OshiBudo ended, I'm kind of sad.

OshiBudo ended, I'm kind of sad.

There's still episode 12 left though?

I'm gonna say something controversial here... I might get banned even, but I can't keep lying to myself like this

I... don't like Magia Record tbh, I don't like the animation, I don't like the protagonist and I hate that they have skipped the main plot (where is Ui and what's the little's kyubi's deal all about) with everyone's else conflict first, I haven't watched today's episode yet, maybe we'll get all the answer like an info dump today or there will be a season 2 but that doesn't excuse it for me to be like that, had they made it about the fact that they turn into witches momentarily and then go back to normal it would have been way more exciting but guess what, THEY AVOID TALKING ABOUT THAT TOO!! the other girl who can transform just doesn't show up anymore and the protagonist doesn't care about it, she spend the whole anime going from one person to another asking if they know about Ui and everyone has the same answer.... NO!

If today is the final episode, it would have to be a masterpiece story wise and dramatically too... But I doubt it.

I'm gonna say something controversial here... I might get banned even, but I can't keep lying to myself like this

I... don't like Magia Record tbh, I don't like the animation, I don't like the protagonist and I hate that they have skipped the main plot (where is Ui and what's the little's kyubi's deal all about) with everyone's else conflict first, I haven't watched today's episode yet, maybe we'll get all the answer like an info dump today or there will be a season 2 but that doesn't excuse it for me to be like that, had they made it about the fact that they turn into witches momentarily and then go back to normal it would have been way more exciting but guess what, THEY AVOID TALKING ABOUT THAT TOO!! the other girl who can transform just doesn't show up anymore and the protagonist doesn't care about it, she spend the whole anime going from one person to another asking if they know about Ui and everyone has the same answer.... NO!

If today is the final episode, it would have to be a masterpiece story wise and dramatically too... But I doubt it.

Since I won't watch it until everything's out, I have no right to agree nor to disagree, but it wouldn't be fair to be banned for such a benign reason.

Serenata posted:

I... don't like Magia Record tbh

You're not alone. Majority of Madoka fans hate it and/or are very underwhelmed by it.

I don't like the animation,

I have some issues with them, but I don't mind them for the most part, though some feel a bit lackluster. Maybe they'll improve them on blue-ray, but I'm not denying they're not perfect.

I don't like the protagonist

I really like Iroha's personality (and really like most of the characters for that matter) and I think for the most part anime did good job of showing it, but I really can't be objective on that one. Game has much more time to flash out characters and show their interactions and chemistry, so I went into anime having good idea who they were and am in general very pleased with their portrayal in it, but I understand for someone who knows nothing of them, it might be hard to really connect with them and come to like them (though it's not impossible).

and I hate that they have skipped the main plot (where is Ui and what's the little's kyubi's deal all about) with everyone's else conflict first,

I have no clue what you're talking about. That is the main plot. Iroha is looking for her sister and by doing that she stumbles onto those conflicts. And thanks to that she found some clues that Ui's disappearance is clearly connected to Magius and Rumors. It's supposed to start looking like a monster of the week, but then later turns out it was all part of something greater (though anime leaves clues there's something more going on from episode 1). I'll admit game makes it much clearer from the start that Ui has to be connected to rumors and I'm not sure why exactly anime changed that or if it was there, but just too ambiguous that I didn't pick it up (wouldn't be the first time, anime is terrible with just establishing some facts that were very clearly stated in the game).

I haven't watched today's episode yet, maybe we'll get all the answer like an info dump today or there will be a season 2 but that doesn't excuse it for me to be like that, had they made it about the fact that they turn into witches momentarily and then go back to normal it would have been way more exciting but guess what, THEY AVOID TALKING ABOUT THAT TOO!! the other girl who can transform just doesn't show up anymore and the protagonist doesn't care about it, she spend the whole anime going from one person to another asking if they know about Ui and everyone has the same answer.... NO!

Again, it is about that. Just it's something that wasn't really explained yet. Knowing future events you can rationalize it to make sense (for the most part), but for people who only watch anime I can understand it seems like they just ignored a very huge plot development and it can be frustrating. Magia Record really is anime that you're supposed to binge watch, not watch weekly. Yachiyo knows the truth. That's why she didn't tell anyone about it. She avoided it on purpose. Tsuruno doesn't know, but I guess she was just too shocked and since they're no longer close with Yachiyo and she doesn't want to talk about it, we can assume she either was too afraid to bring it up or did, but Yachiyo hand-waved it. As I said, you can rationalize it, but it really wasn't explained, I get why they didn't add any scene like that, but also it can be frustrating when you need to make excuses for anime, because it feels like a plot hole (also the fact in game Iroha was just fully conscious entire time and all of them were just very confused together about WTF just happened, doesn't help either).

