Tag Archives: Madoka Magica

Magia Record Season 3: Dawn of a Shallow Dream Review

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All right it’s time for the end to the Magia Record saga! Season 2 was top tier elite and could easily hold its own with even the main title. I was super impressed and the big question was if season 3 could match it. Well, the season is a lot shorter so season 2’s definitely got the win but it’s still an elite ending. I will just say the way that the old characters were written out was extremely lazy. Did they not realize that more enemies were still around? Leaving just felt odd and it’s the only reason the villains last as long as they did.

So Iroha has to continue going to the enemy base to put a stop to the evil magical girls once and for all. She has to rescue her friends and find out why they went down such a dark path. Along the way we finally see the villains motivation for why they are doing this in the first place and the first episode is a good way of seeing things from their point of view. With any villain that is the make or break point. Will the backstory make you feel sympathetic or will it just be forced and you’re laughing all the way?

With a title as good as Magia Record it’s not surprising that the backstory is pretty good though. Touka is probably the most sympathetic because she was kept in the dark the whole time on exactly what was going on. Her memories weren’t complete and so she was fighting to save the day but without knowing the risks and a certain important figure regarding who the witch was. Ultimately I do think she would have chosen to keep fighting though so Nemu definitely should have confided in her. Touka is super forgiving so it works out but that could have definitely been a friendship ender.

Nemu is a little full of herself which holds her back next to the other villains. At the end of the day as the big mastermind I have to put most of this on her. She may be trying to save everyone in the end by stopping the cycle of witches but after a point when you’re murdering so many people, you’re just not being the hero you thought you were. I get the argument of slaughtering a few hundred to save untold billions because in a logical sense it makes sense but it’s hard to ever get behind that idea even if you were to think it had a 100% success rate.

Because I should say right now that I still think the plan was going to fail. The whole plan revolves around using their super witch to defeat Walpurgisnacht but the problem with this? It never looks like it even has a shot of pulling that off. Walpurgisnacht is known as the ultimate witch with unlimited power for good reason. It took Homura hundreds and hundreds of tries to even get close at beating it and even then she wasn’t ready to deal with this threat in the end. This witch may be strong as well but the heroes are able to land some damage so I don’t think it is durable enough to survive the onslaught or powerful enough to really resist. No matter how you slice it Walpurgisnacht is not going to lose to any other witch no matter how powered up it gets.

So with the plan being a bust, it means that the villains really don’t have a leg to stand on for their defense. They should have found another way or brought Iroha into the fold earlier to try and help. That way she could have talked them out of it. So the whole story is pretty emotional here as they go for a good redemption arc and how these girls were trying to help make things better but in the end they made things so much tougher on everyone that it just isn’t good enough as an excuse.

One character you do feel bad for is Kuroe though. She was mainly roped into situations that were just too big for her. She does deserve a level of blame for choosing the villains over the heroes but even when she was ready to come back, her inner darkness was too powerful by that point. For a while there she was really a villain completely against her will so I’ll naturally be a lot more sympathetic to her plight at that point.

Of course this season only has 4 episodes so with using a full one on the villains, we have to hit the ground running on the others. The whole season is like one big climax though so it works out well. The animation is still absolutely stellar here and we get some pretty cool combo attacks. It will be cool if they can keep this unity feature in for the main series as well. I always like the idea of merging energy into a big super attack. Also with the animation budget as high as it is, the new characters even feel stronger than the old ones at times.

By the end of the series I don’t feel like it really addressed why the new characters are able to use their witch hybrid forms the way that they do though. This still feels like a new concept that just wasn’t a thing the first time around. I can write it off as this timeline being slightly different so it’s possible but it’s a bit weak. So retroactively if you have Homura and friends using witch moves in the next movie/season that could change things but for now it’s a bit odd. Still makes for really great fights though.

It’s a bit lazy that season 3 doesn’t have its own opening though. It makes this really feel more like season 2.5. Even if it was a low budget, rushed last second kind of opening I would have liked to have had something new here. It would have helped the season stand out more. I think the best way to look at this one is like a movie to be honest since it really fits in with the runtime that way. Of course the fact that it’s basically all nonstop action is part of why the series tracks so high. Opening aside, I did enjoy the soundtrack a lot. A lot of very grand themes are playing the whole time.

One last thing I’d say is the third season is short enough where a lot of characters don’t get a big role this time around. Yachiyo for example has been a huge character throughout the series but takes a big step back to Iroha this time around. She does help a lot during the climax in one of those cool combo attacks I was talking about but for the most part isn’t a focus this time. As for the rest of the friend group, you can really forget about them. They help a bit in the background here and there but that’s about it. I’d say it’s a good idea though given the length. if the season was longer then I would want them around but with 4 episodes you get that not everything can happen at once. You do get to see them try to stall the final witch so that’s enough of a role.

I would have liked my favorite villain to have done more. I still remember her having that amazing cliffhanger in season 1 were she revealed that the plan was to fight Walpurgisnacht and she has an interesting ability where she can use paint to create huge barriers and amp up the villains but she doesn’t get a true 1 v 1 fight the way that most of the other characters did. I feel like she would probably end up being one of the top fighters but we never got to really see that for sure.

While you could be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of info drops and characters running around here, it is impressive how the show ties everything together. Don’t forget that the show started off as part mystery on why nobody remembers Iroha’s little sister who used to be in the hospital with the other girls who turned evil. The natural assumption is that she was the price for one of the magical girls since there is always a cost that you have to pay but then you need to figure out who would have made that the cost. This season finally wraps up that mystery along with the mini Kyubei.

