Magia Record‘s lucky seventh episode presents us with something that’s rare for the show. A straightforward 24 minutes of forward plot motion, spiced up with some fun action. It might actually be the simplest episode of the show so far, and is maybe the only one that offers more answers than questions. This is all relative of course, and even this episode begins with a literally-fiery flashback where we learn, in brief, the details of Felicia’s tragic past.
We already knew that Felicia’s parents were killed by witches. Here, we actually get to see the immediate aftermath. Her crying on the floor, the fire raging around her. Then, the unfortunate site of a familiar face in the flames.
At her lowest point, Felicia of course accepts. The shot we get of a berserk Felicia in the roaring inferno consuming her house is a little rough, perhaps, but stark nonetheless.
Underworld
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This is all meant to serve to put Felicia’s siding with the Magi (or as we soon learn they’re actually called: The Wings of Magius) in the last episode into context. It’s a short-lived doublecross, but we’ll get on to that. In the meantime, we’re introduced to these two.
Tsukuyo and Tsukasa are twins. They’re also professional expositors, given how much gets dropped on us here. The short version of things is still pretty long. To put it in brief: They want to “save” all magical girls. A bit of phrasing familiar to both earlier in this series and to the whole Law of Cycles bit in post-original series mainline Madoka. Their ultimate goal is the destruction of all Witches. Conversely, they support the rumor monsters, and try to use the Lucky Owl Water as leverage on Felicia. Felicia is separated from Iroha and friends while learning all this, but she’s not actually alone.
The Cultist’s Daughter
Let’s take an aside here to discuss Kyouko. Kyouko, as you’re likely well aware, is a returning character from the original series. However, unlike with Mami Tomoe, whose brief appearances have so far been in apparent service of Kyubey (or at least a Kyubey), Kyouko has worked her way into the plot proper. She’s as much a main character in this episode as Felicia or Iroha, and, well, that’s kind of weird.
In the original PMMM, Kyouko turned out to be the daughter of a dead preacher who couldn’t handle the revelation that his new religion was only attracting adherents because of her wish. Her characterization here is in line with how she acted earlier-on in PMMM. A carefree facade where she pretends to only care about the next Witch hunt or meal, leaving all else by the wayside. Is her backstory the same here? We can’t really say, though it would provide an interesting contrast to Felicia’s directly Witch-caused misery.
Ransom
Returning to the main thread here, Yachiyo is able to track Felicia. With the help of what is probably the single funniest sentence said in this show so far.
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Our heroines are confronted by the twins, who show off a nifty ability. By playing a pair of fifes, they can control a stable of minor Witches they’ve apparently enslaved somehow. This, of course, doesn’t go over terribly well with Felicia, who promptly goes ballistic. The design of the “Witches” here is worth a mention, because they’re chintzy-looking little things, in stark opposition to the grand eldritchness of many of the series’ most iconic designs. This seems to be on purpose, highlighting them as disposable and flimsy. Either much reduced in power or simply importance.
The main point is that this makes Felicia smashing them like a bull in a china shop all the more satisfying.
She also gets a rocket-powered upgrade to her hammer courtesy of touching Iroha’s palm to her own. The mechanism for how isn’t explained, but maybe it doesn’t really need to be. Kyouko bails on the twins too, not impressed by their empty grandstanding.
At the same time, the twins pull out a trump card. Both have the same ability to channel their inner Witches that Iroha involuntarily displayed a few episodes ago. The difference being that they can do it on purpose. Their “half-Witch” designs are fairly interesting too, making it a bit of a shame that we only get to see them actually on-screen for a short time.
Wickerman
While all this is happening, Iroha is sent off on her own to defeat the rumor monster creating the Lucky Owl Water. It’s here worth pointing out that there’s a recurring visual motif throughout the episode where numerals counting down how many “lucky things” Iroha has left are scattered throughout the scenery. It’s a nice touch, but how she eventually defeats the rumor monster is the real interesting thing, because she doesn’t really do it at all.
Yes, Iroha’s own inner witch reappears here too to hijack her body and destroy the rumor monster with little effort. The show even cuts between her attacking the rumor monster and the other girls fighting the twins, inviting explicit comparisons.
Strangely, after she destroys the rumor monster the twins’ powers seem to quickly wane. She also doesn’t really seem to realize what happened, as she celebrates that she destroyed the thing “by herself”. Of course, Witch transformations seem to require a certain amount of solipsism, so maybe this isn’t as odd as it seems.
Chiaroscuro
The episode’s last big revelation relates to Mifuyu. Specifically that she is A) still alive and B) one of the Wings of Magius. She shows up to assess the damage after the defeat of the rumor monster. Her brief reunion with Yachiyo is tense, and they allude to a conversation we got to see a snippet of several episodes ago about “being resigned to the fate of a magical girl”. This is all over pretty quick, Yachiyo tries to stop her from leaving and she simply teleports away. A mystery to be solved another day, we must suppose.
The episode ends with a brief tangle of convoluted events–the last effects of the Lucky Owl Water–that let our four main protagonists move in together, into Yachiyo’s house.
This marks one of just a few episodes with unambiguous happy endings in the entire franchise. A little over halfway into its run, Magia Record has well earned it. We do get one little teaser for next week in a post-credits sequence, where Iroha gets a mysterious text message.
As always, Magia Record remains compelling.
Catch up on our Magia Record recaps here!
- MAGIA RECORD Season Finale Recap: (S02E08) You’re Not Strong - September 25, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E07) You Don’t Know Anything - September 11, 2021
- MAGIA RECORD Recap: (S02E06) This Is Something Only I Can Do - September 4, 2021