About Kaede, it's another of those things that seems to be forgotten but comes back later when Momoko shows up to talk to Rena. And since Momoko knows the truth as well it makes sense why it didn't become a big deal. She probably found out what happened from Kaede later and told her the truth to "calm" her down. We know for a fact it had to happen, since Kaede showed up to Momoko's talk with Rena, knowing the truth. That's why she was shown at home mopping around and not talking to anyone. She needed time to take it all in. But again, had they gave us that information earlier, it would ruin the mystery. The whole after-credit scene wasn't in the game, but I get why they added it and I think that overall they handled it fine. They merged it with later event, so all they changed was when Kaede learned and reacted to the truth.

As for when Iroha remembers about Doppel and uses it to defeat Rumor of lucky water. Ughhhhhh... in game she was there when Amane sisters uses and explains how Doppel works (without explaining why it happens) and story-wise Iroha doesn't use it there (and gameplay-wise you can use Doppels, but only of magical girls you unlocked it for and it's not available for everyone yet, Iroha is one of those you can't unlock it for yet). So... yea, anime never explains why she didn't talked about it to anyone or question why Yachiyo lied to her... Ok fine, you win that one. I guess anime also adds some plot holes.

I think the biggest issue of MR is high expectations of Madoka fans. I started playing game expecting nothing from the story and knowing full well they won't go around killing off characters and mood won't be nearly as heavy as in OG series, but instead was positively surprised. In fact, I was sure it will be terrible (not that I know many other mobile games stories), so the fact it didn't suck major ass was already impressive. Sure game is far from perfect, it has some stupid moment, some things don't make that much sense and it can drag, but overall I think the story they came up with is pretty creative and ties to original series quite well. That's why I can really appreciate when anime is fixing/changing some stuff for better (and get frustrated just like everyone else when it creates plot holes where there weren't any before). I do think you can enjoy anime without playing game (for obvious reason, I can't confirm it, but I saw people who didn't play game and still enjoyed it just as much as me), but I feel like the best experience is to play the game first and then watch anime. This way you can really appreciate parts that anime changes, but also have all the knowledge to quickly fill in the gaps when anime leaves any or when it underperforms. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch, but I still think it has solid moments and does good job at what it set to do.

Today's episode opened really strong and overall I think it was good, but again as always I feel like they could add just a little bit more here and there to really make it great. Never before I wished so badly they could just do as many episodes as they want so they can adopt everything they want the way they want, so they don't have to cut out so many things and could give some parts little more breathing room.

last edited at Mar 21, 2020 6:56PM

I'm gonna say something controversial here... I might get banned even, but I can't keep lying to myself like this I... don't like Magia Record

I'm not sure how controversial that is, but it's definitely not something I'd expect to get banned over

Personally, as an anime-only, I really like it, but that's mostly on the strength of it's direction. The story has some neat ideas, but it's too vague and meandering to make much of them. If you're watching it purely for the story I can totally understand disliking it

If today is the final episode, it would have to be a masterpiece story wise and dramatically too... But I doubt it.

I don't think it's the final episode (maybe of the cour?), but it is goddamn fantastic

An anime made for the game fans would be very accurate I guess, but is also true that the game fans exist because of the first anime so they should expect people coming like me, eager for more magia after so long and nah I didn't expect this to be better than the first or being related to the movies or whatnot, after all, IT IS a spin off so you're supposed to be open minded. But I couldn't connect to any character or being moved by their actions... Well, I liked that part about the stairs of "/Delete Friendship" and how we got inside Rena's head, never again we'll get to invade a tsundere's psychology like this, the way she spoke about her true feelings was impressive imo and even after all that she's still a loner in school lol like fuck it!!! I can't help it!!! but I'm not mocking her, I guess that's fine.

I wish I could feel those strong emotions from the protagonist and not the people she meets! and yes I stand to what I say that they skipped the main plot because they gave us sooo little to go by that the protagonist is stuck around everyone's else problems for 85% of the anime, it makes you feel that is not that important after all... If I were directing, I would throw memories of Ui here and there so you could feel more attachment in the final reunion (if it happens) but maybe that hinders something in the story... I don't know.

If it all makes sense in the end, maybe yeah I should've binge watch it, but there was no warning.

---

In other news, I finished azur lane! the ending could be interpreted as the beginning of the game I think, and Enterprise did most of the work too lo/ she's the equivalent of all 4 forces together at this point and that's not explained, not sure if we'll get a s2 anyway, also, in a way, you could say that the commander wasn't cut from the anime, instead, Enterprise became the commander. now I just wait for English translation of the bluray releases to rewatch the action scenes that were heavily hindered by production issues and of course the bath scene uncensored.