The very ending I would say is still a bit ambiguous on where this takes place in the timeline though. Of course you know my theory from the start is that this is a failed timeline, one of many where Homura could not save Madoka and so it doesn’t exist anymore. I still stand by that one but it would have been nice if the show had went into this with a bit more detail. Whether as a yes or a no I’d have been curious there.


Overall, This was a great end to the Magia Record series. I’m ready for the main cast to return but these characters really held their own rather well. I was impressed at how high quality the title was all the way back from season 2 and season 3 really kept up the momentum all the way. I would highly recommend checking this show out. You probably want to at least watch season 2 for context though. The quality writing and messages work well even without context but you won’t get the full impact. You wouldn’t have seen the struggles they all went through after all. This is Madoka of course so there is plenty of tragedy just in this season of course. The heroes can never catch a break.

Overall 9/10

Magia Record Season 2: The Eve of Awakening Review

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Madoka finally returns with this season 2! I am a huge fan of the original Madoka Magica show but I was far less impressed with the first Magia Record. Still a pretty good show of course but not great like the original. Well season 2 changes that as it brings the show back up to elite status. It may be very short with under 10 episodes but the action scenes are really intense and the animation budget has never looked better! Every fight is really top tier here and with the introductions/setup taken care of we are able to jump right into the story and battles. It’s easily one of the bigger jumps in quality I’ve seen from a season 1 to season 2.

The show starts with Iroha still missing and possibly dead after the events of the first season. Yachiyo blames herself for what happened to Iroha so she is determined to destroy the Wings of the Magius. Along the way she finds a lead on Iroha which then becomes the top priority. If she can bring Iroha back and stop the evil magical girl organization then balance will finally be restored in the world. Of course this won’t be easy since there are a lot of fighters in the group btu fortunately Yachiyo is one of the more powerful fighters around. Meanwhile Madoka and her crew are coming into town to save Mami so nobody better get in their way!

Lets talk about why this season is such a smashing success. I’ve already touched upon it of course but first up we have the animation. It’s really quite stellar here and you can tell that a whole lot of effort was put behind this one. It’s super flashy and the movement is like Attack on Titan. The characters feel a lot higher tier than usual as a result too. You see just how strong the magical girls are and while it may make you have a tougher time believing that the witches are a threat, it’s a worthy trade off.

In a way the only reason why the witches win is through sheer numbers and lucky shots so that tracks. In a fair fight ultimately the magical girls should usually come out on top. Part of what makes the quest depressing for the characters is how this is a truly never ending fight that just keeps on going forever. That’s where the Wings of the Magius get their ammo after all.

It’s a pretty tempting offer since they claim that they can end this violent cycle once and for all. It’s a rather bold claim of course but you can see how a lot of the characters would buy into this. On paper the plan isn’t even that awful at least as far as drawing all of the witches in to destroy them and then take out Walpurgisnacht. I don’t feel like the characters fully thought this out but that’s addressed later on. I think the show also did not want the group to come off as too sympathetic so they start going off the deep end later on. After all how can you really condone kidnapping magical girls and trapping them in cages? Well the simple answer is that you can’t and that’s when everything starts to fall apart here. The characters who support this or even the ones who ignore it definitely don’t look good in this season.

I always like the idea of fighting other magical girls as opposed to the monsters so I like this direction. The universe is already established in a way where it makes sense that they would fight eventually since there is a limited amount of grief seeds as it is. Now through in this difference in ideology and for the witches you’d think this is their opportunity to cause some damage. Of course they’re mainly mindless so not like they can plan about it. The heroes are lucky in that respect.

The soundtrack is also really solid here. At no point would I say that it surpasses the classic Madoka show or anything like that but it’s still really solid and fits in with the themes so I have no complaints there. I’d say the opening song is better than season 1’s as well. The technical aspects are all really on point here which is a solid foundation for a great show.

Now when it comes to the writing I do have a few problems with the ending although they all stem from one source. Part of the hype for this season was in seeing the original magical girls. Homura, Madoka, and Sayaka get fairly big roles here and Kyouko appears as well. As the originals it’s always fun to see them return since it’s like a crossover. In terms of power levels I’d still put them above the newer fighters but the gap isn’t all that huge. We sadly don’t get the big fight between groups, however their role is still a lot of fun. The main problem is in how they’re written out.

I just don’t buy it. They wouldn’t leave until the situation was resolved and if in the next season Iroha has any problems then the original cast is all to blame. With them around this would be really easy since they add so much firepower to the mix. Also it could have given Mami a chance to redeem herself since she’s the only one that looks pretty bad here. She ends up getting squeezed out of the plot and gets the shaft next to all of the others. You get it since she’s had enough screentime in the verse but a few moments could have helped her.

In the end it feels like an artificial way to amp up the stakes for next time. Well, I’ll take what I can get I suppose. Their scenes are all excellent and it’s part of why the very first episode is already a standout here. I’d also say their role helps support my theory that this all takes place during a failed timeline. We still don’t know exactly when this show takes place, however Walpugisnacht hasn’t appeared yet and Homura hasn’t changed her hairstyle yet. So it’s fair to say this is probably near the middle or maybe second half of Homura’s time travel adventures. I’m thinking she is just letting this play out in case the Wings of the Magius actually succeed.

