Puella Magi Madoka Magica

So the next main story chapter of Magia Record is releasing in the 23rd, and with it Himena's finally being added to the gacha. One of the Memoria shown as part if the Himena gacha happened to show Hiko, so he now has an actual design.

here is the memoria in question◊

Heart of Stone

on that note, TIL Tasuke actually has a proper design and L 2 D model.

So does Touka's father now iirc.

Hmm, do they have charterer sheets?

Homura finds out the consequences of living with/dating a girl who really likes food and isn't the most clean and orderly sort (for any Love Live fans who might be around, yes that's Rin Hoshizora on the cheeto bag).

Edited by marston on May 27th 2022 at 11:16:07 AM

Himena's Doppel, Scylla, isn't quite what I'd have expected from her, appearance wise anyway.

Doppel Lore:

Edited by doineedaname on May 27th 2022 at 10:39:47 AM

Rather interesting. Worth noting that Scylla in Greek myth is famously paired with another monster as well.

Between that and FF XIV. I must wonder why that monster seems connected to wolves though.

Also interesting and undoubtedly intentional with their relationship, Alexandra / Sasha's Doppel is a sinking ship, while Himena's is named after a sea monster.

The mythological Scylla had six dog heads growing out of her waist

Heart of Stone

Also, with Himena's release there's her Magical Girl Story, which is still in kinda a rough summary situation but we got some confirmation on Hiko and some more backstory on the two of them.

Her MGS is set during the main story when Himena is hiding out after faking her death and for reasons mistakenly believes her friends are avoiding her, causing her reminiscence with Hiko about everything that happened, with her MGS ending on her realizing her mistake and hanging out with the Neo-Magius girls minus Mitsune at a karaoke place. Before Hiko's suicide he ghosted Himena (which paints Himena's reaction to Sasha leaving and ignoring her in the main story once she finds out just how Himena is willing to go in an entirely different light) because he didn't want her to have to deal with any of the bullying she got dragged into after trying to defend him once their relationship was found out. Hiko regretted dating Himena because of how she was getting hurt by their relationship being found out. When he decided to commit suicide Hiko met up with Himena one last time to explain his plan and say goodbye one last time, and also told Himena not to try and stop him because he'd hate her if she did.

Himena had no idea what to do, because both Hiko dying or hating her are both unacceptable to her. But she was too late to figure out what to do as Hiko hanged himself first. Himena either saw it happen or was the first person to find Hiko afterward, its unclear, at which point Kyubey showed up. Himena specifically chose not to go for a straightforward Back from the Dead with her wish because of how awful the bullying made things for Hiko and how much it left him hating people other than Himena. So she wished for Hiko to live on inside of her as a way of solving all of Hiko's problems and her own. It seems Hiko is absolutely okay with Himena's wish since he doesn't have to deal with anyone but her and gets to stay with her, while Himena is happy that she still has Hiko because without him she views herself as having nothing. Neo-Magius Hiko viewed as a "bonus" and shot at payback on the world in general. Though Hiko's biggest concern after Himena's wish is the dangers she faces as a Magical Girl and the possibility of turning into a Witch, though Himena tells him that a life without him would be worse than becoming a Witch.

The 3* Memoria Forever In Me from Himena's gacha has a somewhat relevant description for the whole thing: "The place we finally found isn't the ideal we dreamed of, and even though no one will accept it, it's a world with just the two of us, filled with happiness. "Don't go anywhere else, Hiko-kun..."

The details on how they became friends is kinda less reliable than the above but anyway:

From the beginning when they were little kids Hiko is shown as an introvert with problems interacting with others. Himena meanwhile also wasn't good at making friends because of how selfish she was, she's introduced as a kid with the other girls telling her to fuck off because she'd always take other kids toys after asking to borrow them for a little while.Other kids stop trying to befriend Hiko, while Himena basically forced him to let her be his friend by being too pushy for him to handle. At first Hiko wasn't comfortable with Himena but grew to see her as his one and only friend.

Next part is kinda really unclear and less reliable than the rest:

Himena went to a festival that may have been Tanabata as a kid with her mother and ran off on her own looking for Hiko, who was wandering around alone. She wanted to spend the festival with Hiko and for him to praise how cute she looked in her yukata but when Hiko stayed silent she got mad and ran off on her own. Hiko went looking for her and gave her a cheap toy ring as an apology and tells her she looks cute in her yukata. The ring is Himena's personal Memo, and she took as a Childhood Marriage Promise. The memo text translation gets played during it: "I've recalled that day numerous times. The damp smell of summer, the hustle and bustle of the festival, your nervous face. And then... that sparkling toy ring. I'll never forget the thrill of that moment". Himena basically asks about going out with him from now on and says she likes him, while Hiko is too nervous to say it back but wants to and Himena tells him to promise to when he can.

