English Dub Review: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story “There’s No Place for You Here”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After successfully uncovering the secrets of the Seance Shrine, Yachiyo, Iroha, and Tsuruno venture into a strange dreamland/alternative dimension/something or other and meet up with two people they’ve lost. Iroha sees Ui and Yachiyo sees her former friend Mifuyu. But neither one are what they seem.

When Mifuyu starts attacking Iroha, Yachiyo is forced to end the apparition’s life herself. Then Tsuruno joins them after fighting on her own and the three of them escape and are apprehended by another magical girl from a distant city who claims that Yachiyo is hiding something. Also, maybe something is wrong with Iroha’s soul gem thingie?

Our Take:

This episode of Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story shakes things up a bit after the fairly monotonous episode last week, which mostly consisted of the girls going to shrines and not finding anything. There’s No Place for You Here isn’t a groundbreaking episode by any means, but it’s filled with enough action and twists to keep a viewer engaged and ready to keep watching next week.

I don’t think anybody would expect that the girls would find their lost friends/sisters in such a creepy place so easily, but it was interesting to see the differences between what Iroha and Yachiyo encounter. Ui’s familiar figure is almost like a shell, just an empty ghost repeating the same jumbled series of words over and over. Destiny. Magical girls. Kamihama. But Yachiyo’s ex-bestie Mifuyu actually seems to imitate the real thing pretty well, even answering identity-proving questions. However, asking her to stay in the strange realm is a dead giveaway. (Also, if your ex-bestie straight up says” “I fit perfectly into that empty space inside your heart.”, then please immediately vacate the premises.)

The battle sequences between Iroha and Mifuyu were well-done, and while it wasn’t a big drama bomb to have Yachiyo be the one to destroy the imitation of her friend, it was still somewhat impactful. I do wish Tsuruno had gotten a bit more of the plot focused on her, though. Iroha and Yachiyo both had people from their past they found – what about Tsuruno? At least we got a great quote from her: “The mightiest magical girl’s in hot water!” Glad she ended up getting out of there in one piece!

This episode may not have ended happily, but at least everyone is still themselves and they were able to withstand the temptation of the weird spirit world. Maybe next week we’ll find out the answer to that visiting magical girl’s accusation… is Yachiyo merely a prisoner of the past, or is there something more she’s hiding?