Mahou Shoujo Suzune★Magica
Puella Magi Suzune★Magica

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(Some spoilers ahead, be warned.)
Some people say the worst thing to happen to Madoka Magica was Rebellion, or the Battle Pentagram, or perhaps the fanservice in it's promo artwork- I disagree. If there was ever something truly damning in the Madoka franchise, it's Suzune Magica. It's shows that maybe, if you want good sales on your novel, maybe you should put some effort into making interesting characters.

Suzune Magica is an exercise in exploring the Magical girl assassins of the pre-law of Cycles world. Those who're aware of what becomes of Magical girls after their Soul gems corrupt fully and hunt their subordinates in an attempt ... to keep the world of Witches from increasing and saving the others from what they deem the worst fate possible. The main problem with Suzune Magica is how the story fits into this concept. If this was an intro into a new world where a majority of the audience isn't familiar with it's source material, Madoka magica, this could be done well enough.

But since we know what the consequences of being a magical girl are (See: Sudden and Tragic Death), we know what Suzune's motivations are. However, the story pretends that we couldn't possibly have this knowledge, and continues to dance around these consequences as though they're a huge, incredible mystery. Since this is included in Suzune's character, as being the magical girl 'in-the-know' of everything, while everyone else is ignorant, it serves to make her seem really pretentious when interacting with anyone other than Matsuri. Even though we can see her more emotionally driven side, it doesn't make her any more likeable in the way Homura becomes more sympathetic as Madoka progresses. The only likable characters in Suzune magica are Matsuri, Arisa and Chisato. That's out of six/seven main cast members, a majority of whom aren't even antagonists- They're just not enjoyable as characters.
Similarly, the story here is absolutely terrible. If they'd stuck with the straight forward idea "Suzune is a magical girl that kills other magical girls" and attempted to make everyone likable, it'd have worked. But no, they added in a completely random antagonist magical girl because...angst? Exposition? It's never made clear what exactly Kagari was added for. She tries bringing unbelievable elements to the story, and her revenge plot is far more complex than it needs to be. She does provide good foil for Matsuri and Suzune, so I suppose she can be forgiven for existing. It doesn't make her convictions any more believable, though.

The art in Suzune is nice, though the character designs are mainly kind of dumb- mainly in Suzune and Arisa's case, the former having a heavy scent of shamelessly 'borrowing' from Black Rock Shooter. None of them are terrible, but only Matsuri and Kagari's seemed particularly interesting and magical girl-esque. In general, Suzune magica wasn't awful, but I don't think it's all the great. The story falters, either telling us what we already know or giving us what we don't need (See: Kagari). Where this could have been a simple story about the harsh reality for magical girls pre-law of cycles, Suzune tried adding in a plot that simply didn't need to be there, while also not giving it's characters the attention they needed to hold up said plot. Because of this, the manga suffers in everyway, and while it might not be an awful manga, it's definitely not nearly as compelling as any of it's Franchise's other spin-off stories.

I´ve read several Madoka spin-off so far and I must say, I found Suzune to be probably the best spin-off so far. First of all, the story itself focuses on entirely different characters, different environment etc. I personally found not only MC Suzune, but also other protagonists very enjoayble. The art is very good, simply great. Loved it. Also the story continuity was interesting and easy to read and understand. Overall enjoyment was very high for me, 9/10. Maybe if I would come across better spin-off, I´ll change it; but so far this is the best spin-off for me. For die-hard Madoka fans, I ... definitely recommend you to read it - it´s quite short.

Madoka spinoffs are nothing if not scattershot in quality. With the exception of Tart Magica, it's hard to name one of the "new cast" spinoffs that succeeds on every front. Oriko Magica is sincere in its efforts and has deeply intriguing characters, but is an artistic mess and only really realizes its potential in Sadness Prayer. Kazumi Magica is full-to-bursting with new ideas and concepts and worldbuilding, but it comes at the cost of a story that feels almost completely directionless. But all that said, if there's a story in the wonky extended universe of Madoka that lacks anything to really offer, it's Suzune.

Now, Suzune ... is far from irredeemable, from a pure craft perspective. Artistically, it looks great, with vibrant action scenes, consistent anatomy, and some solid witch designs. This is let down by the character designs somewhat (several of them look like straight-up lifts, and a lot of them are unnervingly revealing), but it's a story that's definitely a feast for the eyes. There are also ideas on display that are pretty intriguing: we catch glimpses of a magical girl in her twenties who ends up serving as an impromptu mother for a younger one, and we see a variety of different wishes that all serve as nifty mini-arcs

Unfortunately, where Suzune crumbles quickly is in the wider story: that is to say, it's a story that simply has too little plot. The idea of a magical girl serial killer is interesting... but it's been done before, in Oriko Magica, and that only used it as a subplot. And unlike Oriko, Suzune doesn't really have another plot going on, which results in the overall story feeling very thin. You could explain everything that happens in the first ten chapters of this sixteen-chapter manga in a paragraph or two, and it feels like the writer is aware of this, because the story is positively laden with flashbacks. I'd estimate a third or so of the story is flashbacks, because so little actually happens in the main plot.

What's more, a large chunk of the plot is built around, to put it frankly, time-wasting. The first third or so of the story is built around the question: "why is Suzune killing magical girls?" And anyone who's loosely familiar with the series will probably immediately reach the conclusion of "to stop them from turning into witches." Yet the series seems convinced this is a mystery, even though it's the first assumption one would make. After this reveal has been dropped, the story meanders for a bit, dropping Suzune's entire backstory... and then (and this is true) the writer was told he had to make it three volumes instead of two.

Consequently, at the end of the second volume, the already clumsy story practically falls off a cliff, as a completely new character is introduced in an attempt to tie the events of the series together in a ludicrous revenge plot and serve as a bizarre final boss. While the series seemed to have no real idea where to go aside from some general final confrontation once the cast had been whittled down sufficiently, the third volume actively torpedoes much of the story. Nearly the entire thing ends up being dedicated to a single fight scene!

I could, perhaps, forgive the issues of Suzune if it had a strong cast, enough to carry the weak narrative through their interactions. Unfortunately, that is not the case. That's not to say there aren't a handful of fun and compelling characters involved--more that none of them really get any time to themselves. There's moments here and there, but between the odd pacing and the excess of flashbacks, they rarely get time to breathe. Chisato suffers from this the worst, as the sacrificial lamb; she ends up being killed off in the second chapter, and consequently needs multiple flashback chapters to explain how she related to the other characters. Arisa is easily the strongest character in the main cast, despite being mostly your cliche tsundere, but even she has no real role in the finale. Suzune herself has moments of intrigue and a solid backstory, but for nearly the entire main plot, she's little more than a selfrighteous, taciturn bore.

And in terms of character relationships, Suzune, unfortunately, falls very flat. This is another case where it has to compare to its rivals--even at their low points, Madokaverse stories can still often work based on strong bonds and interesting interactions between its cast. Yet Suzune lacks these almost entirely. It attempts to build something between Matsuri and Suzune, but it doesn't feel earned. It doesn't make sense for Matsuri to want to befriend Suzune, and it doesn't make sense for Suzune to want to let Matsuri live... and when the entire finale has to be carried by the relationship between these two, that's a real problem.

Overall, Suzune Magica generally lacks much to recommend about it. It does little that hasn't been done before and better, and it's all hanging on a plot that is simultaneously crammed and threadbare. There's stuff to salvage here for the fanfic writers, but other than that, I can't recommend it beyond completionism.