Things I can't forgive: No scenes with Elena and Cleveland and that we never got to pay a visit to the Iron Blood base and it's many other characters

last edited at Mar 21, 2020 9:36PM

I dropped Magia Record after four or five episodes. It just seemed badly written with no inspiration to speak of. Plus I know nothing about gaming and the fact there's a game somewhere that has a part of the story made it even less appealing to keep at.

I saw chapter 12 of Magia to think that the final plot twist was the twist at the start of the first series... Yes, magical girls die when they lose their gems and turn into witches if it gets corrupted, but I rubs the wrong way to see Iroha's pikachu (:0) face when they were talking about that and the Doppels...YOU KNEW THIS GIRL, at least you felt it in your own body to some degree, and you were ignoring your soul's gem corruption too, Iroha's behavior and actions in this anime are too narrow, if she had stopped to think about things for a bit with the group, they could've made lot of progress and have the upper hand, but she only thinks about things with Ui and where to find her and the story is not helping her with that... But well, I'm curious about that system that magius allegely "made" and how it's possible for some mahous to use it now, does it means all mahous are saved from the corruption now? what conditions trigger this transformation and are they all under the system automatically ? these are very important questions, if I get them, it's fine if she doesn't find Ui this season.

Edit: ANN Reviewer did an excellent job to portray how I feel about the latest episode and the series as a whole (with the exception of the issue with Iroha and her sister, in fact, at this point it became a side quest) https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/magia-record-puella-magi-madoka-magica-side-story/episode-12/.157813

If I could brutally short it in one phrase, it is like this "Magia Record is great but only if you haven't watched the first anime or the movies"

---

Aaaaaaaaaaand Bofuri is getting season II with 110 million views in Bilibili https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-03-25/bofuri-i-dont-want-to-get-hurt-so-ill-max-out-my-defense-anime-gets-2nd-season/.157936 never expected to do so well, it was fun silly action and the animation sometimes was terrific! I think it was only lacking in the OST and if I can be selfish, I wanted more of their irl encounters.

To think that Bofuri got season 2 right away but the Gun Gale online was forgotten by the studio...

last edited at Mar 25, 2020 9:54PM

Trailer for the Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear anime (another isekai with an OP MC... but girl!)
I didn't expect her voice to be like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCt-m4fhynM

New season announced for Show By Rock!!! also the current anime ended and it was overall nice and way more yuri than it's predecessor .

Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear anime (another isekai with an OP MC... but girl!)

The funny thing is that being the standard isekai power fantasy[1] with a female protagonist is pretty unusual. Like, the only other one I can think of is a genderbender. Otherwise they're all reverse harems or going in their own direction

And, yeah, Yuna sounds way more mature than I expected. Feels weird coming from that character design

[1] As far as I know. It may have shifted gears after I got bored with it, but I doubt it

New season announced for Show By Rock!!!

I liked Mashumairesh, but I missed the first two seasons, so I'm not sure I'll be able to get into Stars. Oh well

also the current anime ended and it was overall nice and way more yuri than it's predecessor

Underwhelming finale (unsurprising when the climax already passed), but an enjoyable series overall. The chemistry between the girls was definitely the highlight

last edited at Mar 26, 2020 7:15PM

hope mashumairesh gets its own second season eventually, I really loved Himeko and Howan together~

are the first two seasons good? wondering if I should give them a watch to eventually watch stars. Mashu was my first time watching this franchise and I had an overall good time, tho my favorite part where its two leads so I don't know if I may care for the previous seasons.

The original show by rock was pretty nice but the second... I drop it around ep08 or something, nothing bad happened but it was kinda boring, aimless and the most tragical part... Almost no subtext.

And whats funny about s2 of the original is that I have 2 friends who saw it and both of them drop it too so we dont know how it ended hahshaha but we loved the first season.

But my heart is now with mashumairesh.

Main difference between the first anime and this is that the first anime is about saving the world, isekai and organizations but with mashu is just cute girls who want to play music

last edited at Mar 26, 2020 8:49PM

I see! thanks for the reply, I'll give it a watch eventually to at least the first season and see if it clicks with me , though that small descripction is certainly interesting ^^;; I thought the whole franchise was slice of life with music but seems like that only the case with Mashumairesh

One more! remember Hanayamata? now we have Ochikobore Fruit tart and it's also getting anime, here's the trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UG2D_sNgmE

But the synopsis is way too overused hahaha https://myanimelist.net/anime/39609/Ochikobore_Fruit_Tart

Group idol to save a dormitory. That sound awfully familiar.

One more! remember Hanayamata? now we have Ochikobore Fruit tart and it's also getting anime

While it is from the creator of Hanayamata, this seems to be a full-on comedy, not a dramedy

What I've read of the manga seems decent, at least

last edited at Mar 27, 2020 3:12PM

That's good, as a comedy, the simple plot turns into a parody of the genre so I hope they take it easy and just have fun with it

The final episode of Magia Record was great and they also announced a season 2!!!

