500https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/d/df/Magiarecord.PNG/500pxMagiarecord.PNG?20170723183317 I feel that this review warrants a brief explanation of my decisionmaking process when it comes to choosing what to review. Simply put there is no process. Almost three years ago I decided that I was going to write a review of every novelhttps://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31478727?shelf=reviewed and manga that I read and every animehttps://anilist.co/user/Pockeyramune919/reviews that I watched. I dont just review things that seem interesting to review nor do I seek out things that I think Id be particularly good at reviewing. I arbitrarily review every anime that I decide to watch. I only say that because Im not sure Im personally equipped to review Magica Record. Towards the end I realized that maybe Im just not the person to get the show through not much fault of its own. But the show as they say must go on and I wont let Madoka er Iroha be the one to break my resolve. Besides my review could still prove helpful to someone. I actually have a history with the Madoka franchise albeit not a particularly rich one. Part of this is because I only watched its most famous entry Puella Magi Madoka Magicahttps://anilist.co/anime/9756/MahouShoujoMadokaMagica. I remember enjoying it well enough when I watched it four years ago. I had basic knowledge of the show so I already knew about the twist but that didnt make the anime any less impactful for me. It was tense unsettling yet still emotionally poignant. While the show isnt one of my favorites though that 10 I gave it implies otherwise I still thought it was great. So great that I didnt really want it ruined in light of the mixed reception I heard regarding the movies. But still Ill watch them eventually. My lack of investment probably keeps me from being a Madoka fan but the interest was there if a new anime cropped up. And loandbehold soon that anime was on the horizon. I didnt know much besides it being the adaption of a phone game but I was optimistic that it would be as good as the original. 520https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/e/e4/Episode11Gertrud7.png/275pxEpisode11Gertrud7.png?20200316161731 Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story/Gaiden commonly shortened to either Magia Record or Madoka Gaiden centers around NotMadoka Iroha Tamaki who cannot recall the wish that facilitated her transformation into a magical girl. Until recently she also lost her memory of her ill younger sister Ui. In the current day Ui has disappeared and Iroha seems to be the only person in the world who is aware she existed. Iroha catches wind of a rumor that magical girls can be saved if they go to Kamihama City . When she arrives she bonds with other magical girls fights monsters known as the Uwasa and finds herself wrapped up in a mysterious group Wings of Magius whose goal is to liberate all magical girls... The art direction is as beautiful as ever. Transformation sequences are amazingly animated and the fight scenes are fluid to the point of hecticness. I enjoyed the shows linework. The uwasas labyrinths are as trippy as the witches of the past and Im so for it. Dramatic lighting also goes a very long way in setting up a tone of dread. And speaking of tone another thing that I can commend this show for is its mood. It is in some ways similar to the original show and in others a departure from it. Madoka did a chillingly good job of fostering a sense of creepiness and dread due to the horrible things that we witnessed. MagiReco takes a different approach in fostering unsettling feelings. Nothing quite as gruesome happens in this show as OG Madoka but fans of the original will come to expect there to be and thus will be on guard the entire time. Dont let this fool you into thinking Magia Record lets its predecessor do all of the work however. Magia Record while not quite scary can be creepy with its monsters and the psychological effects they have on the characters and their relationships. No principal character meets a grim demise like in Madoka but because of that youre left asking when? Like Madoka the anime uses a grim fantastical setting to raise unsettling psychological questions. Im impressed that Magia Record managed to capture the creepy essence of Madoka while very much doing its own thing with it. It still feels like Madoka without being a retread. 500https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/0/04/Episode4Candy2.png/800pxEpisode4Candy2.png?20200125210118 Unfortunately I think my problem is that I wish it was more like Madoka in some regards. Now dont get me wrong Im not the type of person who feels a sequel should be the same as the originalhttps://anilist.co/review/4178l but I just didnt find Magia Record as compelling as the original show for a myriad of reasons. First of all while I didnt dislike the characters more often than not they didnt resonate with me. They have interesting backstories Felicias desire to kill all witches because theyre responsible for her parents deaths and Yachiyos wish to advance her career are just two examples. These backstories are the strongest things these characters have going for them for theyre what tether us to them and make us care. Unfortunately my interest didnt extend much past the backstories. It seems like the characters are given the briefest moment to shine before being shooed away to make room for whatever monsteroftheweek the cast will be dealing with next. While the characters are still around they feel more like setpieces. It feels like characters drop out of the show when in reality they drop out of importance and focus. I can tell you their background I can tell you some of their personalities but I could not for the life of me tell you what most of them do. 500https://i.ur.com/XlAWHX1.png As indicative of this when episode three aired three months ago I wrote Rena doesnt deserve Kaede. From this its clear that Magia Record can make me feel things and its characters can rope me into their dramas. But if you told me that Kaede and Rena dropped out the show after this episode Id believe you. If you told me they were there but didnt do anything Id also believe you. Maybe they continued to do things but their actions were so small that I forgot in the time between watching the show and writing this review. Its a very minor point but whats up with Irohas partner Kuroe? She appears in the first episode and is seemingly never acknowledged again. I dont know why but this has really irked me since episode two. 500https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/7/7f/Episode1Boxwood37.png/800pxEpisode1Boxwood37.png?20200317151237 Nevermind she apparently reappeared in episode thirteen so this particular critique is borne from my own idiocy but more on that briefly though in my defense her reappearance was as unacknowledged as her disappearance. 