Magia Record Story It's Okay to Be Clumsy
Episode 1
Riko Chiaki hums to herself as she cooks. Now that the meat is ready, she gets ready to peel the carrots but not before she puts the shiitake mushrooms to soak. She reminds herself to prepare everything first then calmly follow each step. Normally she could just use a vegetable peeler for this bit, but because her parents are chefs at a bento shop she’s feels she should learn how to cut off the peels using a kitchen knife. For this she feels even more confident since she’ll be using her special whale-shaped knife.
The older next-door neighbor, Onee-san[1], is the one who gifted her the knife. Riko looks up to her immensely since she’s good at cooking and treats her like her own little sister. With the knife Onee-san has given her, Riko feels confident she’ll be able to peel the vegetables. First she cuts the carrots down to size and tries to cut the peel off as she turns the carrot in her hand. But the knife slips and she cuts her fingers.
Some mysterious girls start singing about various foods and suddenly Riko finds herself in a magic wonderland where everything is made of food.
As she looks around, a Witch’s familiars appear and try to attack Riko. Riko can’t sense any Witches in the area and wonders if this place is a labyrinth, but if a familiar is attacking her she’s sure she just has to defeat the Witch to get out of this place. Riko transforms and makes short work of all of the familiars in the area. Riko looks around herself once more and notes that the fences in front of the houses look like the dividers in bento boxes. Trees are made out of vegetables and food picks and there’s a delicious aroma wafting through the air. She wonders if maybe she was transported into a bento box instead of a Witch’s labyrinth. She hears a voice calling out to her, asking if she’s ok. She turns to find Kyubey there. Riko is surprised to see him as she hasn’t seen him in what seems like forever. Kyubey asks what she’s talking about since he’s been by her side always. He asks her if maybe she forgot his promise and that they had agreed it was still too dangerous for her to hunt Witches alone. They had made a deal where Kyubey would always go with her whenever she went to hunt Witches. He offers to check on her soul gem for her but Riko insists she’s fine. Other than one time where she almost lost to a Witch, she’s never actually lost to one yet. Kyubey is relieved to hear this but warns her to be careful. If her heart is unstable, then that will make it much easier for her Soul Gem to become tainted. He advises her to calm down and take a deep breath if she ever feels worried or scared. Kyubey tells her to inform him if she has any problems, but the hard working and stubborn Riko claims she is all right despite the fact she is not.
Episode 2
Riko puts on a brave face and says she’s not scared of any Witches since Magical Girls exist to defeat them. As she says this, her face betrays her emotions and Kyubey asks if she’s sure she’s not scared. Riko recalls a time her mother was teaching her to cook. They were preparing vegetables when Riko accidentally cuts her finger. Riko cuts herself too many times; enough times that her mother kindly tells her not to be too impatient and ends the lesson: they have enough time and she can learn when She felt that Riko was still too young to be handling a knife, especially considering how clumsy she was with scissors and would often nick herself. This only made Riko feel like a failure because her family runs a bento shop and she can’t even cut a vegetable right. Riko snaps out of her train of thought and says she needs to hurry up and kill the Witch so she can get back to cooking practice. Even though she can kill Witches on her own, she still hasn’t been able to cook anything on her own. Kyubey asks if the cooking is worrying Riko, but Riko brushes aside his concerns and instead turns her attention to the several familiars that have now appeared.
Riko strikes and attacks the mass of familiars that are surrounding her. Despite their numbers, they’re not very strong and Riko is able to take out a good many of them. As she stops to catch her breath, Kyubey asks if she doesn’t need a little break. Riko says she’s fine but soon they hear a voice singing out to them about delicious foods and all the memories they want to gobble.
Pickled Plums
Pickled Daikon Radish
Rolled Omelet
Salmon
Omurice
Hamburg Steak
Riko can tell that the lyrics are about clumsy people and bento foods and wonders if they aren’t singing about her. Once more Riko thinks back to the past. She had been on her way to visit Onee-san by herself, now that she knew the way to her house on her own. She had her whale-knife and a recipe she had wanted to work on with her friend. There was still 20 more minutes until the train arrived. As Riko waited, she sensed a Witch and she determined to stop it herself since she figured there was enough time. However, Riko had struggled with fighting the Witch. She snaps out of her reverie just as the Witch had attacked her from behind.
