Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden

Pray for healing is reasonable.
Pray for the healing of others is ordinary.
Pray for the healing of others and fight for that hope?

How about a hope similar to pray?

Rumors about a fox that can grant all wishes have spread throughout Kamihama city. Every hope is filled with tears, endless sacrifice, eternal despair, even missing something. The irony of an event or situation that is contrary to what was expected or supposed to happen, but has become a destiny. Human trust in magic to change destiny into ordinary.

Humans are inbecilic creatures, they chase dreams even though it is impossible. Even so, humans are intelligence creature strive for ... using reason to consider and decide things. To pursue a dream doesn't matter even if that hope contains magic. In the end, humans only desire result.

Kindness can bring more even bigger troubles.
Magia record is a sequel to Madoka Magica, Tamaki Iroha hope for her sister to recovery, all diseases can be cured it's just the method used to reach the goal still unknown. Of course, all of that is not free, as payment Iroha becomes "Mahou Shoujo", their task as mahou shoujo is not easy, they fight against "majo" to purify their pendants. If the pendants turn into darkness they will become majo.

Everyone will find their own storyline, like a butterfly that goes around relying only on rumors. Hearing rumors that he said Madoka and friends' journey still didn't end make me happy, but unlike the previous series of scenes that were originally full of drama, bluffing, mysteries that were difficult to solve, and unexpected possibilities everything felt bland. Magia Record is a bad series when compared to other Madoka series such as; Hajimari Monogatari to Hangyaku Monogatari.

The first impression of the Magia Record was good, the first episode which was a synopsis was conveyed well, how Mahou Shoujo is formed, the setting in Kamihama, and the origin of each main character are easy to understand and the methods used are very good and clearly conveyed, but over time, it will feel boring. in each episode of tension and scenes of bluffing, everything feels bland, besides the mystery of each episode is too forced and must be finished in that episode as well, as if the perpetrators were fixed on a third-person perspective.

Even though it has a bad story line, with interesting parts like sounds or songs it won't help a lot, so don't expect this to touch the value --8

There is no harm in wishing because it might be accompanied by magic.

This will be my first actual written review. I went into this anime EXCITED and HOPEFUL because I loved the Madoka Magica anime. I was like ok completely new characters, it is fine since it isn't some crappy re-continuation. But god,,, please this anime disappointed to no end. The whole time watching I was expecting more of the anime and waiting for something to happen. I know know, it shouldn't be a carbon copy of the original Madoka Magica, but it didn't try anything to divert your expectations AT ALL. This anime feels like pure magical girl fan service and new magical girl "waifus" for ... an original manga/show that should not have an anime like this and ruins the original.

Not to mention, the characters in this anime are very dull, like VERY DULL. In the original Madoka Magica, they took the time to carefully develop the characters and you cared for them but with this anime it felt like they just made up a bunch of new "waifu" characters and barely took the time to develop them. They prioritized character design look over personality and character. It felt like every episode was just them introducing every now and then a new girl for people with different tastes.

I know that the writer is a different person and that this is based off a mobile game, but come on! Just because it was a mobile game doesn't give it the excuse to be this overly bad in character development and story. It felt like I was just watching a below average magical girl anime that somehow got the budget and art style of Madoka Magica.


Watching this anime in full MADE ME WANT TO CLEANSE MYSELF by rewatching the original Madoka Magica and I gave this anime an optimistic chance and usually am not the type to be like "ThE OrigInaL Is BetteR" elitist type beat.

Take Madoka, and remove (almost) everything that made it so good. Now you have Magia Record.

The Original Madoka had a small, but memorable cast of characters and a pretty simple, but powerful story.
The characters in this show are just cliches and tropes, and even after 13 episodes I didn't care about any of them. In fact I barely even remember them, which makes sense considering there's so many characters that there's simply not enough time to flesh them out.
The story is a mess and I didn't understand much of it, but it seems to negate or at least conflict with what happens in the ... finale of the original Madoka which is a terrible thing to do.

At least the cool SHAFT visuals and the nice OST are still there, but that's everything good I can say about this unfortunately.
Maybe the only way to enjoy this would be to play the mobile game, but since I have the Audacity to live in Europe that won't happen because it's not available in our App Store here.

OG Show is perfectly described in the following sentence:
"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

This doesn't apply to MagiaRecord which is nothing like the OG. What does it mean? It means we get a generic magical girl show with very simple-minded characters and shallow,nonsensical plot.

CHARACTERS 1/10
They're essentially all the same. They only have personality in meaningless moments. One is going to act stoic, the other energetic, another optimistic and last one aggressive. But when serious emotional moments strike they act in the same way, respond the same, talk about their feeligns the same etc.
This is ... your typical case of anime where overly optimistic speech will cure all the emotional wounds, trauma and PTSD that you suffered earlier and recover without any mental damage. Example?(minor spoilers)
One of the girls' mother remarried to a man with 2 sons and ever since then she felt like she didn't belong. Her family not only didn't love or appreciate her but also severely neglected her. Due to her shy nature she didn't make any friends either. Because of some magic-girl-related stuff she disappeared for over a month. While she's being saved she's forced to kill the friend she made and spent time with all this time(month). The only friend she ever had. After that she goes to see her family and she finds out that they didn't even notice she was gone for over a month. THAT'S LITTERALLY IMPOSSIBLE HOW DUMB ARE THESE WRITERS? How dumb do they think we are? No one, not even authorities noticed that a middle school girl was missing? They didn't even bother to check if she's not decomposing in her room? Anyway, she takes her stuff and stands for a while on a dark street and that's when you'd think she'd transform into a witch from the despair caused by all the trauma, right? Nope. She remembers Iroha, a compelte stranger she's known for less than a minute and few others who were nice to her so she shrugs these off al nothing and lives happily with the girls in the house without any adult supervision.

Lastly, Iroha is an annoying protagonist. Extremely generic, nothing remarkable and very one-layered. She's a female equivalent of male progonists in many shounen/harem animes. Yikes.

