English Dub Review: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story “Sorry for Making You My Friend”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Iroha Tamaki has a strange dream about two girls in a hospital from her past, but her real life is basically turning into a dream world itself. She’s joined up with a group of magical girls who battle witches.

The girls go on a mission to retrieve their missing friend Kaede, bringing Iroha along despite the reservations that Yachiyo has about her battle readiness. They manage to summon whatever forces took Kaede when Rena goes on a rant about how she hates her and wasn’t sure if they were ever friends in the first place. Together, they battle the Chain Monsters that have held Kaede prisoner and are able to return her to the real world. Rena and Kaede rekindle their friendship, with Kaede accepting Rena for the way she is.

Our Take:

This might take the record for the show I’ve reviewed with the longest title. Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story is a show with a lot of words, and a lot of stuff going on in this third episode. There are magical girls getting kidnapped, soul gems being aligned by the coordinator, and talk about witches dropping ‘grief seeds’. It’s all very weird and I found myself trying to take everything in so much that I forgot to be entertained.

Once you look past all the magical craziness going on, the overall storyline is pretty solid, if a bit basic. Rena and Kaede are friends, but they’re also very different people in terms of personality, demeanor, outlook, etc. From the glimpses into their relationship given in this episode, I might go so far as to say they’re polar opposites in most aspects. This is what trips Rena up. She’s convinced herself that she’s always hated Kaede and that there’s no reason why she would want to be friends with a girl not as nice as herself. But that’s the thing: Kaede values her for her, not for what she isn’t. Their dynamic is fairly cliche good/bad for the most part, but there are little moments which rise above the generic and by the end I was feeling some emotions when they made up and accepted each other again. I’m not sure their relationship is the healthiest thing, with Kaede always being the one to apologize when Rena gets angry. But maybe they’ll work on things after the events of today’s episode.

I like Iroha, although she didn’t really get much to do in this episode. Her search for her two dream friends gets some progress in the last few minutes, when Rena reveals that while she doesn’t know anything about them really, she can confirm they were real people and not just figments of Iroha’s imagination.

While this wasn’t the most exciting episode, there were parts of the show I enjoyed. The character designs are fun and unique on the whole, and the dub cast is excellent so far. I especially appreciated Erica Lindbeck’s performance as Momoko. While I don’t know what to expect next week, I’m sure it’ll be plenty magical.