Rumor has it that if a young girl strikes a bargain with a white fairy, it will grant any wish her heart desires. However, in exchange, she will become a magical girl and must put her life on the line to slay fearsome and ferocious witches.
Iroha Tamaki, a kind-hearted middle schooler from Takarazaki City, is living proof that these rumors are true. Armed with a magical crossbow and the ability to heal injuries, Iroha seeks out the labyrinths where witches hide and defeats them before they can prey on humans. Yet Iroha has no memory of her wish, and even Kyuubey, the white fairy himself, seems to have no idea what Iroha requested of him.
One day, Iroha hears rumors of a city where "magical girls can be saved," and finds herself on a sunset train to Kamihama City. Unfortunately, she discovers that the witches in Kamihama are far more powerful than usual. After veteran magical girl Yachiyo Nanami is forced to save her, Iroha vows to never return. But when a chance encounter with a tiny Kyuubey seems to trigger distant memories, Iroha is compelled to investigate the mysterious city despite the danger.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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SunlitSonata
An underappreciated factor when looking at any individual anime series is the nature of its source material, provided it has one. Original anime (like the original Madoka series) are practically guaranteed to have a beginning, middle and end, but when based on a source, there’s certain elements that become byproduct by the source’s nature. When anime are produced based on ongoing manga, one can exact lingering focus on iconic shots and a tendency to go on and on as long as it takes. Light Novel adaptations tend to feature basic protagonists bereft of the thought focused complexity their written works offer. Videogame based anime often havevery specific factors emblematic of their origin, and of those adaptations, an increasingly common source of anime recently are gatcha games: free to play games tailored to get people to dump money to gamble for character growth and collection. For the sake of providing business revenue, these work fine, however scummy they are, but what happens when transferring that mentality to a non-interactive medium where quick story is the most important?
That‘s the main issue with Magia Record. Despite the admirable effort from the artists and Yūki Kajira, Magia Record’s characters and plot structure are held back very far, likely by how a TV series must accept its mobile game design mentality. Rather than be allowed to freely express like its main series counterpart, it winds up feeling substance-less, focus-less and ironically, far closer to a traditional Magic Girl series.
Because of the nature of this show, I’ll judge the series by two angles, one as its own story, and one as a companion to the Madoka franchise it proclaims itself a side story of:
As its own story:
The first episode seems to establish the plot focus about this girl named Iroha Tamaki, who happens to have Madoka’s color palette. As a magical girl fighting mysterious creatures, she’s trying to find her sister named Ui: supposedly the reason why she became a magical girl in the first place, but whom no one else remembers. It also introduces a girl named Kuroe, seemingly a friend of Iroha’s who already made her wish to become a magical girl, but the circumstances didn’t last. Strong start, but rather than go any further with Kuroe, she is quickly removed from the series to spend the next two episodes on a hastily rushed conflict between two new characters the audience is given no time to care about.
This leads to Magia Record’s greatest sin as its own plot: focus. The show has a severe issue with understanding what deserves attention. Rather than having a central drive that every element works towards, the series instead focuses on several smaller stories that are both underdeveloped and have little to no lasting payoff. Top this off with an overabundance of character designs, likely present to convince players of the gatcha game to grind for them, and you have a series with only the thinnest connective tissue.
See, Episodes 2-3 start and resolve the conflict of two characters. Episodes 4-5 introduce another character in a place that seems relevant but is quickly forgotten after. Episodes 6-7 focus on yet another character’s conflict to create and resolve. Episodes 8 to about halfway through Episode 10 do the same for another character who becomes irrelevant immediately following. During this time, over 10 other supposedly significant characters are introduced claiming to have a reason for existing and not getting to do anything beyond stating exposition. Episode 11 is purely an excuse to bring characters to a location, while Episode 12 explains the magical girl system of the series. Not showing by example, telling how the magical girl system works.
In all this time, there is zero progression on Iroha’s goal to find her sister, which keeps her as a one-note character who has nothing else to define her or drive her drama: a puppet to tour through various disconnected plots without anything interesting learnt about her in the slightest. Heck, we don’t even get to know what her relationship to Ui WAS like in order to flesh her out some. This causes the series as a whole to effectively have a non-plot: with no active villain, clear solution or ticking clock.
Suppose you could argue the Wings of Magius fills the villain role, essentially a magical girl Illuminati, but they function more as a recurrent obstacle than an active villainous force, with new members being introduced left and right, a confusing morality position and no real intricate planning. In episode 11, one of its members even cutely panics when questioned.
To make matters worse is the effect on the pacing and character interactions this non-urgency has. The arcs don’t have enough time to simmer before the next one immediately follows, and more characters bloat the cast. Even if characters like Sana and Felicia had any interesting character moments or traits during their arcs, they are quickly forgotten by the time their arc ends with no further advancement, which leads to very boring character interactions between Iroha and her friend group separating the arcs. The only recurring character who acts consistently different enough from the rest is Yachiyo as the group’s senior. She has her own conflict regarding a friend that joined the Wings of Magius but it’s forcibly restrained by the show’s lack of focus. I never got the sense that her plot had development or follow-through when it’s scattered in bits and pieces across other soon to be irrelevant plots.
Going into the series as its own thing, the first cour presents it as a visually-stylized and musically strong, but basic, segmented, plotless and unfocused series where nothing is given the impact it deserves. Then there’s how it compares to the original show.
As a spinoff of Madoka Magica:
When it comes to how it compares to the near decade old series it spun off from, it’s even less effective. On a positive note, it does retain a lot of the artistry from the original. The characters all look cute and have colorful outfits with several nice little details. Certain episodes have the occasional cool cinematic shot, Kamihama City is often painted orange by the sunset and while the Witch Realms aren’t as specially themed as those presented in the original, the otherworldly stylization around them is retained, particularly in episodes 5 and 7. Similarly, Yuki Kajira does a competent job with the soundtrack. It again, isn’t nearly as memorable as that of the original series for me, but it did a good job adding epicness to certain combat encounters when the writing can’t.
Other than that though, the similarities feel skin deep. While Madoka Magica felt like a harrowing character story told through the lens of the common magical girl setup, Magia Record IS the common magical girl setup with only the occasional lasting dark drama moment.
While the original show avoided the chance to make the common Magical Girl squad by creating personal conflict rifts between prospective members that grew and changed, this show forms its core team almost immediately and forms it arc by arc in a similar way to any standard Magical Girl show, but without the standout traits for each member. Light conflicts never affect the ties that bind. Hell, Magia Record’s introduction of Dopples muddies the well-established nature of the Witches, since Iroha’s soul gem goes dark to become one, only to have the process quickly reversed.
There are a lot of things you can say about how well the original show pulled off what it did, but one element that can’t be denied was its focus. In its 12-episode run, it was able to properly pace itself so that the storyline and theme evolution moved along at a steady clip. The main cast was kept small; characters only got focus when it was important in the long-term and character action correlated with the show’s themes. When Sayaka’s arc took focus, it had significant focus over several episodes with a resolution that filtered out several dramatic twists by showing them to us by Episode 8. These same twists are shown in Magia Record Episode 12, with the panache of an elementary school lecture divorced from any and all interesting drama. Almost appropriate that the episode was titled “Why is this so unbearable?”
Somehow, Magia Record even managed to bungle some of the elements I took issue with in the original series. To some, Madoka was a bland character without much personality or presence herself. But you could argue the simpleness of Madoka’s character was intentional, since the plot challenged her all loving heroine ideals. There was a clear sense that all the conflicts and gut punches shaped her decision making as the “main” character up until the story’s conclusion. She could’ve been uncertain or insecure or “whiny” but those played off of her established character.