The OG cast, which makes brief appearances, could as well not exist. They don't have any bigger roles, it's like they're there only to make cameos. Kyouko's character didn't even make sense. She was originally an anti-hero. Here she's a carafree, somewhat lazy hero.


STORY 1/10
Nothing is answered or explained. The disappearance of Iroha's sister? No. What happened with her childhood friends? No. What's going on with the witch-like possession of magical girls? Oh you know, some magical girl created that. That's it. That's got to be one of the dumbest "explanations" one could give. How exactly she even gave that ability to magical girls without intercating with her isn't explained at all.
A lot of places the characters find themselves in and the magical girl organization make no sense either. Apparently there's plenty of medival, European-like ruins under the city that are used by the said MGO.
The witch plot twist as I mentioned earlier made no sense. It makes no sense how the whole "trick" exists and how it functions.
it was never explained why Kyubey loses his consciousness after entering the city or what the young Kyubey is.

ART&MUSIC 10/10
They're flawless. The visuals are beautiful but also the animation is smooth and beautiful. The music re-uses many of the old tracks from the OG with few new and it's great.


The whole story is simply dumb. In the OG we felt the hopelessness and weight of the situation the girls had to carry on their shoulders. Here, we don't feel anything. Becasue no matter what happens and what these girls go through all it takes is an encouragement from a stranger to make them feel better and carry on like nothing happened. Their actions and their mental states don't have any negative consequences which leaves us with very infantile, naive and, at the core, generic story.

Most muggles are just comparing Magia Record to the original Madoka Magica. That is just purely comparing Superman's story and Batman's story in the same universe and say Superman's story is not dark enough because they exist in the same universe. Its just dumb. This is an unjust guideline to judge this amazing anime. They should wake up that Magia Record is Iroha's story and it just happened in one of the endless multiverse the Puella Magi series have to offer, that is if the most of the viewer understands the concept of multiversal storytelling at all.

The only lacklustre here is the overly cramped pacing, ... which even the first arc itself contains multiple sub-arcs that are not well developed. Not only the main character's backstories are cut short, it completely skipped the otherwise interesting subplots of the hero's closest allies.

Also, the lack of action sequences which are core to action anime is totally cut. Action sequences are useful plot devices to show a character's development, mental state, personalities and the level of bond they have with their teammates.

Well the season finale was the saving grace of the entire season and I think Shaft have good amount of leg room for improvement of the show.

I have never felt so disappointed in my life.

Madoka Magica was an absolute blast of a show that shocked the world with its rather *dark* themes, drawing the attention of many anime viewers, and resulting in a trend of dark magical girl shows. However, Magia Record is nothing like that. In fact, ironically the show's themes are less dark than many of the other dark magical girl series inspired by the original Madoka. At the end of the day, after waiting so long for a sequel, I just want to bang my head against the wall in utter despair and shock.

Story: 3
Oh god, what ... happened here? Episodes 1-10 are literally character introductions. CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS. I don't understand why the creators thought to have 13 magical girls, as well as attempting to connect the show with watered-down older characters sound like a good idea. Nothing of value happened in these episodes, and the last two were literally just revamped knowledge of already known information told in the original series, but with a twist of a cult of magical girls (that I don't care about) attempting to find a solution towards not killing witches. As a result, the story was insultingly bland, and putting it anywhere near the original Madoka makes me noxious.

Art: 9
I have to give compliments to the show where its due. The animation team really carried through with this one, and the animation feels original, and interesting, with Shaft's distinctive art style. Felt like some people really cared about this show's appearance. Too bad that didn't carry over to the others working on this project.

Sound: 5
There really was nothing wrong with the sound design. Some of the songs paid nice homage to the original series, and the OP and ED were ok. It didn't really try anything exciting, but the sound design got the job done.

Character: 2
This hurts to think about. I never have seen a group of characters with such terrible chemistry before. This is worse than listening to fingernails on chalkboard, this is like finding the highest frequency of possible on a piccolo, recording it, and amplifying the sound by 100, and then listening to it on 100 volume with the loudest headphones on the market. Hertz my ears and my eyes if you ask me. The characters are absolutely terrible, and each is defined by 1-2 character qualities, and a singular issue apiece. Except for that one magical girl in episode 1 that was NEVER TALKED ABOUT AGAIN. Don't get me started on how they absolutely wrecked the original characters. Why is Sayaka alive? Why is Mami mentally broken AGAIN? What's Kyoko's role in all of this? None of these questions were ever answered, and the Mami-Sayaka duel at the end was just deplorable fanservice. I grew to distaste every single character of this show as the episodes went on, and by episode 11 when the plot finally HAPPENED, I already didn't care about any of these characters. It makes me want to just cry at the corner of my room.

Enjoyment: 1
As a fan of the original Madoka series and movies, this was the equivalent of giving me a Lambo, allowing me to drive it, but removing the brake system, resulting in me crashing into god knows what at 350 km/h. Heck, I'd argue that this show is just the crash in slow motion. An absolutely dreadful disappointment, I can't give this show anything higher than a 1.

Overall: 4
The only reason why this isn't lower is because the art style was actually really exceptional. Even then, however, this was just insulting to me. As a wise person once said: "No anime is better than bad anime." (someone, I don't know when). Overall, this was painful to watch in every regard, with only the art style and mediocre sound choices drawing me in. However, I am hoping against all odds that the second season manages to be SOMETHING. But then again, that's just wishful thinking, isn't it?

I was really excited for this when it was first announced. I then watched it weekly, to completion. And then at some point forgot that I'd completed it and watched the whole second back half again, picking up on the last memorable episode, and wondering, "Have I seen this?" It was only on the second time watching the last episode that I could be sure I'd seen the whole show already.

