There lives two types of Magical Girls. The one to lament her fate and cry into the air, never to change a thing. The other...takes matter into her own hands. "Pray to God", they say. "She'll save us all", they say. Nonsense! There is no god in this world! Only the fate you yourself make! Even if we must become our own god...
We are way late on getting this episode. This was the PROLOGUE in-game. This is what happened while doing the fucking data download. And we're just getting it now.And I prefer it this way. We're already well invested into the story of Iroha and Kamihama by the time Holy Quintet is introduced in the anime, meanwhile having it at the start gives the feeling of "Okay, but what about the OGs?" after the fact. Lemme tell you, the surprise of Kyoko just fucking chilling on the roof of Mitama's place wouldn't have been as interesting if this episode had come at the beginning.
Anyways, uh, they aren't gonna do the most going forward, so let's move on.
The Eternal Sakura section weirds me out. On one hand, it's essentially Rebellion Record, and I like the tonal disconnect between Yachiyo and Kuroe's experiences through Iroha's Doppel World. On the other, the Eternal Sakura as a location served a very different purpose to the story in this version of events. In the game, the Eternal Sakura served as a connection to Feint Hope, the Magius Base. It's where Iroha finally meets up with Touka and Nemu and where she ends up being kidnapped. In the anime, we get fucking Tree Egg Iroha after she gets dragged straight to Hell by Holy Mami at the end of S1. As if she's being protected, as that's the Rumor's purpose. To protect 4 girls so they may meet again.But, now as for specifics, this is truly where the anime diverges from the game's story. That should be clear just from Kuroe's existence, but as of now, take most of the comparisons with that in mind.
Yachiyo. Oh, Yachiyo, my sweet summer child. They did you so fucking dirty. Yachiyo in this entire section is like "Iroha! Iroha!" like there aren't THREE OTHER GIRLS THAT HAVE GONE FUCKING MISSING! Seriously, we barely gives a second thought about Sana, Felicia, and especially Tsuruno. Remember that, it'll be important later. Hell, she has no right to honestly believe that Iroha is alive aside from a single line that could be written off as Iroha just trying to be uplifting. This entire section hinges on a flimsy motivation and the anger that is Yachiyo just coping with what just happened. Kuroe going to the Eternal Sakura just kinda falls into her lap as well.
The Approach on Feint Hope introduces something really cool: Doppel Syndrome. A real risk inherent to the anime's version of Doppel, Doppel Syndrome is where the Doppel consumes the user more and more as they continuously rely on its power. With no cure, overreliance can lead to the user becoming a violent, chaotic being not too far off from a full Witch. This addition to the Doppel system is a great way to introduce a high overarching risk to a system that was more of a case-by-case basis in the game.Speaking of Doppel Syndrome, we have the first drop-dead gorgeous combat scene with something to give a damn about. In S1's only scene of this type, Sayaka just kinda popped outta nowhere and had seemingly no reason to be there aside from "oh look another original series character woo-ee". We've had time to learn about and get attached to Kaede as a character. It's rough to watch her succumb to D.S. and the ensuing fight to stop her in her tracks, in terms of narrative investment, is a step up from what came before.
Finally, Mitama's involvement with Magius is a weirdly okay change that'll make her character arc fit into this fast moving anime well enough later on.
"Be gay, do crimes." -Bank Heist KyokoIn all seriously, though, we do get a small segment where we see the missing girls being Wings of Magius and finding the Embryo Eve. It really just serves as a chance for a Eve Exposition moment and a pretty quick scene condensing Mifuyu letting go of the past. I would rant more about it, but it works fine enough since her backstory is linked so much to Yachiyo's that we already have all the context we need. Thanks, Yacchan!
After Yachiyo meets up with the remaining Mitakihara Girls and approaches Fendthope, including some ROUGH animation cuts and skips that really make it clear just how bad the production of this show went internally, we arrive at where I imagine most of of the time and money went.
The ensuing encounter with Mami and Tsuruno, infused with the Uwasa of The Kamihama Saint and Chelation Land respectively, is an interesting fight with the narrative weight to make it the best section of the Magia Record anime. My only issue is how they slammed Walpurgis's approach, Rumor Tsuruno, AND Hotel Fendthope all together to take place at the same time. These, in-game, took place across THREE CHAPTERS. THREE OF THE LONGEST CHAPTERS IN THE STORY. Also, Rumor Tsuruno getting up after the failed Connect is genuinely disturbing. And they say Magia Record don't pull some wild shit. It hurt to watch, it was even worse to hear.Now, need to address something.
Yachiyo spent half of the fucking season only giving a shit about finding Iroha. She never even thinks about the other fucking girls. This comes so far out of left field, like are you serious? Complete 180, what the fuck?Fuck, now I'm upset. This final part's gonna be shit show, ain-
Oh, my god. Okay, for as much as I dislike how they handled Yachiyo, Episode 21 does Tsuruno as perfectly as I could have fucking asked for. She gets enough time to fully flesh out her arc, and the inclusion of how everyone saw the same thing at the Memory Museum was the perfect place for expanding. The pain of not being around when Mel witched out compounds on the realization that she, of all people, was the one to put Mel down makes things so much more emotional. The overwhelming guilt overflows to a point where she just lets Magius do what they want with her in pursuit for their "salvation". Her need to be the support pillar of the group is a self-destructive coping mechanism, to the point the Strongest may just be the Weakest. Emotionally speaking, of course. I cannot stress enough that Tsuruno is honestly the best part of this entire fucking series, GOD IT'S SO GOOD.
The end of the season is also weird. As the battle winds down, Kuroe emerges only for the show to get oddly meta with Kuroe as a character. The shadow Doppel thing is right, to be fair. Kuroe DOESN'T belong. She's the only character here not in the game. An outlier. Is this her being written out or will she come back in the final portion of the show? As of the time of writing, we really don't know. Thanks, production issues!Also Walpurgis just kind of fucks off, denying us the massive bone f4 threw Homura at the end of the game.
Nemu remembering the entire past is also an awkward change, but we gotta get the exposition in somehow! The way the series aired turns this into a big cliffhanger, but considering the split in S2 and the final stretch was out of the blue, I think it's safe to assume it wasn't meant to be.This season suffers from an inconsistent amount of polish. These fights scenes, as with the one in S1, are beautiful yet short lived. Some other scenes, especially Yachiyo's approach on the Fendthope gate, feel oddly cut and like some animation is straight up missing. Episode 19 is specifically bad about it, featuring some characters worthy of Meguca status and the worst looking CG truck you'll ever see. At least it's a stick shift.
Despite, well, Yachiyo and lacking the Uwasa linked directly to human emotion and desire, Season 2 makes up for it in a more concrete plot, visual spectacle (with narrative weight this time), and interesting additions to preexisting concepts. While it can still feel a bit rushed at times, I'd say S2 is a mild step-up, even if it does have some problems it shares with what came before.
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