Iroha has none of those things. She’s a bit more assertive than Madoka was but nothing about her character or way of thinking changes in the series. She maintains the same sense of non-personality the entire series, never having any interesting character development, never changing her goal, never making meaningful choices, etc. Madoka carries herself in the story because of her flaws; Iroha is purely carried by separated scenarios.
Then there’s the worldbuilding. The small scope of the original series was something I was initially critical of since it implied the Magical Girl system was a constant worldwide, but we only saw one city. Magia Record does conceptually improve with new worldbuilding points, like a Magical Girl Hall of Justice of sorts in Kamihama and the Wings of Magius, but even then, they’re not really fleshed out beyond existing. Characters from this secret base get the paltriest amount of screen time and character depth in the series.
Last but not least, the original Madoka series was 12 episodes and it managed to tell a complete story within that time. This show ends desperate for a second season even while spending ¾ of this season on events that don’t matter to anything in the long run besides showing off blandly undeveloped character designs. The final episode tops it out by desperately overloading itself with fanservice that'll only make sense with the original in mind in a desperate plee to get OG series fans to stick around.
Conclusion
While flaws in the actual narrative could fall on the video game’s writers, the way it’s presented makes it feel like it was limited by being a mobile game in ways not adaptable for its strengths. Go full stop quantity over quality with the characters, since they’re just ways for people to sink money into upgrading and collecting them. Make the plot scenarios separated so they can support short-burst gameplay with grinds in between. And throw in characters from the original series like Mami and Kyoko regardless of how well they actually fit to heighten appeal.
I’m tempted to give the show a higher score on the basis of its animation talent (maybe so without Episode 12). Shaft’s directors are likely trying the best they can, but you can get the animation experience by watching good AMVs on the series. And honestly, out of other shows where the stellar animation quality far, far outweighs the writing on display, like Guilty Crown and Demon Slayer, at least those had consistent story tracks to make the animation highs meaningful in context despite their narrative fumbles. This didn’t have that. All this needed to do was bank off the goodwill of the franchise’s prior success and put talented artists on the project to be a success, regardless of how much effort actually went into this being a structured TV series. Magia Record on its own is a bland and very unfocused Magical Girl series and practically a lesser knockoff of the original Madoka Magica. I am very disappointed with how this series turned out, as it feels like even at this stage, the story could have been more substantial.
MozillaFennekin
Magia Record is not Madoka 2.0. I feel like that really needs to be said. Despite “side story” written in the title, being a part of the Madoka franchise comes with huge expectations--expectations that Magia Record never attempts to meet. This is not a sequel to Rebellion, nor an attempt at recreating the magic (heh) of Madoka. After all, the original was practically a statement for mahou shoujo and was such a groundbreaking and well-acclaimed series, you only really get one of it per genre. This doesn’t excuse all of Magia Record’s potential faults, but I think a large wave of backlash towards itis largely based on comparisons to the original. It’s not even really clear how MR relates to the original series, it is just a story using premade rules and concepts of the original series, so although it’s not something you should watch without seeing Madoka, it exists as a seemingly separate entity. Stop bullying Magia Record, it did nothing wrong. Just like Kyuubey.
Now, as for Puella Magi Magia Magica Mahou Madoka Gaiden Getcha Gacha Godoka Gotcha Record Shoujo (TV) (2019) itself, there are actually lots of problems just on their own. For example, the story jerks you around and doesn’t really stick to one plot thread; while the overarching narrative is Iroha figuring out the mystery of her missing sister, it gets distracted by all of the other character arcs and thematic concepts that it’s easy for you to forget it yourself. Sometimes a reveal happens and you’re like “Oh. Yeah. That was a thing, I guess.”
And while I can’t say the story itself is bad, it leaves you in the dark for a long time--so long that it only reveals its cards towards the very end of the season, meaning things won’t really pick up until the inevitable sequel. Not that I’m unfamiliar with stories getting better as they go along, but with the helter-skelter plotline, it could be difficult to invest yourself with what’s going on.
What about the characters? Well, they’re… usable. Iroha is rather plain as a main character, but Yachiyo’s maturity along with her development are pretty strong. Tsuruno’s passionate excitement and Felicia’s rowdiness also make for plenty of fun moments, but it’s not necessarily a cast that dazzles. There’s no standout star (because Alina Grey only has one scene 0/10 trash anime), but there wasn’t any character who was particularly bad, or even forgettable. It helps that everyone has a memorable design, whether it’s a good design or not.
“U gave it a 7 but complained all the time bruh moment” Yeah, here’s the oddity of Magia Record. There’s not a lot on this base level that really draws me in or is worth celebrating. But, damn, can this show be a blast to watch.
Gekidan Inu Curry takes the director’s seat (or, seats, rather), originally just doing design work for the series and other Shaft works when things need to get extra fucky. And damn, does this duo deliver. Every moment of Magia Record has some sort of presence, for lack of a better word. They bring in every Shaftian trick in the book, like backgrounds cluttered with one object copied infinitely, or mysteriously empty, stark environments, and uncanny CG is used liberally. It’s nothing short of odd, and most of the time it’s downright unsettling, even in many casual instances.
That’s nothing compared to the abstract visuals of rumors and witches and fantastical scenes of exposition. I don’t even know what to say to pitch them in a succinct way, all I know is that this anime trips you the hell out in so many areas. Characters are framed and positioned, lit and posed in eye-catchingly brilliant ways, or they converse in the Monogatarian manner of “doing what the fuck ever” while they speak. Easily the best thing about Magia Record is how it’s presented, as it promises to engage you with every second.
It even comes to a fault, as Gekidan Inu Curry’s lack of anime direction shows with some inconsistencies. These could be basic things like animation errors and cut-corners, which can be very noticable (but also could be blamed on Shaft themselves, which I hear ain’t doin’ so well these days), but sequences and cuts can sometimes be incredibly messy and disorganized. This becomes especially true with action scenes, which devolve from being irregularly captivating like much of the rest of this series, to absolute clusterfucks where it’s borderline impossible to follow along.
Still, the ambition of Magia Record’s presentation cannot be overlooked, as it is the true selling point of the anime right now. The soundscapes help bolster these beautifully jarring visuals by mirroring their strangeness, most notably when rumors are described through an erratically pitched voice. The soundtrack might not live up to the incredibly high precedent that Yuki Kajiura set in the original Madoka, but it faithfully recreates the celestial tone it’s best known for.
Overall, Magia Record certainly has its share of issues and can be disappointing for not comparing well to its original series. Yet, I can’t help but praise it for how well it was presented. The best parts are that it didn’t screw up a lot--at worst, it was just mediocre. Although gacha games are labeled as “cheap” by many (fair), this adaptation was actually a significant improvement over a largely boring game. The passion presented by Gekidan Inu Curry in this project really shows, and I expect it to be even better when it returns.
If anyone is playing the game and wants to add me, my Player ID is cWUz52LU. My supports are pretty decent, and one of them has a cute witch hat but she’s not in the anime so basically what I’m saying is that this anime sucks actually goodbye. Also the game closed so this was completely pointless. Nothing has any meaning and everything is suffering. Die.
Story: 6/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 6/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Gacha: I got Sayaka out of my free 10x roll today so 4*/4*
Overall: 7.25/10 (range: 6.0-7.75)
Casul_Noob1997
This is an anthology series set in the Madoka universe. Okay> > But believe me, I wanted this to be another impeccable entry in Madoka Magica’s ever-expanding library of consistently high quality spinoff titles (except for Suzune). I wanted this to be a bonafide 10/10 for me. Sadly, as you might see in many reviews, this series suffers from pacing issues that unfortunately buries any of the genuine Madoka-esque greatness that is there to people who aren't as passionate for the brand. While this story isn’t nearly as bad pacing-wise as the original Oriko Magica, nor does its narrative and characters stoop to be as collectivelyshallow as Suzune Magica’s, there are undeniable flaws in the first half of this series’ guaranteed 25-ish episodes that I’d be remiss to ignore. And yet, I could say the same for those so blinded by dissatisfaction that they look away from what Magia Record does right. Because it does do quite a bit right - it does many elements of a higher quality than most.
