spend literal weeks if not…

If this was adapted from another material, I'm not aware of it and have not seen/played/read it. I have, however, seen the original series. Art: 6 It follows the same art style as the original Madoka Magica, which is excellent for the themes and ideals that the original Madoka Magica is deconstructing. However, in this series, it sorely grinds against the lack of such a deconstruction and thus feels overly pretentious and falls flat. Sound: 6 There's nothing bad about the sound, but it is at best slightly above mediocre. The absence of Kajiura Yuuki, one of the most prominent and excellent composers of Japan, is sorely missed in this department. Some of the battle tracks feel flat, lacking the catchy and melodic patterns of Kajiura's composition style. One could even call the OST bland unless the specific track in question was pulled from the original Madoka Magica. Character: 5 Unlike the original series, this Gaiden does not really explore the same aspects (depth) of a character. Whereas the original might take apart a person's sacrifices for romantic love or explore a character's indecisiveness and growth, or the psyche of someone who sacrificed everything for another's wellbeing, this one explores no such great character depth. Instead, we get shallow issues and what almost feels like a monster-of-the-episode problem to tackle. While it is clear the series staff wants to go deeper, they are continuously failing to dig any deeper at all. Story: 4 This is the part that would carry the series if the characterization is mediocre, but sadly, this part cannot do such a feat. This Gaiden rehashes the major reveal of its original series and sadly, since most people have already seen the original series, this no longer packs any shock value. Its episode composition is almost a monster-of-the-episode format which, is fine for achieving a cheap to mediocre tier of excellence as a narrative, but cannot ever reach realms god tiers. Most importantly, the deconstruction of themes that made the original so compelling to the audience is entirely absent. Instead, most of the issues that the monster-of-the-episode explores are cheap problems of the everyday human, the kind you could chitchat about on the train with a friend and not really anything to be deconstructed. Enjoyment: 5 The overall lack of depth to the series, given the expectations set by the original Magica Madoka marks this one for mediocrity. Even without such expectations, the mechanics of the story's universe not really being properly introduced, the plot effectively devolving to simplicity, and the lack of depth to the cast dooms this piece. Lastly, the absence of notable staff from the original heavily affects this work. Overall: 5

Appropriately modeled from a mobile game, this seems to just be a way to get people to play the game instead of being an actual Modoka Magica side story. The story plays out like someone's first draft where they wrote the entire story non-stop in one sitting. What you thought was the entire point of the story, gets continually more and more downplayed throughout, as if the author lost interest and instead began to favor a new story half way through. It results in an unsatisfying, absurd, and inconclusive story, which is a far cry from the original anime and movie The visuals, while more CG than the original, are still fairly good. And, of course, the music is still fantastic

Story 7/10 This side story to Madoka Magica takes place in Kamihana City a place which has seen increased witch activity with many powerful witches in the area. Iroha Tamaki is a magical girl who although not very powerful sets out to Kamihana City in an attempt to find her sister who has somehow been wiped from existence. Although not on the level of the original series this has a good story with drama and mystery with the discovery of a mysterious group of magical girls and the belief among some that a salvation for magical girls can be discovered. Art 8/10 Once again I liked the world of Madoka Magica with a well designed world and characters. Sound 7/10 Some good sound and music with quality voice acting. Characters 7/10 Some good characters here with all the Magical Girls being likable characters for the most part with each having different goals and motivations which leads basically to different grouping between the girls and even some conflict. Enjoyment 7/10 An enjoyable season with plenty of drama and mystery some of the episodes and moments are a little slower and less entertaining but overall a fun show. Overall 7/10

As many others have said, if you're looking for the true successor to the legendary Madoka Magica, look away because this is not it. i have mixed feelings on this anime. The story is rushed, the characters are kind of forgettable, and the plot doesn't make much sense. Despite all this, however, I loved every second of this anime. The art and music are both astounding, and the transformation scenes are jawdropping. And the battle at the end was pure, unfiltered hype. Story - 3 Poor As I said, the story is really messy and rushed. Towards the end, though, it gets kind of stronger and more interesting. That's the only reason I didn't straight up give it a 1. Art - 10 Outstanding The art is beautiful. I loved Gekudan Inu Curry's work in the original series, and their direction in Magia Record is amazing. The animation is incredibly Shafty, though, so that might turn some people away. But if you're like me and love the Shaft style, this anime will be a blast. Sound - 9 Great Let's face it, it's impossible to live up to the absolute deity that is Yuki Kajiura, but Takumi Ozawa sure did an amazing job. The original soundtrack is amazing even when compared to Kajiura, as it captures the mystical nature of the original series incredibly well. The only complaint I have is that the music is often overused and sometimes the sudden changes in music can be jarring. Character - 6 Fair The characters in Magia Record are a meh. It feels like a gacha game where the anime seems to just be collecting more characters as it goes along. Would really have liked for more character development. Enjoyment - 9 Great Magia Record was an absolute joy for me. As a big animation guy, the trippy fights and backgrounds really sucked me in. And the final fight scene, again, was absolute perfection. Overall - 6 Fair Despite me enjoying the hell out of this anime, I can't recommend it to most others. If you enjoyed the game, you'll most likely enjoy this anime. And if you like Gekudan Inu Curry's work, you'll also enjoy this anime. It doesn't have much else going for it.

