#the different story

[devoted-assassin]

Ok now that Madoka Magica is gaining traction again, I need to make a promotion post for The Different Story, because it is a wonderful addition to the world that nobody has read and that makes me very sad.

If you don’t wanna read all this, just read the spinoff manga. Please. I beg. It’s the only spinoff that (imo) lives up to the original.

Now what is the Different Story?

It’s a three volume spinoff manga (though this is the omnibus - all in one - version) that centres around Kyoko and Mami. There’s a piece of trivia that many people don’t know: Kyoko and Mami were once friends prior to the events of the TV show. This is canon, and there’s parts of the show that imply this too.

The first volume revolves around how they met, how their relationship grew, and what happened between them for the events of the anime to occur. This is pretty much canon, as it takes place before the time loops, and is adapted from a drama cd, which are directly written by the same person who wrote Madoka Magica. The next two volumes follow a potential timeline where Mami is still around when Kyoko comes back into town, and what happens from there is the rest of the story.

Why should you read it?

Because it is fucking awesome in the same heartbreaking and heartwarming way that the original show was. That’s the tldr, but if you want more in depth…

First of all, if you’re a fan of Kyoko or Mami, just stop right now and read it. You’re doing yourself a huge disservice if you don’t. They get so much development, which is nice for the two characters with the smallest amount of screen time (not that the anime doesn’t do a fantastic job). Especially Mami, who got…a bit cut off before all the big events really started happening.

Now, even if you prefer some of the other magical girls, they still get some time in the spotlight. Homura, Madoka, and Sayaka all get their moments that expand on their characters, and make you think “oh, it really could have gone this way.” If you’re a shipper, there’s also some nice content between the two big duos (so kyosaya shippers, I am one of you, please read this too).

Also the art style is a perfect match for the tv show + movie, which is a rarity for madoka magica spinoff manga.

How does this fit into canon?

As already stated, the first volume is pretty much canon. It’s the past between Mami and Kyoko. Now, the manga isn’t written by the same person who wrote Madoka Magica, but it did get the officially seal of approval from him. As such, whether the alternate timeline actually occurred in canon is personal opinion. Pretty much everyone who read it considers it canon, since it fits neatly and there’s nothing that contradicts anything already established.

I’m still hoping that we will get an anime adaption, but that’s 100% delusion.

And look. It’s on sale. That’s the whole thing, and it’s also in Canadian dollars so it’s probably cheaper for everyone else. Pleaaaseeee.

[muffinrecord]

You really seem to love Mami.

I do! She's my favorite character from the original MadoMagi series. (I'm not sure who my favorite would be for the whole PMMM cast, like including spinoffs and magireco).

I find her loneliness and her struggles with trying to be a reliable senpai to be really compelling. I also really like that she has really understandable character flaws-- the way she tries to push Madoka into contracting, her arrogance, her stubbornness. I like that the second she gets people who could be friends with her (Sayaka, Madoka), she instantly becomes suspicious and hostile of Homura (and I say this as a Homura fan). Girl is so desperate and afraid that she'll lose her very recent possible friends that she starts becoming a little bit mean.

In general my favorite kind of characters are the ones who put on a bit of a mask, especially when they're faking happiness and warmth to hide a lot of misery underneath. I don't think Mami fakes kindness but I do think that she pushes herself to be busy and help others so much because it's a good distraction.

(read right to left)

There's a lot of sadness in there that I just really appreciate.

The only thing I don't like about her (besides head jokes or boob jokes) would be how overpowered she tends to be. I like that she's the most experienced of the group and that she's a veteran magical girl, but I wish she wasn't so strong to the point that she wowed all the kamihama girls, if that makes sense? I think she can still be pretty awesome even if she's not the best.

The one thing that kind of remedies it for me would be that she's as strong as she is due to experience and experimentation (and learning how to make her guns out of ribbons), rather than it being straight up given to her through her wish.

Anyways Mami is great and I love her.

[dreamerwitches]

Misc magical girl colourings done when I couldnt sleep wheee

I wanted to give the sisters an opposite colour scheme and I think they look really cute. Although I refuse to believe the reprint manga girl is walpurgis I couldnt get the blue colour scheme out of my head XT but its still cute

[dailysayakamiki]

Sayaka Miki in The Different Story Chapter 5

[snowflake-apocalypse]

Mami: Ha, I challenge anyone to name a more iconic duo than my crippling fear of abandonment and my anxiety. I'll wait.

Kyoko: You and me!

Mami, tearing up: Okay.

[stressed-and-not-well-dressed]

[puellamagifashion]

Mami's classmates from The Different Story (and presumably in the anime)

[silvermoon424]

Hi! Is there an order/best way to watch Madoka and the others "spinoffs"? (and it is the same for the manga?) I would like to but I am not sure where to begin. It is like Precure with no real order between the series? or do I have to watch some to understand the others? It looks very complex with so many characters and timelines! Thanks!

Hi there! I'm glad there's someone who's interested in getting into the PMMM extended universe!

First of all, you can read my rankings/reviews of the spinoffs here and find links to read/summaries of them written by me here.

Secondly, there's not really a right or wrong order to watch/read most of the spinoffs in. But you should definitely watch the original anime first, followed by the Rebellion movie. That lays the groundwork for everything, plus they're just the best entries overall.