Let’s break it down by the element, with the final entitled “STORYTELLING/PACING” preceding my overview and going more into detail about the aforementioned problems. However, if you wish to know why, despite these flaws, I still rate this a strong 8/10, I implore you to read my full review leading up to the final overview.
CHARACTERS:
The biggest draw of any Madoka spinoff, especially those involving the OG girls, are the characters: who they are, what their outfit says about their self-perception, how their magic and weapon relates to their wish, what their wish says about them, what their Witch form says about them, what they believe in and prioritize, all of it. These aspects have always lent a big hand in giving even the original girls the depth and nuance that hardcore fans love them for.
Thankfully, I feel this aspect of the storytelling is one of the strongest points in Magia Record’s favor. I don’t know about you, but my favorite part of the original Madoka was what the characters left unsaid, and how that characterized them. For example, Mami’s nice but lonely apartment spoke of her accommodating nature and desire to provide a comfortable space in the sadly-unlikely event of guests spending time with her. Kyoko’s astonishment at having forgotten why she became a magical girl in the first place - that being the belief that she herself can make miracles happen - says much about how seldom introspective she became as a defense mechanism, until Sayaka crashed into her life and reminded her of the same beautiful, naive optimism she long-since stuffed down.
In much the same way, Magia Record uses these subtle cues to characterize its massive cast of girls. The main heroine, Iroha, comes off as polite and dainty in the first episode, as well as compassionate in the way she prioritizes saving a cat. But in that same episode you realize how docile she is around her magical girl partner, as well as her classmates. You realize that isolates her from her peers, how she’s used to being servile because her parents seem to always be away, leaving her to care for a sickly little sister who, until she was forgotten by everything, was Iroha’s only purpose for living.
Her boldness in later scuffles characterizes Iroha as not only desperate to attain this familiarity again, but to achieve a semblance of autonomy and spirit to make up for being so weak—a facet brought up in virtually every fight where, despite boasting an impressive machine-gun-crossbow, her painfully weak yet persistent attacks speaks of Iroha’s feeble, distancing behavior, as does her docile-seeming priestess attire: a follower, not a leader to be sure, one who used her only wish to heal her reason for being: Ui Tamaki.
The main five girls (and you can tell who they would be by their numerous focus shots in the opening) are all given this treatment. Some are stronger than others, while Tsuruno - a gutsy yet chipper girl with delusions of grandeur - spends the majority of this first cour being an extra body in fights with only two brief moments of hidden pain in her debut episode (#4) that isn’t hinted at again before the finale.
This sort of characterization is a necessity, as this story boasts a hulking cast of at least 20 named characters, including the OG five. Half of them are just villainous mooks as of right now, though still characterized by what’s around them and how they act, what they verbally prioritize. Others like the mysterious Coordinator, Mitama, are hardly shown and when she is we only ever learn that she has strange taste in food, and that’s disappointing.
Not every character needs to be rich in depth, however, especially characters like her and Momoko—a big-sister-type to two, stronger-written girls. These ancillary characters serve their role as needed by the narrative, while having just enough to them that they don’t feel like plot devices, but people with their own stories and self interests that just aren’t important to Iroha’s story. After all, it’s important and preferable for minor characters to feel more like real people instead of plot devices, so any characterization is good characterization. I would have a problem if we were given Momoko's backstory despite how little time we actually spend with her.
Speaking of which, while some might feel the inclusion of the original five girls is unnecessary fan service, as of now only three had any real involvement, and all of them feel necessary for the story and logical for their characters. In this sense, I think they are used well in a story where their absence would honestly feel more jarring, given the stakes looming in the background. Not only do they feel like active players swapping information behind the scenes (as their dialogue implies), but their roles stand as testament to the spinoff’s overarching theme (which has its own section below).
SETTING:
The story takes place in Kamihama - a large city that only recently has been luring witches from all over, with copies of them cropping up everywhere inexplicably (though surely intentionally). It’s explained in the first episode that Kamihama witches are, for whatever reason, stronger than normal, and more abundant. This status quo requires the girls to fight in teams—a fact that, for some, may suck the tension out of ultimately pointless fights, but for me these random scuffles serve in displaying the girls’ powers, their motivation, or some other characterizing element, all while being a constant reminder of what being a magic girl in Kamihama is like. Plus it pays to show us these details instead of leaving it to exposition.
As it stands, Kamihama is a more interesting setting than Mitakihara from the old series, which was indeed little more than a city. Here, Kamihama encourages consideration of its setup: you have Mitama in the center of it all, something of a healer, a safe zone and a bounty hunting board in one, and the city is split into wards run by different magical girls living in the area. There are unspoken rules and codes of conduct when it comes to witch hunting. These all serve to make the setting dynamic and rich with character without actually showing any. However, you see this in action with an evident abundance of magical girls making background or verbal cameos from the game this is based on. They aren’t obtrusive and are brief, serving to lend weight to Kamihama as a setting more than anything.
The first episode makes it clear visually just how full Kamihama is of magical girls, by displaying a spectrum of wishes plastered all over the town in what’s obviously meant to be surreal imagery and not something literal. One of which desires for the destruction of Kamihama, making me wonder if that specific wish was the cause behind everything going on, if not the reason behind these stronger witches.
ANIMATION/MUSIC:
As discussed in my section on characters, the animation does a good job of bringing them and the witches to life. Visually, the Labyrinths and witches that dwell within them are as surreal and symbolic as ever, offering abundant discussion that invites analysis for those as into this sort of art direction as I am.
In terms of the quality, however, that’s another story. Distant characters in the background look blobby and odd, however brief some shots are, and fight choreography—save for that within the last two episodes—is quite poorly choreographed and stiff-looking. There’s not much weight to the girls’ attacks, as conceptually impressive as they are (Yachiyo can fire volleys of spears and Tsuruno’s fans emit fire—moves that look impressive but don’t have any punch). Outside of these hiccups, however, the girls and colors generally look sharp and clean, moreso than they did in the original series.
SHAFT continues to confound viewers with its seemingly random imagery. Much like the abundance of chairs in the original Madoka, some of that imagery leaks into Magia Record like a stack of desks on the school rooftop made to give the scene an eerie feeling. However—again, just like in Madoka—there are times when that imagery does genuinely mean something. My favorite is when a shape-changing girl evidently made her wish to become a different person, but hates herself knowing deep down she’s still the same nasty girl. Her inner turmoil and desire is characterized by her changing into the older girls she looks up to for their personalities and likability—and later, on that same roof with the stacks of desks, we get two alone marked with cruel writings and facing one another, indicating them as belonging to this girl and her best friend, both of whom are alone but together in the face of a peer group that clearly dislikes them.
The music does a great job at giving this series a Madoka feel, without just outright copying the old stuff. There’s one specific track that plays whenever the dread ramps up, and it sticks out in my mind as having the most character to it. Another track plays when an Uwasa, one of the new threats, is on display - an instrumental of a little song that's sung about it in the first episode. Music does its job otherwise, and is nothing outstanding.
I like the OP better than the original. It shows off all the girls, even flashes of minor players, in shots and poses that give them character. It’s timed well with the song and is nicely colored. It changes gradually over the course of the series, specifically in deuteragonist Yachiyo’s apparent happiness, the witches and Uwasa on display in the windows, and the crowd of girls in the OP’s final shot.
The ED is a beautiful song with visuals that blend animation and real-world footage. It displays Yachiyo’s buried depression and grief through imagery relating to drowning and elevator shots. There are also beautifully drawn endcards, following a still from the episode, featuring a relevant magical girl.