The original Madoka stands as one of my all time favourite anime for many, many reasons: its wonderfully unique, surreal and unnerving visuals, Yuki Kajiura's phenomenal, mystical soundtrack, the rich and varied character designs, the impactful, pathos-laden plot... I could go on. Naturally, MagiReco was walking in the footsteps of a giant. And to be honest? I didn't ever expect it to live up to the original. Side story is right there in the name - this isn't more of the original, it's an addendum, something extra for the fans. And there's a lot to like here - there are still plenty of amazing visuals, if anything more magical girl action than the original, and the soundtrack - though not quite up to the original's standard (Kajiura is a hard act to follow) - is pretty solid. There were genuine moments when the magic of the original was rekindled for me. There are moments that powerfully evoke that sense of the uncanny that is a hallmark of the original's aesthetic. But these were mere moments. The plotting is far looser than the original and gets fairly tangled at times. It never seems like the writing really knows what it wants to focus on and quite what the stakes are. Plenty happens, but it happens with rather thin motivation and a casual chain of causality. The characters are fine and a genuine attempt is made to give them all depth, but still I never found myself deeply invested in the way I was in the original. This being a spin-off, there is also little opportunity to deliver the kind of novelty and shock that made the original such an overnight hit. There is definitely also a number of attempts at nostalgia fan service - shoehorning characters from the original into episodes where they add little, but a fleeting pang of recognition. This really just adds to the overall uncertainty of the show's direction and its rambling feel. Furthermore, these original character cameos are only part of the problem. While the sprawling character roster does include many cool new designs (I particularly enjoyed the design for Alina Gray), there are many characters here to pop up with little explanation and seemingly are only included for the pleasure of players of the mobile game. Having had three major iterations of this property in anime form now - the original series, Rebellion, and now this - I have noticed a pattern forming where there seems to be a determination to expand the lore each time, rather than consolidate what exists. Sure, Rebellion had fairly solid in-universe reasons for introducing Nightmares in place of Witches, but the reasons for the introduction of Uwasa ('rumours') seem on less solid ground. All in all, if you like original, you could probably do worse than to watch this series, but try to go in with your expectations set at an appropriately forgiving level. I did, and whilst this won't go down as one of my favourite series as the original did, I did get enjoyment out of the experience overall.

As someone that's played the mobile game, in my humble opinion this felt like a downgrade. They changed quite a lot of things, with the greatest one being that Madoka and Homura should have appeared by now. One of the great things about the mobile game was how the story of Madoka and Iroha slowly meld together but you can barely feel that in this one. It feels like they're holding back on revealing both Madoka and Homura just so we would hype up their appearance even more. The story of Felicia and Sana felt rushed and their characters don't feel fully fleshed out (same goes for a lot of other characters too). They're suppose to be main characters yet they feel like side characters. Plenty of small interactions are cut out mostly because they're time constrained but that also sacrifices characterization. Did you know that Felicia is bad at math? There was a scene in the game that goes something like this: Felicia: What!? "(-1)-(-1)=0"? That makes no sense it's all negative the answers gotta be negative too duh! Iroha: Felicia if you put two minus signs together it becomes a plus. Felicia: No it doesn't! Iroha: Tsuruno please help me... Small talk like this is what slowly builds character and its nowhere to be found in the anime. I get it, they have to fit the whole story into (around) 25 episodes but they're cutting a lot of corners and it doesn't look good. Overall, although I've done nothing but bash at how it couldn't adapt the source material well enough, it was still pleasant to watch. Considering how much had changed from the source material there were plenty of new things for me to experience and they even had some neat add-ons like Kuroe who was never in the game.

