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fifteenthjessica's review
2.0
I read the first two volumes of Oriko a while before this.
Like many Puella Magi fans, I'm not overly fond of the nineties style art where the characters' hair seems like it has a life of its own. This offers three stories that take place in an alternate timeline.
The first story, "Noisy Citrine" covers Kirika's time as a magical girl before she met Oriko. Kirika's wish seems to have been to change her personality so that she'd talk to Oriko. It doesn't have much of an effect on any questions people had about Kirika and the story is hurt by skipping what I think would be satisfactory moments: Kirika making up with Erika (an old nonmagical friend of hers who Kirika needs to save from a witch) and Kirika's first conversation with Oriko.
Symmetry Diamond feels like a mess. It's trying to tell stories of both Yuma and Oriko overcoming major issues at the same time. Also, there's a magical girl hunter in Mitakihara that isn't Kirika. The last part really overcrowds the story, especially since it shows a lack of consistency with the original series. There is no reason given for why Kirika isn't hunting other girls, and the other hunter is a territory obsessed magical girl (been there) with a power that doesn't make sense. Yuma is still with her abusive parents, which gives readers a potentially triggering insight into how abusive families work. Granted for me, the realism is lopped off when In this story with too many elements, we get some insight into why Oriko is a teasipping puppeteer. She can't control her visions, which drains her magic and forces Kirika to hunt for both their sakes. The magical girl hunter's powers work to give Oriko a chance to fight with a fully charged soul gem, which was the key to Oriko focusing her visions. Why? How? I know in the main series the two girls who use the most magic (Mami and Homura) are both veterans, and Homura's first thing as a magical girl involved her using a large amount of her power, but she does it precisely, so what's up with Oriko? I'd have to dig out my volumes of Oriko to find out if she has control in the timeline that the main series takes place in.
There are a few shorts that is the writer allowing Oriko to be cute and silly for once. They're amusing but mesh poorly with Oriko's established personality.
The final, "Last Agate" shows Oriko and Kirika going into battle against Walpurgis Nacht. It's not clear what the fate of the main series girls are.
Agate does highlight one of my major issues. The fight scenes skip around. Most of Citrine's are Kirika finishing a fight, but I couldn't figure out what was so special about Kirika's Vampire Fang attack to make it defeat the witch. "Diamond" has the most atrocious with the fights with the Magical Girl hunter. Kirika encounters her and goes missing. Later, the hunter is in Oriko's school, and somehow Kirika is in a state where she can't contact Oriko but wasn't weak enough to be finished off. In the final fight, there is a cut between Oriko talking to Kirika while Kirika plans to use Yuma as a sheild, then a cut to the hunter dead, then a flashback to Why not just show that in chronological order?
Also, I can't for the life of me figure out why, of all the characters, the back cover features a chibi version of one of Oriko's classmates who appears only to insult Oriko.
Like many Puella Magi fans, I'm not overly fond of the nineties style art where the characters' hair seems like it has a life of its own. This offers three stories that take place in an alternate timeline.
The first story, "Noisy Citrine" covers Kirika's time as a magical girl before she met Oriko. Kirika's wish seems to have been to change her personality so that she'd talk to Oriko. It doesn't have much of an effect on any questions people had about Kirika and the story is hurt by skipping what I think would be satisfactory moments: Kirika making up with Erika (an old nonmagical friend of hers who Kirika needs to save from a witch) and Kirika's first conversation with Oriko.
Symmetry Diamond feels like a mess. It's trying to tell stories of both Yuma and Oriko overcoming major issues at the same time. Also, there's a magical girl hunter in Mitakihara that isn't Kirika. The last part really overcrowds the story, especially since it shows a lack of consistency with the original series. There is no reason given for why Kirika isn't hunting other girls, and the other hunter is a territory obsessed magical girl (been there) with a power that doesn't make sense.
Spoiler
Her wish is to control her betters, so why does she have control over a random amount of unseen witches? It occurs to me now that they could've been stronger magical girls that she enslaved and starved, but little time is given to this possibly creepilicious magical girl. Also, how is she close friends with Oriko?Spoiler
a talk with Oriko is enough to convince Yuma that she could run away to live with her grandparents, and it all just works out.There are a few shorts that is the writer allowing Oriko to be cute and silly for once. They're amusing but mesh poorly with Oriko's established personality.
The final, "Last Agate" shows Oriko and Kirika going into battle against Walpurgis Nacht. It's not clear what the fate of the main series girls are.