The voice acting is superb, even the dub. Every girl puts their all into their emotions and makes you really buy what they're feeling, which goes a long way in a story this big and crowded. In both the sub and dub the voice each girl has fits them perfectly in the language they're speaking.
I would actually recommend the dub for this show over sub. I feel the story sometimes shoves too much information at you while stimulating your eyes. Plus I feel a lot of the translated lines come across more naturally and clearly in the dub. I cite episode three as a fitting comparison, and the last scene of five before the ED.
THEME:
For me, the most important stories are the ones that have something to say. Even if the message is atypical, it’s all in how the story uses that theme and presents it in the narrative. Nothing is worse than a story about nothing, right?
And Magia Record is undoubtedly a story about friendship—and while this may seem cliche for a magical girl show, the way it handles this theme reminds me fondly of what Madoka said about the genre and its application to reality in a unique, compelling way.
Because virtually every character in Magia Record is not unlike the girls of the original setting: they’re deeply hurting and alone, and are doing what they can to stay true to themselves and their responsibilities while tending to that pain however they can. Magia Record takes this idea and comes up with an answer, a cure, one that’s impeded and challenged by the true antagonistic threat of the story (who isn’t formally introduced until episode #6). And yet, it’s an idea that is constantly given alternate, unhealthy answers in the forms of mysterious “Rumor Witches” called Uwasa (rumor in Japanese) - new creatures which embody urban legends, whose victims are all people who wished to believe them with all their aching hearts. A surprisingly compelling one on the thematic level is a rumor about good luck, and you just have to enslave your life to it if you want to never have a bout of bad luck, despite its inevitability - another fact of life given a healthy answer by Magia Record's "point."
These rumors all have to do with attaining peace and satisfaction with something that is lost, or is annoyingly present in some cases. In each of these encounters, Iroha meets new girls who, in some shape or form (either literally or philosophically), are challenged by the comfort and contentment these rumors offer. Some almost fall for their allure, many others do, while others reject them outright. And yet, instead of roiling in misery or sacrificing others for these Rumors, the girls find strength in each other and the ability to smile again by one anothers’ sides.
Yes, the power of friendship is a cliche theme in this genre. However, I feel that Magia Record analyzes it well by providing a real, grounded answer to why it’s such a prevalent theme in storytelling throughout history: it gives us the strength and support needed to face the darkness of life.
And for a magical girl, a victim of Kyubey, that’s what you need more than anything.
STORYTELLING/PACING:
If you haven’t gleaned this already (which, given my lack of derision and insults, would be understandable), this story just isn’t as good as the original Madoka’s, neither in terms of content nor quality.
Conflicts happen on an episode-by-episode basis until the crew is assembled by episode 10, giving this show a monster-of-the-week feel, lack of consequences included, all of which is tethered together by the narrative throughline of Iroha searching for her lost sister. All the while a dark and enticing force is evidently building in the background, clearly the source of the weirdness the setup establishes, but isn’t entirely explained until the climax of the cour.
Now there is something to be said about the emotional weight of a scene. That's a big driving force behind one's emotional investment. Sadly, because it's very clear that the girls don't know the awful truth about magical girls, the situations don't feel as terribly dire as they should. But that makes sense because of the girls' attitudes in combat, save for Yachiyo who is known as the oldest magical girl and clearly hides a lot of pain. Ergo, the execution of a scene largely depends on the gravity the characters feel.
For MR, however, because some of these issues driving each arc are somewhat small and inconsequential compared to the truth bombs of MM, there's disconnect between some viewers who can't bring themselves to be invested in such stakes that, in most scenarios, feel very kind compared to dying. That seems intentional to the grander narrative, however.
Speaking of which, I mentioned before that SHAFT doubles down on trippy imagery this time around. What I didn't say was how well it uses these for the sake of visual storytelling, and selling an emotion with a single image.
Some of these off the top of my head include:
A character who lost her parents in a fire thinks of them and only sees a burnt photograph stopped at their faces. She likely carries it around, which is unusually sentimental of her. Her character ties to the luck rumor, who almost falls for the convenient chance to fulfill her deepest wish, but realizes family is more precious to her as she thoughtlessly saves her new friend - the only person since her parents to show her any kindness and patience.
A character who hates herself and how she treats her friend seems to imagine message boards and group chats talking about or at least alluding to her. This is later used to voice her honest feelings in brief flashes, seeming to indicate that these images are an allusion to the idea that everyone talks about her behind her back and how she wishes she can be fearless when talking to her only friend, and perhaps has gotten close through texting but chickened out. We see these thoughts written in notebooks meaning this character dwells on these regrets a lot. It's a sad and realistic image given how horribly interconnected teenagers are now.
Half of Iroha's bedroom is bare, even in the oddest places. It feels wrong and sad, selling me on the feeling Iroha does when she thinks about her sister's erased existence.
You get the picture.
While I can sit here and say it’s your fault if you aren’t grabbed by this premise or visually rich storytelling, I can also fairly fault the anime for not doing as good a job as it could’ve. I don’t quite mean cutting characters for time, because it’s clear that everyone will be involved in a meaningful way in the future. Rather, I mean that the story itself does more to confuse viewers than engage them. And instead of it being in an ingenious way that invokes speculation, it’s more done in a “oh, you thought these characters were important? Well here’s a random-feeling sideshow involving three more and a new mystery!” That’s sort of how all of the sideshows feel until the crew is assembled, and you take a step back to consider themes, at least for me.
However, I don’t think this is as bad as some make it out to be. And that, of course, falls into what you consider important when engaging yourself with a story.
It should go without saying that this isn’t an anime you can just shut your brain off while watching and expect greatness to fall into your lap. Heck, while Madoka told a genuinely compelling and masterfully crafted narrative by comparison, its depths weren’t evident in every crevice of its writing until you went back with a fine-toothed comb.
That comb is what naysayers, I feel, are disregarding with Magia Record—and let’s be honest here, it’s probably because the lack of Gen the Butcher must mean it has zero possibility of depth.
And yet, if you read up to this point, read what I had to say about the symbolism and imagery and character writing, you’ll know that this is one of those stories that asks YOU to put the work into appreciating its depths. It asks that you have your finger on the rewind button, because believe me, some important character information like wishes and emotions are given in flashes of the environment, sometimes with text piled on the subtitles (again, plugging in for the dub). It’s impossible to catch everything on a single, vaguely-interested viewing.
Can this be considered bad to some? Of course. But not every show is for everybody, and personally, I like a story that trusts me to use my brain instead of me expecting it to explain everything. Better yet, much like the OG series, Magia Record benefits greatly from a rewatch.
By the end of the thirteenth episode of the first cour, you have a more complete view on the girls that going back, perceiving their actions and behaviors with new information, offers a different story and emotion than they did on a first watch. That kind of rewatchability is one I can appreciate a great deal. It really is the fuel that keeps a finished show alive in discussion boards.
OVERVIEW:
Magia Record is not a perfect anime. It is, compared to Madoka Magica, sadly disappointing. This is reflected unfairly, but understandably, in the MAL score.
However, I feel that if one can remove their nostalgia goggles and allow themselves to become enwrapped in this story and its characters, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised. For all its faults, Magia Record tells a trippy and at times heart-tugging story about sad, broken girls trying to find hope in a world without Madokami. It does so through a combination of direction, dialogue, character and creature design.
When I score an anime and add it to my list, I consider the number I’m giving it and compare it to others. I ask myself, “would I recommend this as much as I do these shows?” I also compare it to those in a score above and below my considered number.
I was dancing between a 7 and an 8 for a long time. When I consider what makes a 7, and an 8, however, and heeding my personal system of comparison, I came to realize what my honest feelings are.