The fun part in a way is we can assume that this means they existed in all of the timelines so since they never appeared in the main show, Homura must have prevented them from ever meeting Mami and dragging the main cast into this. It’s a pretty fun thought, or you can just say they’re an anomaly to this timeline. I suppose it’s hard to say for sure. One thing I love about the situation is how Homura is basically in new game plus mode. She pretends to be her normal unprepared self and yet she will have moments where the mask breaks and Homura knows something that she shouldn’t. She also comes close to saving the day when needed but holds back in the end when the new heroines show up.

That’s something I’d love to see a whole lot more. Fate abridged does well with this since one character is technically on his second playthrough there but in official works I can’t think of many plots like this. The only other one I can think of off the top of my head is Reverse Flash in the CW Flash show since you gain a lot the second time around when you know all of the twists. So yeah lets get some more Madoka content taking place before the main show so we can see Homura secretly manipulating everyone.

I do have one small negative to end things off with which is that the French magical girl basically does nothing. She randomly decides to leave near the end of the season and just bounces. We never got to see her fight, see why she’s even here in the first place, etc. I have to assume this was all either an elaborate troll moment or her story in the mobile game is extra content that couldn’t be squeezed in. Otherwise it’s just odd how she vanishes, but she was still a good character.

Now back to the positives, I really loved the ending episode and how Tsuruno’s character was handled. You better believe she went back to being the best Magia Record character by the time this was all over. I was definitely nervous since it seemed like she would be missing the entire season but getting a whole episode to herself was great. We got to see into the mind of the strongest and what motivates her. It ends up being one of the more tragic character backstories in Madoka. No her family wasn’t murdered by demons, she didn’t get amnesia or fall into another world. It’s a backstory that hits a lot closer to home because it’s one that’s realistic.

Everyone knew her as the strongest both physically and mentally. Tsuruno would always smile no matter how tough things were and so everyone could look up to her and rely on her. Deep down though it was all a front and the tough part is trying to get out of it. Once you are known in a certain way, how do you ever break the mask? If she were to not be smiling or saving the day then what would her friends think? She had to deal with all of this on her own and she did a great job of it. Short of being mind controlled and broken by witch powers she likely would have kept the mask on long term.

Nobody ever noticed so it’s not like you can ever really blame the other characters. It’s just a complex situation that Tsuruno tried to handle on her own and ultimately she would have broken at some point anyway. They say it’s lonely at the top and this is just one of the many reasons. It’s not like you get a day off when you’re a hero and the one time you decide not to go on a mission is when someone might get bumped off. Definitely a standout episode overall and Tsuruno really shines as a character. I’m not sure if she will get any more fights coming up but I definitely hope so. She is still a cheerful character so I’m sure her smile will be back and this time she won’t have to worry about any pressure or putting up a front.

Iroha’s role may be a bit smaller for the first episode or two but she quickly goes back to being the lead. She’s a fun heroine doing her best in this tough world and like Madoka she is a good inspiration to the others. I’m glad that she can fight as a higher level than the previous lead though so it’s not like this is a full retread or anything like that. The whole dream sequences within her mind and the sister who turned into a stuffed animal was pretty interesting. Definitely a lot to unpack in her mind and it continues the trend of the happiest characters having the most inner demons which I’d say makes sense when you’re always being relied on like that.

It would have been nice to have seen Madoka try to encourage her a bit but they don’t get too much dialogue together. In general by the time both groups meet up there is a lot going on and not much downtime so we don’t get very many conversations on this at all. Still as far as guest star characters go I’m definitely satisfied. Homura and Madoka had the strongest wills from the main 4 group which is to be expected. Sayaka still had a lot of doubts and had to be talked into things.

Kyouko is still more of a loner who talks a good game but tries to help everyone out. She had a fun subplot and looked impressive in the fights although I wish she had gotten more time for action. If you’re a big Kyubei fan I’m afraid that he doesn’t get much at all to do here. We have the mini one that can’t really talk but that’s about it. Also Walpurgisnacht never gets to appear so the new characters should consider themselves lucky. I still say that beast would have easily destroyed the artificial witch. Nobody’s stopping the original juggernaut, it’s known as the most powerful witch in history for a reason after all!

Yachiyo looks really good here throughout. In some ways you could say she is more the main character than Iroha. The season is largely about her trying to avenge Iroha and then later on coming to terms with her past. By the end she’s definitely become a much more secure person since she has overcome all of her demons. I will miss seeing her in a more vengeful state though. Even the villains knew to stay out of her way the whole time or else they would be taken down for the count. She definitely wasn’t dishing out any mercy there.

Then we have Kuroe who made a lot of mistakes in season 1 so she’s trying to make a comeback from there. She is trying hard to make things right so I’ll give her credit there. Unfortunately things still aren’t quite going her way yet. I also think the redemption arc is a bit harder to buy because her mistakes were so extensive. It’s not like she just yelled at Iroha or did something petty like that. She full on joined up with the big villains and was high enough up the food chain where she got to actually see some of the shady stuff they were doing. That’s where it becomes a lot harder to give her a free pass.

The characters who get the shaft from the Magia Record crew are definitely the other friends like Kaede, Rena, Sana, Felicia and Momoko. They’re around of course and get a little action but for the most part they are definitely relegated to just being background support. They don’t have any big character arcs or development left at this point. In a way that’s good, I mean it shows that they are complete characters but I also think this is more of a time constraints kind of situation. With only 8 episodes there is only so much that you can do right?

Finally we have the two big villains Touka and Nemu. Their goals may be good in stopping the whole magical girl situation but it’s definitely fair to say that they fell off the boat a long time ago. Once you start taking down the magical girls that you are supposed to be protecting then you know you’ve gone too far. Nemu at least seems to have some compassion but Touka is always rushing to destroy her enemies right away. If they disagree with her? Time to die. That’s basically her first inclination for every situation which is really not a good thing. We’ll see how things end up with these characters but for now at least I can’t say they are particularly sympathetic.

