Synopsis
Iroha Tamaki sets foot in Kamihama City to find her younger sister Ui, whose existence seemed to have been erased in the present. As well as to look into the rumor regarding magical girls like her being 'saved.'
Story
Instead of Witches, our heroines here battle an Uwasa. It's sort of similar to
Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, they use rumors to lure out their target enemy. Was it compelling though? To be honest, no. I got bored watching them looking for clues about those gossips. If only the level of their investigation was somehow near to those in
Detective Conan, they'll probably get me hooked.
However, I found Ui's disappearance something to look forward to. I do think the whole first season managed to build enough interest for the viewers to still continue watching this side story.
Characters
This spinoff's cast is so jam-packed. And that was probably one of the problems this show stumbled on. Some Mahou Shoujou anime introduces around five characters in one season, on this one... I think they had more than a dozen. And even though we get to see some background information, it wasn't enough to invest any connection with most of the magical girls.
Writing / Storyboarding
Aside from the last episode which I gave a perfect rating, Episode five had one of the best writing in the series. Mami Tomoe's surprise action sequence, followed by her exchange of dialogues with Yachiyo had a mixture of ferocity and malevolence. It's like a clash of femme fatales.
Artwork / Animation
Non-human designs still looked amazing just like from
Madoka Magica. I just don't understand the background art, I don't have much problem with the labyrinth (although some may not be good for the eyes just like in episode 8), I know it's supposed to be maximalist. But some backgrounds were either bland or over-the-top. It's a mixture of everything, and it's just too much to handle.
Animation-wise, you can tell they gave it their all. I especially liked the concepts of their transformation scenes.
This scene will happen so fast in the last episode, so here's a still shot.
Music / Sound
For the BGM, some previous works by
Yuki Kajiura were used, but for the majority, it's all-new by composer
Takumi Ozawa. What's interesting though was his music sounded very similar to that of the original series. My most favorite will be the one playing in the intro of episode six. (
Unfortunately, I don't know its title. So if someone knows, please contact me, or comment it down below, thank you.)
And now for the part that I really didn't like... the opening and ending songs. Not that those were bad, it just didn't suit the theme of the anime. I know the opening for
Madoka Magica was also Pop-ish, but at that time it was like a trap for the viewers (
and it worked).
Some otakus at that time probably thought Madoka is just one of those anime aimed for the female audience, but it turned out it was not. It was dark, so I only hoped the creators aimed for a song like Magia by
Kalafina. In fact, I won't mind if they recycle Magia and use its first half in the opening, and its second half in the end. Or they could have used the ending song for episode 13 -- Niguredo by
Sito from
ReReGRAPHICS, as the ending song throughout the series.
Episode Ratings
- 1 - Have You Heard? That Rumor About the Magical Girls - 3
- 2 - It's Proof of the End of a Friendship - 2
- 3 - Sorry For Making You My Friend - 3.5
- 4 - This Isn't the Past - 3
- 5 - There's No Place for You Here - 4
- 6 - I'll Do Anything - 2
- 7 - I Want to Go Home With You - 4.5
- 8 - You Definitely Shouldn't Respond - 3
- 9 - A World With Just Me - 3
- 10 - My Name - 4
- 11 - Memory Museum at 3:00PM - 3
- 12 - Why Is This So Unbearable? - 4
- 13 - A Faint Hope - 5
PS: This is just a hunch, but 'Doppel' probably came from the word doppelganger.