If I were to give Magia Record a 7, that would be putting it on the same personal level as Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU season 1, Angel Beats, MHA season 1, Death Note, Love Live!, and Jojo parts 3 and 4 to name a few. These are all solid series I would recommend to anyone the genre appeals to, but did not give an 8 because I felt there were too many little flaws culminating in a lumpy whole, or just an idea that wasn’t executed as well as I felt it could have, either in being bogged down by half-baked ideas or simply not being anything profoundly special.
You can see why Magia Record may fit here, I hope.
And yet, then I considered what makes an 8 for me and why I’ve given what I have such a strong score. For me, an 8 is basically “a 7 but better.” No shit, but looking at my list I, personally, can pick out specifics that separate entries in these two scores. And for me, an 8/10 is a show that is at the very least considered “good” in every aspect. But it does more than that—in more than one of these aspects, I found myself deeply invested in them and craving to see more of them, whether that’s in theme or dialogue.
These reasons are why I gave Aggretsuko’s depressingly grounded characters and setting an 8/10, or Shield Hero’s characters and themes of trust and forgiveness, or Parasyte’s philosophy and endearing main protagonists, or Yuki Yuna is a Hero’s theme on sacrifice, its worldbuilding, voice acting, and lovable characters.
Even if a show as a whole didn’t have anything meaningful to say, I can identify a quality package within the confines of its genre and see why I find it to be so well-made: like in Dragon Maid and K-On! Season 1, which is undoubtedly some of the best of the Slice of Life genre for a great many, greatly strong reasons.
For similar reasons, I couldn’t help but give Magia Record an 8/10. I’ll be honest, its pacing issues almost gave it a 7, and I’m sure many judge it for that a lot more harshly. And yet, the more I consider the way it handles its characters and theme, the less I look down on that issue and more see it as an unfortunate necessity for the kind of story it wants to tell.
Because Magia Record, for all its faults, tells a subtly poignant story about friendship and processing grief, in a unique and naturally compelling setting rife with interesting and endearing characters, all of whom interact on an episode-by-episode basis with symbolic imagery intent on driving these ideas home.
Don’t just give this a watch. Give it your time and patience, give it your heart and you’ll find yourself in the midst of a tale that, I feel, has something it wants to say.
Even if it takes 13 episodes to blatantly get there.
Bixxbite
This review of Magia Record contains spoilers to both Magia Record and some plot points of the original Madoka Magica!! For anyone who has not seen Magia Record, there will be a spoiler free TLDR at the end of this review. Let me preface this review with a disclaimer as well. I will be comparing and contrasting some aspects of Magia Record with the original Madoka Magica, which I know is a point of contention among some viewers (though I will not compare it to Rebellion, because I feel it’s unfair to compare a TV anime with an anime movie because of the scheduling constraints TVanime usually have). While this is NOT a comparative essay, I believe it's fair to compare the two to a certain extent, as they take place in the same universe and because you would have to have seen Madoka Magica to fully understand its spin-off. You can’t judge Magia Record on its own merits, simply because to understand its world, you would have had to have seen the original. To expect people to judge these two anime like they are separate entities is quite frivolous, in my opinion. Anyway, on with the review!
I think like most people who ended up watching Magia Record, I’m a big fan of the original anime and, if not more so, the Rebellion movie. While I didn’t necessarily expect much from a spin-off based off a mobile gatcha game, I can’t deny that I DID expect a lot more out of this anime than I maybe should have, primarily due to the fact that the franchise is such a huge and well-respected intellectual property within the anime community and due to the fact that animated installments of the franchise are far and few between. With how talented the staff over at Shaft is, I at least expected Magia Record to just be a dumb fun experience, if anything. But then I saw how little of the original staff had worked on this spin-off and I started to worry a little. My main concern was with how Gen Urobuchi and Akiyuki Shinbou (and to an extent, Yuki Kajiura) were barely involved with Magia Record and how the responsibilities of directing and series composition was instead given to the quite inexperienced Inu Curry, who originally only concerned themselves with things such as background art, character design, etc. From how this anime turned out, I suppose my concerns were justified, at least for me.
Firstly, I’d like to discuss some of the things I did like about Magia Record and some things I believe it deserves some genuine praise for. Starting off with the animation. While it had flaws, which I will elaborate on later in this review, the animation of Magia Record was usually very consistent, even more so than the blu-ray version of the original. There were no weird faces or off-model proportions as far as I noticed and, generally, the presentation of this anime was very stylish and sleek. I would especially like to praise the scenes that introduce the individual uwasa. Very reminiscent of the pop-up book art style of the witches, these scenes are interesting and great alternatives to characters simply exposition dumping to Iroha about what they’re going to fight next. The way the Endless Solitude uwasa was introduced in episode nine is a great example of this. Besides that, Magia Record occasionally had its subtleties. Things such as in episode ten, where Mami recalled “the girls I guided”, these girls being Madoka and Sayaka, Madoka’s face was obscured as a somewhat subtle reference to the fact that in the timeline of the original, Madoka doesn’t exist anymore. Or how Iroha owned a plush that seemed to be modeled to look like the witch called Candy, who appeared in episode four. Magia Record had quite a few scenes and references like these and occasionally alluded to the original and to the gatcha game it was based off. Though this clearly doesn’t affect the anime narratively very much, I still appreciate it rewarding attentive viewers for paying attention to the direction and presentation. Anyway, that is about it for the positives, now onto some of my grievances.
A common complaint targeted at Magia Record is that the cast feels bloated and I can’t help but agree. Because of its source material as a gatcha game, where the whole point is to have a large cast of characters to collect, it’s only natural this problem would arise. The first arc revolving around Rena and Kaede (and arguably Momoko, though she’s more involved by proxy rather than actually having something to do with the conflict) was especially emblematic of this. After the first episode introduced the main character, Iroha, a throw-away side character called Kuroe, and Yachiyo, whose introduction felt quite awkward and forced, three separate characters were introduced at the same time, these being Rena, Kaede and Momoko. Now, I have no problem with them quickly setting up and introducing side characters to use later on in the anime, similarly to Hitomi in the original Madoka Magica whose involvement in the story had actual impact later on Sayaka’s character arc, I find that these characters are issued in way too quickly and leave very little narrative impact. Instead of being given the time to develop and to care about these character, as a viewer, I didn’t find myself becoming invested in them or their conflicts. This is exacerbated by the extremely fast pacing in the first few episodes of the anime and even after the story slows down after the first arc, the pacing still remains an issue during the entirety of the runtime with how inconsistent it is. In the case of Rena and Kaede specifically, when I watched them fight about eight minutes later into the same episode they were introduced, I couldn’t help but feel like it was melodramatic and forced. But due to its cast size (I assume), Magia Record doesn’t have enough time for the viewer to become really invested and even if it could, its script isn’t nearly as charming or interesting enough to really carry its relatively tight episode to character ratio. None of the characters had an impact on me, even characters that were more developed such as Yachiyo or characters that the audience got to spend a lot of time with such as Iroha. Never mind that, to me, both of these characters ended up feeling like hollow shells of Homura (Yachiyo being Homura, of course) and Madoka. In the end, I found Sana to be the only remotely memorable character in this anime and that was due to the fact that she had clear motives, an interesting story and the anime took its time to introduce her to the audience by showing her back story and her relationship to her family and to Ai. Even then, all of these characters felt rather shallow and it didn't help that Magia Record didn’t seem to have a message or clear themes like the original Madoka or the Rebellion movie. Magia Record didn’t elaborate on the original themes, didn’t even seem to touch the same themes of hope, despair, selfishness, selflessness, martyrdom, etc and didn't have any themes that could have been specific to its story. Magia Record ended up adding very frivolous details to the canon of the universe, but generally felt like it had no other reason to exist other than to capitalize on the success of the original. Yes, I acknowledge this anime was based off a mobile game that was probably made purely to make money, however, this doesn’t mean that I’m just going to let Magia Record off the hook. From the little I have played of the game, the anime didn’t follow the exact same story and many things were tweaked, presumably to fix some of the more awkward and convoluted scenes that pad out the games story mode, so I feel like with someone experienced or simply very competent in series composition and/or script writing, I feel like these issues could have been avoided. Magia Record is clearly not restricted in trying to be a faithful adaptation.
