Iroha is a magical girl, fighting witches in exchange for having a wish granted. But things are weird: she can’t remember the wish she made, there’s a feeling like something tangible is missing from her life, and now there’s a weird rumor going around: “Magical girls can be saved if they go to Kamihama City…”

Set in what I thought was a prequel to the original Madoka Magica anime and with an almost-completely new cast of characters, I was interested to see how a “side story” engages with the existing world, particularly because the whole twist and horror of the original revealed that (REALLY BIG MADOKA SPOILER EVEN THOUGH IT’S 10 YEARS OLD NOW)

Spoiler, click to view

magical girls turn into witches.

I mean, how do you make a show with that hanging over every character’s head–if not known by the characters themselves, then definitely by the audience?

In Side Story’s case, it…kinda addresses it? I initially wrote (elsewhere) that: this prequel seem more like an AU because some weird magic is introduced that, quite frankly, I had trouble following or believing, partially because I don’t see how this will mesh with the original series, and the feeling only got worse as the season progressed. Very distracting.

I learned later that this is, in fact, supposed to be an alternate universe. Knowing that in advance would’ve helped with my confusion and expectations, because I spent the majority of my watch time getting increasingly confused about how this story could possibly coexist with the original Madoka Magica, since events and characters eventually contradict things that happen in the original. Both the Funimation and Crunchyroll show descriptions don’t mention this, nor does the series itself to my recollection, so that’s a stupid choice. Watchers shouldn’t need to seek out extra information in order to understand or enjoy a show.

Anyway, magical girl outfits and transformations are always fun, and this is no exception. Minus the hooded cape (Edna Mode voice: no capes!!!), Iroha’s outfit looks really easy to move in and unlikely to cause problems.

There are two main story threads here: Iroha’s search to find her missing memories, which turn out to be

Spoiler, click to view

the existence of her little sister, who spent much time in a hospital until being cured by Iroha’s wish, but who now has no record of existence except Iroha’s recovered memories,

and the rumor bringing magical girls together to “be saved”

The latter thread takes up most of the series, and is the most interesting thing. Some magical girls find out the big spoiler from the original series, but then claim they’ve found a way to avoid it.

I don’t know what it says about me that I have no problem with emotional teenagers fighting magical monsters for an emotionless wish-granting mutant cat, but I draw the line at believing the emotional teenagers will form a secret society cult and wear the same clothes and not argue about it ~~or get bogged down in meetings~~.

Apparently this is based on a mobile game, but I don’t care. It’s gotta stand by itself, and this…is only OK.

Verdict

English dub? Yes

Visuals: Same as the original–cute moe girls, large, elegant and open space designs, the witch (and related) characters and dimensions have that cut-out papery effect. Very nice.

Worth watching? Hmmmmm. I don’t regret watching and got through all 13 episodes, but it resolves nothing. This was right before the second season was announced, much less released, so I admit that maybe the whole experience will be better once the second season is complete and the narrative arcs can (hopefully) come to an end. As it is, I wasn’t aware it was anything other than a one-season show (hey, the original was only one season and look at how good it did!) so I had an unhappy final episode when every single plot thread remained open.