The original Puella Magi Madoka Magica is special to me, as I know it is to a lot of anime fans. For me when I think back on the show, what sticks best in ... my mind was the powerful music and the jaw dropping mixed media elements of the show. I LOVED seeing that combination of master craft juxtaposed with weirdly proportioned character designs and often goofy looking animation of the Magical Girls [which is, I know, it's own kind of master craft but one found more often in anime then the sprawling audio visual delights of the Witch's labyrinths]. I was excited to see more of that. However, the flat looking, mostly 3D rendered appearance of the few looks we get at labyrinths are simply not up to par with the "I grabbed a stack of old magazines and crafted every element of the background and villain" look that the first show had. And by nature of there needing to be so many freaking characters because Magica Record was based on a gacha game I feel like the way the show was written made it impossible to care about the girls as much as I care about the original 5 girls.

In Summary: There was an opportunity for this show to be really good. It had some interesting ideas on how to expand on one of my favorite anime, however, it was so utterly forgettable that I literally forgot that I had had already watched the whole thing and ended up watching the second half a second time before realizing this. The show is unfortunately visually dull, lacked character depth, and was literally forgettable.

Overall: 4/10

Synopsis: In a vacuum where only Madoka Magica exists, it can be argued that Magia Record scores low; though in the context of the genre that the series is placed in, Magia Record is a magical girl show filled with excitement and drama that cannot be found in just any similar show.

Plot, World, & Characters: Magia Record continues to deliver unique and memorable designs, our protagonist and deuteragonist have an ongoing story that you will want to follow until the end of the series. All side characters are also well fleshed out, giving the impression that there's a world outside of our just protagonist's view, ... something that can be lacking in other entries of the verse.

Art & Sound: Magia Record has the SHAFT, shaft. The artwork suffers later on as the art budget becomes limited towards the end of the series. Though not noticeable quality drops it's still there; though there's a rebound in the final episode.

Conclusion: Magia Record is an outstanding magical girl show, if you'd prefer your magical girls show with just the slightest suspense added this'll be right up your alley. Ride the series out until the very end before judging it. I give this series a 5 out of 5. For having a rock solid story from beginning to end, excellent animation quality, and most importantly being enjoyable over, with characters you grow to deeply care about. To repeat, that's a 5 out of 5.

It's almost impossible to judge Magia Record properly.

Just the simple fact that it's part of the Madoka Magica franchise made and makes the expectations extremely high, and needless to say Magia Record is nowhere close to meet these expectations. If you're looking for something to fill the hole the original series left in you, then do yourself a favor and don't watch Magia Record. But that doesn't mean it's a bad anime. If you just look at it as a small extension to the universe you love, then this anime, won't be a memorable experience, but at least a positive one.

First, it's very important ... to mention that the anime's "souce material" is a gacha game. This in itself guarantees that, no, we shouldn't expect a flawless plot or a small but very complex cast of characters. We all know how gacha games work, the story and the characters, the things that make an anime great, are just secondary after something we all know too well, the money. That being said, for a gacha game, Magia Record has a decent story, and can be adapted into a decent anime.


Story:
Honestly, the story in itself is quite good. I was definitely expecting something worse. I'm definitely not a fan of this new, more lighthearted approach they took, but there are more than enough mysteries and secrets to make the setting interesting. However, the problem lies in the writing and in the pacing. Sticking to the anime here, the pacing is just painfully bad. There were episodes where literally nothing meaningful happened and then there were some where they completely rushed the pacing. Without prior knowledge from the game, many things are hard to understand and can confuse the viewers because the anime doesn't take the time to explain these. It almost feels like they expected everybody to play the game before watching the series.

Characters:
Inconsistency is probably the best word to describe the cast of Magia Record. Certain characters, like Yachiyo or Mifuyu are, complex and well written participants of the story, but the majority of the cast is just extremely uninteresting, including our MC, and an uninteresting main character almost always forshadows the quality of the rest of the characters. That being said, there are very amusing and well designed characters, even if they aren't too deep. I have to bring it up again, "gacha game adaption"....

Art:
Now we're getting to the interesting part. We all know that SHAFT, more specifically Akiyuki Shinbo's legendary drug trip animation team was the one working on Magia Record so we're getting the signature trippy style of Madoka Magica. But that's not everything, SHAFT more or less left behind their bad habit and they made the background images unbelievably pretty, I'd even say, the backgrounds are more detailed than the characters or the things we notice first in the scenes. And have no illusions, those are very pretty as well. My personal favourites are the few extremely detailed close shots of the characters faces. One of the disappointing things was the very minimalistic and most of the times short battles but, without spoiling anything, you'll forgive those unmemorable fights because they saved like 90% of the budget for the last episode, where I can confidently say, I've witnessed one of the best animations from recent memory. Overally, the visuals of Magia Record astounding.

Sound:
It's almost impossible to live up to Yuki kajiura's legacy. The soundtrack she made for the og series is one of the finest works in anime. But even with that, the music of the anime is surprsingly good. The use of the tracks get quite repetative after some time but it doesn't change the fact that some of them are very memorable, and for the last third of the anime, it's almost like we got an entirely new soundtrack with even more memorable tracks being played. And just like the visuals, the music is also at it's peak during the last, 13th episode. It's obvious that they went all-out on that one.
I'm personally not a fan of the opening, but I have no reason to hate it. It just wasn't really memorable.
The ending on the other hand is great, both the song and the animation. There are quite a lot of hidden meanings in it, and the combination of real life shots and animation works surprsingly well.
The voice acting is good, nothing outstanding but definitely one of the better voice actings we heard in recent memory. But I can't just leave the voice acting behind without mentioning Alina. She gets introduced in the last third of the anime, but her first scene is definitely one of the finest moments of the show, mostly because of Ayana Taketatsu's beyond perfect voice acting.

Enjoyment:
And that's the point I think is impossible to judge. I'm trying to be as objective as possible, but the experience is just so different, based on the mindset you had when you started watching Magia Record.
Do you expect Magia Record to be the same emotional rollercoaster as Madoka Magica? To have the same heavy atmosphere? To be a more mature mahou shoujo anime? In general, do you expect it to be like Madoka Magica? If yes, you'll be extremely disappointed.
The less you try to connect it to the original Madoka Magica, the better the experience will be. Magia Record has serious flaws but if you have no expectations, it's still an enjoyable anime.

