Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: Majuu-hen
Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc

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A few things to get out of the way first.

1. This review assumes you have seen the anime version of Puella Magi Madoka Magica (The original series and or the first two movies) as well as the 3rd movie, Rebellion. If you have NOT seen them then please stop reading and go see them before reading this review, this series should NEVER be spoiled so please heed my advice. I have not read the manga version of the series, only the ones that sadly don't have an anime adaptation such as the Wraith Arc, the very manga I'm about to review with this review.

2. The ... Wraith Arc manga is placed in a weird place. The 3rd movie Rebellion came before it, but timeline wise in the series, Wraith Arc comes before the 3rd movie, HOWEVER! If you read the Wraith Arc manga before seeing the 3rd movie, this majorly spoils a LARGE chunk of the 3rd movie while also spoiling nearly every twist the 3rd movie has. This also dulls and takes away the impact of the 3rd movie so I highly advice you to see the 3rd movie BEFORE reading this review and before reading the Wraith Arc manga. Both the 3rd movie and Wraith Arc should be watched and read respectively as the plot is not rehashed or the same between the two. While I won't mention the 3rd movie anymore in this review, this may still have some details that could potentially spoil parts of the 3rd movie.

3. Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc, is a manga that some people believe is a spin off but I assure you it is not, it is entirely canon to the story of the series. So, yes, you SHOULD read the manga if you wanna know the full story. With that outta the way, onto the review~

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc starts off with... Homura oddly absent, later explained why when she arrives but till then, the plot focuses on Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko's relationship, them fighting the Wraiths, explaining what they are and the dangers that come with fighting them. Magical girls fight Wraiths in exchange for their wish in this world which Kaname Madoka gave her life to protect. While I personally feel the reason for why Homura was absent for nearly the entire first book out of three books was rather weak, it still makes some sense, still weak but good enough for an explanation. Putting Homura aside for now though, the plot as I said focuses on Mami, Sayaka and Kyoko and if you weren't a fan of any of those three, good news, Wraith Arc shows the better sides of these girls and shows more of their personality too. I found it really hard to like Sayaka in the anime, after all, the anime went out of its way to show us most of her faults and the few good parts it showed us, were easily manipulated, twisted and so on all to give us the big twist in the original series and to advance the plot. However, here I liked Sayaka, as the manga focused more on a world where she wasn't manipulated, wasn't made to feel as though she was inhuman and so on and instead she was able to shine clearly as the water and march to the musical notes of her heart. (Just a lil Sayaka reference there, given she's water themed and her love of music and it being part of her design and such)

Mami sadly is the one who got the least development here, but even then you may come to like her just from that alone. Kyoko who butted heads with Sayaka, ... still butts heads with her but hey, the two are friends now, even if they both won't admit it for a while. Kyoko's development is seen more on her good sides as well as how quickly she lets go of how stubborn she was in the original series. As for the story for these three, some of it is a retelling of a few events from the original series while showing them in a new way and different light which also gives some closure to events we didn't get in the original telling of those events. You might find yourself asking "why are they retelling this? What's the point?" But I assure you, this is needed, not just to improve these girls and maybe even your perception of them but, also for the plot itself. For you see, this is merely setting the stage for what's to come. Like the original series, the twists are a plenty and the turns are a big. If you saw the original anime or the first two movies then you know what will become of one of these girls, as parts of the Wraith Arc manga were shown at the end of them. Every scene shown will connect to this manga's story but even then you have no idea what you're in for if you read the Wraith Arc.

And that brings us back to Homura, for you see, when she finally arrives, that's when the TRUE plot and meat of the story begins and what a story it is. We see how Homura is coping with the absence of Madoka, her struggles with herself, the Wraiths and the world she lives in, a world, without Kaname Madoka. If you didn't like Homura before, you'll most likely love her here. But, we also see more than what I've just said, I'd love to go over the plot points but those are spoilers so I can't, all I can say is, the plot and world setting of the Wraith Arc is a master piece, much like the original is. I highly encourage you to give this a read.

I give, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc an 11.0 out of 10.0, once again not a typo. If you read my review of the original series, you know the art I couldn't rate a perfect 10 and instead rated it a 9, however this manga's art is perfect, so I was able to rate the art a 10 this time. The manga as a whole though is of course, an 11.0.

Mitakihara Fangirling Station!
Welcome back one and all to the Mitakihara Fangirling Station hour! In this radio segment we fangirl over parts of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Wraith Arc Manga! We'll be doing a numbers system this time to make it easier to follow along, and with that outta the way, let's begin!