Season 2 does end with a massive cliffhanger so of course some things will likely be changing by season 3. We’ll see which characters move up and which ones move down. I’m not expecting the original characters to show up this time since they were written out so directly but at the same time you never know. The next season’s short enough to where it’s basically a movie so I’m expecting to jump into the action right away. If the budget’s as good as in this season then we’ll definitely be in for a treat!

Overall, Magic Record definitely continues on a really strong note here. It sets a bar that season 3 is not likely to reach but I’m eager to see how it all goes. The new cast is strong enough where they definitely don’t need the originals to carry them after all. It’s a nice bonus to see them of course but at the end of the day this is still the Magia Record series and you don’t want to forget that. If you haven’t seen this show yet then it’s definitely time to change that. It’s just awesome around the board!

Overall 9/10

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Sadly the mobile games never seem to keep track of play time. My phone can keep track for 10 days, but I never tend to finish these in that amount of time.

User Rank 7

Character levels
Iroha 23
Akira 8
Tsuruno 1
Hinano 1
Sasara 1
Shizuku 1
Yachiyo 1
Kaede 1
Natsuki 1
Emiri 1
Manaka 1
Asuka 2
Kako 2

Princess Tutu Review

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It’s time for a pretty unique anime that I had never really heard of until I began watching it. The Magical girl genre has always been pretty good, at least for the titles that I’ve seen. Madoka Magica is one of the greatest anime ever and Sailor Moon/Cardcaptor Sakura were also pretty fun back in the day. Princess Tutu is the first one I’ve seen in a while and it’s pretty solid. There is always an air of mystery with the series and not everything is as it seems.

The first arc starts off with a Duck being turned into a human. Duck had always wanted to be a human so she could cheer up Mytho (Pronounced Muto) since the guy always seemed sad. This was her big chance and she is now enrolled in a dance school. She quickly makes two friends once she’s there. Duck then discovers that Mytho is actually missing all the pieces of his heart and it’s up to her to find them. Duck can transform into the hero known as Princess Tutu in order to complete this task, but she will have to deal with many objects that have gained sentience. Whether it be solving puzzles or giving them a pep talk, Tutu must stand strong.

Of course, it’s easy enough when there is no big antagonist, but that doesn’t last for long. The big villain behind the scenes is Drosselmeyer. He’s an old story writer who died and went to the spirit realm so he could become all powerful. Whatever he writes becomes reality so he is a dangerous opponent. We also have the evil Princess Kraehe who doesn’t want Mytho to regain his heart pieces and stands in Tutu’s way. Mytho’s best friend Fakir has the same objective although he is at odds with Kraehe. Tutu will have to overpower all of them to help Mytho out.

Arc 2 continues the plotline of gathering the heart pieces, but the game has changed quite a bit. For starters, Kraehe gets a bigger presence in the story as we find out that she is working for the Raven King. He wants Mytho to get his heart back to he can take over his body and destroy the world. Drosselmeyer is still around as well and Tutu has doubts on if she can get all of the heart pieces back and even if it’s the right thing to do at this point.

Throughout the show, the town is very cloudy. It’s still light outside, but this effect makes everything a little more mysterious than it would b otherwise. You always wonder if something sinister is about to happen. It’s a pretty nice atmosphere effect to make scenes a little more tense even when they’re happy moments. It helps you feel like someone may be in control in the background.

The show even hints at the final plot twist early on as Duck will wake up one morning to randomly find that they have an animal for a classmate or a cat for a teacher. Humans randomly change, but everyone acts as if they’ve always been there. The whole town can be strangely isolated at times with people only being around when it’s inconvenient. Yet, the humans still appear enough to cement their roles in the town. Very mysterious.

Princess Tutu is first and foremost a dancing show. Tutu beats all of her opponents by convincing them to dance with her and the bond they develop as a result gets the villain to turn good. Most of the villains aren’t evil after all, they just went down the wrong path to ruin. It’s handled pretty well and I wouldn’t call it cheesy. It’s outlandish, but as none of the villains were super evil it was pretty believable. A few of them did try attempted murder so the water’s a little murky but it’s a nice gimmick.

The soundtrack may not be the most exciting as a result, but you’ll get to hear a lot of classic songs. Swan Lake, Nutcracker, and other iconic songs from ballet. It’s a very soft soundtrack that lets you focus on the dancing. I think a quick electronic/fast paced rock song would have fit in well enough, but I suppose I can see why they didn’t go that route. The animation is pretty good. It’s nothing amazing, but the show has aged well for its time. The character designs are on point and the action scenes are good when they appear. At first I wasn’t expecting too many fights but about midway through Arc 1 we slowly started to get more and more of them which was certainly a good thing. I love a good fight scene even if the villains always seem to have the edge in raw power. That’s why you also need some dancing to slow them down.

Duck is our main heroine and she’s a fun character. She can run low on confidence at times, but always does her best to do the right thing. The fact that she can transform from human to duck and vice versa is certainly very useful. It’s also interesting how she gets a different personality as Tutu, but still does seem to be in control and keeps her memories. I suppose it’s just a really big confidence boost inside of the power up that happens automatically. Either way, I definitely had no qualms with Duck. She made the hard calls and never deserted her friends.

