Continuing what seems to be the pattern for every episode, this one starts with Iroha having a dream about her sister Ui’s two friends in the hospital – a pair of girl geniuses named Toka and Nemu who apparently invented a perpetual motion machine that promptly set fire to a library.
When I write that sentence out, this really seems like the type of thing that might literally just be a dream. I’m sure you could interpret some kind of subconscious message behind the idea of a brilliant and ambitious invention destroying hundreds of books worth of knowledge. Maybe there’s some parallel between the loss of those books and Iroha’s loss of the memory of her sister? Not exactly subtle!
Also, considering everything else in this anime looks so nice, the CGI on that perpetual motion machine is a little jarring. I thought I was looking at some kind of gadget from Myst, circa 1993.
So now Iroha has a new lead to try to find some information about her sister and her mysterious disappearance. But there’s also the issue of Kaede being dragged into the shadow realm in the last episode. Rescue attempts have a bad record of success in this franchise, but Iroha and her new friends in Kamihama City don’t know that, so they’re going to try anyway.
Less than five minutes into this episode, yet another new character shows up – Mitama Yakumo, who is a “Coordinator” in Kamihama and provides “adjustment” to magical girls by touching their Soul Gems in really suggestive ways.
Mitama Yakumo is in this episode so briefly that I had to look her up to figure out exactly what her role in the story was, because I had practically forgotten about her by the time I started writing the blog post. I guess she acts as the shopkeeper in the mobile game, so her appearance here seems like more of a cameo than a major role. Maybe she’s more interesting if you’ve played the game.
If you’re able to keep track of all these characters, Yachiyo – the college-student magical girl from the first episode – also reappears to assist on the rescue mission.
I noticed in this episode that Yachiyo has the same kind of tired eyes and world-weary expression as Homura, which maybe comes from having to fight as a magical girl well into your twenties. Understandable, since it’s a very stressful job and I’m sure they’ve both seen their fair share of dumb teenagers getting themselves killed.
Probably to avoid having that happen, Yachiyo assists the younger magical girls in their plan to summon the Chain Witch and try to get Kaede back.
But before that can start, we get a solid 2 minutes of transformation sequences, featuring Yachiyo, Momoko, Rena, and Iroha. The transformations in Madoka Magica have been getting increasingly more elaborate ever since it started, with some pretty spectacular ones in Rebellion and the Magia Record mobile game.
It’s kind of ironic that, ever since the days of He-Man calling upon the power of Grayskull, transformation sequences have been a cheap way of cutting animation costs by using a sequence that could be repeated every episode. Here in Magia Record, though, the transformations are some of the craziest and most stylish animation we see in an anime that’s already got pretty stellar production values, and we’re unlikely to see them again in the series.
As excessive as the magical girl transformations are, they are really well-designed and reflect the personalities of each character really well. I’ve got mixed feelings, since the story has to screech to a halt while we watch all of the characters produce experimental music videos, but I mean… they are really cool-looking.
Despite Yachiyo and Momoko attempting to summon the witch themselves, it can apparently call their bluff, and Rena has to call it herself by offering a genuine, heartfelt apology to Kaede. There’s a lot of emotional baggage in their friendship, especially considering we’ve only known them for two episodes… There’s an admirable attempt to try to convey all of the struggles they’ve had in the years they’ve known each other, but it seems like a lot to try to pull off in episode three.
Maybe the red and blue color schemes have something to do with it, but I can’t help but be reminded of Kyoko and Sayaka’s tumultuous relationship, which lasted only a few days but had quite a few episodes to develop. It’s another case of Magia Record apparently trying to cram in too many characters and subplots, and it just isn’t executed as elegantly as Madoka Magica.
Luckily, after going up into the sky to fight a Witch, Kaede is returned alive, free to get more screen time which is such a rare blessing in the Madoka universe. Personally I’m glad we’ll get to see more of her ridiculously oversized hat.
And to repay Iroha for her assistance, Rena uses her ability to magically disguise herself to infiltrate the hospital and get information on Toka and Nemu, the two girls who were friends with Iroha’s sister. It would have been really cool to see how Rena does this, but we’re short on time, so that entire side adventure is skipped.
It turns out there’s more important things than gathering clues and advancing the main plot. Probably the most noteworthy part of this episode – despite the fact that it feels like blatant fanservice – is the post-credits scene with Mami Tomoe. Just like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we get a sneak-preview that one of our old favorite characters is about to make an appearance! Stand up and clap because you recognize them!
I have to admit it’s nice to see one of the original cast making a comeback, but it also raises a lot of questions about where Magia Record stands in relation to the original series – which has a pretty elaborate series of branching timelines, so I suppose that (like Marvel) this franchise is about to get really complicated and you’re better off not trying to explain it and saving yourself from the headache.
Mami’s reveal at the end really just highlights what is still my primary complaint about Magia Record – we’re juggling too many characters and so far none of them are as memorable or interesting as the original cast. Bringing in Mami (and likely the others in the future) makes it seem like they’re leaning on the fan-favorite characters as a crutch instead of giving us new, fully-realized characters to latch onto.
I think we’re starting to see the problems of adapting a game into an anime – this whole episode felt like a “side quest” Iroha had to go on so that Rena could help her get the next clue to the main plot, and we also visited Mitama who certainly felt like an RPG shopkeeper without much to do in the story other than provide support for the heroes.
As always, the animation and art direction is enough to keep things interesting, but I think the weaker cast of characters is preventing this anime from reaching the emotional heights of its predecessor. I’m still interested in learning more about Iroha and her sister’s disappearance, but that main plot almost seems sidelined by everything else going on – elaborate fight scenes, character cameos, and extended transformation sequences.
Everything is still moving forward at a rapid pace, but hopefully it doesn’t all burst into flames at the end like our little 90s-CGI perptual motion engine.
WcDonald's 