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lemonaderoses's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kiiroyume's review against another edition
3.0
3'5 en verdad.
Está chulo y es una historia cortita por sí sola (luego continúa con otros pjs), aunque a mí no me ha sorprendido tanto porque el anime es clavado (y mejora el original en varias cosas)
Está chulo y es una historia cortita por sí sola (luego continúa con otros pjs), aunque a mí no me ha sorprendido tanto porque el anime es clavado (y mejora el original en varias cosas)
agentbird's review against another edition
4.0
This was wonderful but a good deal darker than I was expecting - I knew it was dark but I didn't know it would be quite that brutal. Luckily I'm very much OK with that kind of thing! Loved it, and curious what the rest of the series is about since this first volume seemed very self-contained.
cannedbread's review against another edition
2.0
As a fan of Madoka, I wanted something in a similar vein to it. This LN is more like episode 5-6 of Madoka replayed in a LN. The pacing is just horrible, a lot of exposition in a time exposition wouldn't be necessary. I also didn't care about any characters besides Top Speed and Alice.
And suicide for a shock factor. Cmon.
Read if you want Madoka, but only for the fights
2/5
And suicide for a shock factor. Cmon.
Read if you want Madoka, but only for the fights
2/5
apocalyptics's review against another edition
3.0
If you're a fan of magical girls and deconstruction of the genre – I highly recommend this very light read! If I had to give an elevator pitch for the series, it would be a "magical girl battle royale" as throughout the story, the characters have to fight each other and compete to stay alive.
My main criticism is that although the story has many perspectives, I felt like some of the main characters never got to be fleshed out, and I do think if the book was at least 100 pages longer it could have given some room to learn about everyone so all death were saddening.
My main criticism is that although the story has many perspectives, I felt like some of the main characters never got to be fleshed out, and I do think if the book was at least 100 pages longer it could have given some room to learn about everyone so all death were saddening.
basicbaka's review
3.0
As someone does frequently play gacha games and as someone who is a massive fan of magical girls, this story intrigued me at first. To someone casually reading, this can absolutely read as yet another “dark” magical girl series where cute girls do violent things to each other.
And it really does feel that way at times. A lot of the violence does fade to black but that doesn’t stop the author from describing what could’ve happened just because of the girls’ magic they have. The fights that did occur “on-screen” are extremely fast-paced and you can tell that the author had fun in this aspect than the “boring stuff”.
If there are two main characters that we follow, they are Snow White and Ripple. The author makes that very clear but at the same time, there really needed to have ample time to get to know the girls before their demise. Unfortunately, we don’t really get that and the ones we do get are either almost a few paragraphs to a few sentences - or worse yet, assumptions made after their death. It’s a tough balance to focus on either the two or the rest so maybe I’m being a bit sympathetic here.
But there’s certainly a pacing issue. Maybe if the novel itself was longer, there could’ve been more time to focus on the girls and their pasts and to have the reader really build a connection to them. It becomes more evident that at least this volume is rushed especially near the end when Tama gets killed by Swim Swim. I wish that I could really feel emotional battering that the author really wanted to include in the ending and tried to include as much as they could. It’s disappointing but I ended up getting attached to some of the girls regardless.
I really did like, though, that there was significant character development for at least Ripple and Snow White. I wish it was a bit more focused on them but I think there was just a lack of time on the author’s end. Ripple was a bit better than Snow White’s but it’s still a bit disappointing that I didn’t really know the main “evil” character’s intentions until near the end. If I were someone else, that probably would’ve made me drop it or hesitate to continue, at least.
However, and this is a big issue I have in general with this volume - Sister Nana’s graphic suicide was absolutely not needed. Unfortunately, the “bury your gays” is still very popular and that’s frustrating in itself but that suicide scene was not needed. Honestly, that scene alone made me very angry because the author had proved that they could fade to black - so why couldn’t we have a fade to back with this scene? I suppose it could be necessary because Sister Nana’s sadness over Winterprison’s death but again, there could’ve been another way to do it and if a magical girl had to commit suicide, why did it have to be the lesbian?
