Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden Final Season - Asaki Yume no Akatsuki

I want to start this review off with that I believe that Record gets an unfair wrap, as if it should be AS good as the og Madoka series. But because it's not, it's deemed bad as a result. Which is very unfair on the product itself. If you expected Record to be a standout, like how you would view Madoka, and because it's not, it's deemed as a failure in your eyes, that's not on Record, that's on you. While I'm not saying Record isn't flawed, there are many flaws. Even I who enjoyed it at first, have gotten somewhat tired of it's ... plot, and how it's progressed. But even then, it's not a bad show as one makes it out to be.

Story and characters: 6-5.
This can really be a it or miss. While there are some interesting and fun characters throughout the story, with complex backstories, that really push it. There are also blank pieces of paper, that just become overbearingly boring by the end of it. Which can be said about the same with it's on going plot. It reminds me of GT in a sense. Instead of getting to a point, it'll drag on, and on, and on, when really, they could've cut out certain things, and it would've made for a better viewing experience. It's not beyond bad, but could've been way better.

Art and sound: 7
Most likely the main highlight. You know what you are getting when it comes to te Magica series. Visuals will look stunning, crazy, weird, all of the above. Along with a fitting track that makes, or tries to make things seem tense. There is a lot to appreciate about it, and love. If any detail that deserves praise about it, it's these two parts right here. Cannot fault the product for that.

Record was an interesting series, that'll sadly get unwanted hate because of it not being on par with Madoka. Wich is unfair for so many reasons. Wile Record has dragged on by the end, it doesn't deserve the bad press it gets, while it's fine to criticize it, but if one expected it to be super amazing like the og, then thats on them. Record can still be a good watcoverall, so you should watch it.

Contrary to most, I actually really liked S1. I enjoyed the characters and the slice of life moments a lot, but I was hoping for a little bit more once the characters got developed. The last few episodes of that season set up some really interesting ideas, so I was really looking forward to what came next.

S2 was strange for me. It starred the original cast despite already working with a large cast of characters set up in S1. It also seemed to be setting a lot of things into motion. By the time it had finished, it was hard to evaluate it on ... its own. Despite that, I was still eagerly awaiting the finale to see what was in store.

So how did I feel about season 2.5? Pretty disappointed honestly. I strongly believe this show was at its best during the slice of life moments of S1. This season is just trying to do way too much.

Story:
Now I'm not the most attentive of viewers, but I like to think I can pay pretty good attention to things. I could hardly comprehend what was going on in this show, and it's something that I kind of felt about S2 as well. There is so much lore being thrown at you with the backstory of how the entire system was set up, and by the end, I just felt very confused. The final payoff with Iroha's sister was also super underwhelming and was not something that I personally liked.

Character:
The biggest flaw with this season for me. With so many characters and so much plot to get through, there are pretty much zero character moments or developments here which is a shame since I thought S1 did a great job developing characters. The side characters from S1 get no screen time. The OG cast, who were supposedly going to be main characters after getting a whole episode, disappear as well. I'm not sure they even get a single line of dialogue (I certainly can't remember if they did). Kuroe's character in general doesn't make any sense to me. She's a bit character in S1 and then randomly becomes a main character in S2. Then she is just somewhat of a side character here until she gets this whole undercooked backstory and then is just gone from the story in what I found to be an incredibly mishandled scene.

Sound:
Great stuff. Not sure who the composer was since no one is listed under this season (maybe Ozawa Takumi since they're listed under S1?), but they did a great job. Legitimately got chills just due to their soundtrack, so kudos to them.

Art:
Not the best, but generally good. I love the look of Shaft's art for Madoka and Magia Record. However, the animation got super sloppy at times. I know Shaft is kind of infamous for this and for fixing it on their blu rays, but some of it was a little egregious. Still, I would say it was overall a very positive experience.

Enjoyment/Overall:
I really wanted to enjoy this season after really liking S1. And for parts, I actually did enjoy it, as there are some things to like here. I still enjoyed seeing these characters, and the story was intriguing and unique. The problem, however, was that both the story and character developments were vastly undercooked and full of missteps. They weren't BAD, per say, but I was really hoping for a lot more from this show. I genuinely think it could have been great. It's an unfortunate end to the Magia Record story.

Having played the game before watching the show, it felt like a gut punch seeing the events that happened in the anime.

I actually really liked the story the game had, which gave this more hopeful, happier tone.

The show however, decided to go at a more depressing route, but it was still enjoyable, that is until the last 4 episodes aired.

Despite some differences, I'd most of the episodes from the first episode till this point was pretty accurate to the game, with some differences that were still pretty enjoyable to watch.

But these last 4 episodes were...frustrating. Character deaths that definitely could have been avoided, character decisions ... that felt really stupid, leading to more deaths, and a random villain plot at the very last minute which made no sense.

They even threw aside the Walpurgisnacht climax they've been building up so don't expect anything to come from that.

I don't hate this show, but I am quite disappointed with how the story turned out.