^ And that's my cue that I can start searching for sites to binge it? Sweet.

^ And that's my cue that I can start searching for sites to binge it? Sweet.

Bingeing is the worst way to consume media. But no. The season ended on a dramatic midpoint for the story, not anything remotely conclusive

last edited at Mar 28, 2020 4:22PM

^ And that's my cue that I can start searching for sites to binge it? Sweet.

Bingeing is the worst way to consume media. But no. The season ended on a dramatic midpoint for the story, not anything remotely conclusive

This final episode of Magireco was what people claim Rebellion's ending was.

last edited at Mar 28, 2020 8:10PM

I think I'll just pause magi record on ch12 then, maybe after the second season they will remake it into movies with an extra ending for the third movie because Japan loves to do that (not just with madoka but code geass, gundam, fate etc etc).

Also I just finished 22/7.... huuuhhh.... I have nothing to say but ahmm creepy.

Asteroids in love was pretty nice and consistent, lovely ending. I hope the manga isn't too far behind.

last edited at Mar 28, 2020 6:51PM

Hylarn posted:

Bingeing is the worst way to consume media.

Eh. It really depends on show and you. I think some things are better/meant to be binged and some people prefer to binge watch stuff.

Serenata posted:

I think I'll just pause magi record on ch12 then, maybe after the second season they will remake it into movies with an extra ending for the third movie because Japan loves to do that (not just with madoka but code geass, gundam, fate etc etc).

I'm not sure movies are a good idea, since they already didn't have nearly enough time to include everything in TV series, they'd have even less time and have to cut even more content from movies.

Ugggghhhhhhhh. If I'd never played the game I'd probably think anime was great and finish it on very positive note (then again, maybe I'd not be able to appreciate what was good about it, without playing it). I still probably need few more days to really let sink in all the things anime has changed in last episode and understand what it's going for with them, but I still can get my honest opinion right now. I really wanted to like Magia Record. I was genuinely impressed with first 3 episodes and how they were fixing a lot of issues with source material. I hoped that they'll do story justice and enhance it using medium. I was trying to play devil's advocate for past 12 weeks, but I run out of patience. I'm going to rant about series as a whole, so if you don't want any spoilers, don't read it.

I thought last episode sucked major ass. Yes, it had some cool moments/animations. But overall it underperformed incredibly. I have a confession, I actually wasn't Madoka fan. I watched original series. Thought it was good. Never felt the need to watch it again, watch movies, read any mangas etc. Especially since I don't really like tragedies, I felt like I got my fill already and was content with it. Decided to give game a chance mostly for a friend. I liked story and was impressed that it was actually pretty good for what they had to work with, but still didn't really change my feeling on the series as a whole. Then I got to chapter 6. The one that episodes 11-13 cover. Yachiyo's backstory reminded me why Madoka was great. But it wasn't just that. What really finally sold me on going back to rewatch original and officially join Madokamism was how Iroha proposed to Yachiyo and decided to prove that love can overcome everything convinced Yachiyo that it wasn't her wish that killed her teammates. It was moment that really let Iroha's character shine and anime completely trashes that scene. It finally let me stop lying to myself and admit that I'm really not happy with this anime. As I said before, while anime has strong moments, it cuts a lot from the story, sometimes pretty major stuff, but I never felt like I was missing it, because I watched it with knowladge of all those things, so I knew the greater context and was able to fill in the blanks where necessary. Without that, this story loses a lot of it's heart. So I can't really give anime credit for things that are not in it.

Anime completely butchered foreshadowing of Yachiyo's past, past itself and resolution to it. While it did show her antagonizing new magical girls and she was pretty harsh towards Iroha, it didn't really went beyond that and she accepted Iroha pretty quickly (granted Iroha did give her grief seed to Yachiyo knowing her own soul gem was already pretty clouded), but it took way more than that in the game. First, when Iroha started to investigate rumors, she kept running into Yachiyo since she was doing the same, but whenever Iroha asked her for any information or anything in general, all she got in return was "I have no obligation to answer that." Their relationship was very rocky and Iroha was getting majorly frustrated with Yachiyo, her secretiveness and general lack of cooperation. First major breakthrough was during Staircase of Ending Friendship where Iroha proved herself in battle and Yachiyo finally at least accepted that Iroha isn't weak and can take care of herself. Something anime removed completely and just as I worried, never really addressed. It made sense Iroha won't become strong overnight and at first it wasn't that long since she started coming to Kamihama, but after some point we are never shown Iroha battling or doing anything other than running around and never landing any major hits (only time was her using Doppel, so it doesn't really count), so when in last episode she suddenly is killing Rumor (? I have no clue what it was, it wasn't in the game and anime didn't bother to explain) with few shots with some power up(?) she seemingly got out of nowhere, all I could feel inside was a complete apathy.

