Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Paperthreader
I just watched this anime for the 3rd time in a week. I was in the hospital and had nothing else to do. I was lightheaded from the morphine, and this was honestly the perfect anime to watch during that period. Why? Because it is gorgeous and confusing. I had to watch it 3 times just to vaguely understand the plot. The plot is so confusing and fastpaced with new characters constantly showing up, you can definitely tell it's a just a big budget ad for a gacha game lol.
To both its benefit and detriment, this anime is Studio Shaft at its Shaft-iest. There are so many gorgeous shots and buildings that make absolutely no sense. The visual storytelling is very indirect, and requires a lot of interpretation from the viewer. Because of this, it's really hard to follow what is actually happening…
Read at the sourceTopknot
I was really excited for this when it was first announced. I then watched it weekly, to completion. And then at some point forgot that I'd completed it and watched the whole second back half again, picking up on the last memorable episode, and wondering, "Have I seen this?" It was only on the second time watching the last episode that I could be sure I'd seen the whole show already.
The original Puella Magi Madoka Magica is special to me, as I know it is to a lot of anime fans. For me when I think back on the show, what sticks best in my mind was the powerful music and the jaw dropping mixed media elements of the show. I LOVED seeing that combination of master craft juxtaposed with weirdly proportioned character designs and often goofy looking animation of the Magical Girls [which is, I…
Read at the sourceJustykanna
When I first started Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, I wasn't sure why the MAL rating was so low. Everything seemed to be there in the early going and Iroha, our main character, seemed to be going after something that was obtainable. However, unlike its Alternative series, it doesn't answer any questions. I'll be writing this review with the assumption that you've seen Puella Magi Madoka Magica beforehand.
Story: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Starts us out with Iroha, who is a magical girl from Takarazaki City. She goes about her life fighting witches and seems to be fine doing it, on her own. However, something feels very off to her - neither her, nor Kyuubey remember what she wished for. Not only that, but she has no memory of a little sister tha…
Read at the sourceAceJade
Magia Record as a series is, in a word, disappointing. It explores many interesting ideas, and the animation and music live up to the original Madoka, but a jarring story and uninteresting characters undermine it.
Judged on its own merits, it's a mediocre work. Judged against the high standard of Madoka Magica, it falls horrendously short.
Art and Sound: 10/10 and 8/10
They are, in a word, amazing. Every fight scene is beautifully animated and exciting visually and musically. Both the background art and music throughout Kamihama also does a good job bringing the city to life and making it feel as eerie as it's supposed to. The character designs are cute, and the magical girl transformation scenes are well animated. There's really not anything to criticize.
Characters: 3/10
The characte…
Read at the sourceOreo_Cheesecake
I have never felt so disappointed in my life.
Madoka Magica was an absolute blast of a show that shocked the world with its rather *dark* themes, drawing the attention of many anime viewers, and resulting in a trend of dark magical girl shows. However, Magia Record is nothing like that. In fact, ironically the show's themes are less dark than many of the other dark magical girl series inspired by the original Madoka. At the end of the day, after waiting so long for a sequel, I just want to bang my head against the wall in utter despair and shock.
Story: 3
Oh god, what happened here? Episodes 1-10 are literally character introductions. CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS. I don't understand why the creators thought to have 13 magical girls, as well as attempting to connect the show with watered-down…
Read at the sourceSun_Praiser
Synopsis: In a vacuum where only Madoka Magica exists, it can be argued that Magia Record scores low; though in the context of the genre that the series is placed in, Magia Record is a magical girl show filled with excitement and drama that cannot be found in just any similar show.
Plot, World, & Characters: Magia Record continues to deliver unique and memorable designs, our protagonist and deuteragonist have an ongoing story that you will want to follow until the end of the series. All side characters are also well fleshed out, giving the impression that there's a world outside of our just protagonist's view, something that can be lacking in other entries of the verse.
Art & Sound: Magia Record has the SHAFT, shaft. The artwork suffers later on as the art budget becomes limited towards…
Read at the sourcematrograde
I will start by saying that I think any kind of art review should be able to first and foremost consider the piece of art in question on its own. It would be simple to just compare this series to the original Madoka Magica, which was the original work upon which this series spins off. However, that would not be fair nor, in my opinion, helpful to people who are reading reviews.
Magia Record is better than most anime out there in every way. The art and sound, as virtually everything created by Shaft, is of the highest quality. It's creative and elicits strong emotions in the viewer. The use of lighting and backgrounds and action sequences are used effectively to provide something that is visually stunning and satisfying.
