Magia Record 2nd Season Episode 2

Doppel Witches

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica 2nd Season Episode 2 was a lot worse than Episode 1. I don’t think it was a bad episode, but I’d give this episode a 6/10 while last week’s episode was a solid 8/10 at least. So, let’s quickly go over some reasons why there’s such a discrepancy.

The big thing I mentioned last week was that Episode 1 focused solely on the original cast of Madoka Magica. Episodes focusing on the Magia Record girls just aren’t as good because there are too many characters, so I don’t actually know any of them.

Of all the girls who appeared in this episode, the only ones I could name were Iroha, Yachiyo, and Kuroe (because her name is literally her color scheme). I don’t know any of the other girls’ names. And I barely remember how half of them are relevant.

Actually, I also think one of the “main” girls is named Kaede. She’s the maple tree (what Kaede means) girl. The Radagast the Brown of the series, if you will.

The other problem I have with Magia Record is the series’ defining feature: Doppel Witches. Even with Doppel Witches being somewhat explained in this episode, they still feel like they don’t fit in. Obviously, that’s because they don’t. They’re only included because they’re the “ultimate” abilities from the gacha game.

I think I could get behind the concept of Doppels more if they actually looked cooler. I have no idea what Mifuyu’s Doppel is supposed to be. And Yachiyo’s is extremely stupid. She turns into a scorpion with a human body and gains a hat.

The scene of Yachiyo transforming was cool — until you see what she transformed into. Compared to actual Witches, Doppels are just lame.

Wings of the Magius

The Wings of the Magius group is effectively this series version of what the Witches were in the original series. Witches are old news now. So instead, we have this mysterious group that we’re slowly learning about.

On the surface, I don’t have an issue with that. I like the Witches, but I accept that they wouldn’t be all too interesting as antagonists at this point. That’s why I originally hoped that Magia Record would take place during the Wraith arc.

Unfortunately, Wings of the Magius is what we get instead of Wraiths. So, what’s the goal of this group? They claim their goal is to save all magical girls. That may be true, but as we know, it’s not really that cut and dry. They’re going about achieving their goal in some shady ways.

Now, I have a few theories about what Wings of the Magius is really up to. Two things we know about them are that they use Doppels and they’re responsible for creating Rumors. The Doppels can be explained somewhat easily, but the Rumors less so.

The public reason for creating Doppels is as a way to prevent magical girls from becoming Witches. And they have the added bonus of giving them a power boost for a limited amount of time. But there’s bound to be a drawback associated with this.

I think that might be where Rumors come in. Rumors are effectively mini Witches that didn’t require a magical girl to fall to be born. So my main theory is that Wings of the Magius is attempting to create Witches via Rumors to fulfill the magical girls’ side of their pact with Kyubey.

If Witches can be created with Rumors, magical girls can be saved (or so my thinking goes). After all, we know from the Wraith arc timeline that eliminating Witches altogether isn’t a viable solution.

The Eternal Sakura

The new Rumor introduced in this episode is that of the Eternal Sakura, a cherry blossom tree that’s said to never lose its petals once it blooms. This is also the location where Iroha is supposedly going to be reunited with her sister and her sister’s friends from the hospital.

I honestly have no idea how this Rumor is going to play out. It sounds like this is an end game Rumor. After all, Iroha’s whole goal is to be reunited with her sister. But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like we’re close to that happening and it’s only the start of the 2nd season.

Maybe you aren’t aware, but a 3rd and final season has already been announced. So it seems a bit strange for Iroha’s main character arc to wrap up now. And considering how short all of the other Rumor arcs were in the 1st season, I don’t expect this one to be long either.

Let’s pretend that the Eternal Sakura Rumor does get resolved in the next few episodes and Iroha is reunited with her sister. How would that happen in a way that doesn’t feel cheap? Unless the Eternal Sakura is made of the souls of dead magical girls, I don’t see how it would work.

Nemu is about to die. So for her to also meet Iroha there seems odd. That’s what makes me think Iroha’s sister is already dead, Nemu is about to join her, and the third girl will at some point as well. I think the third girl is the leader of Wings of the Magius if I remember correctly.

I’m still not sure how all of this would work. And that alone isn’t a bad thing. But I’m just not really expecting whatever resolution we get to this Rumor to be all that well-written.

Conclusion

What do you think of Magia Record 2nd Season Episode 2? Do you like the inclusion of Doppel Witches? What’s your theory about the Wings of the Magius? And are you expecting the Eternal Sakura Rumor to be resolved quickly? Let me know in the comments.

I’ll also end this review by mentioning two things I liked about this episode. First, I liked how the way we see Iroha within the Eternal Sakura was a reference to Madoka at the end of the Madoka Magica ED. And Second, the music in this series is phenomenal, as expected.

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My review of Episode 3 is available now.