Second, when Iroha started to investigated Seance Shrine, Yachiyo finally gave in and agreed to just team up with her, since if they're going to keep running into each other, that way is easier. You'd think she finally warmed up to her, but nope. Instead of calling Iroha her friend, teammate, partner or anything like that, she instead announces her to be her "assistant" which takes even Iroha by surprise, since it kinda came out of nowhere. It was first major hint that Yachiyo wasn't just a mean bitch (and yes, initially I did dislike her, so gj game), but that little exchange shown that there's something more going on with her. Through the game she kept assigning "roles" to everyone and refuses to call anyone friend, despite everyone clearly growing close as a group and bonding together as a family. Iroha as her assistant, Tsuruno her disciple, Felicia hired mercenary and I forgot how she rationalized Sana. Anime made it pretty much a thrown away line in episode 11, way too late. You could be forgiven to not think Yachiyo had any issue with calling them friends before that point as anime doesn't bother to establish it as her hang up.

Third, so finally when Mifuyu came to visit Mikazuki Villa to invite everyone to the lecture, she has a quick private chat with Yachiyo scolding her that she totally went back to how she used to be and in fact, is a little pissed about it, as the whole point of disbanding their team and Yachiyo going solo, as well as distancing herself from most people, was in order to avoid her wish killing anyone else and Mifuyu suffered because of it and now Yachiyo's acting as if it never happened, making disbanding original team completely pointless. Yachiyo had to face the fact that she can't keep kidding herself that just simply not calling them friends will somehow magically prevent her wish from killing them and doing so was just her last defense mechanism in copying with her guilt. So she decided to go back to distancing herself from everyone. That was another annoying thing last episode. Nobody really reacted to it and when they were going to the lecture I hoped that Iroha will at least ask last time if Yachiyo wants to go with them, but she doesn't say anything. It really made it look more like Yachiyo was just in bad mood and they were ignoring her rather than a huge crack in their relationship. In game their interactions went to shit and you can really feel and see how everyone is worried and don't understand why Yachiyo suddenly started to behave like that. They ask her multiple time to help them find Memory Musem and then to go with them, but Yachiyo refuses everytime. Yachiyo does have change of heart later and decides to go join them, just like in anime, but she's acting way more composed. In anime she storms there and is visibly angry, while in game she just goes there and is allowed to join without issue. Admittedly, other than getting her there for the plot reasons, her action does seem a bit contradictory, but her trying to be cold and distant is contradictory to her kind and caring nature in the first place. I guess she wanted to make sure everyone is fine and nothing bad is done to them, as well how well they handled the truth (she was fully aware they're going there to learn it).

The major change happens after Iroha wakes up. She's asked to join Wings of the Magius, but she refuses and when she wakes up she finds Yachiyo there sleeping as well. She sees nobody else so she waits for her to wake up and once she does, she wants to find exit together and look for everyone else. But Yachiyo refuses, announces that she is disbanding the team and wants to go separate ways. Iroha initially thinks Yachiyo is just acting like that to confuse Magius and goes along with it, but it quickly turns out Yachiyo is serious. Iroha doesn't understand and keeps pressuring Yachiyo to stop acting wierd, but it's not working. When asked why she acts like that she hears familiar "I have no obligation to answer that." which was a great callback, but also heartbreaking. At this point Yachiyo is completely back to acting just as she was when they meet first time. Not really having other options Iroha sticks to Yachiyo and keeps pressuring her to explain to her why she acts like that. At the same time we learned that Yachiyo never told Momoko why she disbanded their team and distanced herself from her. Right, that's another major difference between game and anime. In game Momoko can't stand Yachiyo. She constantly scolds her for her poor treatment of Iroha in the beginning, doesn't take rumors seriously, because it's something Yachiyo is investigating and don't like working with her in general, because she's still pissed at her for cutting contact with her without explanation. Even after Iroha gets closer with Yachiyo, while Momoko is not as agressive towards Yachiyo anymore, their relationship is still strained. After constant nagging Yachiyo finally gives in and decided to explain to Iroha the reason why she disbanded team and why she become distant in the first place. And here is why anime butchered her past.