Aside from that, the PMMM spinoffs can be categorized by whether they're directly related to the main PMMM story (meaning they include characters/plotlines from PMMM) or feature an entirely original cast of characters and story. I'll outline them below:

Direct spinoffs:

The Different Story

The Wraith Arc

Oriko Magica and its spinoffs

The PSP game

Tons of other lesser-known spinoffs/gag manga like Homura's Revenge, Homura Tamura, etc

Original spinoffs:

Tart Magica

Suzune Magica

Kazumi Magica

Magia Record (this one is hard to categorize because it largely features original characters and an original plot, but characters from the original PMMM series do show up. However, they have less of an impact as the story continues and most fans agree that they were only really present to help sell the game to older fans (not that that's a bad thing, they're utilized pretty well). Overall I would categorize this as far more of an original spinoff than a direct one)

Most of the spinoffs are standalones and don't really require any prior knowledge of other spinoffs to enjoy. I will say that if you get really deep into the Magia Record game and not just the manga adaptation that there's a lot of overlap with the spinoffs in things like events, magical girl personal stories, etc. Nearly all of the spinoff magical girls are playable in Magia Record so that's something to keep in mind. But it doesn't really affect the main story.

[area-strigae]

Witchtober day 3: Different Story!

Decided to go with the Minotaur Witch for today, since it just got an official palette revealed. I forgot the ribbon on the axe but it's okay. No clue what F4 was thinking with the insane posing it's got in scene 0, so I made this one look a bit more like its appearance in TDS. Hooray! I frankly don't remember this witch doing anything but I'm glad it was able to reappear. That sort of thing is special ^_^

As a bonus, here's a fan-made description my friend wrote up for this witch, just for fun!

"Exabúrin" (based off of the original greek name for a labyrinth, Labúrinthos, the reversed text for axe, Excalibur)

The silver weapon witch with a protective nature. It is unknown how long this witch has lived for as a concept, especially given its appearance in both blade and “body”.

It is highly rumored to have stemmed from the very era it has design inspirations from. A horrendously agile witch, her labyrinth imprisons humans so that they will never get close to the treasure hidden deep inside. If the treasure is found.. her purpose ends, and she will die.

A witch that has tormented countless Puella Magi across hundreds of years, and has been some’s dead end.

[thepmmmwitchproject]

The unsung witches of the assorted meguca spinoff Manga!

With collaboration with @honestlyboringperson, we've complied every unnamed witch that had shown up in every manga related to Madoka Magica, and gave them names, natures, and even descriptions!! This first post will focus on the unnamed witches that appear in Different Story!

First up is Joules, the earwig witch with a stingy nature. A dangerous witch that eats electricity, it can enchant its pincers with consumed electricity, but is stingy when comes to her power levels. This witch travels through electricity finding high-voltage areas such as generators or power plants to cause wide blackouts, spreading grief everywhere. It's so demanding of power that she'll use her energy-attracted familiars to hunt down electrical and technological witches.

Labrys, the ax witch with a cutthroat nature, this witch, once a proud fighter who kept fighting more and more dire foes, despite their growing strength she always won… but the battles took more from her, tearing her body limb from limb, until all that left was her weapon. The minotaur-like body is what the witch believed was her original body, and it will reform no matter what, this confuses most Puella Magi, giving the witch another easy win. It will actually flee from Puella Magi that it deems to be "too weak" for it to fight.

Rosaline, the mailwoman witch. Its nature is avoiding romance. This witch is constantly trying to find the letter that she lost long ago, trying to prevent it from being delivered and destroying her life. It's recommended to not fight this witch if you are in love, For if she senses a human's romance. She will take their heart and send it to the romantic interest, ergo killing them. (This specific was done by @bearwithbandages rather than me or honestlyboringperson)

Circe, the silk moth witch with a sleepy nature. Due to the bright lights that exist within her barrier, the witch is unable to sleep. It goes around searching for a dim area to sleep in, but her familiars always illuminate every single corner, making her pursuit of a peaceful sleep impossible. She dismisses humans and simply ignores them, unless they defeat one of her familiars. She will force them to extinguish every light until the barrier only shows the stars above. When the witch dies, the sun rises above the barrier.

Finally is Aeeta, the queen bee witch with a protective nature. Aeeta rules over a well furnished beehive labyrinth, having fell into despair after losing her best friend, her bee familiars have the same sleepy look as her friend. Aeeta promises itself to protect her familiars, who tend to wander off, from the horrible wasp-filled sky that surrounds her barrier. When the going gets tough, Aeeta summons guillotine-like blades to incapcitate her enemies with. Expect the next post very soon! The second post's focus will be Oriko witches!

[darkfrost-star]

Hi! I saw your KyoMami posts and I loved them! Regarding The Different Story, it's actually 100% canon. All of it. Not only the first chapters but all the story it is - is actually one of Homura's timelines. I looked for Shinbo's statement about TDS but I found nothing, the only things that I found is: 1) A talk with Gen Urobuchi where he clarified that in the anime Sayaka didn't killed the guys in the train in episode 8, in contrast to the manga version where the mangaka took the approach that she did (although they later redrew that scene in the Madoka manga reprint to align with the anime so Sayaka at the end didn't killed them) and 2) That he stated that the TV series and the movie trilogy were different continuities. Other than that, he didn't said anything of the other manga spin-offs as far as I looked into the interviews translated. So yeah, TDS is 100% canon, all of it!

Yay! I knew I was Right all along! :)

[muffinrecord]

I think Mami and her loneliness angle is appreciated all around.

It's definitely one reason I think that The Different Story spinoff manga was so good!

[dreamerwitches]

Witchtober day 3 - Different Story

The TV witch or whatever I called her. A tricky one but I think she looks nice

[magical-xirl-4]

I found the entire different story manga in one

[snowflake-apocalypse]

Gahhhh I can’t with The Different Story.. it makes my heart hurt so much 😭

[magicaldogtoto]

Looking through my omnibus copy of The Different Story and Hanokage saying in their end notes that they made a decision to not have the same kind of heartbreak the original PMMM series had is a definite mood.

I’ve tried doing the same thing in my fanfics… I figured, realistically, it can’t be sad all the time.