Final verdict:
Magia Record is a perfect example what happens if a sequel/spin-off can't deal with the expectations, because of the legacy of the og show. It's not close as great as the diehard Madoka Magica fans (such as myself) wanted it to be, but not as bad as these disappointed fans say. I was also very disappointed in the beginning, but soon I had to realise, there is no point in comparing a tasty subway sandwich (Magia Record) to one of the finest restaurant dishes (Madoka Magica), and as soon as a I changed my mindset to a neutral one, it became a much better experience. The best way to watch the show is ignoring the "Madoka Magica" name in the title.

Magia Record is a disappointment that seem to mostly focus on advertising the gacha game it's based on instead of telling a cohesive narrative.

Unlike Madoka Magica, in thirteen episodes it says nothing. The story lacks focus and the pacing is not great. On paper, the mysteries set up by the series are pretty interesting from missing persons to a cult to a potential way to save magical girls. Those are really interesting and with how the world works it could work. But thanks to poor pacing and gacha advertising, those mysteries lost its complexity. Instead of answering at least some of its own questions, the ... show just asks more questions and stalls from actually saying something. Almost half the runtime was spent searching for a missing person that may or may not exist only to introduce a cult and new combat system last minute.

The show also lost a bit of the dark edge the original has because everyone at this point already knew that being a magical girl isn't as great as many people think it is. The show could've up the danger of the job or use the new potential of saving magical girls to bring up some interesting themes like the struggle to change one's fate. In fact, the idea is close to the original's themes of the price one needs to take in exchange for a miracle because sacrifices will have to be made to change the laws of nature. Unfortunately, bad pacing and gacha advertisements has ruined those opportunities.

Speaking of gacha, there were way more magical girls so the cast management is bad. The show thought it's a great idea to shove as many magical girls as possible when it just made them so flat. Madoka Magica worked because it only focused on a small group of characters so everyone--even seemingly plain Madoka has a personality. Magia Record, on the other hand, lacked that luxury. Iroha is so plain and lifeless that she reminds me of an insert reader character. Her only trait is looking for this important missing person, but that's it. Everyone else, friends and enemies are dull and would be replaced with a new set of characters every time. The OG characters are somewhat present, but they don't really make an impact.

I know that this is just the first season and it's been confirmed that a sequel will happen soon, but that's no excuse for poor pacing and storytelling.

The only positive things I will say is that the production is phenomenal. The modern technology is definitely taken advantage of. Artwork and animation are great though the former is poorly utilized due to the lack of compelling writing. The OST is great and I love the OP and ED.

Magia Record is a disappointing addition to the series. Nevertheless, I still have hope for the second season and the gacha game looks fun.

This was one of the most bafflingly disappointing shows I’ve seen in a long time.

The original Madoka Magica was a show well-known for its contribution to the magical girl genre. Its unique visual presentation, memorable characters, and compelling narrative are what made it as engaging as it was. When I heard there was going to be a spin-off series, I was ecstatic and had high hopes going into this. Unfortunately what I was left with was a disappointing hollow shell of what could have been something more.

The more I watched, the more I came to realize that the story would not be going anywhere meaningful. ... Since Magia Record is based on a game, a lot of details get omitted which made this jarring to watch. Even if I had treated the anime as a standalone, it does not hold up well. Three things pop into my head that held it back the most and that would be boring exposition dumps, bland characters, and terrible pacing. Sure you could say that there were nice visuals and dark and twisted things were happening to the characters but so what? If I can’t meaningfully care about what’s happening on screen then no amount of artsy colors or dark imagery can salvage your show.

The characters are about as one dimensional as any I’ve ever seen. None of them are all that interesting or memorable which means that any time they get put in the spotlight in some scenario, I can’t find myself sympathizing with them. This is only heightened by the atrocious writing. Every episode is seemingly episodic or at least that was the impression I got from watching this with each new story arc centering around something dark and mysterious happening to the town and its people. The way in which this is presented for the most part however are characters standing around talking for half the episode discussing the plot of the story which makes it really boring and painful to watch. There is nothing I hate more than mindless exposition dumps and I found myself constantly losing focus throughout each episode. To make matters worse, there would be sudden transitions to janky fight scenes that seem so out of place. These occurred quite frequently and would be at random.

The “mystery” element of the show is not all that compelling either. Typically arcs end with a big fight scene of some kind with crazy explosions and girls running around screaming. Yeah we get it. Witches are bad, destroy them! I am honestly lost for words how massively uninteresting every episode’s progression and resolution were. This stays constant throughout. If you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all.

Negatives aside I will say that this show is fairly nice to look at sometimes. The art and animation are well done in some of the fights and I am a fan of some of the character designs. This of course was meant to draw you in to get you to keep watching in hopes for something interesting to look at. If not for this reason alone, I probably wouldn’t have been able to watch all of it. I also enjoyed the soundtrack which at the very least engaged me for the few moments that it was running.

It’s truly a shame that this spin-off was so lackluster for me and possibly for many others. I was a fan of the original and really wanted to like this one too. The character designs were really interesting and the prospect of a side story was more than what I could have asked for. There was definitely some effort put into making it as dark and as mysterious as the original but the way in which it was presented was poorly done. The show doesn’t add anything that hasn’t already been established in Madoka, has a worse narrative structure, and less interesting characters. This is not to say that none of the story arcs had interesting things to say nor is it implied that they didn’t put the characters under intense scenarios. But in all honesty, do yourself a favor and avoid this entry. It can only lead to disappointment. It almost seems to me that in order to fully grasp the show, one would need to play the game that this was based on which is already a huge turn-off.

Magia Record is not what I would consider a continuation of the Madoka series and actually follows the same path of revelation from Madoka, sometimes making it feel like a path already taken. This isn't helped by the 2 main characters amounting to replicas of the 2 main characters from Madoka, from the character design to the personality's.

