#Magia Record JP Spoilers

[magireco-collection]

Magia Day 2023: A Summary!

Iroha & Tsuruno event! They will be getting new outfits soon so we can expect a duo unit!

Edit 1: There was no announcement of a dual unit or a new event. But I believe they will be having a dual unit soon, because both VAs talked about Iroha & Tsuruno's relationship, the amount of alt units each of them got so far, and they said they would be getting new costumes soon.

Scene 0 is getting an anime adaptation from 03.10! Aki Mabayu's VA is the same as Oriko's!

Edit 2: I misunderstood the announcement and there won't be an anime adaptation. We are getting scene 0 in game, most likely as a new arc. But the part about VA is correct. Oriko's VA will also be voicing Aki Mabayu.

The project is supposed to be a prologue to Madoka anime. Aki's existence got deleted for some reason, and they will explore that.

Aki's VA mentioned this character has a lot of monologues. She looks like a socially awkyard character.

I love the fact that Aki has so many outfits!

Seika and Reira are finally getting uncapped!

We are also getting stuff like 3x speed in mirrors, another innocent gem + overlimiter core, hospital outfits for Magius + Karin and at least 250 Magia stones for Magia day campaign!

I enjoyed this event, but I wish they had shown us the upcoming units like previous years. And I also regret breaking my wallet for Takina. Especially because I didn't think Aki would arrive so soon 🤦

[muffinrecord]

Do you know someone who does or have you considered doing lore summaries? I would love to know more about the story but I don't have the time to read all the dialogue;;

Heya!

Hmmm. There is a magia record event guide on the google drive that orders the events by release, notes who was released, gives the genre, and a a short synopsis (but without spoilers) that you can see here.

I believe that Raz Anime made a series of videos a while while back to help catch up NA players to JP when the NA servers went down and that included event and chapter summaries, but I don't think that he's continued.

I think though that lore summaries would be a very interesting idea. I'll think about that.

Personally though I sometimes watch the videos at 2x speed when I wanna know the lore but the story is too long (sometimes they can be 3+ hours, but also some stories are really short)

If anyone knows a resource like this, please let me know! I can add it to my links masterpost

[doppel-drop-distance]

Holy heck, those last few battles against the Mirrors Witch are brutal. I mean, don’t get me wrong, knowing how Embryo Eve was also a difficulty spike at the time, I expected there to be a curve, but geez…

That barrier she puts up at the last sliver of her health is especially mean. >:(

[muffinrecord]

omfg

It's a shame Ui and Yachiyo can't use their Doppels at the same time, because Shitori Egumo would just circle around Campanella's lantern the entire fight.

[automatic-purification-system]

Green Jasper Diviners Ending: now that we’ve saved the village and solved the mystery, we’re going to gather magical girls from across the country so we can figure out how to prevent us from becoming witches! oh, but first we need to make sure we have all the terms right, tehe!

Crimson Resolve Ending: AS WE LEAVE FLOWERS ON THE GRAVES OF OUR FALLEN COMRADES WE SWEAR REVENGE ONTO THOSE WHO WRONGED US. WITH THIS BLOOD OATH WE THREE SISTERS SHALL MARCH ONTO KAMIHAMA AND MAKE THEM PAY FOR EVERY DROP OF BLOOD THAT HAS BEEN SPILLED. WE WILL SHOW NO MERCY!

[the-rain-never-ceases]

All New Year’s Haregi Outfits from Magia Record, 2020

2018- Madoka Kaname (gacha), Homura Akemi, and Yachiyo Nanami

2019- Mitama Yakumo (gacha), Iroha Tamaki, and Yui Tsuruno

2020: Sayaka Miki (gacha), Sana Futaba, and Felicia Mitsuki

[thefairywithdrawings]

GUYS

GUYS

WHAT DID I SAY, WHAT DID I SAY

IF ANYONE DOUBTED ME, WHO IS LAUGHING NOW :D

[madokaexedra]

The Owl House scene redraw, but make it Iroha

This is the start of the expression of my despair ;w; 

[kierawaffles]

hoo boy, that doesn't look pretty!

gotta admit, it is making me hype for the new story already, especially since the difficulty has reset as i hoped it would

[sayaberry]

people who think mami is the top tier pmmm mom friend are not ready for nanami “legally adopt and care for every young sad magical girl within a 5 mile radius” yachiyo

[magireco-collection]

Akumura is here!