The first season of the Magia Record anime was admittedly...kind of half-baked. Furthermore, since then, I was able to play a little bit of the mobile game before the North American version got shut down. Yeah, I'm still not over that, Aniplex, and I never will be. Having done so, a lot of the changes the anime made from the mobile game were pretty surprising to me, and I don't mean that in a good way. But I'll elaborate on that further down. So while the first anime season tried, it often meandered, had too many characters to keep track of, its characterization of Yachiyo ... could be pretty inconsistent at times, it often had too many subplots that didn't have much to do with the main narrative, and it basically bit off more than it could chew. So it was no surprise that a second season was announced...with said season then getting split into two different series due to production troubles and COVID. So this review will cover both Eve of Awakening and Dawn of a Shallow Dream, because they're basically the same season, complete with the same opening and ending songs. Season 3's episode count seems too little to convey my thoughts on just that without taking into account everything that happens in season 2. Plus, I think it's stupid that these seasons had to be split into 8 and 4 episodes when they could have easily just been one 12 episode season from the start.

Eve of Awakening takes place right after the events of season one, so I'm going to try to keep spoilers to an absolute minimum. One thing to note is that it seems like the producers for Magia Record got the message about the first season's flaws, and seemed to go out of their way to rectify them in seasons 2 and 3. And frankly, I'm impressed with how much they managed to do in a short amount of time. The pacing is much faster, and the creators decided to go all out in moving the story forward, so the story no longer feels like it's just meandering along aimlessly with no direction. Important plot twists are revealed that explain pretty much everything, a lot of the side characters and villains get fleshed out more, including characters who didn't receive much time in the limelight in season one, and it completely ditches the formula of tracking down rumors. Plus, remember my complaints about Iroha being reduced to a damsel in distress in the first season even though she's the main character? Well, Eve of Awakening and Dawn of a Shallow Dream finally allowed her to get stronger and be more proactive like she was in the game, so kudos to the producers for rectifying that. Even Kuroe, an anime original character who flat-out disappeared for half of season 1, gets to come back and do stuff in these two seasons. The animation and the music are the same as ever, so I don't have much else I can add to those that hasn't been said already, except for one thing: Mad props for bringing back Credens Justitiam and using it more than the original Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime did.

So taking all these things into account, these two seasons of Magia Record should be absolutely amazing, right? Well...unfortunately, if the rating didn't clue you in, seasons 2 and 3 still have pretty glaring issues that prevent Magia Record from achieving true greatness. For one, episode one of Eve of Awakening brings back the original PMMM girls, and it absolutely expects the viewers to already have seen or be familiar with the original anime. Plus, if you haven't seen PMMM originally, that single episode is going to spoil A LOT of important plot twists for the uninitiated viewer. Furthermore, the original PMMM girls play a pretty big part in Eve of Awakening, so not only are these final two seasons impossible to watch without having seen the first season of Magia Record, you won't be able to understand much of what goes on unless you've seen PMMM. This'll especially be confusing for those who aren't familiar with the twist behind Homura in PMMM. I can easily picture someone reading about Homura's characterization in PMMM, starting to watch this, and being like "Why is Homura shy and moe here? Isn't she supposed to be some stoic badass?" So yeah, Eve of Awakening and Dawn of a Shallow Dream are absolutely not anime to show to new viewers or anyone who hasn't seen PMMM or the first season of Magia Record at least. This also has the problem of the show not being allowed to stand on its own two feet, relying solely on its parent property rather than being allowed to stand as its own entity.

But hey, all of this might be alright as long as the finale was good, right? Boy howdy, don't even dare expect Dawn of a Shallow Dream's finale to be anything good. Without spoiling anything, let's just say that it completely renders all the girls' struggles to be in vain and ending on a much bleaker note than the game does. Say what you will about PMMM's finale, it at least had some current of hope and was more bittersweet without relying too much on the bitter. No, I still haven't seen the Rebellion movie, and based on what I've heard about it, I don't think I want to. Magia Record's finale basically renders Iroha's whole quest to be completely and utterly pointless, and I'm not the only one that thinks this, either. Even Japanese fans, including people who both have and haven't played the game, hated the finale, to the point where dans who played the game straight up told anime-only watchers to play the game. And for us North American fans, that's impossible since Aniplex shut off the fucking game over here, and really, the only way for us to get even a glimpse of Magia Record's main storyline is through the manga, which is being released at a snail's pace. That, or somebody posting English translations of the Japanese version of the game on YouTube or something. So yeah, the whole thing is really frustrating, and I say this as somebody who enjoys Magia Record! The other issue I have with the finale is what it did with Alina. I'm not going to spoil what happens to her here, but I REALLY didn't like what the anime did with her in the final episode, as it just felt forced and unneeded, further adding to how utterly miserable the finale was made to be.

