Magical Girl Madoka Returns In New Spin-Off Anime

Magical Girl Madoka (Puella Madoka Magica) is an anime from 2011 that deconstructed Magical Girl tropes and fundamentally changed the genre forever.

On the surface Magical Girl Madoka looks like a wholesome Sailor Moon-esque show about friendship and love. Viewers need only watch the first three episodes to discover that this isn’t your typical Magical Girl story. In Magical Girl Madoka, there are life and death consequences and nothing is as it first appears. The anime’s dark deconstructionist approach endeared itself to older audiences. Just watch the fight scene below if you still think magical girls are lame.

Since its debut, there have been many other anime that tried to emulate Magical Girl Madoka’s success. However, these new series failed to capture the three-dimensional aspects of the characters and world. Magical Girl Madoka did more than give magical girls machine guns; the anime gave its characters complete personalities and believable motivations.

Fans of the original anime should rejoice as the adventure continues in this latest installment called Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record.

This new story is based on the popular Madoka smartphone game and follows a new cast of magical girls. The pink-hooded girl is Iroha Tamaki who’s searching for her missing sister, Ui, in the city of Kamihama. While in the city, Iroha meets Madoka who is searching for Homura in the city as well.

Here’s a rundown of new characters. Yachiyo is the dark-haired girl in blue, Tsuruno is the girl in orange, Sana is the girl in green, and Felicia is the Viking-looking girl.

Magia Record is scheduled to air later this year. And you can catch up on the original series right now on Crunchyroll.