I'm making this post because she is too gay for Madoka, and I somehow got plenty of meme-worthy screenshots 😏

She keeps making this face whenever she talks about Madoka. So when I saw the magia animation, I had to get a ss 📸

Uwasa of Server Crashing Akumura 👀

Releasing the Gay Moment ™

"Ai Yo" moment, iconic 📸

Not a meme, but her 5* card art looks pretty. It would make a pretty icon / avatar 🥰

See what I mean? She is so gay it's all over her face 😏

A few more:

Seems like Bowmura is just a costume. But we still might get Madohomu duo if the game runs for another year!

[muffinrecord]

Oh shit, look who we get to fight in this event on JP.

[magireco-collection]

HOLY

WE GET A NEW YACCHAN ALT????

YES YES YES YES

Y E S

I NEED HER ASAP SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL 🥹🥹🥹

There seems to be something in store for Yachiyo too 👀

[automatic-purification-system]

If Alexandra really is going to be a part of folklore then I hope this is the chapter they finally introduce the group and let them do something.

[thewhitefluffyhat]

Thoughts on Karin’s Magical Girl Story

Another collection of thoughts and reactions, plus analyzing some small changes the NA translation made (similar to the translation comparison I did for Alina’s MGS a while back).

Starting off with not a change, but an interesting note: Karin and Alina’s club situation is rather strange.  Alina is the “outsider” from the Art Club, while Karin is part of the Manga Club.  The classroom they share, though, doesn’t appear to be the main space for either club.  I’d initially assumed that it was the room originally used for the Manga Club, but once Arc 2 updates these backgrounds...

It turns out this actually is an art classroom!  I guess the school just has two?

First major change: Just like in Alina’s MGS, they removed direct references to Karin and Alina’s ages.  The reference to Karin’s age at the start of the Magical Halloween Theater event was also changed.

(In JP here, Alina was said to have won a lot of different awards “for a 16 year old,” while Karin stated her age as 14 in the MHT event.)

Again, unsure of why the change, but it could be in order to fix the continuity issues. Because good lord, that continuity is snarled...

I think the order that makes the most sense is Karin MGS > Alina MGS > Magius forms > one year passes > MHT > Main Story Ch5 > Holy Alina’s MGS.  In theory, then Karin should be 13 and Alina should be 15 in their Magical Girl Stories and then 14 and 16 in the present, but as mentioned that’s contradicted by the start of Karin’s MGS in the original Japanese.

There’s also the weirdness around when/how Karin learned Alina was a magical girl, since Karin seems aware of it in MHT, yet it’s unclear if she knows in Holy Alina’s MGS.

… Anyway, stuff like this is why I gave up on constructing a coherent timeline for Magia Record.  There’s just too many continuity tangles.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

References to Karin being in her second year in middle school and the third years leaving – also changed.  Probably because it’s both an uncommon way to refer to grades in English, and also, once again, another continuity issue.  (If the third years left, why is Alina still there in one years’ time if she’s at least one grade ahead of Karin?)

Another change: some specifics in why Karin and Alina are in the same classroom together.  In JP, it’s not specified who made the deal to let Alina use the room.  If anything it seems like Karin is the one making a deal directly with Alina.

Which actually makes far more sense all around – why does “the school” care that Alina is giving informal lessons to some random kid?

And it makes more sense from Alina’s perspective too, in that it explains why she tolerates Karin constantly bothering her – putting up with Karin is explicitly the price she’s paying to Karin for using the space.

Oh boy, this.  Karin having this mindset is why it took me so long to really ship AliKari.  Because the dark undertone to “if only I improve, then surely Alina will treat me better” is that Karin is blaming herself when Alina is cruel to her.  And that can very easily slide into an abusive relationship - if you don’t consider it one already.

Alina treating Karin decently should not be dependent on Karin’s art skill.  Or anything else, for that matter.  Full stop.

(Tangent time, including some Arc 2 spoilers)

What ultimately made me come around to AliKari is some of the early Arc 2 stuff, where Karin starts thinking the reason Alina disappeared is because Alina is mad at Karin for not improving.  Karin’s explanation is spectacularly wrong, so I’m now more trusting that the game is implying that Karin’s mindset is going to change. That she’ll stop believing she’s at fault for Alina’s actions - and hopefully stand up to Alina too while she’s at it.

