Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 - The Eve of Awakening

If you thought the pacing in Season 1 was bad, wait until you get a load of this garbage. Magia Record Season 2 is...incomprehensibly awful. I’m glad that some viewers were able to enjoy this season, but I absolutely did not. Nearly the entire second half of the mobile game’s story is condensed into these 8 episodes. It’s a complete frankenstein of a narrative, especially when taking into account the anime-original plotlines. Season 2 presents such a freakish amalgamation of plot threads and character arcs that it best serves as an example of how not to adapt a story. Since so much is being squeezed into theseepisodes at such a rapid pace, most of this season is spent on lengthy exposition that masquerades as emotional payoff. The characters will frequently burst into tears as they explain the plot to you, but it’s all so incredibly hollow. The art and animation, which were at times impressive in Season 1, have taken a nosedive in quality. I’ve seen people point to the “sakuga” action sequences as examples of good animation, but I beg to differ. These scenes include “smooth” animation, yes, but the movements are messy and hard to follow. They’re clusterfucks trying to pass as spectacles, more head-scratching than they are impressive. At every other point, the animation is even more stilted and awkward. Characters frequently look like scribbles as they move about the screen with the grace of a power-point. It’s sad, because I’m sure there are talented artists on the production team, but for whatever reason, they’ve clearly been forced to deliver a rushed job. They aren’t done any favours by the direction, either, which is often jarring and haphazard. This season really proved that Gekidan Inu Curry are way out of their depth. I can only hope that the 4th Madoka movie will make me forget all about this nightmarish viewing experience. Yikes.

It seems like something bad is happening at SHAFT studios or maybe the person who wrote this is bad at their job. Either way the second season is another example of when people don't learn from their mistakes they will do the same mistake. The anime no longer follows basic magica puella story writing or cares anything about the characters, lore or story. Story 1/10 - If i could give it a ranking of zero in this site i would, SHAFT or whoever wrote this clearly didn't care about anything. EP 1 and 2 are filter episodes, you do not need to watch them to understandwhat happen. A recap is handed to you before they start the show so don't worry about it. They now re-enforce the fake magic called "connect" with new rules, no longer is it just basically two magical girls holding hands, it is something more magical like time magic. They using "connect" to speed up the plot after they fail to do that in season one when Iroha was using doopel to speedrun boss fights. Madoka and other characters do not get any spotlight, if you want to see action you will not get it here either. You can skip the whole season and you will be ok. Art 5/10 - The people at SHAFT have been working weekly at this for the past months at the time. Why are they doing this? This is not ok SHAFT or whoever is currently working on the project. Do you wonder why the show has a recap, it is because when summer vacation at Japan happen, the anime fell behind. At EP 1, we see the same video editing skills of chopping characters from madoka into record and then again at the very end of the episodes. Sound 3/10 - If you really think about it, there is less sounds here than last season. They were trying to build that dark no notice feeling. However they failed at that part too because they were rushing an entire story and adding unnecessary episodes. I don't have much to say in music or sound, it just nearly doesn't exist. Character 1/10 - Characters did not develop or anything, it was just madoka gang and Iroha gang, nothing else happens. They did what they did and learn some things. Enjoyment 1/10 - You will not enjoy this, the blue-rays will also suck with the same problems of plot and overworked artist. Play the game not watch this nonsense. Overall 3/10 - skip the season, doesn't matter if you will miss important plot that is only important in the anime, it is not worth it. They push 4 chapters of magia record game into anime and mess up really bad. Do not watch it.