Going back to Rena and Kaede’s “arc” in the first few episodes, another issue I have with Magia Record presents itself; its needless tendency to spell things out for the audience, instead of letting them figure things out for themselves. At the end of episode two, Kaede apologized to Rena and asked her to be friends again and, like the audience was told would happen, the uwasa of the Friendship Ending Staircase showed up. Its familiars then proceeded to basically spell out what Rena was thinking in the most cheesy, heavy-handed way possible, with the familiars talking in human voices instead of the creepy, modulated ones that were used to introduce the individual uwasa (which I feel cheapens their horrifying and incongruous nature by having them sounding so familiar and human). Never mind that this scene felt very melodramatic and awkward, I find it quite agitating that Magia Record even felt the need to tell the audience what Rena was very clearly thinking or at least what she was thinking when she wrote her and Kaede’s names on the staircase. The simple fact that an uwasa showed up after Kaede apologized should be enough for the audience to draw their own conclusions, mainly that either of the two had written both of their names on the stairs (though I actually would have loved it if Kaede was the one who did it, as a sort of twist). This is just one example of the anime telling the audience things they should already have picked up. Another particularly frustrating example is in the last episode, where Yachiyo called Iroha by her first name for the first time, which I actually thought was a really nice moment……… until Iroha literally said, “this is the first time you called me by my first name”. This honestly completely ruined the moment for me. Being told something which, as a somewhat attentive audience member, you should have picked up on is inane and feels like you’re being talked down to. It feels as if the script writer had no faith in their audience to simply pick up on this fact. Another example that is somewhat similar is in episode twelve, when the main cast get explained in a literal lecture how soul gems work and how witches are born, which the audience should already know and thus ends up doing very little but waste the already relatively short runtime of Magia Record. While it helped setting up Yachiyo’s back story in a more interesting way than simply having her tell Iroha (or any other character who didn’t know), again, it’s a waste spending so much time telling the audience things they should clearly know already.
Another big issue in Magia Record is something I mentioned before; the pacing. Like I already said, the pacing is extremely fast in the first three or so episode, but the witch fights in Magia Record are an especially bad example of this and suffer from this issue a lot. Despite the fact that the witches of Kamihama were said to be much stronger than the ones in Mitakihara, fights against witches took very little time and seemingly very little effort. Witches such as Rebecca, Candy and Gertrud were dealt with extremely quickly and end up adding very little to the overall plot or story, often even detracting from it. Zenobia was the only witch who was more difficult to deal with, but that was mainly because Iroha was a weak magical girl and Yachiyo made quick work of her when she stepped in. Candy was one of the most egregious examples of witches simply being there to pad out episodes. She added literally nothing to the episode, was completely unrelated to the plot, detracted from that episodes story and was dealt with in one hit by Tsuruno. The witches of Kamihama simply don’t live up to what the audience is told about them and that’s really sad, considering the witches were such a huge selling point of the original. Their unique art style and alien designs/cries made them such intimidating creatures. Though even some witches were dealt with rather quickly in the original, such as Roberta, there was a genuine possibility of character death in the original after episode three, which made the witches much more threatening. Never mind that there were much more difficult fights, such as with Elsa Maria and Oktavia, which then reaffirmed the genuine threats witches were. To make an example, in episode four of the original, when Madoka escaped from the people who were brainwashed by the witch Elly, she ended up being trapped in a room with the witch and was forced into her labyrinth. Her genuine screams of terror and desperate pleas for help (props to her voice actress) while being faced with a monster similar to the one who killed her friend and the person she looked up to the most right in front her eyes felt so chilling. Like I said, the death of Mami in episode three really established witches as a threat, but scenes like the one in episode four just reaffirmed that. Anyway, to summarize this point a little bit, I’m just disappointed the witches were so underutilized in Magia Record and I feel as if they should have just put their focus into the uwase, considering they’re the main intrigue (I really didn't find myself caring or being interesting in Ui as a plot hook) and new concept introduced in this anime.
And last but certainly not least; the animation. While consistently on model in non-action scenes, Magia Record had extremely few interesting fight scenes. Due to its limited and rushed schedule, the original Madoka Magica had its moments of very inconsistent animation, mainly during dialogue driven scenes, where some characters had weirdly drawn faces or proportions. However, it also had extremely beautifully animated scenes such as the cut of Mami mowing down Charlotte’s familiars with her shotguns in episode three or pretty much the entire fight against Elly in episode four. Clearly for me and for a lot of other fans of Madoka Magica, its spectacular fight scenes were part of the anime’s appeal, together with its unique witch art style. Magia Record on the other hand, has literally one fight scene that barely even comes close in quality, that being the cut from the last episode where Sayaka blocks a Tiro Finale from Mami (which I will admit, was a beautifully animated sequence and just really damn cool). Instead, its fights often looked stilted and quite unimpressive from an animation stand point. The animation quality didn’t improve during fight scenes to really make an impact on the viewer. If anything, the quality tended to drop during these kind of scenes and seemed to heavily rely on Inu Curry’s unique art style to carry it (and relying on there being a lot of things on the screen). So, besides having less intrigue narratively, I feel like visually Magia Record was also a step down and unfortunately musically as well. While I absolutely didn’t expect a relatively new composer such as Takumi Ozawa to create an original soundtrack even remotely as iconic as the original (or the Rebellion movie) composed by Yuki Kajiura, I’m still quite disappointed by the downgrade that this OST turned out to be. Very few tracks really spoke to me and quite a few tracks from the original soundtrack were reused, especially in the first few episodes, but otherwise it’s not even really worth discussing. The voice acting is similarly not worth discussing in my opinion. The voice actresses did a solid job, but nothing really outstanding. The only thing I will say on this matter is that I’m sad they wasted Kana Hanazawa’s voice acting skills on a throw-away character.
Now I understand that this is the first season, so questions like “how do Doppels work?”, “how do they interact with the stopping of entropy?” and “where is Kyubey in all of this?” are most likely going to be answered in the second season. I’m actually glad that there will be more episodes, because I hope this will counteract(?) the extremely fast pacing a lot of people, such as myself, had issues with, but I doubt it will make up for the whiplash from the first season. I think I will watch it when it comes out, mainly to review it and hope it becomes better, but frankly, my hopes aren’t very high.
To give a quick and spoiler free summary of my review:
TLDR; While some of the animation is quite consistent, the visual presentation can be intriguing from time to time and it rewards attentive viewers (which I always love to see in any visual medium), Magia Record has quite a lot of issues. The cast is bloated with characters and none of them particularly stand out or are very memorable in the end, even when NOT compared to the stellar main cast of the original. The inconsistent and often break-neck pacing exacerbates this issue a lot and the lack of impressive fight scenes (or impressive animation in general) makes Magia Record even a bad “turn off your brain” show. I would seriously advise not wasting your time on this anime, but if you’re still interested even after reading this, don’t let me stop you from doing so. Play the mobile game instead?
Isvi_Berserk
-Note: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible mistakes. (This review does not contain spoilers) This was one of the most anticipated releases this year, the love I have for Madoka is enormous, so my expectation for this spin-off was perhaps too exaggerated for something that ultimately turned out to be nothing more than a long commercial or advertising for the game with the same name. I'll start with the good things of Magia Record. As always, SHAFT studio work is just from another planet, beautiful shots and scenes, continuously well-kept visual work, along with beautiful OST at all times, characters have nice design,series felt really refreshing at first, as a way to expand the world of magical girls and present a different story.
