Review of Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story

What Singularity is this? Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is probably the anime that LA just couldn't pinpoint at, no not on it's characters or on one of it's surface level plot it had, no what LA couldn't pinpoint was how ALL of this, this "Side Story" to be attached to the Madoka Magica franchise. Before that. LA will get to the good stuff, for the most part the characters are it's best strength from the main character Iroha Tamaki voiced by Momo Asakura trying to find her little sister Ui and adventures into the city of Kamihama to find her and along the way findsmore magical girls as well as Iroha finding a "new family" as it were. The core cast magical girls gets their own "arcs" as it were giving them ALOT of development from Felicia Mitsuki voiced by Ayane Sakura, Sana Futaba voiced by Yui Ogura and Yui Tsuruno voiced by Shiina Natsukawa with a bit more extensive ongoing character development from Yachiyo Nanami voiced by Sora Amamiya ALSO trying to find someone. We do at first gets into a click with a trio of magical girls Momoka Togame voiced by Mikako Komatsu (who LA does like), Rena Minami voiced by Kaori Ishihara and Kaede Akino viced by Ayaka Ohashi getting into a bit of friendship squabble with their arc. But yeah ALL these magical girls have their goals but all affected by these "rumor witches" and the organization that puppeteers them. To this end, as LA said, LA REALLY liked Momoka but her screentime gets heavily reduced in the latter episodes, but for Iroha's gang, LA liked Felicia for her personality, while LA could relate to Sana.

Another strength is that the aesthetic is pretty much the same as the original Madoka Magica anime series, SHAFT obviously animated this and thus it "feels" like Madoka Magica but with other characters and weirdly enough, ORIGINAL characters from the original anime series makes cameos and they are in their own factions reflecting what they would of done in the original series. Finally LA will say Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden DOES try to expand on the Madoka franchise, from the different witches of the "Rumor Witches" and by extension what "Doppels" are to Witches...LA won't go into spoilers with that one, but it's a decent element to Madoka's franchise, slightly bordering on confusion.

Now uhhh incomes the problem with Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden, even with all the new additions to all these characters to the "Doppels" as well as cameos from most of the original anime characters...LA will reiterate what LA at the very start of this "Side Story"..."What Singularity is this?", like LA just couldn't pinpoint it and because of this, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden can outright bring in new elements into it sure, but it can also asspulls things for the sake of it, "Doppels" and the original anime cast being some of it's element affected, it's again even worse since it's centred around Kamihama City. Why does LA keep talking about this and why it's a point of contention?, well due to the Madoka Magia Movies...well YEAH talking meta with how Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden affects with the Madoka Magica franchise DOES need to be said and guess what Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden doesn't care to explain it AT ALL, thus the MASSIVE confusion and why LA can pinpoint this Side Story whatsoever.

Let LA make a bit of comparison to another Aniplex game turned anime adaptation ALSO from an alternative "universe" scenarios. Fate Grand Order, at least in Fate Grand Order if you watch the First Order OVA to the Prologue to Babylonia can give enough material as to WHATS GOING ON, Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden just doesn't and sure to it's defence, FGO Babylonia had MORE episodes but Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden even with 13 episodes could at least throw us a bone and sure IT DOES in one or two episodes, but that those episodes MOSTLY talks about plot twists from the ORIGINAL series (and sure a bit on Doppels).

The voice cast is overall decent so LA won't really say much with standouts being Momo Asakura as Iroha, Sora Amamiya as Yachiyo, Yui Ogura as Sana and Mikako Komatsu as Momoka. Decent voice cast.

Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is probably what LA experienced if LA didn't "get" let alone "play" Fate Grand Order and is thrown into a pit of confusion every episode LA watched it. Again, it's characters are it's best strength as well as the aesthetic of being Madoka Magica, but where Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden flaws seeps out is how it tries and fails to explain itself to it's continuation to it's larger more popular parent anime of Madoka Magica and how intrinsically linked it is and doesn't explain it makes it even worse.

And the finale that it drops to us, that sure character-wise DOES make a bit of sense, but it just stops after dropping us a HUGE plot twist to it. But thinking deeper into it, it kinda makes sense but kinda doesn't as well but with Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden not explaining things that much and this plot twist was a finale cliffhangar deal, yeah we don't get an explanation on that either. So the finale did "kinda" explain things but as soon as they explained the basis of Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden with it's characters, they pulled ANOTHER mystery to it which they won't explain unless you play the mobile game.

LA think LA said this in another anime but LA will say it here, if you can't invested into an anime world and the anime itself doesn't explain itself (and worse since it's linked to a parent anime) we got a HUGE problem of wondering...if it's fanfiction or "whether this Side Story" can do whatever the hell it wants to meets it's plot needs.

Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden is a 50/100...ahh LA means 60/100