But I feel compelled to blog about Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice now since I was going to do a combo post. Also it feels weird to type Puella Magi and not Mahou Shoujo. Weirdness.
Spoilers for Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice lie ahead. But this is not going to be a complete review as the manga is still being published. So in the future my opinion might change over certain characters as the body count increases, things get explained better, and people’s real motives are revealed. But still this post will still be spoilery.
Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice takes place on Earth as Kyubey is present. However so far in the manga Homura has no made an appearance. She is probably around…somewhere. But it doesn’t appear that this will be a crossover manga. Homura is off protecting Madoka in a different city while these girls have super fun adventures within their town. So I don’t think we should expect to see Mami, Kyoko, and the girl who almost destroys the world in every timeline.
Of course this does mean that everything in this manga does not matter. Because wherever Homura is she will be rewriting history. Or if it is the timeline where Madoka changes the rules things will still change. So basically we are reading a story that will never happen XD Yay for fun.
Note that Jubey does not make evil faces like that.
This town seems to have a different person running the show. Instead of Kyubey stepping on soul gems and chasing after girls to be magicalfied this town has a FAIRY named Jubey. Yes folks fairy. Maybe Jubey did a little research before arriving in town and learned what young teenage girls like. And that is the aspect of saving the world while appearing to be a cute magical thing instead of a creepy alien trying to turn them into witches.
Look at me, I am here to help you!
Jubey is way different from our resident crazy fluffy thing Kyubey. For one Jubey is keeping girls from coming witches. This has not been explained yet why he clears their Soul Gems up but he does. Perhaps he waiting until all of them lose their minds and turn into oh I don’t know…Walpurgis Night? I don’t know, this could happen. Kyubey was seen in the area and maybe he is helping get the quota done as fast as possible (IE make Madoka the best witch ever) and he heals his little Pleiades Saints alive. For the time being anyway.
It is unclear if the Pleiades Saints found out during Yuri’s death that magical girls become witches or if they knew beforehand. In any event it does not seem that the girls are calling for Jubey’s head or particularly hold a grudge against him. Despite all 6 (because Kazumi didn’t remember the truth until recently) of the girls knowing the truth they have been able to remain magical girls and not fall into despair. That is pretty good since Mami lost her damn mind after 5 seconds of knowing the truth.
I am leaning towards them knowing though. Perhaps not Yuri but the other 6 girls made wishes that were small yet meaningful. Instead of wishing to become a famous writer Umika wants just one person to recognize her work and give her a chance. Why would all the girls make super safe wishes if they didn’t already know the rules?
All is never well in magical girl land.
Given how the girls are acting around Kazumi I think these girls may be up to something crazy. Or at least a little on the amoral side. You know, hunting down magical girls before they even become witches type deal. The way that Nico has been acting around Kazumi, especially in the last chapter, it would appear to me that maybe Kazumi was really down with what they were doing if not the leader. So without Kazumi, their jewel/treasure, they have to pick up the slack. And maybe they aren’t totally bad as they seem to want Kazumi to be happy in her new life.
Our combos rock!
But despite the reasoning behind the group getting together the fact remains that the girls ARE a group. This series has had real problem with girls working well together. There is the issue of limited resources. While I think pairs would be better than sole girls I think a group of 7 is completely unreasonable. I guess they aren’t using as much magic to take down a single wish so their soul gems don’t get as dirty. But still….that is a lot of resources they need. So maybe that is why they resort to….”talking” to magical girls before they transform.
Maybe I should have started at the beginning so people reading this will not be confused. However the beginning of the manga is super confusing. Girl is in a suitcase, man with a bomb, and normal people become witches. For the first couple of chapters I thought I was reading the wrong manga. X___X.
But now that things are starting to make sense the beginning is a little easier to understand. So don’t give up Madoka fans. Things will…make sense. Hopefully. Kazumi was put in a suitcase by Airi, a relatively new magical girl. Her friend Yuri was one of the Pleiades Saints until she became a witch and was destroyed by her group. She made fake grief seeds to turn regular people into witches and eventually tells Kazumi the truth about the group as Kazumi has forgotten it. After becoming a witch herself the rest of the Pleiades Saints go in for the kill but it is Kazumi who takes Airi out. The current chapters are on a different magical girl named Ayase/Luca (two personalities here……) who goes around and collects soul gems.
When first reading the manga I had no idea who the random dude with the bomb suitcase was supposed to be. He is just a random character so don’t spend too much time worrying about him.
Kazumi continues to see the good in people even if they don't deserve it.
Much of the story revolves around Kazumi having no memories. This seems to work to the Pleiades Saints advantage though. She manages to remember how to battle but the important facts like what her wish was and that magical girls turn into witches fact have slipped Kazumi’s mind. And the rest of her teammates keep her in the dark until the facts smack her in the head.
Even with the skirt this outfit is questionable.
This series is the series of naked girls. Madoka’s crew were pretty covered and Oriko was pretty much overdressed for church. But now Kazumi has Band-Aids covering her boobies and a g-string covering her butt. Naked indeed.
And then she kept fighting. No murdering of her fellow comrades.
Kazumi is handling the whole lost my memories and now I fight evil thing well. Even when she was told about the magical girls=witches thing she hand her moment (well she almost turned into a fake witch) but then became the savior and is still trucking on. As a whole the girls in this series are stronger emotionally but Kazumi seems really strong despite the fact she is crying a lot.
:( It's always the pure and good ones that die first.
The “bad girl” for the first part of the manga was pretty relatable. Yuri was dead before the series even started but I think I would have liked her too. She had a very decent wish despite the fact it was used on someone else. Besides fighting witches she healed random people who were sick. This makes her the best person ever. It makes me wonder why the Pleiades Saints didn’t tell her the rule about not making her wish that powerful. Maybe she was a newer recruit and it was too late to save her? Who knows.
Good thing Kyubey was there to pick up the pieces.
But since Yuri is dead none of that matters. Airi is the one running around trying to kill people she views as murderers. Her wish was really…X__X special. I might have wished for something different if my main goal was to kill people, not heal and protect them. But it’s all good. Airi had a reason to do what she did. I don’t understand the point in erasing Kazumi’s memories and putting her in a suitcase though. If she was trying to hurt the Pleiades Saints wouldn’t it be better to kill Kazumi and not make her forget that they are evil bastards?
While Jubey seems less evil he is still apart of Kyubey's race. See the lying?
Since Kyubey is the one who contracted with Yuri and Airi I believe he wants the Pleiades Saints either gone or turned into something else. You know….the huge baddie at the end of the Madoka. It really depends on what timeline Kyubey is stuck in. But he seems to be the problem starter. Jubey doesn’t seem to seek out those who are in despair. Maybe a bit of good cop bad cop going on?
Way too many names to learn.
As for the rest of the girls they sorta blur in my mind. Kaoru and Umika seem to be the main friends with Kazumi but some of the others are like who what? Like Satomi? Are you important? Mirai did they finish drawing you? Nico has shined a little given that the new magical girl gone bad Ayase came to time but not in the prior chapters. See what happens when there are too many magical girls? It works well in animes/mangas like Sailor Moon as we are slowly introduced them over time but throw them all in together at once and I am like what?
There are so many dead magical girls out there...hasn't the news figured it out yet?
So that is about it for now. With a new girl(s) in town who likes to collect Soul Gems (they are pretty awesome) the Pleiades Saints have more problems to deal with. I am not sure how much longer this show is going to last but I bet Kazumi will be the one who finally loses her mind and causes the downfall of the entire group. WOOHOO for fun.
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