The show begins interestingly enough with a good hook but quickly disappears underneath a cover of what felt like filler content. Content that was meant to get you closer to the characters but fell short. That's not to say story threads weren't introduced and curiosity's peaked but explanations ... or reasons where left to the wayside. Maybe they will be answered in season 2, but season 1 as a standalone is left with a glut of story threads that lead to dead ends. There is barely any WOW factor as its bigger sister had in its story telling and really only begins to find some traction in the final few episodes as the story elements actually begin to move despite the Madoka retelling of some elements.

The promise that Magia Record makes though is a second season of story and plans coming together after the first seasons long introduction of set-up. An introduction that could have benefited from more interesting development from both past and present characters to better explain circumstances and reasoning.

Please note my review on the anime is impacted by the fact I play the mobile game this is based off so I can't help but compare the two and I feel like it's important since my experience in watching the anime is impacted by this and I don't know what it's like to watch it with fresh eyes as an anime only watcher.

So if you did not play the game then you could enjoy it more then I do. (If you want to play the game I would watch the anime first and then play the game.)


The Story (4)
I personally find this anime lackluster ... and just does not do the story of the game justice. This is because it just feels very rush and compacted considering we are on episode 9 now out of 13 episodes which honestly the anime should have had either a season 1 + Season 2 with 13 episodes each or have 26 episodes rather then 13 in order to really do the story. In the game each arc has 5-7 episodes with about 5+ battles which usually contains something involving the story. While the anime gives 2 episodes for each arc so a lot of the story detail gets cut.

The arcs that suffer the most are Felicia's Arc and the Invisable Girl arc.

The characters (7)
I don't have many complaints really, my main dislike is with Momoko because she just isn't the same as in the game, especially with her interactions with one of the main cast which is a pretty big part of her character since it's an ongoing thing but the fact she supports Iroha when she can and in the anime they were given to other characters (who I do love) is disappointing.

For the most part i'm fine with the anime version of the characters.


I was excited for the anime so I had high expectations for it as the game is interesting and has a lot of depth, for so much story to be squeezed into 13 episodes however it leaves a lot to be desired. But it's good for 13 episode restraint it has.

Magia Record feels like a knock-off version of Hanako-kun with all its frustrating aspects, when it could have been distinct and so much more than a remembrance of the "original" Madoka Magica. Nevertheless, the Shaft style is ever so wonderful and serves the anime well. I will not be discussing comparisons with Madoka, but I have to admit that being a fan of that series has made me a bit more forgiving for the faults of this anime. Allow me to elaborate under a format.


Character 4/10
Tropes. Tropes. Tropes. One after another. It has become rather annoying by the middle of watching, and how the anime ... continues to play along the lines of tropes for attempts of development. Not only that, the introduction of characters definitely felt rushed for what felt like there could have been more (also for fulfilling relationships!). Note that I haven’t seen the source material or anything. It's the frustrating kind of compressed and predictable, with the premise of a wonderful but barely utilized potential. There are some hints of better character dynamic from episode 7 onwards (simply because of better storytelling too) but they barely make up for the regrettably forgettable cast.


Setting 5/10
The setting works because of the art style (which gets a separate rating), particularly the other side of the spectrum. Otherwise, it could have been very plain and basic. There is nothing much that serves to be actually memorable. This just shows that the color is more striking than what the rest of the setting can actually offer. Plus, with the rumor format as a plot device, it felt unnecessarily cluttered at times.


Sound Design 8/10
Astounding and gripping. I cannot express just how much excitement this brings to the table. Definitely one of the best parts of the anime! However, I caught some instances when the transitions from one scene to another showed abrupt changes in this aspect. Not a deal-breaker but it was noticeable. Nevertheless, this universe with this sound design choice is really a match so fantastic to experience!


Story 6/10
I thought things were laid out to be barely interesting. Then I just found myself compelled enough to simply know more along with the characters, like a "hmm I guess it can work." I think the setting works well to enhance the developments of the story. I took the story layout as more of a mystery-laden framework, rather than as a point of empathy for the characters, which is actually a significant minus for me (especially with the internal themes of magical girls) but works as a definition. Even as the anime introduced more complicated plot lines, the buildup and the resolution just did not serve much for a fulfilling watch. The anime did not have a consistent pace for the things it had to offer, and I feel like we could have gotten a way better side story for a season of 24 episodes.


Art Style 9/10
I'm speaking as one who is familiar and a fan of the Shaft studio style. This works very well for the contrast of witches, magical girls and everything else. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I don't know how to introduce it for those unfamiliar with what Shaft does with its material. Classic unsettling angles with "clean" dynamic animation for scenes that are supposed to be striking. Captivating atmosphere. I have to admit that I saw some derp-ish frames, but the rest of it is just aesthetically astounding.


Some other notes:
I think it is unfair to enter into this material with expectations based from the Madoka. Give it a chance for what it is and its new characters. I wouldn't really recommend it for non-fans of the genre (as opposed to the buildup of Madoka), but it might pull in a few, especially with the consistently good presentation of the Shaft style.

I want to start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of the original Madoka Magica. I would easily call it one of the most entertaining and engaging shows I have ever watched....but.....the plot just isn't there in Magia Record. For a show that is a spin off of a dark suspenseful story like Madoka, the story is unexpectedly dry and slow paced.

Aside from the story, I have no issues with anything else. It still uses the main series' stellar soundtrack and art style, and the characters are all cute and interesting in their own rights. However, the plot holds back the show an ... insane amount. I have no idea how the story plays out in the mobile game that this show is based off of, but the plot here is just entirely unengaging. It's supposed to be a mystery type plot rather than a thriller type plot like the original Madoka was, but at the same time nothing happens to make it interesting. The revelations and twists aren't really mind blowing, and most of the time nothing of interest actually happens episode to episode. It's just painfully slow and uneventful.

Aside from how adorable the characters are, there's almost nothing to hold attention in this story. Bottom line is....the show isn't captivating, and is hard to pay attention to most of the time. I feel like this should have been a movie or something, because the pacing is TOO slow, which is a rare issue in anime nowadays. If this had been cut down to only include the important parts, or was sped up significantly, it would have probably raised my score up to a 7 or 8.