Mytho is an interesting case since he was missing his heart for quite a while. Without it, he let everyone push him around for a while. He had no emotions so he was fine with betraying everybody and just doing what he wanted. It was definitely hard to sympathize with the guy. In arc 2 he made for a good villain as he turned evil thanks to the Raven’s blood. I suppose we can’t blame him here either, but it is tempting since it shows a lack of willpower. It was probably his best string of appearances. We finally see the real Mytho in the final episode so that’s something. He finally becomes the hero he has always wanted to be. I guess Mytho was an okay hero, but a good villain. All in all that makes him a good character, but he serves as more of a plot device for the cast to fight over than anything else.

Fakir starts off as a rather antagonistic person who slaps Mytho and threatens Duck’s life. We eventually learn that he only became a villain to keep Mytho safe. See, it goes back to how the characters are all puppets who are being manipulated by Drosselmeyer. The whole town is essentially one giant page and the author has full control. However, Drosselmeyer’s plan can only continue if Mytho gets his heart back so Fakir has decided to prevent this from happening. He isn’t able to stop Duck though and that’s why he goes down the dark path. Eventually he comes around though and after realizing that it is futile to try and stop Tutu, he does his best to protect Mytho. By Arc 2 he is finally a full fledged hero who helps in saving the day. It’s definitely hard to forget how over the top he was at the start, but I suppose all of the characters either started out evil or turned evil at some point. Duck is the only one who was a hero throughout. Fakir also gave us some fun action scenes which was neat since he had a sword.

Rue is the best character in the show and one of the main supporting characters. She agreed with Fakir that Mytho shouldn’t get his heart back but didn’t change her mind quite as quickly as he did. She wants Mytho to stay with her, but if he regains his memories then he will likely ditch her right away. Her character’s destiny from the story is to be despised by all and then to die. Again, it makes for an interesting dynamic since they all know that they’re merely puppets in a story. Rue shows some glimpses of possibly returning to the good side, but then her father the Raven King shows up and makes that impossible. Rue still does her best to spare some humans that she comes across and ultimately doesn’t want to be a villain, but has a hard time getting out of her predicament. Arc 2 as a whole was pretty tough on her, but at least she got a happy ending. Rue made for a very good rival to Tutu and the show basically said that she is even stronger. Rue has quite a lot of special abilities at her disposal aside from dancing. Tutu got some plant abilities to counter them, but I’d still give Rue the edge.

Raven King is the big villain in Arc 2, but 90% of his screen time is just him on the throne. He only throws one body slam near the end or attempts too, but that’s the only action that he gets. He is pretty huge and technically powerful, but he just isn’t fast enough to hit the heroes. Maybe he shot some energy blasts, but I can’t recall if that was really him or I’m just mixing up an effect. Either way, he had a nice voice, but was also very repetitive. His role was to keep reminding Rue that she was doomed to be forever alone. He’s not a very nice guy to say the least.

Drosselmeyer is the actual main villain, but I never liked him. He’s not nearly as intimidating as the other antagonists. He panics quite a bit and while he talks a good game, there’s nothing interesting about him. He’s pretty OP since he can do anything from the mirror world but he rarely goes to the human world since he is supposed to be dead. The heroes can’t really do anything to him either so he’s just around. I suppose it can be entertaining to see him running back and forth all the time.

Edel was a pretty shady character from the start and I had a feeling that you couldn’t trust her. I never liked the character since she always just spoke in riddles that went around and around. Maybe that could have worked, but it didn’t this time. Everytime Duck would ask something Edel would just dodge the question. Uzura was slightly better as she was a kid version of Edel who was always yelling. She also didn’t add much, but at least the yelling and drum playing she always did must have been real annoying in real life so I like thinking about how the villain has to put up with that.

Autor is a character who shows up near the end of the series and he was pretty cool. He actually knows the truth behind the town and is working to get past it. Unfortunately, he is not the chosen one so there isn’t much he can do, but he acts as a mentor to Fakir. He even has a pretty cool moment where he takes down the guys with the axes. They certainly went off the deep end and had some of the worst plans possible so I was glad Autor won. I was expecting him to be a villain for a while so it was cool to see him as more of a rival. He was one of the more low key great characters in the show.

Pike and Lillie were Duck’s two friends from school. I didn’t care for Lillie as she always pretended to be Duck’s friend but would then backstab her constantly and try to get her into trouble. She would try to chip away at Duck’s self esteem and was just mean the whole time. We never even got a character moment to explain that so it was just odd. At least Pike was always trying to be helpful and supported Duck in what she did. Then we also have Mr. Cat who is the dance instructor. He’s pretty annoying and is constantly asking people to marry him and sweating bullets when they refuse. The gag shows up in every episode that he is in and got old the minute it happened. He’s definitely the worst character in the show.

The main cast was really good or at least very interesting the whole time while the supporting cast was quite a bit weaker. Still, there were always enough good characters to keep the ball rolling. The writing was pretty good throughout. Everyone moved with purpose and they all had their own motivations. The show didn’t have any real fanservice as even the transformation scenes and the tricky Duck turning into a human moments were handled really well. It’s a pretty safe anime that I could recommend to anyone.

If I have any problems with the show, it’s that I’m not a big fan of some aspects of the final twist. I’m fine with them all essentially being stuck inside a fake town that is all a story. I think it was maybe a little too far when they were all literally puppets being forced to move around. Even if Fakir is now the one with the controls, it takes away from their free will. Based on Fakir’s struggle to write a happy ending, they do have some limits and it’s all based on will power, but they still do control an awful lot. The characters really have to wonder about everything they do now and if it is really what they wanted to do. I think just take away the strings and have it so the authors can write new characters and events into the mix, but they can’t actually control the characters. That would work a little better. I ultimately don’t get why Drosselmeyer didn’t just write a new ending after the bookmen stole it, but I’ll assume that he just didn’t have enough willpower left.