Back in the labyrinth, Kyubey shakes Riko awake asking her what’s wrong. Riko tries to tell Kyubey about the Witch she had been fighting, but she couldn’t remember what happened after the Witch had gotten the jump on her. Riko thinks the Witch might have eaten her, but Kyubey says that’s impossible or she wouldn’t be there with him now talking. He knows Riko can handle any Witch with ease and if she could just find the Witch of this labyrinth he’s sure she can take it down easily as well. Before they know it, the colors of the labyrinth changed around them and the air fills with the scent of rotting food.
Episode 3
Riko asks Kyubey what’s happening. Kyubey believes this is the doing of the Witch. Witches love scared and weak humans and most likely it is trying to scare Riko. Riko looks a bit scared at hearing this but Kyubey warns her not to feel fear or else her soul gem will grow tainted. Once it gets completely black she’ll be unable to fight back and the Witch will gobble her up. Riko tries to calm herself in order to not let the Witch get the advantage. She tells herself she’s not scared at all. When she opens her eyes she finds herself back in her home. She reminds herself to stay calm since this is all just the Witch’s doing. Riko notices how quiet the house is and figures she must be alone at home again like she is most of the time. She tries to tturn on the TV in order to watch something and make herself feel more at ease but the TV isn’t working. Suddenly, the doorbell rings and Riko is slightly startled. She reminds herself there’s nothing to fear since this is a Witch’s doing. The telephone then begins to ring repeatedly until it goes to voice mail. It’s Onee-san and she’s leaving a message for Riko. She became worried when Riko never showed up like she said she would. Then Onee-san says she’s not surprised since she figured Riko would have run away because she’s afraid Onee-san will find out just how clumsy she really is even though she was looking forward to her cooking. Riko gets anxious and apologizes repeatedly, begging her not to be disappointed in her.
Once more she wakes up to find Kyubey shaking her and asking if she’s ok. Kyubey asks her if the Witch did anything to her but Riko denies it. She knows now that it was all only a trick to try to get her scared because she knows the real Onee-san would never talk to her like that. She assures Kyubey she’s fine now and won’t let the Witch pull any more tricks on her again.
Riko hunts down more of the familiars but she’s feeling exhausted. Kyubey is worried since they’re no closer to finding the Witch and Riko is getting worn out. Riko wonders if there even is a Witch around here but Kyubey believes there must be or this labyrinth wouldn’t exist to begin with. Kyubey suggests that Riko take a break, otherwise they’ll be in trouble if they do find the Witch and Riko is too tired to fight. But Riko would rather press forward so they can hurry up and kill the Witch and get out of this place. Once more they hear the voice of the Witch singing about foods that should taste good but don’t as well as the lack of yummy memories for the Witch to snack on. The Witch compares the taste of the memories to metal and this triggers something in Riko.
Riko remembers a time in her school’s home economics class. The class was learning to cook and her partner had offered to cut the onion while Riko prepared the carrots. Her classmate offers Riko the vegetable peeler but Riko wants to use the knife to peel them since she’s been practicing at home in secret. Riko almost immediately cuts her finger and accidentally drops the knife. One of her other classmates yells at Riko for dropping the knife and almost hurting him. He asks her how it is she can’t even use a knife when both her parents make bentos for a living. The rest of the class makes fun of Riko for being too clumsy to learn how to even use a knife when her parents are experts at cooking. One child even mocks her by saying that she will cook everyone and they should stay away from her.
As Riko finishes recalling the painful memory, she wakes up sobbing. Only this time she finds Kyubey towering over her. It’s not that Kyubey has grown, rather that Riko has shrunk. Her fear of the Witch has caused her soul gem to grow tainted. Kyubey warns her if her soul gem turns completely black she’ll lose all her power and she won’t be able to maintain her form. She might even end up disappearing completely. Kyubey admits he might be wrong but that seems to be what’s happening now.