WARNING I’m going to SPOIL the Hell out of this anime, talking about each episode and scenes that left an “impact” on me and I’m going to judge this with the game in mind as I have played it and the OG Madoka Magica as most people watch Magia Record because they’ve watch Madoka Magica. And be also prepared for A LOT of reading. If you want a spoiler-free recommendation all I can say is... If you are a Madoka Fanatic like me and will sink your claws into anything MM I highly recommend you watch MR, it gives you what you love from the OG, dark magical girls, dark themes, visuals that were drawn by someone high as Hell, spine tingling music and a finale that I can only describe as Chef’s Kiss. However if you’re looking for the same quality of MM that is a compelling story, deep complicated characters, with thought provoking themes and messages then you will only get a fraction of that in MR. So it’s up to you whether to listen to the fan girl side of your brain or the intellectual side of your brain, now let’s Spoil the shit out of this Episode 1 Serves as a good reintroduction to the world of MM and our MC Iroha who we’ll be following. It also gives us the overarching mystery and story of the whole anime which is finding Iroha’s missing sister. Watching this definitely brings back your nostalgia of the first MM and gets you excited to return to a world you haven’t seen in 7 years (Yeah it’s been that long), it’s like watching The Force Awakens or Fantastic Beasts after years of no SW and HP, it just so nostalgic. Solid start and since the first episode introduces this sister plot then this will be what the anime focuses on right? 10/10 Episode 2-3 Team KMR was a delight in the game and the anime I think was better but I’ll get into it in the last episode. However their arc was incredibly rushed, Rena and Kaede’s fight in the game took time to built up to but in the anime they break up 9 minutes after they’re introduced. Also in the game the the friendship Uwasa didn’t need name’s written to attack broken friendships so having Rena write down the names knowing the consequences made her seem like a bitch. And to add to the rushed pacing, after the cliffhanger of Kaede’s kidnap the next episode starts as if nothing happened. We don’t get to see how Rena and Momoko react to their friend being taken away right in front of them, they just TELL us what happened instead of SHOWING. But there are still highlights like the transformation sequences. This is one of the moments they clearly put the budget in (I like how Momoko kicks a hole in her sword) and I love how each sequence matches each character like with Rena’s theme being mirrors and idols. I even love an anime only scene where Rena talks about how her wish was being a different person because she hated herself and even though she can now become any person she wants, who she is inside will never change. It’s one of the genuinely good scenes in the anime but it’s cut short. If they could have more episodes and a proper resolution to that scene this would’ve been my favorite arc. However that tease with Mami was amazing, in MM episode 3 she loses her head and dies but in MR episode 3 she comes back and we lose our heads 6/10 Episode 4-5 There isn’t anything to talk about the Shrine arc as in both game and anime it’s only purpose is to introduce Tsuruno and nothing else. It’s the arc that I hate the most as it’s only just setup for future events like Mifuyu and Doppels, which could be done in any episode. There are cool battles like Iroha vs Mifuyu and the fight with the Uwasa which has a cool redesign switching from an elephant car into a shrine dragon. However it’s still nothing but filler and is time that could be used for more important things. So I’ll just talk about my least favorite character, Tsuruno (I’m already hearing the pitchforks and torches). So let’s go down her positives first, Tsuruno is nice, she’s hilarious and is a ball of sunshine... And that’s it, in the game she shines more and there will be more of her in season 2 but I’m talking about Tsuruno IN SEASON 1 and there is nothing complex about her IN SEASON 1. I don’t hate Tsuruno I just don’t remember her as again there isn’t enough time to develop her. She will get her own proper arc in season 2 about her in The Magius that will also be rushed but as of right now she’s just Waifu bait imo 3/10 Episode 6-7 The Owl arc is a mixed bag as it changes a lot from the game, some I like, some I don’t. Felicia Mitsuki is my favorite of the new Holy Quintet in the game and in the anime they don’t do her justice but they do enough. She still has a fun personality and I like her breakdown at the end, she’s one of the best characters imo (Did any of you mobile players recognize that Witch that killed her parents). Changes I do like was the functions of the Misery Water, in the game it’s 24 hours then you die it’s a boring idea but in anime after 24 lucky things happen something very unlucky will happen to you. This makes things fun as it’s not a simple countdown to death and it’s consistent with the Rumor called Lucky Owl Water. I mean drink this water then you die, what kind of rumor is that? However some of the changes were still pretty bad, like how in the game it was Iroha working together with Felicia and Kyoko to defeat the Uwasa which makes more sense than her just one shotting it or how the flute sisters were shown to be a formidable tag team and their Doppels being a force to be reckon but in the anime they’re just brushed aside. I mean they didn’t even have the infamous leg breaking scene where Yachiyo got so pissed she broke the older sister’s leg. So again because of the fast pacing there’s not enough time for characters and even battles to shine but still a semi-solid arc 6/10 Episode 8-10 This is by far my favorite arc in the anime as like my second favorite arc