I really hoped they'd devote entire episode 12 just to Yachiyo's past, so we can get a proper taste of it, but it was also combined with lecture, which was done well and the memory part was also good, but it really took away time from things that really mattered. Kanae doesn't even have a fucking speaking line. That's treason. How are we supposed to feel anything about her death when we know nothing about her? Sure, she didn't have too much screen time in the game as well, but she had one. You get to briefly see how she, Yachiyo and Mifuyu interact at Mikazuki Villa and then during battle. They're forced to retreat and Kanae offers to sacrifice herself just after telling Yachiyo that she made her life worth living for and rationalizes her decision by saying that Yachiyo is more important for the team. Yachiyo is devastated. Then we skip to Mel, and at least anime give her some screen time and I think it's about the same, so I can't really complain there, but for the love of all that's yuri. Why the hell did they cut out Mel's final words? "It was a lucky day, because I got to save senpai I admire." I know that they did include both of those lines in this episode, but they're blink and you'll miss it on screen texts. They lack any impact whatsoever and they feel more like twists without twist. Like when you were watching those scenes, it all sounded like things that those characters would say at that moment. It fit their characters and sounded reasonable, so you had no reason to think there was anything more behind it. But then you learn what impact they left on Yachiyo and how those words lead her to believing it was her power causing their dead. The words themselves are not the twist. Yachiyo's conclusion based on them is. I have no clue why anime decided to put so much weight on them, at the same time putting no weight into how they were presented.

So because both Yachiyo and Iroha refused to join Magius, they decided to get rid of them. Iirc Alina first weakens them with her Doppel and then leaves them to fight Rumor of Memory Museum. Yachiyo obviously tells Iroha to stand back and wants to solo the Rumor, but Iroha refuses. After arguing a bit more for the first time in the game ever Iroha snaps, get angry at Yachiyo and tells her that she'll prove to her that she's wrong. So she starts to desperately fight rumor while telling Yachiyo to stand back. After struggling with it for a while, she finally defeats it and proposes asks speechless Yachiyo to give herself 1 more chance and that she'll stay with her forever and never die, so she can see for herself that it wasn't her wish that killed them and she can stop beating herself over past and living in guilt. That is the scene that made me think this story was great. It was a satisfying payoff to a great set up (in fact it made me cry just writing it down). I have no clue what that garbage 5 minutes in anime was. In fact I don't really understand what happened. Something ate Yachiyo? And Iroha saved her by blowing it up? Using some ass-pull power that was never established? And Yachiyo just kinda gave into Iroha's half-assed pep talk. It felt like Yachiyo broke down anyway and anything Iroha would say would work. In game Yachiyo completely froze her heart again and was 100% ready and confident to go back to the way she acted at the start of the game. She wasn't even moved by Magius taking Tsuruno, Felicia and Sana away. It was only Iroha's persistence and effort that manage to set doubt in her heart and allow her to believe in herself again. That's the reason why they're pretty much a canon couple of this series (just like Madoka and Homura). Their bond is unbreakable and it only grows from there. And to add insult to injury, anime has audacity to split them and make Yachiyo think that Iroha might die/is dead. Not even hour passed since Iroha promised Yachiyo she'll clear any doubts she might have about her wish and Iroha screwed it up already. GJ! Seriously I can't believe that they manage to screw the most important part of entire story that badly. I'm honestly pissed off.

I heard mixed opinions about inclusion of original cast. Some love it, some hate it. I personally don't mind it. It is still called Madoka Magica Side Story after all. I think their involvement in the game was done well enough. They only have minor roles, which is fine, because they're not main focus, it's not their story, so they shouldn't steal the spotlight. They kept Mami's and Kyouko's appearances just like in the game (for the most part), so I was really surprised they cut off Homura's and Madoka's. They show up looking for Mami and run into main cast while they try to investigate Endless Solitude. They join forces and together solve it. Honestly considering how small their contribution to the story was in that chapter and how anime handled that episodes (Sana's arc is one of the best part of the anime, they really handled adapting her story quite well) I was perfectly fine with their absence. It would take away time and focus from Sana and her story and they had a very tall order to fill with introducing her and making you care about her and her relationship with AI, all in span of just 1 episode (since they decided to not do it the way game dealt with it). I hoped it meant they'll introduce them when they have time to properly focus on them and their interaction with main cast. Even if it'd mean that they won't show up this season. Welp, they kept Sayaka's cameo though. Like I don't understand it. There was already so much shit going on in this episode and at that time, there was just no time to give Sayaka's appearance proper impact. She pretty much just shows up, says Mami's name few times, blocks Trio Finale and hides away from her bullets. She's barely there and she barely interacts with Mami. Her introduction felt really pointless, especially since any follow up on her we could possibly get, will only be in season 2 and that's ages from now. I actually thought that'll be be where they add Homura's and Madoka's cameo instead. It would make sense, because they went to look for Mami together and Sayaka just happened to be closest and rushing to her. In game we already had their cameo earlier without Sayaka, so it made sense they would let her have some action on her own, but since anime skipped it, there was no reason to not include them together. Other than no time and/or together they could actually defeat Mami right here and there, and we can't have that. Oh right. There was perfect solution to it. Just don't make her show up. This way you could make Iroha not useless and have her fight Mami together with Yachiyo, cementing their newly established marriage partnership. But no, we had to keep Sayaka's here for some reason. Like, I bet people like her (I was never fan of her, she just didn't click with me, probably because I'm Homura fan, so we don't get along), but if you're going to skip cameo or have cameo in last episode, wouldn't having Madoka's/Homura's/preferably both of them much better and more anticipated by people than Sayaka's?