Himena is set up to look like the popular girl she appears to be, but isn't actually because of her friendship with Hiko, who is basically viewed through the lens of Loners Are Freaks, and she only gets popular once Hiko starts avoiding her / hiding their relationship, the summary isn't really clear on this. Hiko apologizes for it and sees himself as being a burden on Himena, who gets mad and tells him its everyone else at fault not him and she doesn't want to stop being with him and doesn't blame him in anyway.

Edited by doineedaname on May 28th 2022 at 11:47:05 AM

The middle part isn't spoiler tagged properly

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

Oops, thanks.

There's significantly a lot of more instances of mental illness in Arc 2 compared to Arc 1, most likely because the girls who have them are the main characters. They don't outright say that these girls are, but it's pretty obvious.

It's outright said that Hime's issues are parallel with the OG Magius, in that their villainy is caused by society failing to instill good moral on affluent young kids. I think the most notable foil Hime has is with Alina, in that they're not allowed to process grief healthily.

I'm usually not confident that a game would portray mental illness because they tend to get dumbed down into Insane Equals Violent, but I think Magireco is fairly successful to show various portrayals, both sympathetic and not. There are still some iffy things here and there, but it's not so damning compared to what I've seen.

I've always kinda thought of Iroha more as Hime's biggest foil due seeing a bunch of similarities in Iroha's search for Ui with how people react to the Hiko situation, as well as Himena's relationship and bonding with the other Neo-Magius girls.

Particularly with how Iroha refusals to kill anyone because she doesn't want to take away anyone's hope for a better future, while Himena's willing to hurt anyone to build the happy future she desires.

Edited by doineedaname on May 28th 2022 at 1:41:50 PM

Perhaps, but the game itself make more emphasize on OG Magius vs Neo Magius, so the comparison is more visible compared to Iroha's parallel. Out of all faction leaders, Hime is the one who has least interaction with Iroha - even Rabi has a begrudging respect for her as a Hope Bringer compared to Hime's whatevs, so you need to stretch the connection a little.

Which makes its own kind of sense. She did become the leader of the remnant group and 2/3rds of the leaders had pulled a Heel–Face Turn (kinda of the Reformed, but Not Tamed form TBH). Kinda makes me wonder if Touka and Nemu will be the ones to somehow redeem her? (especially given their current circumstances)

BTW Promised Blood seems had ended up in a weird family scenario, with Yuna and Juri ended up raising a baby version of Ao for 14 years Does it make sense in context?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 28th 2022 at 12:48:41 PM

Yes. It's Kimochi mindscape stuff with them trying to free / fix her from the Kimochi's influence. There's a summary of the episode its in and everything that's going on with it, but I was planning to wait for the episode 5 summary to link to all of Chapter 10 at once.

Edited by doineedaname on May 28th 2022 at 4:29:37 AM

The Kimochi are probably the weirdest things in Act 2, I still have no real clue what their deal is

Heart of Stone

From what I gather:

• They are pieces of Shitori Egumo,
• because of the above the are tied to the Doppel system and are thus the macguffins.
• because of the above they are able to summon Uwasa as their minions.
• because they are parts of the Doppel system, they seem to have a corruptive influence on their wielders (I think Iroha's Sapphire Lips is an Utopia-esque exception because the Witch they broke off from is Ui's specifically)
• and they can somehow be controlled by certain entities (I think that's how Kyubey shut down the APS couple chapters back, as well as siccing them on Ui besides)

Their actual goals are admittedly enigmatic.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 28th 2022 at 4:35:22 AM

I think on the second to last it turned out actually that Iroha's Kimochi was an exception not due to them being from Ui but because Iroha was genuine in wanting to help it instead of viewing it as a pawn to exploit.

It's all about mindset; the other people came in the conflict with an assumption that the Kimochi is just mere mcguffin - thus not sentient, so they subconsciously treat the Kimochi like tools. Meanwhile, after getting the Sapphire Lips, the first thing Iroha notes is that the Sapphire is trying to talk with her. So she already has a clue that the Kimochi have their own want before it's outright said that they're Shitori Egumo's fragments.

The Kimochi are also the same case; while they're kinda biased to Iroha because she's their Big Sis, the reason why they listen to her without question is because they know Iroha would not abuse them. They know this in the first place because she's their Big Sis.