However, that's the best I can say about the show, I'm not going to lie the first episode catches you completely, SHAFT knew how to sell quickly with its first episode, but the series was declining rapidly until presenting a very badly developed plot, presenting a lot of drama, but without any suspense. The narrative is very slow to the point of quickly becoming tedious, the series abuses to present characters at all times, which turn out to be mostly generic characters and with which you don't end up sympathizing or when you start to know them, they are left aside to present another new character while you still try to process who these people are. That's right, the series did not end its presentation, the plot did not feel like it was moving forward in any moment and never did it feel like something important happened, new mysteries appeared chapter after chapter, apart from references or easter eggs that would only capture the attention of people who know the game.
The series stagnated and ended up drinking from nostalgia, being that its best moments were the participation and small cameos of the protagonists of the original series, but that the series does not take off and that presents a slow rhythm is enough to bore your audience. Having potential to explore with its characters, the series chose to continue presenting more and more magical girls as if it were a Battle Royal, decided to move away from the original mystery and continued to introduce new subplots and characters that ended up feeling like a mostly boring filler.
The plot ends up being unattractive, confusing and where nothing happens that makes it interesting.
Anyone reading this poorly written review at the moment would think that I'm only a fan of Madoka Magica who detest this spin-off for being different from the original, and it's that Madoka Magica and Magia Record are incredibly different despite being from the same universe, while Madoka played deeper themes and followed a main thread, Magia Record is a more peaceful anime, more of the day to day that tries to show the ties and friendship between the characters despite their past, but sadly ends up doing it in a dry way.
For start, the story is not written by Gen Urobuchi, even the composition of the music is composed by another group, with that and the show is based on a game it was obvious to expect something very different, I'm not surprised to find a fans who enjoyed this series despite all the mistakes, even if they do not know anything about the game, for my part I'll learn to no longer feel great expectations for any adaptation that comes from a game.
In conclusion, apart from the OST, the art and the characters with “pretty” designs, there is nothing that stands out from this series, hopefully with the 2nd Season confirmed, it can improve as a whole, for now it's just another show "magical girls that fight", while they play house.
FalkenT
Allow me to preface this by stating - Madoka Magica is one of my favorite anime of all time. Even so, I went into this with tempered expectations, knowing it was tied into a gacha game. Even so, I was still disappointed. Story: 1 Seeming like something out of a fanfiction at the best of times, and the ramblings out of a middle schooler's first creative writing project at the worst of times. Art: 7 The art is decent most of the time. All of Curry's art is still absolutely wonderful to behold. But an over-reliance on blatant 3D as well as several animation errors easily pull youout of the show.
Sound: 6
Nothing is particular out of place. And all of the original show's soundtrack is used well, if over-relied upon.
Characters: 1
One of Madoka Magica's greatest strength was keeping its main cast very small. Concise, well developed, and fleshed out. Magia Record does the opposite of this. Characters introduced in the first five episodes are brushed aside, and only get token appearances afterwards while new characters struggle to take their place. In the end, I struggled to even remember their names.
Enjoyment: 1
Shallow, and a waste of a great IP that could have been used to tell far more original stories. Every episode simply left me disappointed.
Overall: 1
It would merely be mediocre, if the ending to the season didn't threaten to tie this story in with the main series' in some large fashion. Keeping it self contained was clearly not good enough, but they couldn't be bothered to tie it into Madoka Magica in a meaningful way. And ending your show on sequel bait is just bad practice.
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Madoka Magica's core strengths can be boiled down to three key points in my mind.
1.The show's story is told very tightly, and concisely. With twelve episodes, they waste none of your time. Almost every scene is dedicated either to setting up later plot points, developing character, or moving the story right along at a strong pace.
2.The number of named characters could be counted on two hands easily. Their arcs are well defined, their character fleshed out, and each one has a satisfying, if sometimes untimely conclusion.
3.The story itself, one of loyalty and dedication, transcends the Magical Girl genre and could easily be told just as it were in a Science Fiction, Fantasy, or a number of other genres. Making it easily relatable.
To this end, Magia Record fails not only to capture the core strengths of the original show, but goes so far as to fail spectacularly at every single one of these points. The story meanders and is unfocused, the initial drive for the main character is never resolved - partly due to the cliffhanger ending the season stops on. The number of characters the show introduces is an order of magnitude larger than the original's. Many of them not appearing more than once or twice before disappearing inexplicably. And the main crux of the story is based purely around them being magical girls, with no room for anything else. Magia Record tries to peddle some lofty ideas while failing to capture the pure simplicity that made Madoka Magica so strong.
At the end of the day, it's just a shameless little tie-in to a gacha game with very little soul. Hardly any of the staff from the original show is involved, so really I'm not surprised. And yet, still, my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.
matrograde
I will start by saying that I think any kind of art review should be able to first and foremost consider the piece of art in question on its own. It would be simple to just compare this series to the original Madoka Magica, which was the original work upon which this series spins off. However, that would not be fair nor, in my opinion, helpful to people who are reading reviews. Magia Record is better than most anime out there in every way. The art and sound, as virtually everything created by Shaft, is of the highest quality. It's creative and elicits strong emotions inthe viewer. The use of lighting and backgrounds and action sequences are used effectively to provide something that is visually stunning and satisfying.
The story and characters are also strong, but they suffer a little due to the fact that this series is adapted from a mobile gacha game. As the reader is probably aware, gacha games are based on the idea that the player will collect as many characters as possible and develop them for play and story. This means that there are more named characters than are really appropriate for a story like this, and it means that none of them really gets developed as fully as one would hope, since most of them get their own arcs. That being said, each of the characters are still better developed and more interesting than the majority of anime characters out there. Additionally, this story, as opposed to the original Madoka Magica, has more potential to be an ongoing series, rather than having a beginning-middle-end all in one season. This means that what was started here will likely grow into something even more interesting as more is released.
Ultimately, if you enjoy the Madoka Magica universe, you will enjoy this.
faeryghost
For a mobile gacha game, Magia Record’s story is serviceable. It’s the perfect breather in between gameplay, and it’s constructed in a way that allows many characters to coexist. Overall, it keeps the player coming back thanks to the pull of the mystery, as well as the ever-growing roster of magical girls to collect. As the first anime installment in the Madoka Magica franchise since the Rebellion movie, Magia Record needed to be more than serviceable. The original twelve episode series, as well as its movie, are extremely well-regarded thanks to their iconic characters, intriguing plot, and immaculate pacing. It’s been a long seven years sincethen, and as such, Magia Record had a lot to live up to. In order for this adaptation to work well, some smart changes needed to be made to make it fit the anime medium. However, Magia Record suffers because, ironically, it is too faithful to the source material.
The biggest issue that viewers seem to have with this show is its pacing, and I would have to agree. Too many characters are introduced far too quickly, and the show does not have enough time to develop them and the plot at the same time. The story tends to race past moments that deserve attention and linger on moments of meandering. With the plot constantly shifting between these two extremes, it can be difficult to grasp who these characters are beyond their initial traits, making them seem like caricatures. All of this makes it difficult to feel invested in anything or anyone in the story.
It isn’t all bad, though. The art and aesthetics of Magia Record are frequently gorgeous. Even in dull moments, there is enough eye-candy on the screen to keep your attention. Furthermore, though the music had little chance of matching Yuki Kaijura’s original masterpiece of a score, it has some interesting and memorable tracks. The direction is hit and miss; though action scenes are frequently confusing, messy, and poorly animated, the quieter scenes are often much more engaging.