they dedicated 3 episodes to it. Which is weird because in the game this was my second least favorite because it was too slow but ironically the anime’s fast pacing made this arc more bearable. They did cut out a lot of stuff like how Madoka was supposed to appear but if they had kept this AND MORE nothing would have been done justice especially Madoka, and nobody wants that. Sana imo is actually the best character in the anime, they give enough time to establish her backstory, personality and motivation making her not so one-dimensional and forced like Tsuruno and Yachiyo. The conversation she has with Ai in the game is just two people sitting in a room talking (Yeah the SAO way of explaining things, GOOD LORD) but in the anime because they’re walking across different landscapes and accompanied by amazing visuals, it makes the conversation somewhat fantastical, this was one of the rare times being an anime helped the story. Even the finale between Sana and Ai was more touching, in the game it was just another boss battle so the player could do more button mashing but in the anime it was one final conversation before Sana was forced to stab Ai, much more heartbreaking then a big monster battle. And we even got to see Uwasa Sana, a little fan service for Mobile players and shows how Ai’s whole identity was based on Sana. And her whole arc comes to a close with her visiting her family in a scene which my sister described “that was so artistic it was unnecessary.” This segment is getting too long so I’ll wrap up the negatives. Episode 8 was the WORST episode as it was just setup and more explaining and Alina was highly underutilized as she’s one of the best crazy bitches, making her one-dimensional but still pretty great. Props to her voice actor, Ayana Taketatsu FREAKING NAILED IT 7/10 Episode 11-13 Like Rogue One being mediocre but the climax being freaking awesome, This is clearly the episode where Shaft concentrated the budget. Episode 12 is the 2nd worst episode as it’s just recapping information which we the viewers already know. Instead of having both a speech…

English is not my native lenguage, my aplogies beforehand. Spoilers from the game at the end. I'm a big fan of Madoka Magica and a Magia record´s player. The game's story is a good one, not at Madoka magica's level but pretty solid, I expected a good anime, it had troubles since the beggining when it was confirmed that it only would had 13 episodes because they couldn't be able to animate the entire story. While the studio was going to be Shaft, my biggest fear was the the absence of Yuki kajiura but the soundtrack turned out to be very good and keep the Madoka magica's feeling. In the other hand the characters and stages were equaly pretty good, my biggest problem were the rythm, both at animation and story, I mean, the animation was beatiful but the moves of the characters sometimes feel too silly and the story boring, however, close to the end of serie its course was righted. Chapter 12 was pretty good and interesting though it's almost pure speech against other chapters full with fight that feels forced, because that what you do in the game, fights witches out of nowhere. At some point the serie stopped exciting me and started boring me but the last chapter, i think it's absolutly at Madoka Magica's level, they changed the story a bit from the game so even players are heading to second season. Almost the entire serie it had a qualify a bit above 7, so with a finale so epic i thought the qualify would upgrade a little but in fact it was lower and it's the reason of this review. I believe some people are disappointed because they see this as a continuation of the serie or the movie, they don't know where Magia record is situated in Madoka magica's universe, and i don't blame them, the serie itself don't explain it, so i'll leave you some information from the game that i hope make you enjoy more this serie because i think it coludn't ended better and from me, i'm pretty hypped even it was a slow start. Spoilers from the game... or not, this is not from the main story but from the individual stories of the magical girls in the game. Before everything else, this is not a sequel nor a prequel of either the serie or the movies, this is another timeline. In this timeline the story beggins pretty similar to the story we all know, until certain event produced a butterfly effect, this is the only timeline where Iroha become a magical girl, also the only timeline where Ui, Touka and Nemu didn't died due to their sickness. As you saw, this turned into Touka being a Magius and creating a tool to prevent Magical girls from turning into witches and that impacted in the life's of every magical girl, Kyoko, Mami and Sayaka aren't here because fan service, they are here because this event changed their lives as we know. Now, in what point of the story we know it started to divergated into Magia record's story? We can have an approach due to Homura's knowledge in the game. She already know magical girl´s turn to witches if their soulgems get taunted but she still haven't been asked by Madoka to prevent her contract with Kyubey so she's still Moemura. So, summaring, at the begging of the serie. Madoka - Magical girl, clueless of Magical girl's fate. Homura - Magical gilr, aware of Magical girl's fate. Mami - Magical girl, senpai of the holy quintet, clueless of Magical girl's fate. Sayaka - Magical girl, clueless of Magical girl's fate. She likes Kyosuke but hitomi hasn´t made her move so she´s ok. Kyoko - Magical girl, clueless of Magical girl's fate. Since Mami is her senpai, she interact a bit with the other girls but she preffer being by his own. To finish, since Madoka is a proper person in this timeline, Madokami can't do nothing but watch this timeline. I hope this help's you understand/enjoy more this show. Thanks for reading.

