Magia Record Final Season Episode 12

Magia Record Final Season Episode 12

Bye, Kuroe

As I figured may be the case, Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season fell apart a bit at the end. I knew something was going to go wrong based on how much I liked Episode 9 and the low rating of the “season” as a whole.

And, In my review of Episode 11, I pointed out that by the end of the episode, there were a lot of loose ends. Iroha had to save Kuroe. She had to defeat Touka and Nemu. And she had to defeat Alina Gray.

But, what I didn’t realize is that the ending scene of the previous episode was Kuroe’s death. Episode 12 opens with Iroha standing over the Grief Seed dropped by Kuroe’s witch. Rather than trying to save Kuroe, Iroha chooses to release her from her fate instead.

Iroha, Sana, Yachiyo, Tsuruno, and Felicia from the anime series Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season Episode 12
Iroha, Sana, Yachiyo, Tsuruno, and Felicia

I have mixed feelings about the end of Kuroe’s story. On one hand, I like the dark, despair-filled parts of Madoka Magica. The fact that Kuroe wasn’t saved is good in that regard. A good death can turn an average character into a good character.

Unfortunately, I’m not convinced Kuroe’s death meets that threshold. Abrupt character deaths are fine with me. Sometimes the abruptness makes the death hit harder. But, Kuroe’s death was pretty much offscreen, which takes away from it a little bit.

What takes away from it even more, though, is that Kuroe wasn’t important. She’s not one of the main characters of the series. She’s a supporting character who we don’t know much about. We only got a brief backstory for her in the previous episode.

And, from what I remember people telling me, Kuroe’s also an anime-original character. So it’s not as if there’s more to her character from the game.

Bye, Alina

We’re done with Kuroe’s character arc. Up next are Touka, Nemu, and Alina. And, unfortunately, the conclusion to their stories aren’t much better. But, considering we only had this one episode to wrap everything up in, I don’t know what more they could have done.

Despite doubling down on their plan in Episode 10, it didn’t take much to stop Touka and Nemu. Iroha took a page out of Naruto’s book and talk-no-jutsu’d them. There wasn’t a battle or anything. All it took was a few minutes of Iroha talking to them and they swapped sides.

And that brings us to Alina Gray. After Touka and Nemu ally themselves with Iroha, Alina shows up to say that the show must go on. She reveals herself as the final antagonist of the series, which is fitting since she was also one of the first.

Alina Gray from the anime series Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season Episode 12
Alina Gray

According to Alina, her plan wasn’t the same as Touka’s and Nemu’s. While they were trying to save all magical girls, Alina was trying to create more of them. Alina planned to use her Doppel magic to turn everyone on Earth into a magical girl. And she wanted to do this for two reasons.

First, Alina’s an anarchist. She likes chaos, and that’s exactly what her plan creates. Second, she wants the world to recognize the sacrifices of magical girls. By turning everyone into magical girls, she’s forcing them to face the hidden truth.

I have no problem with Alina being the final boss of the (anime) series. But, she’s defeated almost immediately. Alina lets her Doppel take over, turning her into a witch. Then Touka and Nemu do the same, sacrificing themselves to take down Alina.

As with Kuroe, we never learned much about Alina. Her character could have been so much more.

No One Knows Our Record… Our Magia Record

This kind of started in the previous episode, but the “final battle” of the series went all-in on the gacha game theme. For the most part, Magia Record has stayed away from making it obvious that it’s based on a gacha game. And that’s good.

But, starting in Episode 11 and hitting its peak in Episode 12 was the inclusion of a bunch of random magical girls. And I don’t mean the generic-looking Wings of the Magius magical girls. I mean characters with unique outfits, personalities, and voice actors.

You’d think that adding more characters beyond the main cast would be a good thing. In theory, it could make the world feel more alive. It could show that there are other people doing things in this world beyond what we see from the main cast. But, it didn’t.

Iroha Tamaki from the anime series Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story Final Season Episode 12
Iroha Tamaki

The inclusion of all these other magical girls for the final battle came off as an ad for the game. “Look at all these other magical girls you can collect!” And, yes, I do understand that this was kind of the entire point of making the anime. Anime are often marketing tools for whatever the source material is.

But, there are better ways to go about it. Look at Fate, for example. Fate/Grand Order is the big money-maker of the series. But the Fate anime, even the ones based on chapters of the game, don’t throw in a bunch of extra characters.

A better way to get people interested in the game would be to end the anime by setting up what comes next. Remember how the end of Madoka Magica teased the Wraith Arc? The same thing could have happened here. Instead, we got an “open” ending that didn’t set anything up.

Conclusion

Despite my many complaints, I still enjoyed Magia Record Final Season Episode 12. But, it wasn’t as good as the previous episodes. With that said, what did you think of the final episode? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server to discuss anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

Leave a Comment