Magia Record thoughts so far

I enjoyed the latest Toonami aired episode of Alicization, but I don't have any comments on it right now.

I just watched episode 8 of Magia Record, so I'm behind because I follow the Dub, it's first cour has actually already ended from what I've gathered elsewhere.

The first thing that's interesting to me is how it follows a Monster of the Week format in a way that the modern Dark Magical Girl shows usually don't, however they are all two parters making it like the Adam West Batman, same Mahou Time, same Mahou Channel.

Madoka proper, Yuki Yuna, the more Battle Royal inspired ones, none of them follow much of a Monster of the Week format.  Daybreak Illusion as I'd already observed comes closer then most, but only after an origin story arc.

The latest episode made me think of "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" a classic Buffy The Vampire Slayer Episode, but that turned out to seemingly not be the main plot of this two parter.

One thing about the Madoka Spin Off stories based on other characters I've noticed is how they seem to feel like the "twist" was why Maodka worked, or more specifically them being "twists".  Yes all the stuff about the Soul Gem and becoming Witches being so shocking was part of how the show originally caught people's attention, but the reason it holds up on repeat viewing is because of the characters, it was about how those characters reacted to those reveals.

So what I wanted from a Madoka Expanded Universe was simply to see how different characters would react differently to the same dark secrets, but instead they frequently feel the need to shock the audience as much as they shock the characters, so instead they come up with new shocking reveals that make the original core shocking reveals into mundaneities that these characters mostly shrug off.

Now this problem isn't a deal breaker, I thoroughly enjoyed Tart Magica in-spite of how this absolutely  does apply there.  But Madoka's lore and universe mechanics work because of how really quite simple it was, just simple in a way that can lead to emotionally complex storytelling.  So every time a spin off messes with those mechanics for the sake of making new even more shocking twists, I feel like it kinda breaks the Madoka Universe a bit.

It's Ironic really, while others are complaining about Madoka rip offs I love, I've come to feel it's the Madoka franchise itself that is riding it's own coattails with a misunderstanding of it's own appeal.

Magia Record isn't done, so I can't yet judge how much this issue applies here.

It is the first Madoka EU story to get an Anime, so the first time Anime only viewers have to potentially face this issue.  So I figured I should talk about it before I actually get to finish it.