English Dub Review: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story “I’ll Do Anything”

 

Overview (Spoilers Below):

After waking up in Yachiyo’s house, Iroha decides to make the most of her time in Kamihama by going sightseeing. There’s really not much to see until she comes to a strange sight in a back alley: weird specters are offering free drinks of a substance said to cure disease, depression, and make all troubles go away. It’s name? Lucky Owl Water.

Iroha and another magical girl named Felicia drink some, and start encountering lots of good luck. But then Yachiyo contacts them to let them know that there are rumors Lucky Owl Water isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Girls start experiencing bad luck after a while, and many have disappeared. Together, their group investigates, and discovers a mysterious order who offer Felicia the revenge on witches she’s been craving.

Our Take:

This episode of Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story opens up a new storyline involving Iroha, the mercenary named Felicia, and a strange order of girls set on eradicating both witches and magical girls. It’s definitely a step up from last week’s episode, mostly because it does a fine job of connecting all the little scenes in a way that leads up satisfactorily to the big reveal when Felicia accepts the new job offer.

Felicia is an interesting character: a magical girl so bent on the destruction of witches than she’s willing to put her team in jeopardy and her own life in danger. Her backstory is that both her parents were killed by witches, and so it’s very understandable why she’s set on taking them all out to a greater extent than other magical girls like Iroha, for example. She’s definitely the least mature, most childlike girl on the show, which can be both fun and annoying. She has some cute moments, like when the two of them are playing the casino with their good luck abounding (or when she tells Iroha: “I like eating, so I’ve gotta work. And I don’t have any other marketable skills.“). But she also is pretty selfish and not the most friendly person.

The weird order that the four girls run into near the end of the episode raises a lot of questions. Who are they and what exactly are they after? They claim to be trying to end the reign of witches in Kamihama, but at the same time, they want to eliminate magical girls? It’s certainly suspicious, which makes it all the more sad that they take advantage of Felicia’s past by exploiting her emotions in order to get her on their side. I guess it was naive to think she would care more for Iroha and her new friends, but it was still kind of disappointing to see. I guess the only thing is to hope she knows what she’s getting into.

The English dub continues to be pretty good, with Felicia’s VA selling her unbridled enthusiasm for hunting witches well. I did find all the high-pitched vocals of the ghost/specter/witches to be a little grating, but I guess that just makes viewers dislike them more. Hopefully next week will see them getting taken down by the posse of magical girls.