And don't even get me started on Mami. I was praising previous episodes. I'm taking that all back. Not only now for some reason they added brainwash subplot back to her, they went with Holy Mami after all. It worked in game, but as they clearly made Mami stronger mentally in anime, I'm confused what's the point of suddenly going back on it and brainwashing her. Does that mean she was brainwashed/fused with Rumor when we saw her before or did it only happened recently? If so, why? Also they clearly are doing the Mami vs Yachiyo fight from later now, which as I said I wanted to see animated, so I should be happy, but I'm not and anime makes it really hard to be. First, while it starts pretty good it quickly devolves into her just standing/floating in place shooting shitty CGI guns into the same directions without really any strategy and characters hiding from copypasta bullets. Sure, they don't have movie budget to make it look as good as Homura's duel with Mami, but common. It's the final big action of last episode of the first season. Couldn't you make it look at least less shitty than that? And second reason is that for some unyurily reason Iroha, the freaking magical girl that leaps 10 meters, fight witches and uses magic, managed to now of all times twisted her ankle while running, but the worst part is THAT SOMEHOW MADE HER LOSE CONSCIOUS????????? It's comedy gold, but MR isn't supposed to be one... Especially in last episode when they're cutting back and forth between their fight and Magius creating First Galactic Empire, I mean, preparing to take over the world. Iroha got 2 minutes to shine and now she's back to being completely useless. So anyway, because Yachiyo has to carry her on her back, she can't actually fully focus on fighting Mami, making the fight a complete waste of potential, if it really was supposed to be a callback to later scene from the game. And of course once Iroha comes to, instead of trying to fight normally first, she immediately jumps into using Doppel. And we barely see it anyway. Also what happened to her twisted ankle??? I'm not even going into a rabbit hole of "Yachiyo seems to know about and how to use Doppels." 1 thing though. In game (as far as I know) the only real reason Doppels are bad is because you need energy to maintain the system that allows you to use them, aka, we need to let Rumors kill people to power it up and we're feeding Witches for energy, which is the main and only reason, main cast consider Magius and their methods bad and refuses to join them. Yachiyo says that supposedly there's some other downside to using Doppels, but... SHE DOESN'T FUCKING SAY IT. IN THE LAST EPISODE. WHAT KIND OF SHITTY SEQUEL HOOK IS THAT?. Anime please. If you can't be arsed to explain or state things outright, throw away lines. They're your best friends. So much issues with things not being clear in this anime would be solved by simply adding some throw away lines. Why do you do this to me!? Also I just realized, last episode ended with "we'll finally explain how Doppel works". This episode didn't explain how Doppel works at all and to rub salt into the wound, Yachiyo starts explaining it, but never finishes. That's some new lvl of withholding information.

And speaking of Doppels. Ughhhhhhhhhhhh. Wasted potential number 1943823094385230. So in game Doppels appears in story only handful of times, but gameplay wise, you can us them whenever you want and it's one of the most important mechanics in the game. So I was actually thrilled when anime added that scene with Kaede using her Doppel, because I took it as meaning that they're trying to incorporate them more into story and fights. The idea of Doppels and seeing different ones of different magical girls is one of the most unique and interesting things game invented, so sticking to story and not showcasing as many as possible would be a huge misopportunity. That's why I loved the idea that they'll actually try adding characters using them. Or at least that's what I though they'll do with it. Instead they turned it into some weird ass subplot that goes unaddressed pretty much until last episode and only non-game-canon Doppel use we get is second time Iroha uses it (so we already saw it) and Yachiyo's Doppel (which she never uses in story, at least in part of story NA server covers so far). Maybe they plan to have more characters using it in second season, but 1. that's not this season 2. it is still huge wasted opportunity and a lot of tease without any big payoff.

On topic of weird ass subplot. I have no clue what they're going for with Momoko's team joining Magius. Where the hell did that come from? In game Momoko thinks Kaede and Rena are not ready to handle the truth and is procrastinating on telling them, so when the thing with lecture comes up, she decides to tell them and that's how they learn about it and about Yachiyo's past (well as much as Momoko knows about it). And after that and when Yachiyo returns with Iroha to Mikazuki Villa, she confronts Yachiyo for the last time about their past and since Iroha penetrated Yachiyo's walls and made her softer
[( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)] she finally tells Momoko truth, who forgives her and now that Momoko's grudge against Yachiyo is gone, Momoko can wholeheartedly support her and her new partner Iroha. Same goes for Rena and Kaede (once she gets over her truth induced depression). So that's some serious double character assassination. First she is not mad at Yachiyo, but then she betrays her by joining Magius. Also I'm confused. My first thought was that after Kaede cut contact with everyone, Momoko confronted her and after learning what happened, told her the truth and later staged meeting with Rena. But when Kaede showed up, she already joined Magius and Momoko wasn't even the slightest surprised. I'm not sure about Kaede, but Momoko doesn't seem to be brainwashed, so did she and Kaede joined together? Did Kaede join and Momoko joined because of her?