The story and characters are also strong, but they suffer a little d…
Read at the sourceBixxbite
This review of Magia Record contains spoilers to both Magia Record and some plot points of the original Madoka Magica!! For anyone who has not seen Magia Record, there will be a spoiler free TLDR at the end of this review.
Let me preface this review with a disclaimer as well. I will be comparing and contrasting some aspects of Magia Record with the original Madoka Magica, which I know is a point of contention among some viewers (though I will not compare it to Rebellion, because I feel it’s unfair to compare a TV anime with an anime movie because of the scheduling constraints TV anime usually have). While this is NOT a comparative essay, I believe it's fair to compare the two to a certain extent, as they take place in the same universe and because you would have to have seen Madoka Magica…
Read at the sourcetsubxsaa
This will be my first actual written review. I went into this anime EXCITED and HOPEFUL because I loved the Madoka Magica anime. I was like ok completely new characters, it is fine since it isn't some crappy re-continuation. But god,,, please this anime disappointed to no end. The whole time watching I was expecting more of the anime and waiting for something to happen. I know know, it shouldn't be a carbon copy of the original Madoka Magica, but it didn't try anything to divert your expectations AT ALL. This anime feels like pure magical girl fan service and new magical girl "waifus" for an original manga/show that should not have an anime like this and ruins the original.
Not to mention, the characters in this anime are very dull, like VERY DULL. In the original Madoka Magica, they took…
Read at the sourceFalkenT
Allow me to preface this by stating - Madoka Magica is one of my favorite anime of all time. Even so, I went into this with tempered expectations, knowing it was tied into a gacha game. Even so, I was still disappointed.
Story: 1
Seeming like something out of a fanfiction at the best of times, and the ramblings out of a middle schooler's first creative writing project at the worst of times.
Art: 7
The art is decent most of the time. All of Curry's art is still absolutely wonderful to behold. But an over-reliance on blatant 3D as well as several animation errors easily pull you out of the show.
Sound: 6
Nothing is particular out of place. And all of the original show's soundtrack is used well, if over-relied upon.
Characters: 1
One of Madoka Magica's greatest strength was keeping its m…
Read at the sourcejulbee
I feel like there's a lot of people who said this show was "fine" or "average" because it's not as groundbreaking as the original Madoka, which I think is kind of unfair. Why would you expect the same kind of mindblowing revelations from this show that Madoka had, when it literally says its a spin-off set in the same world? Too much drama in the same vein as Madoka would make it feel cheap, in my opinion.
Personally, I enjoyed this show because it introduces so many characters (which I admit can get annoying to follow for some people), giving the viewer insight towards the lives of most magical girls who are not the Holy Quintet. The art and animation are amazing, thanks to Shaft, and the ost is really good for setting the tone of specific scenes as well.
The story, which is the most d…
Read at the sourceCozye
This was one of the most bafflingly disappointing shows I’ve seen in a long time.
The original Madoka Magica was a show well-known for its contribution to the magical girl genre. Its unique visual presentation, memorable characters, and compelling narrative are what made it as engaging as it was. When I heard there was going to be a spin-off series, I was ecstatic and had high hopes going into this. Unfortunately what I was left with was a disappointing hollow shell of what could have been something more.
The more I watched, the more I came to realize that the story would not be going anywhere meaningful. Since Magia Record is based on a game, a lot of details get omitted which made this jarring to watch. Even if I had treated the anime as a standalone, it does not hold up well. Three th…
Read at the sourcefaeryghost
For a mobile gacha game, Magia Record’s story is serviceable. It’s the perfect breather in between gameplay, and it’s constructed in a way that allows many characters to coexist. Overall, it keeps the player coming back thanks to the pull of the mystery, as well as the ever-growing roster of magical girls to collect.
As the first anime installment in the Madoka Magica franchise since the Rebellion movie, Magia Record needed to be more than serviceable. The original twelve episode series, as well as its movie, are extremely well-regarded thanks to their iconic characters, intriguing plot, and immaculate pacing. It’s been a long seven years since then, and as such, Magia Record had a lot to live up to. In order for this adaptation to work well, some smart changes needed to be made to make i…
Read at the sourceBrolaub
Take Madoka, and remove (almost) everything that made it so good. Now you have Magia Record.
The Original Madoka had a small, but memorable cast of characters and a pretty simple, but powerful story.