Episode 4
Riko is reliving her memories once more. This time, Onee-san has presented Riko with a gift. When she opens it, Riko finds a whale-shaped knife inside the gift box. Onee-san says she was very happy when she heard that Riko had wanted to cook something for her so she bought her the knife in order to support her dreams. But Riko cuts her fingers whenever she uses it and her parents think she’s still too young to be handling a knife. She remembers how her classmates made fun of her for being too clumsy to even use a knife right despite the fact her parents are both chefs. Riko believes she’s too clumsy to do anything right and it’s all her fault. She admits to Kyubey that in reality she was too scared to go to Onee-san’s house because she was afraid Onee-san would see how clumsy she is and find out she can’t cook well. The last thing she wants to do is disappoint the person she looks up to the most. Just the thought of her not liking Riko anymore was enough to prevent Riko from going at all. Riko begins to cry until she gets the idea of running away and takes off. Surprised, Kyubey takes off after her, calling her name. Riko thinks of running as far and as fast as she can, all the while thinking she should give up on her dream of learning how to cook and instead settle on a different dream where no one will make fun of her and she can’t disappoint anyone. A dream that’s perfect for her. Riko realizes her life doesn’t have to be about inheriting her family’s bento shop or becoming like Onee-san. Instead she has resolved to run away from this Witch, this Labyrinth, and from her dreams.
Out of breath, Riko continues to run until something knocks her down. She looks up to see a shadowy copy of herself looming over her. Riko is confused about why a copy of herself should appear since she’s not inside endless Mirrors. The shadow is holding her whale knife. A copy of Onee-san appears and lectures her for being late and making her come all this way looking for her. The shadowy copy of Riko grips her knife and approaches Onee-san. Riko pleads in vain for the shadow to stop what it’s doing but the copy won’t listen. Once more the Witch sings a song mocking Riko. It promises to make a yummy meal with everything here, especially her sweet memories.
Riko continues to yell and scream at her shadowy copy to stop and listen to her. But the shadowy copy only continues to stare at Onee-san smiling. Onee-san says Riko is acting strange until the shadow gets too close to Onee-san and then stabs her with the whale knife. Riko screams in fear as the Witch sings its song again only this time it’s the Riko copy singing. It sings a song about how clumsy it is, but not so clumsy it can’t slice and dice Onee-san into a delicious meal. Riko screams once more.
Episode 5
The Witch assaults Riko with all the bad memories she has of everyone telling her what a failure she is and how clumsy she is. The evil copies of everyone she loves talk about how she cut up and cooked her neighbor even though the neighbor girl loved Riko like her own sister. The shadowy Riko copy advances towards her, gripping a knife covered in blood. Just when Riko can’t take anymore she squeezes her fists and finds something in her hands. It’s her whale knife and a recipe. She remembers when she first received the recipe from Onee-san. She found it odd to be receiving a letter since Onee-san can just text her. On one side was a recipe for meat and vegetable stew from her family’s bento shop which Onee-san had always loved and on the other side was a letter written to her from Onee-san. She knows that Riko isn’t always very dexterous and has trouble with her hands, but she also knows how determined Riko can be. She tells Riko it’s good to practice using a knife but also asks her not to overdo it. It’s not about how fast she learns how to cook, but how well she learns and that it’s better to cook from the heart. Her family’s bento shop isn’t popular just because the food is good, but because of the warmth and love her family expresses when making the food and chatting with all the people that come to their shop to eat. She reminds her again to take her time and learn how to cook at her own pace.
Riko realizes that she’s been trying to push herself too fast to learn how to cook when what really matters is cooking with love. She knows he has to pull herself together because she can’t just sit here and cry forever. As she stands up and wipes away the tears, she notices that the evil Onee-san and Riko copy are now gone. She knows for sure that all of this was the Witch’s doing just as Kyubey is able to catch up to her. Riko asks Kyubey for his help so she can defeat this Witch and get out of here ASAP. Kyubey is glad to help and tells Riko to hop on his back.
