Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 – The Eve of Awakening

Season Overview

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 – The Eve of Awakening (Magia Record: Mahou Shoujo Madoka☆Magica Gaiden (TV) 2nd Season – Kakusei Zenya / マギアレコード 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ外伝 2nd SEASON -覚醒前夜-) picks up the Magia Record story right where the first season left off.

With that said, Season 2 is pretty different from Season 1 in a lot of (positive) ways. For example, it has way better animation and the story is no longer made up of a bunch of mini-arcs that are largely unrelated.

The first season was structured around the concept of Rumors — basically mini witches. Each Rumor had its own, mostly self-contained, arc. And because of that, the story of the series didn’t feel like it was progressing all that much.

With Season 2, the Rumor arcs are no more. We learn how the Rumors from Season 1 are all connected, and the focus now shifts to a larger-scale story built upon everything from Season 1. The structure of this season and the way aspects of the world were revealed felt a lot more natural.

Backing up just a bit, I also mentioned that Season 2 has way better animation than Season 1. The general animation of the series is probably about the same, or a bit better. But there are a few scenes, most notably in Episode 1 and Episode 4, that have absolutely insane animation.

In the first episode, Sayaka Miki is the character at the center of the sakuga. And in Episode 4, we get a great tag-team battle featuring Iroha, Kuroe, and Rena — this scene, in particular, can be a bit hard to follow, but I explained what’s happening in my review of the episode.

More Mitakihara Girls Content

Something I personally liked about Season 2 is that there was a bigger focus on the Mitakihara girls (the characters from the original Madoka Magica series). As anyone who’s read my episode reviews of Magia Record knows, I vastly prefer the Mitakihara girls over the Kamihama girls.

I know there are people out there who like the Kamihama girls more. You’re wrong, but I respect your opinion. The Kamihama girls just aren’t as well developed, which is one reason why it’s refreshing to have the Mitakihara girls show up — we already know them intimately.

However, that doesn’t mean Magia Record Season 2 is all about the Mitakihara girls. They’re still supporting characters while the Kamihama girls are the protagonists. But they play the supporting role very well and I liked how the differences between the two groups were highlighted.

I’m actually not sure if the Mitakihara girls have been magical girls any longer than the Kamihama girls. Obviously, Mami and Kyouko have been around for a while. But so has Yachiyo. And Madoka and Sayaka are relatively new magical girls, maybe even newer than Iroha.

But even so, the Mitakihara girls are much more calm and organized when faced with danger. Most of the times we see them in this season involve them showing up and saving or helping the Kamihama girls in one way or another.

For example, when Sana and Futaba are fleeing from Wings of the Magius, Kyouko just happens to run into them while pulling off a grief seed heist. She then decides to bring them along with her as she escapes.

It’s interactions like that which I think improve this season of the series. We already know Kyouko well, so there’s no need to explain her actions. Instead, we can just enjoy how the new characters respond to those actions.

Where Does It Go Next?

For a lot of the anime I review on this blog, I don’t think I consider what’s going to come next when looking at a specific season. By that, I mean that if I’m reviewing the second season of something, my rating of that season isn’t affected by what I expect of the potential third season.

Now, you may be thinking that makes sense. After all, the content of the following season shouldn’t affect my rating of the season I’m currently reviewing. But, Magia Record is in a bit of an interesting spot in this regard.

We know that the next season is going to be the final season. And thanks to that, I’m able to theorize about how we could get from where the anime currently stands to a conclusion that wraps everything up neatly.

What I like about Magia Record Season 2 is that I have no idea where it’s going to go next. I discussed this a bit in my review of Episode 8, but there are multiple directions the series could take for the final season, all of which could lead to interesting conclusions.

Of course, it’s possible that some of the plot points set up within this season could be forgotten about or retconned in the final season. However, I’m optimistic that that’s not going to be the case. I’m pretty sure the final season was announced alongside this season, so they should have planned out how it’s all going to come together.

In the end, I’m just impressed that this season of Magia Record was able to get me so excited for what’s going to happen next. I never felt that after the first season.

Conclusion

Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Season 2 is an 8/10. I genuinely thought this was a very good season. It was carried by the animation quality quite a bit, but the story is still good as well.

Oh, and one last thing about this season is that I thought both the OP and ED were better than they were in the first season. I still prefer Connect/Magia from Madoka Magica, but Careless/Lapis are good.

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My review of the Final Season is available now.