I've been a bit of a Magia Record defender in my reviews of the first two seasons. I very much enjoyed the flawed first season, and I'd actually say Season 2 is genuinely great, perfectly worthy of the Madoka franchise, with its only major issue being the fact that it was cut short. However, now that Season 3 is out... I'm sorry, I can't defend this show anymore. Season 3 of Magia Record isn't just a bad ending to the anime, it's an extreme overcorrection on the part of Shaft. After all those criticisms about Magia Record not being dark enough, we get the most grimdark piece of Madoka media ever with its final season, completely misunderstanding the franchise's main appeal. With only four episodes, I want to go over every single one and outline the things this season did well, as well as the many things it screwed up on:
We Failed: This was a decent first episode. It took me some time to register that it was entirely a flashback, but I think finally revealing the backstory of Ui and the Doppel system was a good way to clarify things going into the final few episodes. Seeing Ui, Nemu, and Touka try to figure out their own solution to the Witch system is actually a really cool idea, perfectly in line with one of the franchise's biggest constants. However, the fact that this was pretty much entirely a backstory episode meant We Failed was also pretty exposition-heavy, which does drag down the episode quite a bit for me. Something that will remain a positive throughout this final season, however, will always be the visuals and music, which are as great as always. Magia Record is still an absolutely stunning anime from start to finish, and I hope asserting that here means I won't have to re-state this for every episode. But overall, We Failed honestly wasn't all that bad. A bit confusing and exposition-heavy, but it does a decent job at clearing everything up. It's a solid start.
All The Girls Disappearing: While I thought We Failed was alright, this episode was where this final season's flaws start to show a bit. The first half of the episode where Iroha and Touka regain their memories is actually pretty good, if a bit redundant due to all the re-explaining of what we learned last episode. However, the episode ends with Mifuyu and Momoko sacrificing themselves, the first of many character deaths in these last three episodes. Momoko, I'm not too broken up about, she was always one of the side characters and wasn't too important to the plot. Mifuyu, on the other hand, Yachiyo was trying to reunite with her for the whole show! Her relationship with Yachiyo was one of the most interesting parts of Magia Record, what did they kill her off for? Still, it's one character death, it's not like things could get worse, right? Right?
How Long Do We Continue Being Magical Girls?: Well, it took long enough, but we finally learned more about Kuroe... in the penultimate episode of the anime. Honestly, though, I think this was a minor improvement over the previous episode, since it lacked the expository first half and Kuroe's death was probably the most well-executed one of the season. With her doppel taking over in the Season 2 finale, it wasn't too unlikely that she wouldn't end up making it to the end of this series, and Iroha's desperate attempts to save her does a good job of evoking the original series. In addition, I liked Iroha and Ui finally reuniting, even if in odd circumstances. The whole episode was narrated by Kyubey, as he basically rips the Doppel system a new one, and I thought that was pretty cool. However, this also was the episode where I realized we barely saw any of the major characters like Felicia, Tsuruno, and Sana.
No One Knows Our Record: Before I talk about the finale, I just want to preface this by saying I had just finished watching The Shield, a show which ended so well nothing could reasonably follow it up. However, while I think most of this season was still at best decent, No One Knows Our Record is one of the worst series finales I think I've ever seen, especially since it started off so promising. The whole finale is the final battle with Alina, as Iroha struggles to regain her hope after Kuroe's death. The action is solid, the whole episode has a feeling of finality, and it's the perfect chance for Iroha to earn her happy ending... but that's not what happens. Sure, Alina is defeated and she gives her whole power of hope speech, but how is that supposed to be happy? Madoka's hope speech is affecting because she actively does something to improve the world, but Iroha simply stops things from getting even worse than they already are. Nemu and Touka still end up dying, the Doppel system is destroyed and useless, Walpurgisnacht seemingly killed most of the Madoka cast, Iroha is unable to save Ui (getting serious Hunger Games vibes here in the worst way possible), and worst of all, we learn that the entire world of Magia Record is just one of Homura's alternate timelines, and that none of it mattered in the slightest. I get why Shaft did this, they wanted to canonize Magia Record as a part of the main series. But then why tell this story? Why does this, out of all the different timelines, matter? Pretty much everyone's dead, no one's happy, Homura leaves this timeline because it's a lost cause. And that's just... not Madoka to me.
In the final episode of the original anime, Madoka says "If someone ever tells me not to have hope, well, then, I'll just tell them they're wrong. And I'll keep telling them 'til they believe! No matter how many times it takes", and then she becomes the concept of hope itself. I think this quote sums up the Madoka Magica franchise as a whole for me. People tend to think Madoka is just hollow misery for the sake of it, probably because of its influence on the "dark magical girl" genre, but honestly that just screams to me that you haven't actually watched it. Even with its dark tone and elements, Madoka is still a story about hope, and holding onto that hope in the face of impossible odds, even if it makes no sense to do so. It's the critical element of why I love this franchise as much as I do, all of the hardships the characters face would've just been torture porn if the characters didn't put in the effort to overcome them, even if in a bittersweet fashion. Even more, the Incubator conflict wouldn't be as deep and interesting as it is if the characters weren't actively trying to find solutions to it rather than just succumbing to their fates. But in Magia Record's case, there is no hope, its world is a lost cause and all of its problems can't be solved. Magia Record is hopeless, and it's that difference that causes the anime to resemble the many grimdark Madoka clones that completely missed what made the Madoka franchise so special.
Overall, this was a frustrating ending to Magia Record. It still has the same fantastic presentation you know and love from Madoka, and the first three episodes weren't awful, but the grimdark ending that left many characters dead and rendered much of the series' conflict feeling like a waste of time ended up pretty much ruining this show for me. It's the first Madoka thing that left me actively disappointed.
1/5 Stars
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