I suppose that the romance was handled pretty well. Mytho had a tough time making up his mind and the first choice couldn’t work out for some characters, but it’s just another tough call to make. Duck made the hero call and just did what was best for the team so that was definitely nice of her. Anyway, being a duck isn’t so bad. It sounds pretty fun if you ask me although I would definitely stay in human form for the most part. It’s still the best way to play.

Finally, a neat visual effect was the little clocks that would zoom in on various characters whenever Drosselmeyer checked in on them. Since he was essentially the grand author in charge of this production he needed to keep an eye on them somehow right? I would have liked to have seen more of how he used those to affect the real world though. I guess we couldn’t see too much or he’d truly be OP but there must be some limits to it. How is he even this strong? He brings up the most questions in the series for sure and I suppose we just have to roll with them.

Overall, Princess Tutu is a pretty fun show that I’d definitely recommend checking out. I’d say that it’s probably a little closer to Madoka than Sailor Moon in how serious it is, but is pretty well placed in the middle. It has a lot of Sailor Moon’s happy scenes and monster of the week moments at first, but also has the increased stakes and mystery of Madoka. There is also quite a bit of drama since Duck wants to bring Rue back to the side of the heroes, but this proves to be a really difficult task. It’s also hard to say which arc was actually better. Arc 2 got off to a faster start since the characters were already introduced but Arc 1 did have the better climax. I’ll probably say that Arc 2 takes the narrow win here. It’s just a very balanced show that did a good job of playing to its strengths.

Overall 7/10

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Homura’s Revenge! Review

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It’s time to check out another Madoka Magica manga title. I wasn’t crazy about the first two because the art wasn’t so good and the plot wasn’t the best. This one has a much better premise and the artwork has certainly improved, but it feels like the author is worried about doing anything too drastic. The series ends up feeling like a cop-out for several reasons and while the ending is mostly satisfying, there is one element that holds it back. That’s enough foreshadowing though, lets get into the review.

The series starts with Homura failing to save Madoka yet again. She’s been through this point in time on many occasions, but no matter what Homura does differently, it all ends up being futile. This time, she decides to take Madoka back in time with her. This way Madoka will remember everything that is going to happen as well as Homura so their chances to change the future should be drastically increased. Theoretically, this plan should be foolproof right? Unfortunately, Homura made the mistake of also bringing Kyubey into the past so he knows what is going to happen as well. It’ll be a battle of wits between them and being witty has always been one of Kyubey’s strengths.

Honestly I don’t think that Kyubey should have come along for the ride. This is where the cop-out part happens. The whole point of the series is that Homura and Madoka are going to try and change things so that they can save the future this time right? Well, they fail at every turn. Mami is still murdered by the demon, Sayaka is still turned to a witch, etc. They really didn’t change anything except for at the very end with Kyoko. They did beat the monster which at least made the future a bright one, but it wasn’t good enough for Homura or for myself. What’s the point of a what if story where only the ending is changed? I was expecting more drastic changes all around, but the heroes let Kyubey mess with them the whole time.

He was constantly messing with them and tricking all of the side characters. Everyone was unreasonable which ensured that nobody listened to Madoka or Homura. I also find it a little suspect how Mami was beaten twice. Surely she would have kept her guard up after almost being eaten the first time right? Mami is supposed to be super tough and all so she really shouldn’t have lost this battle. The manga even gave her some hype as usual by giving her the edge over Homura. I still say that Homura should be able to defeat her with time hax, but Mami’s abilities are certainly better when in close quarters combat.

The other iffy part was the ending. Homura explained that even though she saved the world and Madoka this time, she would go back in time because Madoka turned into a magical girl. That seems a little extreme since she actually managed to save the day after such a long period of trying. It seems to me like she would have been content to stay this time. Ah well, it was still a good ending though. For a while there is looked like the ending would have been another failed attempt and then Homura would have to head home by her lonesome.

As mentioned earlier, the art is definitely a lot sharper this time around. It feels more like how you’d expect the show to look in manga format. The fight scenes are a lot more engaging and it was fun to see some fights that never happened in the show like Kyoko and Sayaka vs Homura. Both of their battles were pretty fun and their plan actually wasn’t half bad. Overwhelming Homura with speed is the only way to really neutralize her time stop ability and preventing her from leaving is another good strategy. Of course, Homura could have stopped them easily if she was using fatal methods, but she couldn’t since she is technically a hero. The others never gave her much of a chance to explain herself though.

I have to say that Homura and Madoka’s plan wasn’t really well thought out. They should have approached Mami together as allies instead of allowing Mami to see Homura as an enemy. Their reasoning was that they should try to get everything to happen the same way so it’ll be easier to know when to diverge, but this reasoning didn’t make sense. It was an excuse for the author not to go down a very different path. The whole point of this manga is to try and go a different path so the series should have embraced this.

You can probably tell that I was less than pleased with how this was executed. Still, missed opportunities don’t make up the whole story in this adventure. It’s still a well written title on its own and the plot is engaging. It has some pretty good action scenes and the characters are likable enough. At the very least, I’d say that Homura and Kyoko are good. Mami comes across as a little arrogant and Sayaka is just gullible. Madoka isn’t all that helpful either the whole time and Kyubey makes for a good villain with how he pushes everyone around. At only 2 volumes long, the series goes by in a flash. The pacing is never a problem and the series gets from point to point with ease.