Overall, Magia Record, as an anime, fails to live up to its predecessors’ standard of quality. Its story and characters are mediocre, but its pleasing presentation will delight those who value visuals over everything else. In my opinion, this show is best enjoyed by not taking it too seriously and by having fun with its messier moments. This is how I will be approaching the second season of Magia Record when it airs, as I continue to wait patiently for a sequel to Rebellion worthy of the Madoka Magica title.
julbee
I feel like there's a lot of people who said this show was "fine" or "average" because it's not as groundbreaking as the original Madoka, which I think is kind of unfair. Why would you expect the same kind of mindblowing revelations from this show that Madoka had, when it literally says its a spin-off set in the same world? Too much drama in the same vein as Madoka would make it feel cheap, in my opinion. Personally, I enjoyed this show because it introduces so many characters (which I admit can get annoying to follow for some people), giving the viewer insight towardsthe lives of most magical girls who are not the Holy Quintet. The art and animation are amazing, thanks to Shaft, and the ost is really good for setting the tone of specific scenes as well.
The story, which is the most debated part of this show, is not as confusing as all the negative reviews say. The plot is straightforward. Basically, our pink-haired protagonist Iroha Tamaki comes to Kamihama City to search for her sister who no one remembers exists, and meets a bunch of other quirky magical girls along the way, who help her search for her sister while uncovering a conspiracy. (I would say more but that's spoiling) There's also a s2 in production, which sheds light on why the story's pacing can seem weird at times.
I think this show just suffers from being compared to Madoka too much, even though the kind of story it's trying to tell is very different.
Marinate1016
Let me make this clear. Despite being apart of the same universe and franchise, MagiReco is not a Madoka sequel nor does it offer the same type of story and deconstruction of the genre like its predecesor. MagiReco is very much its own story, driven by character interactions and development rather than shock value and fear like Madoka. That doesn’t mean it’s not as good, it’s just a different type of story. Do not come into this expecting people to lose their heads. Despite the differences, I enjoyed this more than the original. MagiReco and FGO both aired during the same time and provided verydifferent examples of how to adapt mobile games. FGO’s amazing story and fight scenes earned it a lot of attention, whereas MagiReco flew very much under the radar, which is really a shame.
Despite being based on the mobile game, there’s no need to have played it or have any exposure to the story before coming into the anime. The anime does a pretty good job of adapting the story and adding in anime original scenes to flesh out or give context to certain events.
Again, I emphasise that this is very much a character driven story. There’s quite a bit of slice of life moments that are done in an effort to characterise the girls. I enjoyed this a lot and found it to be the main thing that separates the series from the original. However, these may not be for everyone.
Technically, you know what to expect from SHAFT. Great visuals, direction, OST and when needed, good fight scenes. MagiReco follows through on all of those expectations. I will add a slight critique to the animation in fights, which at times, I found to be a bit lacking. A minor complaint really.
Overall, I really enjoyed MagiReco and found it to be a nice mix of the themes we saw in Madoka and more typical Mahou Shoujo series. The characters all were well developed and added to the story in one way or another. They all felt important and I appreciated that. Combined with the story, which is well written and the direction, and you’ve got a solid show that I enjoyed more than the original. If you’re into Madoka or Mahou Shoujo in general, give this a watch.
MagiReco gets 9 grief seeds out of 10 from me.
Topknot
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 inmy 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
Justykanna
When I first started Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, I wasn't sure why the MAL rating was so low. Everything seemed to be there in the early going and Iroha, our main character, seemed to be going after something that was obtainable. However, unlike its Alternative series, it doesn't answer any questions. I'll be writing this review with the assumption that you've seen Puella Magi Madoka Magica beforehand. Story: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Starts us out with Iroha, who is a magical girl from Takarazaki City. She goes about her life fighting witches and seemsto be fine doing it, on her own. However, something feels very off to her - neither her, nor Kyuubey remember what she wished for. Not only that, but she has no memory of a little sister that she swears she used to have. That sister, Ui, seems to have had her existence completely removed. Iroha does some searching, leading her to Kamihama City, where she hears that magical girls "can be saved" there. Along the way, she meets multiple other magical girls, in part because the witches in Kamihama seem to be much more aggressive than the ones she's used to fighting back home. That's the basis as to why Iroha is going on this journey.
The ultimate failing of this series is its story structure. It constantly leads Iroha from point A, to B, to C, chasing after rumour after rumour, in order to find out as much as she can about this sister that she doesn't have any concrete memories of. It almost feels like they made it in way that she meets a few new magical girls for a few episodes, helps with their problems, and then repeats... for the entire series. It starts out on a pretty solid premise, but doesn't make any progress on it by the time we're done. It's not all for nothing because we see some pretty significant events happen to the story, but it feels like they try and show two different stories at once. Not only that, but we really don't feel any tension as the events unfold in front of us. Whenever we feel that tension meter rise, the series stops it in its tracks, which was very evident near the start of episode 10. The last two episodes reveal quite a few of details about our characters and even with those being solid, doesn't make up for the poor middle episodes. They just try and be too fancy with introducing way too many characters that mostly feel irrelevant and don't address Iroha's problem at all. (5/10)
Characters: Iroha is a fine character, reminding audiences of Madoka at multiple key points. She passionately chases after rumours, but doesn't seem to have much thought about why she's doing what she's doing. She meets Yachiyo after going to Kamihama City, and she will remind audiences of Homura when the series is done. The copying of our two main characters from the base story isn't bad in itself because they change enough that I didn't mind it, but the story structure did them no favours. The interactions between them had a lot of different feelings, between tense, fun and peaceful. It's solid!
Many of the other magical girls that Iroha meets along the way have different motivations to fight witches and on their own, they have decent backstories, but there's just so many of them that it dilutes what could have been some solid ones - specifically, Felicia, Rena and Kaede. Some of Yachiyo's past magical girl friends also make appearances and sort of make up this secondary storyline that I mentioned about. And while their stories are pretty impactful, squeezing those into Iroha's storyline feels messy at best. Fans of the previous series will see sprinkling of our main cast from the base story, with Mami making the most significant appearance. With it being an alternative storyline, I'm guessing the events from that storyline haven't really happened and the character's are mostly there for fun. They're fine inclusions, with Sayaka's fight near the end being one of my favourites.
The cast in general is fine, and the series very much wants you to be emotionally attached to all of them. However, quality over quantity would have won out here because while they have some really good moments, there's just too many of them. I hope for the sequels that they refocus their efforts on Iroha's goal, while using our characters surrounding her, to get to that goal. That sounds like a decent fix to this very problematic story and character structure. (6/10)
Art: The art mostly looked nice, though fights are so brief that you don't get to see much of that flash and flair. The last two episodes showcase some of the better scenes though so we know they're capable of doing it. It's honestly the same as the base story and should receive praise, just like them. Witches still feel menacing and the labyrinths still give us a sense of dread. The OP got some minor adjustments as Iroha meets new friends and I love when series do that. (8/10)
Sound: While not at the same level and Yuki Kajira, the OST here was really solid. Many of the tracks gave me that JRPG feel and I really enjoyed them. The OP and ED were both solid as well. The feel of the aforementioned aren't on the "creepiness" scale that the main story had, but it probably shouldn't anyway because both these series tackle different issues. The voice cast were very strong with Kira Buckland (Iroha) performing her part really well. (8/10)
OVerall Enjoyment: The messy, messy story structure makes it really difficult to recommend Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, especially if you were a fan of the base story. It's not nearly as moving and there are way too many unnecessary characters. It leaves off on a bit of a cliffhanger, and season 2 has aired, but taking a stab to see if they address their story issues feels like a 50/50 to me. (6/10)
Syureria
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 forusing 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.
tsubxsaa
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" foran 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.
Brolaub
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 thefinale 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.
Krukk
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 isyour 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.
tongmykei87
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.
Oreo_Cheesecake
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, whathappened 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?
Sun_Praiser
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.