The characters in this show are just cliches and tropes, and even after 13 episodes I didn't care about any of them. In fact I barely even remember them, which makes sense considering there's so many characters that there's simply not enough time to flesh them out.
The story is a mess and I didn't understand much of it, but it seems to negate or at least conflict with what happens in the finale of the original Madoka which is a terrible thing to do.
At least the cool SHAFT visuals and the nice OST are still there, but that's everything good I can say about this unfortunately.
Maybe the on…
Read at the sourceCasul_Noob1997
This is an anthology series set in the Madoka universe. Okay> >
But believe me, I wanted this to be another impeccable entry in Madoka Magica’s ever-expanding library of consistently high quality spinoff titles (except for Suzune). I wanted this to be a bonafide 10/10 for me.
Sadly, as you might see in many reviews, this series suffers from pacing issues that unfortunately buries any of the genuine Madoka-esque greatness that is there to people who aren't as passionate for the brand. While this story isn’t nearly as bad pacing-wise as the original Oriko Magica, nor does its narrative and characters stoop to be as collectively shallow as Suzune Magica’s, there are undeniable flaws in the first half of this series’ guaranteed 25-ish episodes that I’d be remiss to ignore. And yet, I could…
Read at the sourceSunlitSonata
An underappreciated factor when looking at any individual anime series is the nature of its source material, provided it has one. Original anime (like the original Madoka series) are practically guaranteed to have a beginning, middle and end, but when based on a source, there’s certain elements that become byproduct by the source’s nature.
When anime are produced based on ongoing manga, one can exact lingering focus on iconic shots and a tendency to go on and on as long as it takes. Light Novel adaptations tend to feature basic protagonists bereft of the thought focused complexity their written works offer. Videogame based anime often have very specific factors emblematic of their origin, and of those adaptations, an increasingly common source of anime recently are gatcha games: free to p…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Let me make this clear. Despite being apart of the same universe and franchise, MagiReco is not a Madoka sequel nor does it offer the same type of story and deconstruction of the genre like its predecesor.
MagiReco is very much its own story, driven by character interactions and development rather than shock value and fear like Madoka. That doesn’t mean it’s not as good, it’s just a different type of story. Do not come into this expecting people to lose their heads. Despite the differences, I enjoyed this more than the original.
MagiReco and FGO both aired during the same time and provided very different examples of how to adapt mobile games. FGO’s amazing story and fight scenes earned it a lot of attention, whereas MagiReco flew very much under the radar, which is really a shame.
Des…
Read at the sourceMozillaFennekin
Magia Record is not Madoka 2.0.
I feel like that really needs to be said. Despite “side story” written in the title, being a part of the Madoka franchise comes with huge expectations--expectations that Magia Record never attempts to meet. This is not a sequel to Rebellion, nor an attempt at recreating the magic (heh) of Madoka. After all, the original was practically a statement for mahou shoujo and was such a groundbreaking and well-acclaimed series, you only really get one of it per genre.
This doesn’t excuse all of Magia Record’s potential faults, but I think a large wave of backlash towards it is largely based on comparisons to the original. It’s not even really clear how MR relates to the original series, it is just a story using premade rules and concepts of the original series, so…
Read at the sourceIsvi_Berserk
-Note: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible mistakes. (This review does not contain spoilers)
This was one of the most anticipated releases this year, the love I have for Madoka is enormous, so my expectation for this spin-off was perhaps too exaggerated for something that ultimately turned out to be nothing more than a long commercial or advertising for the game with the same name.
I'll start with the good things of Magia Record. As always, SHAFT studio work is just from another planet, beautiful shots and scenes, continuously well-kept visual work, along with beautiful OST at all times, characters have nice design, series felt really refreshing at first, as a way to expand the world of magical girls and present a different story.
However, that's the best I can s…
Read at the sourceSyureria
Pray for healing is reasonable.
Pray for the healing of others is ordinary.
Pray for the healing of others and fight for that hope?
How about a hope similar to pray?
Rumors about a fox that can grant all wishes have spread throughout Kamihama city. Every hope is filled with tears, endless sacrifice, eternal despair, even missing something. The irony of an event or situation that is contrary to what was expected or supposed to happen, but has become a destiny. Human trust in magic to change destiny into ordinary.
Humans are inbecilic creatures, they chase dreams even though it is impossible. Even so, humans are intelligence creature strive for using reason to consider and decide things. To pursue a dream doesn't matter even if that hope contains magic. In the end, humans only desire resu…
Read at the source