Review of Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story
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?