500https://i2.wp.com/doublesama.com/wpcontent/uploads/2020/03/MagiaRecordEpisode134.jpg?w=640 Another minor point but I enjoyed it when characters from the OG Madoka popped in from time to time. Unfortunately these tend to err more on the side of cameos though Mamis shaping up to be pretty prominent. I guess this is to theoretically let the new characters shine to mixed results as detailed above. 500https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/5/52/Episode5Mamiconfrontation11.png/800pxEpisode5Mamiconfrontation11.png?202002072359550 And as I hinted before a personal problem with this show isnt so much a problem which implies fault but more a barrier to entry: Im not the most astute of animegoers. Subtleties seem to evade me. It can be hard for me to grasp the bigger picture. Subtitles which tend to demand a high amount of focus arent my preferred mode of watching though I manage. All of this is simply to say that I might struggle with a complex show. And that isnt to say I havent dealt with obtuse shows before: for one I just finished Kaibahttps://anilist.co/review/6224. When I didnt understand something Id consult a discussion thread. Generally Id underestimate my intelligence and Id find Id the meaning without needing to read the thread. That wasnt the case with this show. I was very very lost while watching Magia Record. I swear every time I blinked Id miss crucial information. Recaps such as PlanetJaneshttps://www.geekgirlauthority.com/magiarecordrecaps01e03/ and discussion threadshttps://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/f0twpc/magiarecordmahoushoujomadokamagicagaiden/ were my lifeline. If youre anything like me youll absolutely need them to parse through what you just watched. Im glad that these resources exist but I dislike that it felt like I needed them. And I dislike even more the fact that I cant quite articulate why I felt the anime was so confusing. Was it just dense? Was it very subtle? The fact that I cant quite place my finger on it causes me to believe Im just dumb. This conclusion isnt born completely out of selfloathing however. When I commented on a discussion thread to state I didnt get the significance of the numbers in episode six I was accused of either trolling or not paying attention. I guess Im just too dumb for this show. Again maybe Im just not the type of person to get Madoka Record. 500https://images.puellamagi.net/thumb/9/94/Episode6SymbolWitch3.png/800pxEpisode6SymbolWitch3.png?20200208180752 Then theres the main fatal flaw that I found the cardinal sin of any form of entertainment: I found this show kind of boring. It would be disingenuous to state that I found it all boring. there were certainly interesting parts but overall I found it kind of listless. I somewhat attribute this to the very thing I praised before: its tone. While it does a very good job of creating dread without things getting as dark as its predecessor the flipside of this is that a lot of the time it feels like were building up to something that never comes. Theres a distinct feeling of tension thats unresolved. Its like a balloon thats being continuously being pumped. Its dangerously close to popping but then its allowed to deflate. This continues to happen and soon youve come to expect it and thus it offers no excitement. It doesnt feel like anything really happens in this show and thats supremely frustrating given the tension. Humorously my younger brother refused to watch this show due to finding Madoka Magica too creepy but the reaction is largely unwarranted in regards to Magia Record. In the final episode when something substantial finally does happen I was so desensitized by Magia Records goading that my reaction was an unenthused yeah thats kind of cool. 500https://i.yt.com/vi/z4DgoQkXby8/maxresdefault.jpg I know this can come across as me being upset that this isnt Madoka Magica. Im fine with a followuphttps://anilist.co/review/3555 not being the same as the original. My problem is that Magia Records difference its lack of payoff makes for a somewhat lackluster story in general not specifically in the context of the series. In a vacuum all of this would probably amount to me giving Magia Record a six at best. But then came the announcement: Magia Record would be a split cour show with the second half presumably premiering next year. This revelation forced me to recontextualize the show and reassess it in light of it. The lack of payoff could be due to this being only the beginning of the story the exposition and the beginning of the rising action. Presumably the crap would only start really hitting the fan after the first season. In light of the second season my biggest gripe can be justified fairly well. The characters should have more of a chance to shine as well. But the fact that this is the first half of a story can only helpso much. Ideally the first half of a story isnt a snore. Ideally the characters will still be engaging. Ideally you have more than atmosphere to carry you through. I acknowledge that I watched the show somewhat incorrectly due to thinking it was supposed to be selfcontained. However I also acknowledge that even as the setup to something larger this still has some big issues. Yet these issues arent enough to deter me from watching the second season. If I hated the show I wouldnt look forward to its continuation. Even if it was sparse there was something that I enjoyed in Magia Record. While it might be naive while it might lead to disappointment Im optimistic that Ill enjoy the conclusion to Magia Record even if I didnt enjoy the first all too well. Wow looking forward to the next entry even after the previous one burned me? Maybe I really am a fan. 6.7/10 D+ 500https://i.redd.it/tsjf97o9g9r51.jpg Though Im going to have to do a lot of studying to be prepared for my second go of Magia Record.