A moment of greatness bundled with a lot of bland.
Creative Staff
Story: Magica Quartet
Art: Hanokage
Translation: William Flanagan
What They Say
When she fails to save Sayaka, Mami is overcome by despair and loneliness. With the fate of every Magical Girl made clear before her, Mami chooses to embrace death rather than fight on. As Mami sets out to deliver herself into the hands of the witch, Kyouko rushes to confront her former mentor. Mami’s soul gem steadily darkens – soon her doom will be certain. Can Kyouko give Mami a reason to fight on before her gem turns jet-black?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After a ton of flashbacks that in turn teach us a bit more about Mami as she breaks down, Homura tells Kyouko the truth about Magical Girls. Homura also informs Kyouko that Mami will kill her if she goes, and also that she intends to off herself in the face of the truth. However, Kyouko is unwilling to believe Homura’s warnings and chooses to rush off regardless. Of course Homura was correct, and an intense fight erupts, ending with Kyouko bound up at gunpoint. After a little bit of talking, Mami then pulls the trigger and walks away, collapsing before she can deal with Sayaka.
Kyubey then appears to be a douche and sits by Mami as she slips towards becoming a Witch. However, Kyouko appears before she’s completely gone, and the two finally properly make up. With that out of the way, Kyouko purifies Mami’s Soul Gem and heads out for her final battle.
With her life saved once again, will Mami finally be able to face the reality of life as a Magical Girl? Or will the weight of her grief still prove too great?
In Summary
Ultimately, the key element here is the final bit with Kyouko and Mami, which certainly pulls up the book a good bit. It’s chock full of some great moments both in terms of action and emotions, and is definitely nice to see. Unfortunately, though, a lot of the rest of the book feels like too much of a retread, of both things already seen in previous volumes and, to a lesser degree, the anime. In fact, Homura’s role here is particularly awkward, as it’s completely incomprehensible if you haven’t seen the anime, but if you have she just inserts some minor sentiments already done far better there. Perhaps in the end, it comes down to how much you care about Mami and Kyouko and the relationship forged between them. If that’s something that you can really get behind, then there’s definitely some great moments in here. For everyone else though, those moments of quality may feel too stretched out and buried in repetition to really be worth it.
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: October 28th, 2014
MSRP: $12.99
