Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice, Vol. 4

Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice #4

by Magica Quartet, Takashi Tensugi (Visual Art), Masaki Hiramatsu (Illustrator)

From the very start, it was Kazumi who drew the girls of the Pleiades Saints together. But no magical girl, however beloved by her friends, is exempt from the fate that awaits them all. Fearing that the evil nut may be accelerating Kazumi's transformation, the girls are divided - can the process be delayed, or should they take out Kazumi while they still can?

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Fiction, Comics, Magic, Witches

146 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2012

About the author

A group collaboration consisting of director Akiyuki Shinbou, writer Gen Urobuchi, the original character designer Ume Aoki, and the producer Atsuhiro Iwakami.

Reviews

[Lee Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo. This is getting intense. I’m having an easier time (sort of) keeping all the girls straight (I’ll get their names by the end at least...), and the plot is still incredibly hard to keep up with. But then, the Madoka plot was as well. Everything is sort of coming together full-circle now though so I assume it’ll be clearer by the end.

Anyway, spoilers ahead, so be warned...

I do feel that a lot of the plot is recycled from the original Madoka story. Except this time it’s an entire group of girls trying to keep one alive, not through time travel but through cloning. Which is a little more ethically... grey... because they have to kill the failed clones and keep starting over fresh. On the one hand I’m happy to see these themes from the original — love bordering on obsession, the strength of female friendship — reappearing now. On the other it feels very rehashed. Even the one girl died by beheading when a witch chomped her head right off like Charlotte did to Mami!

Speaking of Saki, it’s great to see some more solid LGBT+ representation going on in this spin-off. I picked up on the undertones in her despair chapter, and to have them confirmed in this volume was refreshing.

The art in this one was a little bit all over the place. The first two pages were so detailed and shaded, and the rest were like the prior volumes. Then there was one section with patterned shading that didn’t match the rest either. It was a little confusing. Not sure why the artist chose to do that.

4/5 stars for this volume. Excited to see the ending.

[ßawa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[•Asia• · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25🌟

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m really enjoying this story.

[William Lane]

I hate how they start the book with Kazumi discovering that she is the 13th clone they had created from the flesh of witches and the combination of all six of the Pleiades magic

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of things happened that I wouldn't exactly expect to happen. I guess like all Puella Magi ____ Magica series, they turn dark.