I also just enjoy the Madoka universe so seeing the characters was fun. The atmosphere was pretty tense and the characters were all pretty serious. I could definitely see this being turned into an anime or maybe some kind of OVA. I’d take it, even if just to see Homura wreck Kyoko and Sayaka. We really needed that fight in the anime, but there’s only so much you can do in 12 episodes.

After reading the manga, it’s safe to say that the power levels are: Madoka>Homura>Mami>Kyoko>Sayaka. Now, Homura and Mami are debatable I suppose since Mami does have a lot of experience and her abilities are a nice counter to Homura’s, but they only work if she is able to land a hit before time is stopped. I don’t see that happening. Meanwhile, Kyoko’s abilities are just a poor match up for Mami’s to start with and Sayaka is just the weakest by far. She doesn’t have a lot of experience and while her regeneration is great, it does consume energy so she can’t keep it up. Each member is pretty strong in her own way though which is what makes the team so formidable. What I really want is a series where we can see the whole group team up against an enemy. That’s what I need to see and that’s why we need a manga that introduces Dark Magical Girls. The other manga title came close, but didn’t go all the way. (I’m sensing a trend here eh?) Bringing that in could make for a definitive Madoka Magica series someday.

Overall, It’s a clear improvement over the last manga. There aren’t any new characters this time around, but the TV show was already interesting enough where a What If story is certainly welcome. There are many ways that the show could have gone after all even if this one didn’t actually step into any of those paths. I’d definitely recommend checking this out if you want to read a nice little action story. If you haven’t watched the TV show then you may not really get what is happening at some points, but you should be able to understand enough. If anything, the added mystery could help make the series more enticing to you. At this point, we just need a season 2 so there will be more material and these spinoffs can think up more adventures for the main cast. It’s been quite a while so there is no excuse not to have a second season by now.

Overall 7/10

On the state of the movie: Why Madoka Magica Rebellion’s ending was brilliant

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It’s time to look at an underrated movie. Madoka Magica Rebellion’s ending was a very controversial one that had so many hidden meanings and subtext within each action that the fan base has written many theories on it. They were all pretty fascinating and it’s great to see everyone add more and more depth to the film. The reason they can do that is because the ending was so good and it was very unique. This editorial will naturally have heavy spoilers for Madoka, but also for the movies Bridge to Terabithia, The Amazing Spider Man 2, Batman V Superman, Don’t be Afraid of the Dark, Pay it Forward and several others so prepare yourself!

Rebellion takes place after the original Madoka Magica show. The title character of the series ultimately decided to ascend to a higher realm and became a concept of life itself. She became a living embodiment of hope who erased the cruel fate of magical girls that forced them to turn into a witch once they ran out of energy and despaired. Unfortunately, quite a few of the magical girls had already died and now Homura was the only one left to deal with the hordes of enemies that had been left. Witches were gone, but they were replaced with a form of demon.

The average franchise would have left things like this. Homura would gradually accept the reality that Madoka is really gone and help to protect the world until she ultimately died someday. Once she died, she would be able to be with Madoka to an extent since she will be past this realm, but maybe not. Now that Madoka is a force of nature, her fate is eternal and she will never get to have any rest as she constantly absorbs the evil nature of Witches so that they never exist. The world may be a Utopia, but there is still one person who didn’t get a happy ending…Madoka. In Rebellion, Homura decides that this isn’t acceptable.

So, Homura created a prison within her own head thanks in great part to Kyubei and didn’t even realize it. After escaping from this, Homura was finally granted an audience with Madoka. The whole episode had such large ramifications that even a cosmic entity was summoned. That’s pretty impressive eh? Now Homura has the ultimate choice, take Madoka’s hand and join her in the eternal beyond or drag her back down to reality and shift the fabric of the universe once more. Obviously, Homura has to choose the former option right? It is a metaphorical necessity as it is the only way Homura can truly move on. She must accept her friend’s death and then go back to living normally. Bridge to Terabithia believed in this message wholeheartedly and had the viewers say goodbye to the main heroine by the end as she plummeted to an unfortunate (Film wrecking) fate.

That’s the popular way to deal with this kind of film. It’s a great way to end the film on a sad note and remind the audience that they shouldn’t have bothered to go see it at all. It’s like offering someone a nice bag of chocolate chip cookies for after dinner, but then dumping the bag into a box of salt first. You may need to eat the cookie anyway because it’s the nice thing to do, but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Other films like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 have done this as well with the main heroine dying towards the end and the hero having to get past this. It always happens a little too fast though, but when should the hero get over it? Obviously, you have to move on at some point…or do you? Homura was in a unique position to actually get a second chance and decided that she wouldn’t simply wait around and accept the fact that Madoka could never rest. That’s why, bringing her back down to reality was in fact…the right move!

Have you seen the light yet?

Think of it this way, how can you not save someone when you have a chance to do so? Think of any classic superhero film where the hero decides to risk everything just to save one person. It’s true that you may be endangering hundreds of people just to save a single individual, but is it not still worth it since 1 life is worth just as much as 100? Madoka didn’t have a happy ending so even if everyone else was pretty happy, it just couldn’t fly. Just to add salt to the wound, Homura’s Utopia also seems to be a little better than Madoka’s. Now, this could be temporary as Witches should theoretically return without Madoka’s new concept, but what if Homura found a way around that? It’s unclear how since Homura shouldn’t have as much power as Madokami. Most likely, Homura’s chance is going to have a lot of bad side effects, which will get dangerous.