This issue alone wasn’t enough to get me to drop it as it is because right after that chapter, we’re back in the fray with only Fav to tell the other survivors she had died. I think that’s ultimately what made me bring this down because of that scene alone.
But I love magical girls too much to put it down - I want to see what happens to Snow White and Ripple in the future.
Though, out of everything I said, there are quite a few things I did like more than what’s presented here. I’ve always wanted to explore the darker themes of being a magical girl. Of course, the Madoka comparisons are coming but I really enjoyed this more than Madoka, putting the suicide scene aside.
For this volume, it explored how useful how these collectibles (magical candy) really are. They’re not. The question in this volume is: how far would a magical girl be pushed if she could just kill to get what she wants? While it doesn’t explore as deeply as I’d like (especially for a light novel), it does leave me somewhat satisfied and that’s more than I can ask for in this type of genre.
Regardless, I’m going to look forward to the next volume.
And it really does feel that way at times. A lot of the violence does fade to black but that doesn’t stop the author from describing what could’ve happened just because of the girls’ magic they have. The fights that did occur “on-screen” are extremely fast-paced and you can tell that the author had fun in this aspect than the “boring stuff”.
If there are two main characters that we follow, they are Snow White and Ripple. The author makes that very clear but at the same time, there really needed to have ample time to get to know the girls before their demise. Unfortunately, we don’t really get that and the ones we do get are either almost a few paragraphs to a few sentences - or worse yet, assumptions made after their death. It’s a tough balance to focus on either the two or the rest so maybe I’m being a bit sympathetic here.
But there’s certainly a pacing issue. Maybe if the novel itself was longer, there could’ve been more time to focus on the girls and their pasts and to have the reader really build a connection to them. It becomes more evident that at least this volume is rushed especially near the end when Tama gets killed by Swim Swim. I wish that I could really feel emotional battering that the author really wanted to include in the ending and tried to include as much as they could. It’s disappointing but I ended up getting attached to some of the girls regardless.
I really did like, though, that there was significant character development for at least Ripple and Snow White. I wish it was a bit more focused on them but I think there was just a lack of time on the author’s end. Ripple was a bit better than Snow White’s but it’s still a bit disappointing that I didn’t really know the main “evil” character’s intentions until near the end. If I were someone else, that probably would’ve made me drop it or hesitate to continue, at least.
However, and this is a big issue I have in general with this volume - Sister Nana’s graphic suicide was absolutely not needed. Unfortunately, the “bury your gays” is still very popular and that’s frustrating in itself but that suicide scene was not needed. Honestly, that scene alone made me very angry because the author had proved that they could fade to black - so why couldn’t we have a fade to back with this scene? I suppose it could be necessary because Sister Nana’s sadness over Winterprison’s death but again, there could’ve been another way to do it and if a magical girl had to commit suicide, why did it have to be the lesbian?
This issue alone wasn’t enough to get me to drop it as it is because right after that chapter, we’re back in the fray with only Fav to tell the other survivors she had died. I think that’s ultimately what made me bring this down because of that scene alone.
But I love magical girls too much to put it down - I want to see what happens to Snow White and Ripple in the future.
Though, out of everything I said, there are quite a few things I did like more than what’s presented here. I’ve always wanted to explore the darker themes of being a magical girl. Of course, the Madoka comparisons are coming but I really enjoyed this more than Madoka, putting the suicide scene aside.
For this volume, it explored how useful how these collectibles (magical candy) really are. They’re not. The question in this volume is: how far would a magical girl be pushed if she could just kill to get what she wants? While it doesn’t explore as deeply as I’d like (especially for a light novel), it does leave me somewhat satisfied and that’s more than I can ask for in this type of genre.
Regardless, I’m going to look forward to the next volume.
telthor's review
2.0
Eh. It could be the translation but......eh. The characters are boring, the plot is kind of confusing because stuff just happens in like a paragraph and sometimes there's a reaction and sometimes not so you end up reading the same paragraph again because maybe someone died but you can't really tell. I just wanted to rewatch Puella Magi Madoka Magicka instead of read another page. I mean, yeah, I finished it.....but I feel hollow and sad and a little bored inside.
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