1. At the time of this review, the manga does not have an official English translation and is only available to read online via fan translation in at least 2 different places, one is missing the last Volume of the 3rd book, but has the rest, while the other place has the entire Wraith Arc. If you're waiting or hoping for an official translation before reading, you might as well stop waiting, it's not likely to happen, same deal with the Wraith Arc manga ever getting an anime adaptation. Why I'll never know nor understand why this was treated so poorly and why the anime is missing a CORE part of the series' history and timeline, it deserves just as much love as the series gets!

2. My guess as to why some people say its a spin off is because Gen Urobuchi is supposedly not involved in the story? Let's back up. The story for the Wraith Arc manga is credited to Hanokage and to Magica Quartet, which is a group consisting of multiple people including Gen Urobuchi. Does that mean they were involved? I can't say, but what i CAN SAY is they would've had to approve the story so that's proof it's canon and on top of that the anime version came first as it was (still is) an original series and was the first in the series' history. Magica Quartet by the way, was also involved with the anime. Magica Quartet are also the ones who a month later would make the manga of the series and like the Wraith Arc, are credited for the story. Further more the manga version of the original series has a sequel, which is, you guessed it, the Wraith Arc manga itself! What this means is, they did both the story of the OG and Wraith Arc for the manga as well as had involvement to some extent with the story of the anime and manga versions. Sure, Gen may not be credited solely for the Wraith Arc, but neither are they credited solely for the original manga either.

We've seen it doesn't matter if the original author of the story didn't have a hand in the story of something else in the series, that does not mean what was made is not canon. Of course it might matter for whatever was made, it might suffer a drop in quality for example, but that doesn't change the fact it doesn't mean it isn't canon to the series and thankfully, the Wraith Arc manga's story doesn't suffer any drop in quality at all, if anything, it helps fix problems with characters you may not have been fond of in the original series while expanding on lore and the world that Kaname Madoka gave her life to protect which till this manga, was sadly never explored. The story itself is also why I can say it's canon if that all wasn't enough proof, combine that with no plot holes and the fact we SADLY don't have this in anime form, would mean if this wasn't canon then the 3rd movie has MAJOR events and stuff that won't and can't be explained without this manga. Lastly, as was said, the Original series' manga and this manga were done by Magica Quartet themselves, that alone is reason enough to say, it is canon, backed up by the other stuff i just said and there shouldn't be room for debate of if it's a spin off or not. Like it or not, yes, the Wraith Arc manga IS canon, and honestly, I dunno why anyone WOULDN'T be happy about that.


3. Sadly for me there was a bit of a disconnect for how and when Homura shows up. This I believe is due to the panels of the manga and location not looking like the train station even though it was. (Ironically when she shows up it now suddenly looks like the train station again) That and suddenly Homura is just there, explained later on of course but a few more panels and pages would've made a big difference. That's why there was a disconnect and when it soon after she got there, explained how she got there, it all made sense, so I blame the panels and location not looking like the train station most of the time for this disconnect and the rest of what I just said too. Thankfully that aside, the rest of the manga had no problems.

4. This review was posted on Jan 7th 2021 (Japan and US date there) and that means it's the birthday and 10th anniversary of the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime! Happy Birthday! :)

5. I really liked how the Wraith Arc explained Homura's new power that you see in Movie 3. I remember thinking Homura gained that power in that movie but that was far from the truth and this manga really should've gotten an anime adaptation for that reason alone, but of course for the fact it deserves to have one too.

6. I dare not spoil this manga, so that's the end of the Mitakihara Fangirling Station hour, see you in the next review which will be, Puella Magi Madoka Magica Movie 3: Rebellion!

Note: I plan to rewatch Movie 3: Rebellion and do a review for it, if anything in this review was incorrect then I'll edit this review to correct it. (This sentence will be edited out after my review for movie 3 is up and after I fix anything incorrect, assuming there is anything incorrect of course)

Majuu-hen (or probably known by many as Wraith arc) is a sequel of classic PMMM and prequel of Rebellion. I have reread this manga multiple times and must say, it really is very good. The characters are well-portrayed, especially MC Homura. The pacing of story is okay, not rushed and most of the stuff is covered in there (probably in the last chapter). Moreover, there is explained how Homura gained her new abilities that we can see later in Rebellion. The art is great, as in PMMM or Rebellion manga, very pleasant and clean.
Overall, I enjoyed this manga very much and ... for me solid 9/10.