Of course, there is no sequel yet so maybe not. We are free to theorize at leisure now and I think I have a reasonable solution. Madoka still has her Kami powers as seen in the end where she starts to regain her memory. Since she still exists as a concept, the witches are still kept at bay. The only difference is that she’s still allowed to have a school life as well in the mean time. Then, Homura has really done it, she’s made a perfect world. Then why isn’t everyone happy about that? Well, there is one big problem which keeps you from seeing this as a good thing.

Homura is really doing this against everyone’s will. She got rid of Madoka’s memories so that everything will play out once more although Homura herself will have a different role this time. Controlling others is never a good thing no matter what the reasoning (excuses) are. You can never spin that into being the right thing so Homura definitely went off the deep end here. She started out with good intentions, but throwing in unlimited power to the mix clearly unhinged Homura and started her down a dark path. The original action of dragging Madoka back to the Earth even though she clearly didn’t want that? I can actually buy into this.

One common misconception is that you always have to follow someone’s wishes even if they clearly aren’t good ones. Just look at Attack on Titan where Levi and friends told Eren not to help his comrades so they can be eaten. They wanted Eren to run away so the Female Titan could eat them first while the hero escapes. Eren listened for a while before finally going into action, but it was way too late by then. Dragon Ball Z is another good example. In one scene, Vegeta is getting pummeled by Cell and Trunks decides not to help because Vegeta’s pride would be injured if he had to get saved. Well, better that his pride gets hurt than his life gets lost eh? I mean, it worked out, but what if Cell had destroyed Vegeta? I guess they could write “He died with his priiiiiide!” on the tombstone.

Nah, sometimes you have to go against someone’s wishes in order to save them. It’s like restricting cigarettes and beer from a teenager or making sure that a kid doesn’t get to play with sharp objects while he/she is too young. Even once the individual becomes an adult who can make his/her own decisions, you may have to help keep that person on the straight and narrow. That’s why we have laws and regulations. Madoka’s a nice kid and it’s cool to see her want to help everyone out, but heroes like that don’t typically think about how to protect themselves. That’s why you need a friend who’s got your back. In this case, Homura was the only one in a position to do anything about this. Madoka definitely didn’t want to come back to Earth since it could put her friends in danger, but how can they really enjoy this perfect world if they know that she didn’t get to partake in it?

Going to any and all lengths to help a friend is what really defines their bond. A big trend in many movies is to have the hero abandon the friend in a Flee or Fight moment and it’s praised as the right call. Even Dragon Ball Super recently had a moment like that where someone stayed behind to get massacred so that the hero could run. Luckily, he chose not too, but he was too scared to actually help so that’s nearly as bad. There are numerous examples of this, but I’m struggling to recall any at the moment. It’s the curse of the writer! I’m sure that many of you can think of times like this though, where a friend is alone against terrible odds and tells the main character to go off to stop the main villain anyway. This dooms the friend in the process, but at least the world is saved so it’s all worth it. Well, I’m here to tell you that this is the wrong call. Prioritizing the friend’s safety over the world’s definitely comes first. If you can’t manage to save your friend, then does the rest of the world really matter? Most characters come to grips with the opposite reality and justify their move by saying that the Earth was saved and that the friend would have wanted it that way. Sure, the friend is typically a noble character who is okay with dying, but as a friend to that person, you have to save him/her. At the very least, Homura made sure to keep this priority in mind.

So, that’s my spiel on why Rebellion’s ending is actually pretty fantastic. It broke the usual norms of the average film and decided not to be content with having Homura pat herself on the back for getting over Madoka’s death and going back to her day to day life. Way too many films do this and having a major/likable character die towards the end of a film is not a good way to end things. It may work for Oscar bait and it may make people appreciate the character more in retrospect, but it also runs the risk of damaging the entire film. The Forest, Don’t Be Afraid of The Dark, Bridge to Terabithia, Pay it Forward, and many other films decided to end with one of the main characters dying and they handled it horribly. Dooming those films to really low scores when they could have been semi decent. Don’t even get me started on Marely and Me or the Old Yeller. If these films had ended with the character living in the end, it could have made a big difference. At the very least, Bridge and Marley would have had positive scores in the end. I can’t really vouch as much for the others. Can a hero’s death towards the end of a film be handled well? Of course, but it takes skilled writers.

Batman V Superman is a great example of this. Superman died (for around 30 minutes) and it didn’t destroy the movie. Part of this is due to the fact that Superman knew the risks and the death wasn’t pure shock value. It wasn’t there to be super sad and emotional, but just to remind us that Batman’s the money factor in the DC universe, not Superman. In the comics, Batman semi recently went to great lengths to try and bring Damien, one of his new sidekicks, back to life once he died. In a universe where people are constantly bringing people back to life and there are many individuals who can do so, I would expect nothing less. If you have a really good friend and don’t try to bring him/her back to life in the comics universe, then I’m definitely going to doubt that bond.

Homura decided to change things even if it put the rest of the world in a dicier spot. Granted, she also turned evil by the end and completely cracked so now it’s going to have to be Madoka’s turn to try and save her once more. This circle should theoretically continue to repeat over and over until both of them are dead. An ending can make or break a film and this has always been the case. It’s a crucial element to any title and it’s important to get it right. What defines a good ending? That may be a topic for another day as there are many variables. One thing’s for sure, Rebellion gets my seal of approval and will go down as one of the better endings in a film. It was unexpected, it was hype, and it shattered the tropes!