Spoiler
Homura and Madoka would have to be alive for this to mesh with canon timelines. No sign of any of them here.Agate does highlight one of my major issues. The fight scenes skip around. Most of Citrine's are Kirika finishing a fight, but I couldn't figure out what was so special about Kirika's Vampire Fang attack to make it defeat the witch. "Diamond" has the most atrocious with the fights with the Magical Girl hunter. Kirika encounters her and goes missing. Later, the hunter is in Oriko's school, and somehow Kirika is in a state where she can't contact Oriko but wasn't weak enough to be finished off. In the final fight, there is a cut between Oriko talking to Kirika while Kirika plans to use Yuma as a sheild, then a cut to the hunter dead, then a flashback to
Spoiler
the hunter killing herself when she realizes that she was becoming a witch.Also, I can't for the life of me figure out why, of all the characters, the back cover features a chibi version of one of Oriko's classmates who appears only to insult Oriko.
princess_starr's review
2.0
So, I don’t know if I just didn’t like this because it’s been so long since I’ve initially read Oriko Magica or this is straight-up confusing. Considering the fact that Oriko is already a quasi-spinoff/alternate storyline of the Prime Madoka Timeline (the first two volumes were more focused on Kyoko and Mami than Oriko and Kirika), it is hard to figure out where this story stands. And considering that my main problem with the majority of the manga spin-offs with this series is the supposition that the only people reading these are hardcore fans, so we can just jump in with no preamble as to what the hell is going on, also does not help the pacing of this story.
I think this is supposed to be the less dark version of Oriko and Kirika’s relationship, but there’s barely any discussion or lead-in to their friendship or even meeting each other. All we get is finding out that Kirika’s wish is “I want to talk to that girl!” but both the narration and art make it incredibly confusing as to who she’s specifically referring to. There’s a lot of time early on spent on Kirika’s fractured relationship with her old friend Erika, but it’s only to give Kirika her big Hero Moment and it’s never spoken of again. And then Kirika’s suddenly best friends with Oriko, and then they meet another magical girl who wants to take over their territory (OH AND SHE HAS THE ABILITY TO CONTROL WITCHES. BECAUSE WE CAN’T THINK OF AN ORIGINAL POWER THE ANTAGONIST CAN HAVE ASIDE FROM CONTROLLING WITCHES. Look, the reason I give the first two Oriko volumes some slack is that Oriko and Kirika are the antagonists and they have a specific goal in taking out Madoka.
…actually, you know what would have been a more interesting antagonist? Good!Oriko and Kirika going to track down Madoka and Homura’s REVENGE RAMPAGE on them. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE INTERESTING THAN ANOTHER FUCKING MAGICAL GIRL WHO CAN CONTROL WITCHES.) And then it ends with two omake comics and then Oriko and Kirika go off to fight Walpurgisnacht.
Honestly, aside from the manga adaptations, A Different Story and Tart Magica (so far), just skip the MadoMagi spin-off series. They’re too confusing in the set-up and character introductions, they’re reliant on the same freaking plot point, and they’re not very good at all. For a series with a lot of potential exploration, the manga spin-offs haven’t delivered yet and it feels like Magica Quartet are lazily retelling the same story while slapping on different character designs and not bothering to go into the details of the universe.
I think this is supposed to be the less dark version of Oriko and Kirika’s relationship, but there’s barely any discussion or lead-in to their friendship or even meeting each other. All we get is finding out that Kirika’s wish is “I want to talk to that girl!” but both the narration and art make it incredibly confusing as to who she’s specifically referring to. There’s a lot of time early on spent on Kirika’s fractured relationship with her old friend Erika, but it’s only to give Kirika her big Hero Moment and it’s never spoken of again. And then Kirika’s suddenly best friends with Oriko, and then they meet another magical girl who wants to take over their territory (OH AND SHE HAS THE ABILITY TO CONTROL WITCHES. BECAUSE WE CAN’T THINK OF AN ORIGINAL POWER THE ANTAGONIST CAN HAVE ASIDE FROM CONTROLLING WITCHES. Look, the reason I give the first two Oriko volumes some slack is that Oriko and Kirika are the antagonists and they have a specific goal in taking out Madoka.
…actually, you know what would have been a more interesting antagonist? Good!Oriko and Kirika going to track down Madoka and Homura’s REVENGE RAMPAGE on them. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE INTERESTING THAN ANOTHER FUCKING MAGICAL GIRL WHO CAN CONTROL WITCHES.) And then it ends with two omake comics and then Oriko and Kirika go off to fight Walpurgisnacht.
Honestly, aside from the manga adaptations, A Different Story and Tart Magica (so far), just skip the MadoMagi spin-off series. They’re too confusing in the set-up and character introductions, they’re reliant on the same freaking plot point, and they’re not very good at all. For a series with a lot of potential exploration, the manga spin-offs haven’t delivered yet and it feels like Magica Quartet are lazily retelling the same story while slapping on different character designs and not bothering to go into the details of the universe.
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