The other half of the equation is Alina, who as far as I can tell, is genuinely not interested in bullying Karin.  She certainly has every opportunity to do so – especially given how her teacher punishes Karin for Alina’s behavior – but Alina never takes advantage of it.  So while she is overly harsh and blunt about expressing her opinions to Karin, I don’t get the sense there is any manipulation underlying it.  Indeed, very unusually for Alina, we also never see her enjoying or fantasizing about Karin’s pain or distress.  She really, truly, just wants Karin to get better at art already!

Obviously, for any kind of relationship between the two to work, they would both need to undergo significant character development.  But that’s the draw of AliKari – while other characters have stagnated (sigh, RikaRen), Alina and Karin are still some of the most dynamic characters in the game. And in general, the direction has been that despite starting out in a bad place (like Karin’s mindset above), they’re growing to become very positive influences on each other.

(End tangent)

Enjoying the extra cliches thrown in here and there, and in general how they translated Karin’s dramatics by adding additional cheesy and on-theme descriptions.  Stuff like “dark and dreary night” or “cauldron of trouble” aren’t in the original Japanese, but they’re wonderfully in-character – honestly probably an improvement over the original!

Not a change, but more reminding myself that I really need to read Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne.  I’m like 97% sure that’s what’s being referenced here – the plot description and even the comments Karin makes about “Phantom Thief Kirin” In her later Magic unlock quotes are all a very close match.

Interestingly enough, I’ve heard KKJ mentioned as an earlier dark magical girl series that Madoka Magica rips off.  So it’s quite interesting to see it referenced again back in a PMMM property – I wonder which part of the creative team was responsible for this detail?

Hm, so, the subject and detail of Karin and Alina’s conversation in the middle differs between translations.  In JP, the subject is vague, so the fan translation has Alina going off on an extended metaphor comparing the history of art to the protagonist of Karin’s manga.  Meanwhile, in NA she just makes vague comments comparing her own growth as an artist.  

I think I prefer the former - Alina usually doesn’t like talking about herself, but she sure loves to ramble about art history.

The translation I can find for the metaphor Karin’s grandmother uses here in JP renders it “barely able to keep a business going” - so did Karin’s grandmother possibly own a business herself?  That’s a bit more interesting than just “struggled to make ends meet.”

Speaking of Karin’s grandmother, I really like her as a character.  Her relationship with Karin is really sweet - I mean, how often do you see a teenage girl and an older woman being fans of something together?  It happens in real life plenty of times, but it’s so rare to see this kind of interaction represented in fiction.

And it’s nice to see an example of mental illness being treated as just that – an illness.  I especially like that there’s consent to the cure – Grandma outright says she wishes to be cured, rather than Karin deciding as such on her own.  (As Karin is often wont to do…)

This is a fun illustration of how Alina has a very strong internal logic to her, but she’s really terrible at communicating it to other people.

Karin, naturally, takes Alina’s comment here as an exceptionally mean thing to say – it sounds like Alina is callously implying the thing Karin worked so hard on was so bad it wasn’t even worth Alina’s time to destroy, so she’s making Karin suffer even more in having to destroy it herself.

And the way Alina elaborates makes it quite clear that yes, she did mean to call Karin’s work garbage.  This isn’t Alina having difficulty with Japanese or English.

But while Alina’s sense of taste can be quite sadistic, I don’t think that’s what she was aiming for here.  Remember that Alina believes that “only the artist themselves has the right to destroy their work.”  So this is actually Alina acknowledging Karin’s work as art, and therefore only Karin has the right to rip it up.

And why rip it up?  Because whenever Alina finds her own work unsatisfactory, she destroys it.  Hence Alina’s question at the end of this little back-and-forth:

If Karin doesn’t want to rip up her manga, then according to Alina’s logic, that means she must be happy and satisfied with it.  But even Alina can tell that Karin is still unsatisfied and lying to herself, hence Alina’s frustration and confusion at Karin not destroying her work.

Another timeline note: Alina doesn’t lie, and even if she did, she doesn’t have a ring here.  So I think it’s pretty settled that Karin’s MGS takes place before Alina learned about magical girls.

Oh huh. In NA, Alina thinks she’ll be the one in trouble if Karin isn’t ready.  In the fan translation I’m used to, it seems like Alina is saying she’d just be mad herself… but I think NA has it right here.  (In the original JP, Alina is using the passive form of “get angry” without a subject.)

