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May 17, 2022
SPOILERS FOR THE ORIGINAL MADOKA MAGICA SERIES
When I watched the first season of Magia Record, I knew it wasn't going to be 100% faithful to the game. I knew it was going to cram as much story as it could into 13 episodes. Despite this, I enjoyed it! The ending of the first season was surprising yet interesting and emotionally impactful.
Season 2 built on this momentum. Even though the first three episodes were different from the game's story, they were amazing! And with where the season left off, I was excited for what Season 3 could do.
Yeah... in hindsight, I should have known trying to
...
wrap a series up in four episodes was a bad idea. I guess I just hoped they could pull it off. I will give credit to the animation and soundtrack, but those are pretty much the only thing I enjoyed. The pacing was similar to the first season, particularly with the anime-original events. A lot happened in succession, so it was hard to process. The events themselves, which I normally appreciate, were also just... no. I will break down the worst offenses while doing my best not to spoil anything:
1. Kuroe. She was a MINOR role in the first season, with suddenly a LOT more relevance in the second. Not my favorite part of the second season, but I decided to give her a pass. Yeah... I could no longer give her a pass here. She was already affecting the plot for no reason; this time, she is directly involved with Iroha's character motivation and growth. And she had a whole episode dedicated to this- which, because it's 4 episodes, is a quarter of the season! WHY?? We have Yachiyo for that! We have Ui! There was also an anime-only event that later affected Iroha on the same level... they literally had her go through the same development twice in a row with 2 different characters just because they couldn't drop this character!!
2. Character death that was not in the game. Again, I stand by some of the anime-only choices. I was actually fine with 3 of the deaths in the anime, as they made quite an emotional impact. One of them was ridiculous though; the character stopped being relevant to the main group in the anime. Where's the impact? The character WAS relevant to two side characters, but do we see these side characters grieve her at all? Also, this was supposed to be a spinoff lighter in tone. I guess nothing says "light spinoff" like 5 or 6 character deaths!
3. Final moments. First off, the anime literally rolls the credits as soon as the main five girls gather after saving the day. They basically said "Oh no, we're not giving any sort of closure, bye!" Luckily there was an after-credits scene, but it was also a pretty bad way to end a series. "Hey so we saved a town, but our lives still suck and we will continue to suffer." Yep, this is what Madoka sacrificed herself for.
4. The HUGE middle finger to Iroha's character motivation and goals. I will argue that Madoka is a better protagonist than Iroha; that being said, I STILL respect Iroha enough to allow her to achieve her goals, even if she has to make big sacrifices to do so. There was NO reason Iroha couldn't go through the emotional developments she went through and still have completed her goal. That's what happened in Madoka Magica; even though Madoka sacrificed her entire existence, she completed her goal of saving others. What the writers did made me genuinely angry.
5. They shafted (no pun intended) the original cast. Yes, I know it's a spinoff. Yes, I know the main cast would have a minor role in the story. Except... they didn't? Mami, Kyoko, and Sayaka appeared in the first season and were part of the main plot. So were Madoka and Homura, along with the previous three, in the second season. There was an ENTIRE EPISODE dedicated to Homura, Mdaoka, and Sayaka learning the truth about Magical Girls. Now all of a sudden they don't exist? They're shown for only ONE SCENE? AND THEN WE GET TWO SECONDS OF CLOSURE (NO, MORE LIKE WRAPUP) IN THE AFTER-CREDITS??
TLDR: Bad pacing, filler character, writers gave a middle finger to the main character and the audience on several occasions throughout.
And... I guess I will wrap this review up as badly as the series was wrapped up. Thank you for reading. Bye!
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 9, 2021
I don't normally review anime and manga, but I feel like this series deserves more positive attention. As you can tell by the 9 I gave it, it wasn't a masterpiece or anything, but it did give me the warm, butterfly feelings while reading.
Possible triggers: homophobia and... Ok, there is an older character who was Sanada's ex. The age gap is about 9-10 years. Not everyone will be comfortable reading the story because of this, and I understand.
However, I want to make it clear that he is NOT a predatory character. I could see if he was trying to make moves on Sanada after
...
they broke up, or if he made moves on any of the other teenage characters. But he didn't do ANY of that. You can tell that his purpose in the story is to be a mentor to the younger, gay teens. His interactions with Noshiro in particular are quite wholesome.
What I liked:
Noshiro as the protagonist. First, it's refreshing to see BL not being between two skinny dudes with six-packs. Despite being chubby, he is also athletic and is not constantly eating food. Second, he has a likeable personality. He's a genuinely compassionate, fun guy that I would like to know in real life. Of course he has flaws: sometimes he oversteps and can be clueless, but if these flaws end up hurting people, he feels guilty and owns up to it. Third, his journey reminds me of my own. At first, I was just interested in gay stuff because I wanted to help LGBT teens after hearing about some of the things they went through. Later I realized I was bisexual. Noshiro's journey with Sanada is similar: at first, he wants to reach out to the school outcast and is curious about being gay. Then whoops, here come the feelings!
Sanada's growth, particularly in his interactions with Noshiro. It wasn't Zuko-level or anything, but you can tell he starts to open up more and more to Noshiro as the story goes on. He becomes less aloof and more kind to him, and they share moments that range from fluffy to angsty to somewhere in between. He also feels guilty about things between him and his childhood friend, and later does his best to rectify it.
The female childhood friend of Sanada is not crazy or predatory like rival interests in other stories (Citrus)! She's cute and chill.
Makoto can be annoying sometimes, but you know what? He's a bundle of energy and optimism and it's hard not to smile when he's on the page. And again, rival love interest that's not crazy or a jerk! Whoo!
The art style is so cute and aesthetically appealing! They say not to judge a book by its cover, but sorry, I loved the character designs the moment I saw them.
A look at how LGBT life is like in Japan. Although I live in the US, in my experience, a lot of LGBT people do online dating. So it was nice to people in other countries do it too. Also, sorry Noshiro, not all gay guys like BL.
But of course, there were also things I didn't like:
Pacing. I knew this was going to be a slow burn, but dang. It made Bloom into You look quicker. There were a couple of plot points that felt dragged out to the point where I was wondering if I should even bother with the second volume. Thankfully I did!
Like I mentioned earlier, Makoto can be annoying sometimes.
In summary, if you like Bloom into You, this is basically the guy version! If you like slow burn romances and cute art, and aren't triggered by homophobia or age gaps, please give it a try!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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