It's a shame, because the anime and the manga are really the only legal ways North American fans can see Magia Record in any capacity, and considering even manga adaptations of mobile games don't always cover the entire story, even that's not a guarantee! (Granblue Fantasy's manga is the best example of this) But for what it's worth, the anime did make an effort to rectify a lot of season one's flaws, even if it didn't make the landing at the very end, so I'm willing to give it some leniency in that regard, along with the other positives I mentioned above, like the animation and music, along with trying to flesh out characters that didn't receive much development before. As flawed as Magia Record's two seasons are, I still enjoyed them for what they did manage to offer, but I absolutely would not recommend using this as baby's first anime, or for anybody who hasn't seen season 1 of MR or even the original Madoka Magica anime.

"I'm sorry Ui. Your big sister... let you down."

Story: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season continues, and finishes, our journey with Iroha Tamaki and friends, as they look to stop Touka and Nemu from finishing their plan to launch Embryo Eve at Walpurgisnacht. Based on my opening quotation by Iroha, you can likely tell the mood that this finale seeks to invoke upon its audience.

To start off, there is a lot to unpack here, and that's kind of the final season's biggest problem. There are still a bunch of loose ends to tie up with regards to what ... we saw in the previous two seasons and while Season 2 answers some questions, it didn't touch on them all. They clearly know how they wanted to answer everything, but with only four episodes to address this, it really feels rushed. The pacing is unfortunately too quick to really dig deep into what we see on the screen, including some pretty major fights that occur during the course of the series that really don't go our Magical Girls' way. There are snippets of our characters feeling like there's no real hope here and I thought it was well executed.

The obvious storyline is what happened to Ui, and they do a fantastic job at showing her storyline from her point of view. Simply put, I loved it. There's a very good season Magic Record had all the conflict with the magical girls that it does, and linking it back to Ui's storyline was one thing that I felt was done really well. I really liked the obstacles that get in our girls' way, and if only there was more time to stretch out that last episode, it could have ended on a much higher note. You get to the end and notice that one of the main plot points has not changed even in the slightest. (7/10)

Characters: Iroha is the obvious lead here, and even though she didn't have as much screen time as we were likely expecting, it was done so at the expense of Ui and her crew which was the right call. Iroha unfortunately doesn't screen leader to me, and the decisions that she makes along the way don't come even close to Madoka and her crew. She just wants it to end well, and I wasn't a fan of the script that was used with her. Ui, on the other hand, doesn't have a lot to her until her storyline wraps up. Then you see what her and her friends are feeling when all is said in done. I liked what they did here because it presents us with a bit of a Catch-22, all because Iroha wanted to be the responsible sister.

Yachiyo was the star of the first season and even though you can tell that her principles held constant here, she really doesn't have a ton of screen time, along with Sana, Felicia, Tsuruno, Kaede and Rena. They kind of just fill the spots of "another magical girl". This is a shame because of how much screen time they collectively had in the first season - this kind of makes it feel like a waste because it reduces them to much less than what we believed they'd be. To see not even Yachiyo get meaningful screen time after a big deal was made of her in the first season is rather disappointing. Kuroe, Momoko and Mifuyu were a little more involved here than the others. Alina Gray is someone we don't know what to feel about when we first see her, but she was one that probably needed some more explanation, based on the decisions she makes at the end. I wasn't impressed.

You're probably wondering if any of this connects to Madoka and her crew, but they were mostly absent in the final season. What really impressed me was how they were implemented into the end of the first season and the entirety of the second, and to see them not even involved here will disappoint plenty of audiences. The ending kind of takes a hint at them, but that's about it. (6/10)

Art: The animation here is fine, but it's definitely a step down from the second season, for whatever reason. The second season had a lot of fantastic animations and even though this season has a lot of spots for flashy art, there were a lot of instances of characters not looking right and fights looking straight up flat. So while the fights had a ton of colour and witches still looked amazing, the dip in quality is pretty disappointing. (6/10)

Sound: This was probably the aspect that kept constant throughout the series. TrySail's Lapis is a fantastic song that has the tune that mirrors the pessimistic plotlines that follow around our crew into the finale. The OST was also a fantastic addition here. Voice work was equally up to the task, with Kira Buckland (Iroha), Mela Lee (Nemu) and Cassandra Lee Morris (Kyuubey) likely being my favourites. (9/10)

Overall: To see Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season finish on such a low note of not addressing one of Magia Record's plotlines is really disappointing. The overall story and animation take a dip from the, mostly strong, season 2 and makes for a questionable way to finish. There are some strong elements for sure, and yes, it's still a magical girl storyline but an incomplete one. Which is why I'm excited for whenever Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie - Walpurgisnacht: Rising is coming. The main Madoka storyline is simply better. (7/10)

I had really low espectations for this last season. Since the very beginning, I didn't think the "anime only" changes were that good in comparison to the original game story, the different narrative way( skipping very important sub-arcs), the inclussion of new characters (the most annoying plot hole solver), and the story does too many twists in ths final season. It's a really poor adaptation of the original story, and every new season it made me ask myself "can it really get worse?", sadly it did. Most stuff didn't make that sence to be honest. The art direction was amaring excpt for the exra background ... megucas, the soundtrack was ok for Magia Record standards. the character development was really mediocre in this final season, feels find of innecessary tbh. Felt a lot like Power Rangers.
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