Not to say that the writing alone carries the whole thing, rather the art and music find a way to work together in a harmonious collaboration, even if I got gripes with the art side of things.
Specifically, with it being obvious with the art-style bearing the 2010’s era grace, which might be alluring to some, but I find the blocky and long faces of the characters ugly, they look quite similar to each other at a quick glance and a constant blush over their cheeks, still this is not a deal breaker or a failure on the artist’s part just an artistic preference of mine. I’m rather impressed by the technical side of things in how it’s animated with ethereal and childish embrace with how the enemies are portrayed for the battles involving magical girls and their enemies which would be the witches who have this distorted doodle like existence.
I would recommend checking out the music, specially three tracks:
-Credens Justitiam
-Symposium Megarum
-“Connect” by ClariS
The two with the Latin naming scheme elevate all the moments they’re used in, due to their orchestra nature and grandness with their intense story beats they’re associated with. Be aware that it isn’t your normal magical girl show, It likes to build a specific transformation of the protagonist, and the system that she discovers corresponding to the them.
On the topic of music, when I heard the opening it was a revelation of sorts for me, suffice to say I just listened to the uncut full song and never went back to the show until 4 years later when I learned Dead End Aegis’s inspiration which would be Madoka Magica, both involve corrupt exploitative systems. Considering that both are in the same genre they respectively explore various aspects which are noteworthy in their own right, but I must warn of the visual novel’s content being of the “H” kind.
I will say, the opening is great, so great in-fact that I accidentally ended up never watching the show, and it all went full circle after that period of long time of me discovering that visual novel and wondering about its inspiration.
Anyways, I don’t regret taking my time with this one, I was quite surprised by the direction that the story took with every episode having a focus with clear intent on what part of the mystery got unraveled. As for the characters I don’t particularly got a favorite besides the protagonist due to her nature of wanting to help and still using hope to push forward, I found some of the other characters to be a bit annoying, but it helped contrast each viewpoint and goals of everyone.
I would wholeheartedly recommend Modaka Magica even if you’re not a fan of magical girls, it’s quite the gripping mystery show.