There's also the Kimochi's particular emotion embodiment to consider. Iroha is lucked out that the Lips is 'joyful', so while it's kinda manic, it's also really tame and optimistic. If she gets the Garnet, Diamond, or Turquoise then she might have a harder time. This is why the Garnet Pinky still eats Ikumi despite being in the same faction as Iroha; when she tries to call on the Kimochi, she's under emotional duress and and suicidal from Ryou's death. While it intellectually understands that Ikumi is on the same side as their Big Sis (thus she needs to win her fight if they want their Big Sis winning), the Garnet also sympathizes with Ikumi's suicidal grief and 'help' her to reach it.

The Kimochi judge their owner on case-by-case basis and they're emotionally driven being by nature, so their decisions tend to be crapshoot.

On the related topic of Ui, A guy on reddit had made some fanart of her with some moth-like behavior, I bring this up (besides the fanart being some mix of funny and relatively wholesome) to springboard into a general discussion on the long term effects of a magical girl ending up a witch for long and then returning to normal and the possible effects it would have on their psyche, not just because of Doppels, but also because I think there was one character in Tart that was a Witch-turned-back

Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 29th 2022 at 6:35:17 AM

So all of MagiReco Arc 2 Chapter 10 has been summarized now.

Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 part 1 Episode 5 part 2

With the end of chapter 10, the Neo Magius arc is now over.

Really really loved the end of episode 5 and how it handled saving Himena with how Iroha is not really the one to get through to Himena but her friends instead. Kinda just paraphrasing the summaries but I just found it so good. Shigure lead the other Neomagius girls there because they wanted to stop Himena but seeing Mikazuka fighting Himena they just moved without thinking to defend Himena because they don't want to lose her, she's their friend after all and we get a CG of them standing in front of Himena to protect her with Ideology playing in the background. Himena tries to push them away again, and reinforcements show up for Mikazuka in the form of Momoko's team and the Tokime Clan, with even Shizuka admitting to wanting to save Himena in a total change from her earlier desire to kill her.

Himena is told by Hiko there's one last way for her to turn things around and Himena tells him she just can't do it because she'd have to sacrifice her friends. She tells Iroha she likes the idea of what she's telling her but that she can't accept living in world that won't accept Hiko for a moment longer s its hell and decides to go down fighting. She asks Kyubey if he'll turn Doppels on her for her and like she expected he refuses as he'd intended to use Himena turning into a Witch as an experiment to see what would happen if he turned the APS on when a Witch is hatching. So Himena resolves to become a Witch and die then thanks Shigure, Hagumu, San and Miyuri for everything. Everything fades away and she tells Hiko she tried her best...and then Himena wakes up to find Sasha purifying her Soul Gem, who in a really heartwarming / tear jerker moments admits she shouldn't have run away when Himena got so extreme and should've stood up to Himena instead, while Himena insists its too late to save her, there's nothing left for her if she lives and nothing she can do, while Sasha tells Himena she'll stay by he side and help her change things, as she's basically abandoned Folklore's resignation and belief there's no saving anyone.

The little exchange between the Sasha and Himena during that bit is just so great. T_T

After Himena and her friends all met up at the spot Hiko killed himself at, Himena apologizes to Hiko because she planned to kill herself if her plan didn't succeed but her friends are relying on her and she's relying on them to find new possibilities for the future. Himena says she's going to keep working for a future where the two of them can be together but she's not going to rush for it anymore, she waits for a respone and thanks Hiko, then goes back to Shigure who asks how things went and tells her Hiko gets it. On the way some local girls shit talk and laugh at Himena for being crazy and say the girls with her must be crazy too, Hagumu worries about Himena but she answers that's not enough to set her off anymore. With San they head over to clean up the Youth Association's building after they'd used it.

Kagome interviews Himena about her ideal future and Himena says its one where she fully bring back Hiko, and where they live together as they go to college since a longdistance relationship is no good and Himena would never be smart enough to get into the same college as Hiko, and they'd get married and maybe have two kids. Himena gets interrupted as she starts to talk with Hiko, saying he called it an unrealistic fantasy she should abandon. Himena says she's not done talking about her dreams and asks if Kagome has more time because this was just part one, she still has to talk about Mitsune, Shigure, Hagumu, San, Miyuri, and all the feathers who joined Neo-Magius.

I'm just an absolute sucker for all of this and absolutely love it.

Reading the linked summary. I get the feeling the worse is yet to come, and that the next sub arc would be make or break for Kagome's promise

Also didn't see the dead woman's switch coming. Things would had ended differently had Puella Care not found the device

Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 30th 2022 at 1:01:43 AM