Both work, but the impression NA gives with both this change and the earlier one is that someone at the school is basically putting Alina in charge of supervising Karin.  Which… what the hell, Sakae Academy?

Going back a bit, Alina’s advice and its effect on Karin is interesting.  One of Karin’s flaws really is that she makes excuses for herself and only half-commits, so Alina pushing her to think about what she truly wants and work hard to get it was genuinely what Karin needed to hear at the time.

However, Alina is also an obsessive perfectionist that tends to push herself to very clearly unhealthy levels…

So it’s rather fitting that on following Alina’s advice, Karin ends up pushing herself into doing something very dangerous: insisting on fighting a witch alone even though Kaede tries to get her to retreat.  Karin is so determined she’s risking her life to fulfill her goal – something Alina would no doubt approve of.  But also a great illustration of why Alina and her advice is flawed too.

Which, come to think of it, is part of why Karin and Alina’s MGS actually form a nice pair of complementary short stories.  If you read them in chronological(?) / original JP release order, you first get to see how Alina helps Karin to grow as a person, and if you think hard about it, you can kind of see foreshadowing for Alina’s own issues.  Then in Alina’s MGS, you get confirmation of that foreshadowing about Alina, and furthermore, the payoff to Karin’s development with her now being the one to give Alina some hard-hitting advice.

[magicalgirlagency]

Also, if I may add something in defense of MagiReco, it's not like the original ending has been dumped completely, as there are explanations in-game on why certain narrative rules have been changed.

Exactly! I've noticed that people have skipped some first season episodes and went in to the second season, because the first season felt uninteresting and slow.

But here's the thing, the first season acts as an introduction to the series, the characters and their motives, and what makes it so different from its original source (after all, you can't replicate what MadoMagi has done).

It's supposed to build emotional investment, and to briefly explore the world around them. THEN, with all things done, the plot can progress and things can get interesting in the second season.

It's important to understand the context of things.

Also...

[Potential spoilers for those who haven't played the game app can be found below]:

Have you ever wondered why Madoka is still alive and existing in MagiReco? Why Witches are still around? And why MadoKami can't interfere directly?

Well, that happens because of certain anomalies in the timestream. This has called MadoKami's attention, and she starts investigating these aformentioned anomalies, as seen in her Side Story.

As the goddess investigates, she discovers that these time slip-ups and cosmic blockage are caused due to the fact that Iroha, Ui, Touka and Nemu have become Puella Magis. In reality, they shouldn't have signed a deal with Kyuubey.

In the original timeline, Ui, Touka and Nemu have died in the hospital due to their illnesses; and Iroha dies on a car accident shortly after her sister's death (this additional piece of information can be found in the Side Story from the 4th Anniversary card).

With all four girls alive, this sets up a domino effect with things escalating, as each piece falls, resulting into possible huge and drastic changes in the PM system.

And you know how I know all of this? Because I at least bothered to do my research before jumping to conclusions.

The anime shortens some things up, though; the game is more fleshed out, if you’re looking for something with more sustenance.

Long Story Short: Magia Record, in its entirety, is an AU. A looooong AU.

Like, we're still in the surface with the anime, and there's still the second arc with the aftermath of Walpurgis' defeat, the disbanding of the WoM and other Puella Magi factions appearing (if you're playing on the JP server).

Sure, there are bound to be certain differences and artistic liberties (game app and anime), much like MadoMagi has (anime, movies and manga); but the narrative and context pretty much remain the same.

It has become rather difficult to gather more information, as the NA server has been abruptly closed after the first arc has been finished (and the anime credits the third season as its FINAL season); but the wiki page's still there. You can check it all out at any time you like.

Nothing that MagiReco is doing is out of the blue, and it's a satsifactory combo of serious high-stakes with perseverance that gives you hope, that can satisfy both traditional MG fans and Puella Magi fans, if they're willing to give it a chance.

I'm not forcing you to like it; but it wouldn't hurt to step out of your comfort zone sometimes... then maybe, JUST maybe, you can give your veredict and form a concrete opinion instead of just bashing it all together.

You people have been complaining about me criticizing the OG series all the time in the past; but now, when I'm being open-minded about things, youre complaining even more?! This doesn't add up!

Even if MagiReco doesn't turn out your favourite, there are several other spin-offs you can try. Different strokes for different folks.

Magia Record IS different, yes. It may have flaws at times, but it's not the worst thing in the world. Just give it a chance; you might like it, who knows...?