Story: Has a really interesting concept. The build up to the finale was somewhat decent. Not really much to say about it, the whole of idea of it was pretty awesome at first sight. Art: Really nice, as expected of shaft. Episode 13 really did well. Sound: good character: OH MY GOD. The characters!! Why are there so many characters? It makes the story hard to follow, and there was hardly any fleshing out of any of them. This is one of the biggest differences between Magia Record and Madoka Magica. Even Madoka wasn't as boring as Iroha, and she was pretty boring as an individual. Crafting the identity of each important character is so crucial and shaft really just didn't do a good job on this. How is someone suppose to care about a show when they can't care about the characters. I mean does anyone here really care about Iroha? Enjoyment: Personally, I still enjoyed it, just got confused at some times because of all the different things that happen. Especially because there were so many characters to remember. Still, interesting enough that I will watch the second season. Overall: All I can say is, it could've been better. If shaft just works on fleshing out the characters more next season it'll be a lot more better, although really they should've focused on that this season. It's no where near the greatness of Puella Magi Madoka Magika but it has potential to be somewhat good. Though, it doesn't look like Magia Record will be able to step out of the shadow of Puella but we'll see. 6/10

I remember when I saw that this was coming out. I was like “Whoa, can’t believe Madoka Magica gets another series.” I was underwhelmed. Even after looking at the MAL score and a few reviews. If I were to explain this in relation to the original, I’d say it’s like meeting a friend of a friend: you just sorta know you can’t exactly get along despite similar qualities as your friend. Review start: I’m pretty sure that the story is that the MC Iroha wants to find her sister. I stress pretty sure because there is a lot of stuff going on. The story loses a bit of focus here and there. Sometimes the detours make up for it but sometimes not. I feel that the pacing can be good most of the time but bad other times. The events and details aren’t completely explained, which made for some confusing scenes. Thankfully, I always read the comments after each episode so I was able to understand what was going on. The problem is that the anime doesn’t explain much until the very end. I mean, usually you explain it all a bit of time before the end. Also the anime had several moments that doesn’t reach its full potential. I noticed that some parts of the story is similar to that in the original, but not as well done. I couldn’t truly immerse myself into the story as I did with the original. The art is beautiful. I love how they kept the abstract yet detailed witches as well as how the eerie scenes were directed. Camera angle is super important and this anime executes it very well, just like the original. However, it is not completely perfect and had some awkward transitions here and there. The background and scenery art is beautifully done, with the colors and shading and intricate details. The sound is fantastic. I love how they kept one of the most prominent OST from the original. It truly brought nostalgia and a sense of eeriness. The other soundtracks are nice and fit in nicely with the mood, enhancing the experience. I would also like to point out that the silence was well done. Having control over sound and silence truly shows expertise with the audio. However, there are a few spots where the music just doesn’t seem to feel right. I don’t know what it is about but I think that’s just me. The characters aren’t really good. I didn’t really like most of the characters. I also felt that some of them are thrown in there, just to be pushed aside later. The characters seem a bit one dimensional and there isn’t much change with them I believe. The character interactions seem well enough. The backstories are explored, but I sometimes get a feeling that backstories are there just so it checks off the box. I also can’t help but compare some of the characters to the original’s cast, which lowered my character appreciation even further. The inclusion of some of original cast was interesting but it seemed the be one of the few factors that kept me going. After all of that negativity, I want to say something positive: the character designs are cool and unique. They are all easily recognizable and they all are differentiable. The enjoyment went up and down, and it slowly went down and down as it neared the end. In fact, I considered multiple times to drop this at the last episode but I continued due to sheer loyalty to the original. It’s not that it’s bad but that I just can’t seem to enjoy it as much as I wish to. Referring back to earlier, it’s like meeting a friend of a friend. I will probably watch the second season if it comes out, probably enthusiastic about it too (false hope that it will be great), but as of right now, I would take a hard pass. I expected better. I wanted better. This was just too confusing here and there. It was a good series but it isn’t a Madoka Magica level series. Whereas the original was an experience, this was a presentation of the experience, but with many differences. I will still be looking forward to see how things play out. In the end, look at the score, not the review.