As much as it pains me, I'm going to have to label this show as a pass. If you want more Madoka, this isn't it. Aside from the OST and style, none of what made Madoka so great as a story is present in this spin off.

*SOME SPOILERS*

On a per episode basis, my stance is as follows:

1- Amazing! A complete rewrite from Chapter 1. Yes, we don't see Kuroe again after this episode and when referencing the game, episodes 2 and 3 suffered compared to if the adaptation was direct instead of new, but I'm judging it as its own thing! Art, Sound, Enjoyment, all a 10! Character, (not including Yachiyo as this episode deliberately creates mystery around her,) 7, let down a little by Kuroe for previously mentioned reasons and a minor inconsistency in episode 12, but this only makes me want to see her more!

2- Too fast. Also ... depends on whether you're viewing the sub or dub as minor line changes warp the characters. i.e. sub Rena comes off as an abusive friend you can't help but hate, even after learning about how she feels. However, dub Rena is more immature and irritable, which makes how she feels actually touching.

3- Too fast. Pointless change to Friendship Staircase Rumour, now acting through a name being written on an actual staircase and appearing when it recognises a break up, instead of just the latter. This makes more sense on paper, but they don't answer the questions it brings, such as what happens if names are removed, altered after, or how the names get on the stairs in the first place due to the school's strong 'no graffiti' policy, but the biggest issue with this change is that, whereas the game had Kaede and Rena spiral out of control with eachother, it is now a deliberate act that Rena goes out of her way to do, knowing what will happen. Scratch, that, the biggest issue is Touka making a Perpetual Motion Machine. You can argue that she didn't, just know that you're wrong.

4- YES TSURUNO, SHE'S SO DELIGHTFUL! Besides a fight scene that didn't need to happen when Iroha's gem getting tainted could've easily happened in another way without it being forced, (a strong one given by the episode itself and expanded on next episode actually,) this episode is almost all Character, Art and Sound, 8!

5- Belongs with the original series, wow! Character, Art, Sound, all a 10 this episode! That reveal and showcase of (out of control) Giovanna was amazing! They actually fixed a plot point from the game too! In the game, Iroha lets her gem taint, not knowing of Doppels, death or apparently even Witchification being a consequence because... she's stupid? She gets guilt over how much she's actually helping and somehow convinces herself that she shouldn't take it despite clearly dying. Massive face palm. In the anime, its because she helps Yachiyo use a Seed and then the time to use Seeds is cut short, much more sense! The design change that the Commoner Horse went through to become the Commoner Dragon suits the Shrine theme much more appropriately.

6- Phoned in. Felicia is a good character but she only shines when she's with the rest, not alone. In the dub, Iroha and Yachiyo always talk like they're not trying, they are emoting but the voice never changes, like an energetic form of monotone. Pointless Misery Water change, instead of a countdown until massive bad luck, there is a quota of actions that can be taken before this happens. This removes all tension and makes every action of those affected annoyingly stupid when its clear that they simply should've stayed at home. Magius Member fight scene is teased as the stinger for this episode, but come next episode they supposedly left peacefully. (Pleeeeeeease be foreshadowing of something more later on, a Magius Member fight can be cool, give it a chance Shaft!)

7- Same as last episode, but this one moves towards action anyway, so its fine. Fighting Familiar hoards was something we haven't quite seen before, so it was nice to have an all-new kind of fight scene, changing it so that Giovanna is responsible for their victory, as well as Doppels being a way to win in general, will always be a win to viewers as just about all canonical uses of Doppels in the game don't exist or are extremely few and far between. The change in design to the Misery Water Rumour is... understandable. It looks like a bird bath with an owl motif, hence its name, instead of being creepily alive. What isn't acceptable is the watering down of the Amane Twins' fight with our main cast, their abilities and Doppel reveal. After further thought, Lucky Water breaks the show and I'm mad about a fate-breaking drink existing.

8- Episodes 8 to 10 actually take up a single Chapter, just as I wanted! Characters develop and story progresses! Still a little too fast, but nowhere near as bad as other episodes. Besides Iroha imagining herself in her place when the Invisible Girl rumour is being described, the parallels between Iroha and Sana are practically all lost.

9- Belongs with the original series. My heart shed a tear, its revealed that the Rumour monsters are a lot more people than monster, that despite their free will their tragedy is to be bound by instructions. Not only this, but we even get to see this fact put to action very well, Sana and AI's friendship won't be forgotten! Tarnished by Alina showing up, who is another example of a great character, but under time restriction, can only show off her crazy and not her calm. She does one attack to AI and then is teleported away by AI, sort of pointless when the amount of build this was given is considered, could her showing up not have been the stinger for next episode to allow for something more? Anyway, AI is beginning to corrupt and wants Sana to mercy her as the stinger instead.
10- Again, my heart throbbed in genuine emotional pain to see Sana and AI's last interaction, never forget! ...Really? Sana just happens to faint? Can't even say that she got a really small drop of the paint on her too? Or that her Gem tainted from feelings? Lazy writing. Speaking of, what are these Antennas? Why do they look like a Berserk reference? Why do they have a magnetic pull option? Were they holding up AI's Labyrinth? If so, why can't she do it naturally like others have proven capable of? Why are they so conveniently placed to save Iroha and Sana from falling even though they're not magnetic? They raise way too many questions and not in the good way. A WITCH ARMY?! HOLY SH- Oh, cut short? Lame, also, this means you teased the audience twice in a row and now they can't properly get excited for fight scenes, the very thing you keep shoehorning. This episode further characters Alina as all crazy and no calm, with her usefulness being, literally, striking a pose before whimpering away at a single well placed gunshot (scared off, she's perfectly fine). Thank goodness for this episodes latter half, Sana completes her arc by learning her place is with her new family after a quick trip to her house, as well as that much sought after family time between the 5 main characters!

