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Get Ready for the ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica’ Smartphone Game / AnimeJapan 2017

by Jennifer Grainger
4 months ago
AnimeJapan 2017

The upcoming smartphone game Puella Magi Madoka Magica [Side Story] Magia Record is a spin-off from the popular 2011 anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica. On 25 March at AnimeJapan 2017, cast members Momo Asakura, Ayane Sakura and Aoi Yuki appeared on stage along with Aniplex’s Yusuke Toyama to talk about the game. Madoka Magica’s original character designer, Ume Aoki, also appeared as a surprise guest!

What is the ‘Madoka Magica’ Series?

The TV anime Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika) was aired in 2011 to great acclaim and featured animation by the well-known animation studio SHAFT. The anime features the difficulties faced by young girls as they are convinced to enter a contract to become magical girls.The series has received movie, manga, game, and novel adaptations, and it will soon get a brand new smartphone game! The upcoming smartphone game Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record will feature brand new characters along with the magical girls from the anime that we know and love.

Stage guest Aoi Yuki, who played Madoka Kaname in the original TV series,  greeted everyone with ‘It’s been a long time!’ and said it was very comfortable for her to be able to meet that familiar character again. She was joined by two new faces, Momo Asakura, who plays Iroha Tamaki, as well as Ayane Sakura, who plays Felicia Mitsuki.

Asakura: ‘I saw it quite recently. I’d heard that it was quite scary, so I asked people to tell me spoilers so that I didn’t get so scared. I didn’t want to get too confused. I really like Mami, but I was still shocked when she died, even though I already knew it was going to happen.’

Sakura: “’ appeared in an episode as Female Student B. I still remember the line, “You have such beautiful hair, what shampoo do you use?” She is that girl with the blue hair who spoke to Homura around the time she transferred to the school. I was 17 or 18 at the time. When I was offered the role for this, at first I thought that Female Student B was going to appear in it. Of course, I’m very happy about it. I watched the series with my dad when it was airing. I remember him waking me up one morning saying “Mami died!” I told him, “it isn’t that kind of anime!”, and then we watched it together and yes, Mami died. That had an impact on me.’

The host then showed all the characters designs from the game, which had previously been released on the game’s official site. As the 3 voice actors were getting excited talking about the designs of their characters, a new guest appeared on the stage. Aniplex producer Yusuke Toyama came to introduce some of the gameplay!

Game Setting

Toyama announced that SHAFT has not only created the opening animation but has also produced animations to be used in the game. He explained a little about the story and how it involves Homura Akemi and her ability to turn back time, as the main character, Iroha, searches for her younger sister, Ui. He explained that the game will contain anime characters designed by Aoki, as well as characters from the manga published in the Magica-only magazine Manga Time Kirara Magica.

The game is a ‘Magical Girl RPG’ and the user will have to form teams of magical girls to fight enemies. At this point, Yuki said that, as Madoka, she is excited that she may be able to make more Magical Girl friends.

Just as the girls were getting excited, a new special guest was introduced!

A surprise guest

Ume Aoki, the original character designer for Puella Magi Madoka Magica, appeared on stage, wearing a cute ghost mask to cover her face. The audience cheered when her name was announced.

For the anime, she designed the characters according to the weapons they use. She also mentioned that as Iroha is the main character, she didn’t want her to have a very strong theme in particular.  As Felicia uses a huge hammer, she wanted to make her seem a little a cute little dwarf. Although dwarfs are small, they are very strong.

Aoki and the 3 actresses talked a little about the character designs and the audience were treated to a special video!

In Magia Record, the characters will have a transformation sequence, animated by SHAFT. The guests at the AnimeJapan 2017 Magia Record Stage were lucky enough to be the first people to see the transformation sequence for Iroha. 

The 3 voice actresses then gave self-introductions in-character.

Iroha: ‘I’m Iroha Tamaki. It’s nice to meet you all. I…in Kamihama…um…I’ll do my best!!’

Felicia: ‘I’m Felicia! Here we go~! My most hated things are Witches and stuff that’s a pain to do! Nice to meet ya!’

Madoka: ‘I’m Madoka Kaname. I hope you can enjoy the wonder of meeting new Magical Girls in Magia Record’

Live2D Characters

Mr. Toyama then took the mic and explained that the adventure part, main story, and home screen would be using Live2D technology. The battle part of the game will have a chibi version of the characters, and the home screen and story will use the full-size characters.

MANGA.TOKYO also stopped by the Magia Record booth at AnimeJapan, where they were displaying the Live2D characters on a LED screen. Mami was looking very lively on the bright screen!

Toyama then showed us some scenes from the game, the development of which is still in progress. First, we saw home screens featuring Iroha, Felicia, and Madoka. With the Live2D technology, they seemed like they were almost alive but without losing the Puella Magi charm.

As for the game system, Toyama said that they wanted to come up with an RPG system that was simple to understand and yet still had the feel of Magica.

He then showed us a scene from the battle screen. On the left were the enemies and on the right were chibi version of Madoka, Iroha, Felicia, and Mami. It seems that the magical girls can connect together to perform effective attacks. We saw that the extra special attacks even come with animations!

When you think of magical girls, you probably also think of transformation sequences. Magia Record doesn’t let us down, as it has transformation sequences for every character animated by SHAFT!

The transformation sequence for Iroha was shown on screen. During the sequence, you could hear comments from the cast such as ‘my heart is pounding!’ At the end of the video, the audience showed its approval with a huge applause.

Let’s Get Ready for Magia Record!

The host reminded us that people can receive a special glasses-wearing Homura card in-game if they pre-register for Magia Record on the official site with their email address or via twitter (links below).

Also, there is lots of extra content on the official site, such a full-color manga that will help us know the new characters a little better.

We are all looking forward to meeting all the new Puella Magi!

Puella Magi Madoka Magica [Side Story] Magia Record  Information

Release: May 2017

Platform: iOS / Android

Price: Free-to-play + in-app purchases

Official Site: http://magireco.com

Official Twitter: @magireco (https://twitter.com/magireco)

Story

Set in an emerging city, Kamihama.

Will you fight together with me?

The meeting of the young girls spins a new tale. Led by a curious power, the magical girls gather in this town. There, the magical girls can be themselves. The girls were fighting, having pulled new power out from the witch.

What is happening……in this town……?

Iroha came to this town searching for her little sister, Ui, who disappeared. She begins searching for leads on her sister with the magical girls. But before long, a magical girl from the city of Mitakihara, Homura Akemi, also arrives in Kamihama.

If we figure out the mystery of this town, we may be able to save Kanome-san……

Magical Girls from two different towns intersect and a new hope is born.

(C)Magica Quartet/Aniplex・Magia Record Partners

AnimeJapan 2017

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