What Singularity is this? Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is probably the anime that LA just couldn't pinpoint at, no not on it's characters or on one of it's surface level plot it had, no what LA couldn't pinpoint was how ALL of this, this "Side Story" to be attached to the Madoka Magica franchise. Before that. LA will get to the good stuff, for the most part the characters are it's best strength from the main character Iroha Tamaki voiced by Momo Asakura trying to find her little sister Ui and adventures into the city of Kamihama to find her and along the way finds more magical girls as well as Iroha finding a "new family" as it were. The core cast magical girls gets their own "arcs" as it were giving them ALOT of development from Felicia Mitsuki voiced by Ayane Sakura, Sana Futaba voiced by Yui Ogura and Yui Tsuruno voiced by Shiina Natsukawa with a bit more extensive ongoing character development from Yachiyo Nanami voiced by Sora Amamiya ALSO trying to find someone. We do at first gets into a click with a trio of magical girls Momoka Togame voiced by Mikako Komatsu (who LA does like), Rena Minami voiced by Kaori Ishihara and Kaede Akino viced by Ayaka Ohashi getting into a bit of friendship squabble with their arc. But yeah ALL these magical girls have their goals but all affected by these "rumor witches" and the organization that puppeteers them. To this end, as LA said, LA REALLY liked Momoka but her screentime gets heavily reduced in the latter episodes, but for Iroha's gang, LA liked Felicia for her personality, while LA could relate to Sana. Another strength is that the aesthetic is pretty much the same as the original Madoka Magica anime series, SHAFT obviously animated this and thus it "feels" like Madoka Magica but with other characters and weirdly enough, ORIGINAL characters from the original anime series makes cameos and they are in their own factions reflecting what they would of done in the original series. Finally LA will say Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden DOES try to expand on the Madoka franchise, from the different witches of the "Rumor Witches" and by extension what "Doppels" are to Witches...LA won't go into spoilers with that one, but it's a decent element to Madoka's franchise, slightly bordering on confusion. Now uhhh incomes the problem with Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden, even with all the new additions to all these characters to the "Doppels" as well as cameos from most of the original anime characters...LA will reiterate what LA at the very start of this "Side Story"..."What Singularity is this?", like LA just couldn't pinpoint it and because of this, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden can outright bring in new elements into it sure, but it can also asspulls things for the sake of it, "Doppels" and the original anime cast being some of it's element affected, it's again even worse since it's centred around Kamihama City. Why does LA keep talking about this and why it's a point of contention?, well due to the Madoka Magia Movies...well YEAH talking meta with how Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden affects with the Madoka Magica franchise DOES need to be said and guess what Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden doesn't care to explain it AT ALL, thus the MASSIVE confusion and why LA can pinpoint this Side Story whatsoever. Let LA make a bit of comparison to another Aniplex game turned anime adaptation ALSO from an alternative "universe" scenarios. Fate Grand Order, at least in Fate Grand Order if you watch the First Order OVA to the Prologue to Babylonia can give enough material as to WHATS GOING ON, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden just doesn't and sure to it's defence, FGO Babylonia had MORE episodes but Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden even with 13 episodes could at least throw us a bone and sure IT DOES in one or two episodes, but that those episodes MOSTLY talks about plot twists from the ORIGINAL series (and sure a bit on Doppels). The voice cast is overall decent so LA won't really say much with standouts being Momo Asakura as Iroha, Sora Amamiya as Yachiyo, Yui Ogura as Sana and Mikako Komatsu as Momoka. Decent voice cast. Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is probably what LA experienced if LA didn't "get" let alone "play" Fate Grand Order and is thrown into a pit of confusion every episode LA watched it. Again, it's characters are it's best strength as well as the aesthetic of being Madoka Magica, but where Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden flaws seeps out is how it tries and fails to explain itself to it's continuation to it's larger more popular parent anime of Madoka Magica and how intrinsically linked it is and doesn't explain it makes it even worse. And the finale that it drops to us, that sure character-wise DOES make a bit of sense, but it just stops after dropping us a HUGE plot twist to it. But thinking deeper into it, it kinda makes sense but kinda doesn't as well but with Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden not explaining things that much and this plot twist was a finale cliffhangar deal, yeah we don't get an explanation on that either. So the finale did "kinda" explain things but as soon as they explained the basis of Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden with it's characters, they pulled ANOTHER mystery to it which they won't explain unless you play the mobile game. LA think LA said this in another anime but LA will say it here, if you can't invested into an anime world and the anime itself doesn't explain itself (and worse since it's linked to a parent anime) we got a HUGE problem of wondering...if it's fanfiction or "whether this Side Story" can do whatever the hell it wants to meets it's plot needs. Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is a 50/100...ahh LA means 60/100

