It’s been more than eight years since the magical girl modern classic Puella Magi Madoka Magica aired, and six years since the sequel movie Rebellion angered everyone by undoing the entire message of the series for the sake of a cheap cliffhanger. That ending still hasn't been followed up on, but SHAFT is now making its first Madoka anime in years: Magia Record, a television adaptation of a mobile game side-story. Although the series doesn't premiere until January 2020, the first two episodes screened early at Anime NYC.
Of course, judging a Madoka anime by its first two episodes is a futile task. Everyone who watched the original series remembers the mind-blowing shift in the third episode, when a show initially written off as a visually stunning but otherwise average magical girl anime opened up about its darker intentions. Even the introduction video by the lead voice actresses screened at Anime NYC talked so much about Madoka's third episode that the choice to show us only two episodes of Magia Record almost feels like trolling.
Unlike the original Madoka, however, we have an idea of where Magia Record is headed, because we understand the secrets of this world from the original, and because the ongoing mobile game is there as source material. Magia Record's first two episodes roughly follow the plot of the early chapters of the game, but there are some changes. Notably, the adults in this world show more personality that the literally faceless ones in the game, and the first episode introduces a new magical-girl character, Kuroe.
Whether adding yet another face to the game's huge ensemble is a good idea remains to be seen. Adaptations of mobile games with the same character-collecting mechanics as Magia Record often run into the problem of having too many characters to feature and not enough time to develop them. The first two episodes already features six magical girls, and that doesn't even include three important characters shown in the opening credits who have yet to be introduced. Whether this series can make any of its characters as complex and compelling as the original Madoka cast is a question.
While the element of surprise is diminished this time around, the positive side of having background knowledge and preexisting expectations is that the show is able to get right into the darker side of things earlier. Unlike Madoka and Sayaka starting off their series yet to become magical girls, Iroha has already made her contract, and her wish has already had its tragic cost. The characters are cute, but there's no need this time to try to trick the viewer into thinking this show is going to be cutesy.
Regardless of how the story shapes up, the animation and direction guarantee this is going to be something all fans of Madoka will want to watch. The writers and directors this time are the animation troupe Gekidan Inu Curry, which were responsible for the stunning stop-motion witch labyrinth scenes in the original series. Its distinctive style and talent shines through in the action scenes, and its fills the dramatic moments with a horror-movie sense of foreboding.
Newcomers to the franchise should probably watch the original Madoka Magica if they want to understand Magia Record, although unlike with the recent Fate/Grand Order anime, you don't need to have played the mobile game source material to be able to follow it. These first two episodes might not have the spark of true originality that made the original stand out, but they're a promisingly entertaining return to the world.