Which brings me to something I really wished they'd do without altogether, but instead they completely skipped it over and only left it implied, which again, I feel like is much worse. Brainwashing. That was like the biggest plot point of the whole lecture thing. Memory Museum is a brainwashing machine (or at least it has it as a additional function). Lecture was just a formality, since the moment Magius decided to invite them, they already planned to just brainwash them. They never had any intention of actually letting main cast make up their own mind. Which is weird, because you'd think any magical girl that learns about truth, would be more than happy to join them, especially since they managed to create a way to prevent you from turning into a witch. In fact I thought everyone in the main cast had a legit reason to join them. That could be a great twist. We assumed by default that weird, cult like organization that seems evil, must be evil, but they actually have good motivation and things are much more morally gray, than they first appeared. Granted, main cast already clashed with them and refused to back down, so Magius could think they have no option, but they still could at least try to explain everything to them first (they never tried after all) and only when they still refuse, proceed with the whole brainwashing.

And that's really my main issue with Magius and their portray. They seems to have no issue telling everyone about their goals and truth. Magical girls from all over the Japan come to them and enlist themselves to help them and yet it seems like main cast are the only ones they refuse to tell anything. Since first time Iroha and others encountered Black Feathers, they only talked about liberation, but could never share the details. Sometimes it was implied they themselves don't really know them, other times they knew but weren't allowed to talk about it. That's why I never understood why it took so long for Magius to decide to actually talk to main cast and tell them why they shouldn't interfere with their operations as well as why they're the only ones they decided to brainwash from the get go, especially considering they never had to brainwash anyone else to join. They want you to think Magius have a point, while at the same time going out of their way to portray them as a black and white evil people, so you won't doubt for a second they're bad guys. They just brainwash them, because it's what villains do. Everything you hear about them from the start paints them as bad. They protect rumors and raise witches. They're even ready to kill anyone who messes with their plans. And sure, Doppel system do require sacrifices, but they could make it sounds more like necessary evil and maybe they constantly look for different ways. Anime gives Mami line like that, but it's a lie they fed her. Magius don't look for other methods. They straight don't care about anyone other than themselves. Later, when brainwashing is undone and Magius pushed into wall, only then they realized "oh, we should talk it over first". Yea, I thought you already realized it, but you brainwashed us instead. And we learn about their true goals and what kind of selfish, egocentric and piece of garbage people they are. We couldn't have someone who actually tries to do something good, even if it requires dirtying your hands. No, they had try to bite more than they can chew and we need to stop them. I guess there would be no game without it.

All this episode needed to do in order to end season on a strong note: Show Iroha proposing convincing Yachiyo to give herself another chance and then when it seems like things are turning ok, all that's left is to get everyone back to Mikazuki Villa and give Yachiyo coasters, pull the rug from under them revealing other 3 have been brainwashed. After that make quick, epic battle between Mami and IroYachi, which they'd ultimately be forced to flee and make last shot of the episode them sitting on sofa in the empty living-room, wondering what to do next. There. Strong set up for second season. We didn't need Emperor Touka or betrayal of team Momoko.

That's all about (mostly) episode 13. I probably could keep going for dozen more paragraphs about rest of adaptation, but I'll stop here. I don't expect anyone to read it, yet alone reply, so don't feel bad about it. There were scenes/episodes I really liked and I'll definitely watch season 2. Existence of anime didn't make game disappear and nobody is taking that away from me, so I can reread story there whenever I want. Who knows, maybe once I see where they'll take it, I'll find new appreciation for anime as it's own take, but as a adaptation of the story I grew to like, it fails miserably.

I had high hopes for anime, as it seemed like they were improving story in a lot of ways, but at the end of the day they failed and game is overall still ironically better, as much as I hate to admit it. I really don't think it was some unreachable task. They proved many times it was possible. They just needed a bit more time to better pace everything and not cut as much of important stuff, while streamlining and improving what was good. And of course not make dumb changes. I honestly can't decide whatever it was matter of money and the way anime is made, that they could only afford to do it with 2 13 episodes seasons or that they really thought it was enough to fit everything that they thought mattered to the story into that frame as well as whatever they weren't allowed to change story too drastically or they actually thought the story was fine as it is and didn't want to change it more. Considering they did make some very major changes, I don't think that was a issue in particular.

last edited at Mar 29, 2020 6:56AM