Hi all,
I recently took a break from work for summer holydays. Did not go anywhere fancy, instead i spent a lot of time watching/reading the story of the original MagiReco mobile game on youtube.
I feel a need to ramble about it, so here we go again :)
First off: its good! its really good!
I remember watching the anime years ago and being really disappointed, i thought the writing was downright incompetent: turns out, the anime cuts and moves around a bunch of stuff, making the plot kind of nonsensical.
The original game had lots of runtime and was heavily character-driven (being a gacha game and all) so the cuts really butchered it.
I was truly relieved to find out, the actual story is really interesting.
Why am i watching it on youtube instead of reading it in Magia Exedra? The reason is quite simple: to my horror the MagiReco story in Exedra has no voice-acting, even tho the original game had plenty. Yet more proof Exedra is mostly a shoddy cash-grab, in everything not related to making you want to spend money.
At the time of writing i am finished with Arc 1 of the story.
I am consuming it as one big youtube playlist, all in all it comes to like, a 25 hours VN.
Certainly a big time commitment, but i was lucky to have lots of spare time.
If you are curious, its this playlist right here
I will start off with some criticisms: the story starts really slow, not much really happens until Chapter 4, at which point the ‘Wings of Magius’ get introduced. From there things become far more interesting in my opinion, and the mystery slowly unravels.
I can see the similarities in pacing with scene0, and this slow-burn pacing worked really well there, but i think scene0 benefitted greatly from having a much more constrained scope: MagiReco by contrast is quite expansive, it introduces a whole new cast, premise, lore…
There is lots to do, yet we spend 3 lengthy chapters following Iroha bumping into the other members of the gang: the characters are cute, but there are not a lot of stakes to Iroha’s initial investigation.
Once the Wings of Magius are introduced tho, things get really interesting! If you are not aware, they are basically Magical Girl version of the Illuminati, a secret society of magical girls with mysterious designs and a goal to “Free all Magical girls”.
Come on, thats pretty cool! isn’t it?
I immediately got drawned towards the concept since i watched the anime, but in this version their plans and methods actually make much more sense: there are some elements that are hand-waved away, but its mostly in keeping with the original lore.
I think it does justice to the original anime, there was some love and care put into this screenplay, yet its also quite original. The Holy Quintet show up of course, but magiReco mostly avoids re-treading old ground and puts a new perspective on a lot of things.
There are, however, some things that get lost when ripping the story of magiReco out from its game: the action scenes are mostly left to the reader’s imagination, and feels quite anti-climactic as a result. The story doesn’t bother showing how the girls fight for similar reason, and it struggles to communicate that every member of the Wings of Magius is supposed to be a unique magical girl, with her own powers and weapons. As it stands, the wings mostly feel like a collection of interchangeable grunts, instead of a loose coalition of desperate girls.
These are small gripes tho, i think experiencing the story like this is actually very fun and captivating. If i may be so bold, this might in fact be the best way we have to experience this particular journey.
I really enjoyed the story and characters, but i don’t want to spoil too much: let’s just say that while there are many things that sound outlandish at first, like Uwasa, Doppels, and a lot of other strange elements, fear not! All will be revealed in time, in a satisfying and lore-friendly way.
These writers can cook, so let them.
Is this story as good as the original Madoka, or rebellion? no But is it a worthy entry in the franchise? i think so yes.
When compared to the original series however, it does lack some of that Urobuchi magic: it has plenty of interesting characters, it has plenty of mysteries to uncover, but it is markedly less dark: There are stakes, but they are never truly dire. No Character’s life is forfeit (even when it really should), and Iroha’s protagonist status sometimes leads to quite convenient developments where the day is saved by some flavour of the power of friendship.
Despite these predictable developments however, it doesn’t impact the story too much.
Besides, Madoka Magica was never edgy for the sake of it: the darker aspects, the heightened drama, they were there to convey thematic points: once the rules of the franchise have been established, they have fulfilled their role.
The drama is transitive: Rebellion works despite not showing anything ’edgy’ due to our familiarity with Homura’s struggles as a character. I’d argue Magia Record does just the same: this story merely hints at the dark stuff, the existential horror elements are downplayed, but we still connect with things like Yachiyo’s backstory because we have seen before what finding out the truth about magical girls does to a mf. We understand why the followers of the Wings of Magius cling so tightly to the idea of liberation, such that they are willing to do anything to get it.
(Jesus ive been yapping for far to long)
In conclusion I hope you enjoyed reading this essay as much as ive enjoyed writing it.
MagiReco is good. Click on the link and go watch the playlist.
If your’re a Madoka Magica fan and you just so happen to be spending the night in jail because you got caught drunk-driving, there are a lot of worse ways to spend 30 hours in custody than some good ol’ magical girl doomed yuri.
PS: More updates to come, maybe, if i can find the time to read more of it.