11- Another 3 episode chapter, yes! We learn more about a single Amane Twin, Iroha is an idiot by inviting a high up Magius to her house, not that they were hiding their location but still. This causes friction with Yachiyo because its no other than Mifuyu, so the little mug mats they got go to waste because of foul moods. Everyone but Yachiyo then leave to the location they were asked to go for more info. Hate to be a hypocrite, but it felt like nothing significant happened this episode, just an excuse for the characters to be somewhere without their backbone.

12- Yachiyo realises that they've gone to the Memory Museum and springs to save them! Lots of backstory on Yachiyo, recap of the Puella Magi curse, as well as how the characters take it. Iroha didn't know any of this? How does she not? Can she really not draw lines between her occurrences of Doppelling and Witches? Wait... that means... she thought the bad part was the FIGHTING?! What was she talking about with Kuroe then? Were they on the same page or does Kuroe know? If they didn't want to fight, why didn't they say no? Again, way too many questions. Oh and Doppels are properly explained, I guess.

13- Yachiyo and Iroha bond, drawing parallels to the original series. Best, genuinely followed through on fight scene, ever. Bless you Sayaka, bless you Mami! This episode is the full package; Story, Art, Sound, Character, Enjoyment, all a 10! And that stinger, the 6.8 has me in complete agony because I need the second season! Please, let it happen, please!


Episode quality is all over the place. Some episodes belong with the original Madoka Magica, others are so bad I could swear that they're phoned in. I want to score highly for story and character, I really do, but it only does it right half the time at the most generous, thus the score of half, though my previous statement should speak volumes about when its right. And if you're asking me, it appears as though this decision was done so that budget could go to important things I'll resist spoiling, so as long as you don't mind a few vegetables before getting your meat, its fine!

It also needs to take a more solid stance on whether its a copy of the game or absolutely different, as I've noticed that all of the amazing episodes have either been one or the other. Most importantly, it should stop expecting us to have already played the game to understand certain elements. Even if they're unimportant, we don't know that they're unimportant because this franchise demands we look incredibly close at small details - this way it has of putting in 'easter eggs' stands out like a sore thumb. That said, it should cease making pointless and lame changes, for example:
Campanella changing from this creepy, possessive force over Yachiyo with the power to manipulate a storming, roaring, vast ocean with the wave of her lantern to the form of a glorified scorpion, ocean manipulation and lantern now gone, her signature features, is lame. (That said, Doppels have been shown to have separate forms for when their master is in control and out of control, so maybe her out of control version, if planned for season 2, won't disappoint?)
Misery Water taking effect being about allowed actions taken running out instead of time ticking away to zero means that the situation isn't urgent like in the game, in fact it means the solution is for the affected girls to stay at home until its solved for them. This could've been made good if it exploited the fact that Puella Magi are made selfish by the system in order to survive and lead to a powerful message about sticking together being good, but nothing else but that was changed, ultimately making it a pointless change.
NEVER SHOW A GOAT GETTING HEAD AGAIN PLEASE, MY EYES STILL HURT.
And many more.

WE DON'T NEED OR WANT A FIGHT SCENE EVERY EPISODE. Fans of the game and original series don't want this, the former due to I'll get into in a bit and the latter because this new addition hasn't been designed in a way that allows characters to be understood within the original's brief episode count. As for anime-only MR fans, they must be puzzled by the pacing and briefness. It's clearly about the characters and the anime has absolutely starved them of screen time. Shaft, listen, imagine all the budget you can maintain if you gave the characters screen time just to be an adorable family like in the game, maybe splash here and there for the franchise' well known visual story telling through abstract art, winning fans over all the while? It's win-win!

SLOW DOWN. The pacing is constantly going too fast. Some have said that this is actually a lack of focus at play, but I stand by my take as if the pacing was correct that would fix much more than focus. It desperately yearns for each chapter from the game to be translated into 3 episodes, not 2! Shaft, again, see my previous point. If 3 episodes were used per chapter, that would allow for a much more thorough understanding of the characters, meaning that episode 13 could act as a massive stinger for the upcoming focus on Magius! Though this is assuming an adaptation akin to the game!

Minor issue, but the generic depiction of Seeds is very boring.

Overall, I would definitely give it a watch and so should you! After updating with the original obviously, but also not expecting quality akin to the original? Look, it's amazing but the new writers are bound to stumble, just give them a chance to grow! If season 2 comes around and has the same problems, then its time to stop.


Story - 3/10
Art - 8/10
Sound - 8/10
Character - 5/10
Enjoyment - 7

Overall - 6/10

There has never been a show that has had so much potential and that has been so soul-crushingly mediocre. A bit of background, I came into this with low expectations. I adored the show and the movie but I knew that this was based on a mobile Gatcha Game and so I didn't have high hopes. In spite of this, the show was still massively disappointing.

Story: The overarching narrative is beyond flimsy. The thread is "Magical girls can be saved from becoming witches and Iroha wants to save her sister." These threads go nowhere. I don't have a problem with a flimsy overall narrative if ... the mini-stories are good. There's plenty of great episodic shows, but the episodic material here is trash. Every plot can be summarized with urban legend creates monster, monster gets destroyed in fight scene, overly sappy friendship scene, and dropping vague hints to the main story. The only times I felt emotionally invested were when Iroha fought her dark reflection and when Mami went crazy.

Art: The art is obviously great. This is to be expected from Madoka Magica. The colors are nice, the animation is fluid, and the Labyrinths are creative. My only complaint is that the action scenes are a little muddled at times.