... What? What the heck happened, Shaft? You were so close... and yet you stumbled at the last stepping stone. Was it management? Budgeting? Production? What the hell happened? I suppose I should start at the beginning, then. PMMM was amazing, nigh on one of the best, if not *the* best mahou shoujo shows of all time. Rebellion built onto that, and, uh... let's just say that a rebellion doesn't even give the events of the movie justice. And I liked Magia Record S1. I never played the game (I'm not into gacha hell...), so when I heard that a PMMM spin-off was getting an anime, I was rather excited;I'd have preferred an anime of Oriko Magica (or, god bless, Homura Tamura), but beggars can't be choosers. Magia Record S1 was good. It wasn't PMMM good, but it was good; in particular, the final episode shined, even where the series had fallen at times. It left on a good type of cliffhanger, with a promise of a continuation, with the cliifhanger's location in the story being naturally placed. I cannot even remotely say the same about Season 2. The best episodes of S2 are the first and second; the re-uniting with the Mitakihara gang, and looking at Yachiyo's quest. I shan't give details, but it's closer to PMMM than S1 ever was. Episodes 3-6 were all... good. Not great, but not bad either. I particularly enjoyed the inner workings and explanations of Magius, and the reveal of S A L V A T I O N. Episode 7 is where the cracks turn to quakes. It felt rushed, and the pacing was a bit off. And then... RECAP TIME FOR NO APPARENT REASON! HAHAHA! And Episode 8, which, SASUGA SHAFT-SAMA, is the LAST EPISODE FOR NO APPARENT REASON (seriously, WHY? The first season had 13 episodes, and one of the biggest complaints from fans was that it was too short for the subject matter - and now, we get 7 and a quarter episodes with a promise of a few more for the grand finale, or something, within a few months? What is this, EA?). Episode 8 is... Well. Let's start with the basics - we enter right where 7 left off in the introduction, until we're suddenly sent into... a theatre? Or is it an Uwasa, or a Labyrinth? Oh, [SPOILER] is giving a monologue! Uhh... where are the subtitles? That's right - the first half of the episode aired with either no subtitles, or subtitles out of time, depending on your release. From direct translations, it seems to be an introspective section, but I can't be sure. Let's go back a bit. Theatre? Monologuing? What??? Like, I get it; this is Shaft, and it's Madoka Magica - theatre and monologues is part and parcel. But... it throws the pacing right out the window. Within a few minutes, I was getting serious NGE final two episodes vibes, pre-EoE. What story can be understood from this section is also a bit jumbled; it almost feels as though they're telling us "You can have more character development for [SPOILER] if you played the game~!", which, fun fact, was never released in EU/UK, and is no longer available in NA. In fact, throughout S2, characterisation is just a bit... off; ironically, the few people who are spot on aren't the protagonists, but the original Holy Quintet. And the second half... well. We get a jumbled action set-piece which is suddenly rushed to it's conclusion, a few characters have a moment, then plot twists abound that are kind of like... eh? Ok...? But what about...? Huh. I guess??? This review is difficult without giving spoilers, but let's just say... If the first half of the episode was reminiscient of NGE's bemusing last few episodes, then the second half of the episode gives me flashbacks to the last few episodes of Soul Eater. Like... what?? Shaft, what????? And then, another plot twist, the villains move around a bit, the big bad of big bads isn't even seen yet despite the multiple hints throughout the series (and, uh, the last spoken line of dialogue from S1), and, woah, who knew except anyone with an inkling of a brain cell, the [SPOILER] is actually [SPOILER]! Whoop de doo! It's just... yeah. This second season felt like that meme of a drawing of a horse, where most of the horse is drawn beautifully, and then the rest of it looks like what someone might draw in the sand at the beach with a stick. Like... the music? Spot on. Art? Absolutely breathtaking at times (again, the last few episodes kind of sucked - at one point, a few of the characters gave me the Ace Combat Dog jpeg vibes). And the world building? Well, it's Shaft - damn amazing (seriously, the well written exposition bits behind the scenes with Magius and other certain people are some of the best bits). But... it leaves a bittersweet taste now. For this season, wait for the blu-ray release for them to fix it up. For the next, pray for no more global disasters to delay everything. And for the future? Wish upon wishes for the Rebellion Sequel to blast the socks off all of us. Much as the Meguca Suffering is fun, I don't think the fanbase could take another few blows.

The story is as confusing as ever and we're left in the dark with a lot of questions. I know the writers did this in order to keep up the hype to another season, and to create interest in the game, but it's kinda harsh how we still don't know a LOT even if a lot has happened. The animation is still bad, with characters being poorly drawn and looking too ecstatic but at least the battle sequences are very well made. Still, the new characters aren't as charismatic and interesting as the girls we know and love from the first anime series, the originalone, and Iroha is too much of a bad main character because she has no presence whatsoever. It's like she's a second Madoka without the appeal.