**TL; DR or for a spoiler-free review.** 7/10. I am a huge fan of the original Madoka☆Magica. All the elements of the anime really work well together and make the end product really special, but I sadly can’t say the same for Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden. Now, this anime is still good, don’t get me wrong, but it can’t hold a candle to the original. The art, story, sound, and characters are all above average. So, if you have played the game, read the manga, or just love the Madoka☆Magica then check this series out you probably will at least like it. **SPOILERS AHEAD! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!** Story (7): The story is good. It’s well written and has some great character moments. However, unlike the original, this story moves at a much slower pace. The slower pace of this season makes the story less interesting and engaging. There is a teaser at the end of one of the later episodes that being “This affects all magical girls everywhere.” This is a great way to leave an episode. This will make the viewer want more and watch the next episode, but this teaser wasn’t revealed until two episodes later. Writing like this makes the pace slow and feel like filer as opposed by a critical point in the plot. Along with that, there are some plot points that go basically nowhere and don’t serve the plot at all. This issue along with the constant promise of more to come makes the pacing feel sluggish. Another issue is that this side story seems to have missed the point of the original. Along with missing the point this series also tries to recreate the magic of the original. You probably still can remember the feeling you felt when you realized that Madoka Magica isn’t about cute girls being magical girls, or when you learned about the magical girl’s major vulnerabilities, or why the grief seeds are so important. The issue isn’t that the story doesn’t do new things, the issue is that the story tries to get the viewer with the same twists that the viewer already knows and because the viewer already knows these plot points the reveals carry less weight and are less impactful. Art (8): The art is wonderful. Shaft hits hard with the animation quality and it looks very similar to the original. However, the animation isn’t perfect for a few reasons. One problem is the contrast between the “witch world” and the real world. The contrast isn’t as shocking and as drastic as the original. This gives off a, possibly unintentional, melding of the two worlds. There may be an explanation for this however, it may be the use of CGI during the series. The CGI isn’t bad for the most part. There are a few shots where the CGI is pretty rough looking, but overall the use of CGI is almost unnoticeable. The use of CGI may be why this series looks a little bit off. If you take still images from both shows and but them side by side, then it becomes evident that there is a change for the worse in this side story. What that change is, I don’t know, but this change makes this series look slightly worse than the original. Sound (6): The music as a whole is fine. The music itself is good. The OP, for example, has both slow parts and fast-paced parts. This is an excellent example of the dichotomy of the magical girls in this series. That being, of simultaneous selfishness and selflessness. However, quite a bit of the music is poorly implemented. Such as the music volume throughout the entire series. It is often too loud and feels like it is trying to drown out the character’s dialogue. Another issue is that there is too much of it. It feels like there is always music going in the background causing no chance of reprieve. The final issue is that the music is trying to hard to make the viewer feel a certain emotion. That is the point of music in media after all, but when the music is too loud, too frequent, and trying too hard, the music becomes grading after a while. Characters (7): The characters are good. They have good chemistry with each other, and the viewer gets the feeling that the characters have known each other for a while before this series started. But, this chemistry takes a lot from the original because a lot of the character’s personalities are copy-pasted from the original. Such as the tsundere, the one who is over her head, and the one how wants to kill all of the witches. The colors of the characters are the same as the first one too. Those are, of course, the witches being represented by the colors pink, blue and, purple. Now the witches being represented by the colors red and yellow don’t have a new witch using their color, but they show up in the anime instead. Enjoyment (8): When the story was progressing well I felt engaged and wanted more. When it was slow and plodding I was bored and wanted to do something else, or watch a different show. The great animation is what really sells it for me. The music can be annoying at some points, and it may even be unnecessary at some points too. However, despite the problems in this anime, I did really enjoy the ride. Overall (7): Now, it is widely known that a good sequel proverbially jumps off from the original, exploring new ideas or situations. A bad sequel proverbially wallows in the original, exploring nothing, and keeping it safe. Other than a few instances, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden mostly jumps off and has a separate identity than the original. Despite some hiccups along the way, this side story was a good show and I really enjoyed it. If another season is made then I will watch it, but I do how a few of the issues highlighted above are fixed. If these problems are fixed, then the next season will be better than this one, and that prospect really excites me.

