Forum - View topicREVIEW: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Side Story GN 1
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Juno016
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I have a quick question. The anime adds a new main cast member to the team that wasn't in the games and seems to be there to help flesh out some more heavy themes (as opposed to the game's straight up plot focus). Does this character appear in the manga or is the manga just doing a straight-up adaption of the game?
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Amy192
Posts: 67 |
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From what I have read from the manga, it is doing a straight-up adaption of the game |
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Hiroki not Takuya
 Posts: 2687 |
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I would pay good money to see the Wedding Peach bunch plopped into MGRP!
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#HayamiLover
 Posts: 800 Location: Eastern Europe |
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The question is for those who played the game: is it something like FGO and is aimed at expanding the franchise universe or a full-fledged side story with a certain main cast?
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Amy192
Posts: 67 |
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I haven't watched Fate but I can still explain what the game is like. The game is a full-fledged side story with a new main character group: The MC is Iroha, along with Yachiyo, Felicia, Tsuruno and Sana. There is also another group that is friends with the main group: Kaede, Rena and Momoko. There is also a bunch of antagonists who I won't name and there is a neutral character who isn't on either side called Mitama. The characters from Madoka Magica are a bit involved with the main story but it focuses on the new characters. However, the anime might be a bit different as they have added a new character into the anime (Kuroe) |
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#HayamiLover
Posts: 800 Location: Eastern Europe |
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@#900545 Thank you for your reply! I just wanted to understand how much this story will be associated with the original. I haven't watched it yet, so I don’t know if I need to watch Madoka to start this series in ongoing.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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The major reason I mentioned a need for familiarity with the original was world building stuff - there's no time in the manga dedicated to explaining how magical girls function, which I think is important in this particular franchise. That could just be me being over-cautious, though - what do the rest of you think? |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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The review does say that you should, but honestly I'm not sure; most of the game would generally make sense without seeing the anime first. Like some of the other spinoffs, it's a "what if instead of solving the main conflict this way, we instead did something completely different" story, but knowing that isn't strictly necessary. The manga probably skips over some stuff since they're assuming readers of a manga adaptation of a game spinoff of a several-years-old anime have probably seen that anime. Whether the anime adaptation will try to get newcomers up to speed is unknown, but I'd guess that it will. The bigger issue is that it spoils, or rather reuses, the biggest twist in the original show, along with some other things spoiler[("Glasses Homura," for example)]. Watching that for the first time after seeing/reading/playing Magia Record would be a strange experience. So, if you just don't have time, you could get away with skipping the original series, but I'd still recommend watching that (or the movie versions) if you can. There's a reason it started an avalanche of spinoffs and imitators, after all. |
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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In my opinion you absolutely need to know how the universe and magical girls contracts work in order to understand the story. It's not so much the characters you need to know about but how the universe works. I would certainly watch the original Madoka Magica before reading this GN, the manga, or playing the game. Plus, it's a masterpiece-tier show on its own, so watching it before this is hardly a chore. I would even go so far as to suggest watching the original twice, as there are many details that one misses on the first viewing simply because the viewer doesn't (yet) realize their importance. |
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db999
Posts: 346 |
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I have a question for those familiar with the story of the game. I'll be posting the question in spoilers so as not to ruin the original Madoka for those who haven't seen it.. spoiler[So does everyone in this story die like in the original Madoka? Is this just a spin-off that doesn't get resolved into the canon of the main show, or do they pull the whole Homura goes back in time and the events of the series are erased thing some of the other spin-offs do?] I'd like to know that kind of information before deciding whether or not to watch it.
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Juno016
Posts: 2432 |
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First of all, definitely watch the original series. There's a sequel movie, but for plot reasons, most spin-offs ignore it anyway. I think it's universally accepted among fans that the original anime is, by far, the best part of the franchise for a reason. Spin-offs have to spoil the original show's twists for plot reasons. And it's HIGHLY recommended you don't spoil yourself before watching, even if you don't typically care about spoilers. It dedicates a lot of time and deliberate artistic effort to building its twists in a unique way that can only be experienced once. Which leads me to:
It's not necessary to watch it twice and you only have to watch it once before Magia Record, but unless you hated it with a passion for some reason, I would also recommend rewatching the show (maybe with a friend, just to see them react to the twists). The show was purposely directed to give people who've already seen it more to digest on a second watch due to its brilliant use of recontextualization. ---- In short, you don't HAVE to watch Madoka Magica's 12 episodes to understand most of Magia Record, but Magia Record (the game, at least), while decent, isn't really good enough that I'd recommend diving into it at the risk of spoiling the original series, which is the celebrated crux of the franchise. Besides, it's not a huge investment like the Fate franchise, so it's worth it. Last edited by Juno016 on Wed Dec 25, 2019 11:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Juno016
Posts: 2432 |
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*this was posted before submitting, so sorry for the double-post* I'd rather not spoil the events of the game (mainly because I want to see how the anime adaption builds up the twists). I'll try to answer best I can in leu of that, though: 1) spoiler[The story of Magia Record immediately starts with a girl luring Homura to a new town, saying "in this town, magical girls can be saved." Whether or not anyone can even die in this new setting is a major lingering question revolving around this mysterious figure, so play/watch/read it to find out.] 2) Unlike other spin-offs in the franchise, which typically act as "things that maybe happened" in the original canon, Magia Record actively goes down its own path, incompatible with the original anime (minus the cameo appearance in the game of spoiler[the original Ultimate Madoka, suggesting she is able to see this timeline]). It doesn't erase the original canon or anything drastic like that, but it tries to solve the same issue differently. Hence why it's more of a "what if" scenario. |
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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Yes, that's what I meant but didn't do a good job making clear. You don't need to watch it twice to appreciate Magia Record, rather watching it twice is enjoyable all on its own merits. As you said, the recontexualization is brilliant. |
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kawaiibunny3
 Posts: 534 Location: Houston, Texas |
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This is all correct but just to expand on this: spoiler[The game in Japan is already on it's 2nd arc and so far no major character has died but nameless bg characters have. The events are amping up to imply that more characters will die in this arc as well. But in the 1st arc (which I assume the anime will only focus on) pretty much everyone's okay. I know there are JP server players that are upset by this but personally I don't mind it] |
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