And so Magia Record ends – at least for now since the second season is confirmed – on a sad note. Not only am I disappointed (but not too surprised) about how unresolved everything is, but also this finale does a sloppy job to expand the big reveal last week. So we learned last week about the Doppel as a way to prevent Magical Girls from becoming a Witch, but this week Doppel serves as a weapon to boost the girls’ attack power and suddenly our girls can control the ability at will (Yachiyo with her casual remark: “oh by the way, I know how to use Doppel as well” – Hello, we are not in Yugioh universe). Yachiyo also serves as another source of disappointment, as the way she reacts is pretty inconsistent (“I don’t consider you girls as friends” in the previous episode and then “I decide to disband the team” now – what “team” exactly?). Her flashback is likewise inconsistent as well. Her wish is “to survive”, but what does it have any connection to her being a leader of an idol group?
In addition, the show breaks my suspension of disbelief where Yachiyo and Iroha spend the first half wandering the Magius’s hideout without encountering anyone. Knock, knock! Where are all the girls in the last episode? Does the Wing of Magius cult only have like… 5 members? This disappointment doesn’t stop there, either. The original cast reappears without any context at all, and for me it serves as a way this Madoka-spinoff wants to include old hats for the sake of it and not for the benefits of the plot. By all counts, Nami is the least likely character to be involved in any of this, yet here she’s manipulated by Touka and throws up thousand swords to kill our girls. Hmmm. It would have worked much better if someone from within the Wings of Magius does this instead of her, and that reminds me, where is Mifuyu in this finale? Narrative-wise, it should be her to serve as a main villain given she has strong personal ties to Yachiyo, yet it turns out she isn’t even the high rank of the cult.
I don’t expect this finale to wrap up Iroha’s quest to find Ui but I still find it astonishing that the main plot thread is treated more as an afterthought all this time. Full review will come where I address what works (very little) and what goes wrong (a lot) in Magia Record, but I will tell you for sure that I’m not following the second cour. When Iroha gets dragged down to the abyss I just have this crazy wish that she could team up with Riko, Rei and Nanachi to explore the wonders inside the abyss because it would turn out much more interesting show than this. Please Kyubey, grant my wish!
Any thoughts on the animation in this show? Many say the sakuga is one of the few bright spots in this show when it comes to the action scenes. But it seems like you’re going to elaborate more on this in the full review no?
I think I’ve become that kind of curmudgeon who isn’t impressed by pretty visuals alone, and that feeling I’m getting with games is starting to bleed into anime lol.
Yeah, I will say more about its production in the full review, but long story short is that it’s still a Shaft show so it’s more about impressionist background arts and great shot composition than animation. The action scenes are far and few between so they don’t impress me that much.
Eh, as disappointing as this finale was, I kinda knew there’d be a second season, and I’m still gonna watch it. Probably because I’m just so desperate to find just any modern anime that doesn’t have panty shots or boob grabbing.