Going into this show I was a bit worried due to its significantly lower rating than the original show and just the overall thought of them making a side story to milk off the original, and maybe they were to an extent but I think this show actually did pretty well as a side story. The beginning is a bit weird and a little hard to get into but thankfully this is one of those shows that just gets better each episode. That being said this means that the beginning of the show is kinda weak but it posed some interesting mysteries very early on. Characters are almost universally a step down from the original but that show has some of the best written characters I've ever seen so it was unfortunately expected. That being said these characters are likeable and I absolutely love Yachiyo's character as well as Iroha, I think she's a nice protagonist. I'm a bit confused as to where or when this takes place in the timeline, either I'm dumb or this might actually become a serious problem I have for this story. Animation is decent but doesn't have as cool or interesting details as the original in my opinion, however the ed to this anime is probably my favorite of all time and I connect to it immensely. Overall I am left pretty excited to see where this goes in the 2nd or 3rd season and I think this could end up being a very nice addition to this awesome series.

Now, this isn’t going to be a very thorough review, I just wanted to point out a couple of things that I think are important. The biggest problem with Magia Record is that it assumes you’ve already played the game. Now, I’m not saying that shows can’t be made fore people who have already played a game, but the way Magia Record is advertised makes it seem like the this anime is self-contained, which it definitely is not. One example of something they don’t bother explaining (at least, not until the end of season 2, I’m pretty sure) is an ability called ‘connect’, which was not seen in the original Madoka Magica series. They don’t bother explaining it, magical girls just randomly use this connect power, and you’re expected to know what’s going on. Another is how the characters just suddenly start saying the word “Uwasa” and you’re supposed to know what that is, no explanation. It becomes obvious from the context, but it would still be nice to have a formal explanation. Finally, sometimes characters just show up and act like you know who they are. Alina Gray is the best example of this. You’ll know who she is and details about her if you’ve played the game, but just watching the anime alone will leave you thinking “who even is this girl and why should I care?”. Not to mention how how certain important details of Felicia’s wish are left out in the anime, leaving her as a very mundane and one-dimensional character. To be fair, they might add this in Season 3, but that’s still far too late for one of the main magical girls. ((Bonus: I personally think it would have been so much better (at least worthy of a 9/10) had they not brought over the cast of the original Madoka Magica series, and instead just left it as a completely seperate series (you could easily set it a few years before Madoka made her wish so it didn’t conflict with the main plot). Though, I’m aware the creators didn’t have much freedom on this part, as that is a major part of the game they were adapting. It just kinda feels like, at least in my opinion, that the inclusion of the original cast makes you remember that Magia Record isn’t as good as the original, taking away from the experience. Not only that, but I already know these character arcs and how they end up, so it feels really pointless to be watching something I know is irrelevant (also, I’m still very confused about how this fits in with Homura’s story but ok).)) Overall, Magia Record season 1 was pretty good. It’s no Madoka Magica 2.0, but it’s still a show that managed to hold my attention throughout the course of all 13 episodes. I know I went on about all of the game to anime adaption issues, but that’s honestly my only real complaint about it, everything else was pretty good (I mean, there were a couple of ‘meduka meguca’ moments in the animation, but I’ll let those slide). So yeah, if you’re a fan of Madoka Magica, I’d recommend checking this out. It’s not perfect but it’s still definitely worth a watch!