Sound: It's Madoka Magica, we all know the music is great, but none of the tracks stand out. Another disappointment given that I still sing the original OP months after I finished the series

Characters: Iroha and Tsuruno are the only memorable characters and neither of them are particularly deep. Iroha is basically a less deep Madoka. The main reason she really sticks out is that she has a cool design. In spite of her being a copy, her quest to save her sister and her interactions with the other characters make her a passable protagonist. Tsuruno is also your typical bubbly anime girl. She's extremely derivative, but her ambitions and are just interesting enough to make her a passable side character. Everyone else is boring. There's a shape-shifting tsundere, her friend, the boss Magical Girl, and a secretly evil mentor and that's all I remember. Why should I care what happens to these characters? I hope Iroha gets her sister back and I hope Tsuruno's ramen shop does well, and I could not care less for the rest of the cast. That's not to mention the returning characters. They're pretty meaningless. Mami gets barely any screentime, Kyoko is her usual self so she's great, and Sayaka's personality isn't really on display. There is so little depth given to these characters that I could not care less if this entire timeline gets erased as long as Iroha and Tsu get what they want before dying, and even if they don't I'll only be slightly disappointed. WHAT WENT SO WRONG?!?!?!?

Enjoyment: This show is worse than a mediocre show. With most bad shows you can tell after one episode if it's going to suck, but this awful show strings you along with a promise of a better story and spits in your face. It puts out a mystery so you endure the shallow writing, boring characters, and derivative ideas, and then never solves it. I would much rather have a bad show from the start than one that hooks you in and wastes your time.

Overall: Magia Record is like a stage play without actors. They took the time to make an interesting setting but they used planks of wood as characters and forgot to write a cohesive script. The fact that this is the closest we'll ever get to another PMM anime is sadder than anything Urobuchi has ever written into his scripts.

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 and flashback to give the same info how about it’s just the flashback to not waste time. Yachiyo in the anime is a hollow copy of Homura. Her backstory, motivation, wish, ability to survive any battle by sacrificing a friend, which led to her cutting all relationships to protect others, is explained to us in 4 minutes (I’ve counted). Because of the rushed pacing and how we have five more stories to tell, they don’t have time to properly develop her character nor is there any emotion inside. So instead of characterization its info dumping.
There is however an anime only scene I really loved, the conversation between Iroha and Tsukuyo is short but great as it’s two older sisters talking. This was probably the only time Iroha shined as a character and sister as she tells Tsukuyo how she would do anything for her younger sister Ui, even if it means hurting her sister. This two minute scene said so much about Iroha. And of course the finale.
MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS HOLY MAMI, this finale was so amazing I thought I was watching a different show. Mami has definitely earned her title of War Goddes, The Woman Army. And Sayaka’s cameo is my favorite among the OG cameos as she actually has relevance. It wasn’t just a forced 3 second fight like Mami and Kyoko, this was her fighting a mentor and friend turned evil so it actually has emotional weight behind it. It also shows how truly powerful Sayaka is with her deflecting a nuke, showing off a healing factor that makes Wolverine look like a pussy and how she adapts and works well with people she just met. The large scale, choreography, smooth animation, the creative fights between Doppels and emotions, it’s all there and comes to close with an Empire/ Infinity War style Cliffhanger. Episode 13 fired all the cylinders. I want to give this arc a 12/10 just for the last episode but because of the other two episodes which are a hard watch 7/10

My biggest problem with this anime which I had with the game and hoped they got rid off is... sigh, Brainwashing. It feels cheap, especially Mami who has been done a disservice. Mami was already emotionally weak so she didn't need to be brainwashed and it would've been really interesting when Madoka and the rest have to fight their friend because of different ideologies. It would also ask a good question, was Mami selflessly strong or selfishly weak for resorting to such extreme measures to save her friends and herself.
Wouldn't it have been cooler if every member including our main cast joined of their own volition, that way we could understand and sympathize with our villains and not be so black and white. Imagine how cool it would’ve been when Iroha and Yachiyo fights Tsuruno, Felicia and Sana because of their different ideologies. It would make for a more emotional climax as it’s a break up of friendships, something MM got right but now it’s just a third party bad guy that’s forcing them, it’s not relatable nor thought provoking.
It even makes Touka and Alina one-dimensional. If they had instead shown us how Touka and the Magius genuinely believe what they’re doing is right that would make for really good antagonists but since they use brainwashing and are clearly shown to only care about themselves, instead of a Thanos we got a Lex Luthor

The change with Kaede and Momoko joining Magius and Rena being against them, I loved. I was surprised by this change from the game as again makes for a good clash of ideals between former friends. It has us question and gives more insight on characters, especially Kaede and Momoko who you wouldn’t expect to turn evil. I’m hoping Season 2 will deliver on an emotional heartbreaking climax between these characters and not chicken out.

Iroha isn’t a good MC as again there’s not enough time. Her goal of trying to find her missing sister is sidelined if not forgotten in order to make way for more story and characters. This isn’t a major issue as MM MCs are not interesting nor the point of the story, it’s the world and other characters that are the focus, the protagonist is actually just an insert for us, at least from my POV. I know people will argue there’s more to Madoka and Iroha than I think but it’s the true that among the main cast they are the least interesting, I mean Madoka was pretty bland until she really shined in the ending.

Ok so I need to talk about the character which people seem confused about and that is Kuro. If you don’t know Kuro is actually an NPC in the game, she was originally just a one time character in the Valentines event but because so many loved her she was made playable (however she’s made just a one star and is useless in battle). Because of her popularity in the game she made it into the anime as a cameo appearance for the first and last episode. So basically she’s just fan service for the mobile players, she might have a bigger role in season 2 due to her connection with Iroha but I’m not holding on to that

Magia Record is complex. It helps expand the World of MM, gives intriguing storylines and characters, fixes many problems from the game, still retains the high level of art and music and has a finale that you will never forget.
However The story is all over the place and has no focus, characters are fun but not memorable nor deep as the OGs and they've not only kept a lot wrongs from the game but also added their own. MM had a lot of plot but it knew how to properly tie it all together and thanks to the small cast there was plenty of time given to each character for them to properly develop, for the most part (Mami). Unlike the game which problem is that it’s so slow dying of old age is faster, the anime doesn’t take enough time and is too rushed. MR isn’t bad it just needs to slowdown and show instead of tell, time will tell with Season 2 if all this was worth it. Until then, if you’re looking for more MM, MR is perfect for you but if you’re looking for what makes MM great, READ THE MAMI/ KYOKO SIDESTORY

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.

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.