English Dub Review: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story “This Isn’t the Past”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

At the latest gathering of magical girls, they talk about an increase in strange rumors around the Kamihama area recently. Iroha’s sister Ui is still missing, and the new magical girl won’t rest until she finds her. She follows a lead to a restaurant where she meets an enthusiastic magical girl named Tsuruno Yui. Together with Yachiyo, the three of them attempt to find the rumored Seance Shrine in order to make a wish to bring back Ui.

Our Take:

The fourth episode of Magia Record is pretty bad. It’s boring, nothing much happens, and the visual execution is a mixed-bag, with clashing colors and wonky animation. Still on the trail of her sister Ui, Iroha teams up with Yachiyo and Tsuruno Yui in order to try and track down leads. The rumor about the Seance Shrine has some potential to be interesting, and the story about following in the footsteps of the tragic lovers was probably the best part of the episode.

Wait, no, I take that back. The most redeeming part of the episode was the introduction of Tsuruno Yui. Sure, she might be a fairly stereotypical anime girl cliche, but darn it, I’m a sucker for it. From uncalled for excurbance to playing with swords, the mightiest magical girl of the bunch is my favorite for sure. The search for the shrine doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement, but Tsuruno at least livens it up a bit: “Evil lurks in the shadows of rumors. Now I’m fired up!” 

In the final segment, the girls go shopping and then get whisked into a magical labyrinth of doom, complete with a godawful color scheme and ugly giant monsters. It reminded me of a cross between Flip Flappers (yay!) and Handshakers (nay!) and not in a good way. Even for a battle sequence, there wasn’t much going on and I have no idea what the real purpose was in the end?

This Isn’t the Past doesn’t manage to stir up much excitement in either its plot or its characters. I found it pretty hard to get through, honestly. At least the English dub is still solid, I guess?