Riko runs up to her shadowy copy, promising to never forgive her for what she’s done. The copy says it wasn’t even the real Onee-san but Riko doesn’t care. The copy tells her to shut up and threatens to chop her up as well. The copy calls her pathetic and Riko agrees. She admits she can be clumsy and she always wants to run way from anything that scares or worries her, but she’s come to accept who she is and that she’s still a long way away from becoming like the Onee-san she admires. But she wants to keep growing and maturing at her own pace until she can become the person she wants to be. She knows now it’s better to take her time and learn how to be a good cook that can cook from the heart and make everyone happy. The copy smiles and says it’ll be watching her before it disappears.
As the copy disappears so too do the other evil copies of her memories and Riko finds herself once more in the land of bentos, full of happy colors and bright smells. She hears the pained cry of Kyubey and looks down to see she’s squashed Kyubey flat now that she’s regained her proper height. She gets off of him and apologizes for squishing him. Kyubey had thought the evil copy was the Witch’s doing, but when it disappeared and Riko regained her size, Kyubey realized the copy had actually come from within Riko. Riko apologizes to Kyubey once more, this time for not heeding his warnings and letting her own fears and insecurities get to her. It wasn’t the Witch that almost did her in, but her heart. Kyubey says there’s nothing to apologize for since she didn’t let it get to her in the end. He asks if she should be looking so down since they’re about to take on the Witch. Riko puts on a determined face and declares she’s a Magical Girl who’s ready to take down any Witch.
Episode 6
Riko has found the Witch at last and Kyubey warns her to be careful as Riko prepares to battle. Riko leaps in and strikes at the Witch with her bento pick. The Witch begins to sing the weird food song and Riko comes to realize it was the Witch all along. Riko attacks the Witch, angry that the Witch would call her memories gross. She realizes now that the labyrinth they find themselves in is actually all of her happy memories that have taken on the form of delicious food placed neatly in a bento box. It’s because the Witch took a bite out of her happy memories that only the bad memories were left to come to mind, causing the food to become rotten. Riko continues to battle the Witch, admonishing it all the while as Kyubey watches from the sidelines and coaches her. With the Witch nearly beaten, Riko steps up and finishes it off with several blows from her bento pick.
The Witch is finally defeated and both Riko and Kyubey let out cheers of joy! However, the labyrinth still hasn’t disappeared which means this place wasn’t a Witch’s labyrinth but the inside of Riko’s heart. Riko figured it out once she realized that the labyrinth would get weirder and remind her of unhappy times evertime she became scared or worried. Kyubey is impressed with how she was able to conquer both the Witch and her own fears. She thanks Kyubey for all its help. Kyubey says it’s almost time for her to return to the real world and explains to Riko that he’s not real since he only exists inside her heart. That’s why he said he’d always be with her. He promises they’ll meet again and hopes that she’s able to become just like her Onee-san.
Riko wakes up to find herself at Mitama’s place. Mitama and Manaka greet her and reassure her she’s in a safe place with no Witches around. Overwhelmed by everything that’s happened, Riko hugs Mitama tightly and lets out all her tears.
Having cried it all out Mitama offers Riko a tissue to blow her nose. She asks Riko’s name and then introduces herself. Manaka explains that she found her passed out in a Witch’s labyrinth. Even though she wasn’t physically injured she wouldn’t wake up so she brought her to Mitama. Manaka is relieved to see that Riko is ok and asks what happened. Riko explains the whole story to the two of them. Manaka is more surprised that Kyubey was the one to save her while Mitama thinks that the Kyubey inside her mind is rather sweet. She wonders if the Witch was the one that caused everything since Manaka was the one to finally defeat it in the end. Still, Mitama is very impressed with how strong Riko was to be able to conquer her own fears and overcome her nightmare. Manaka looks at her sadly and apologizes to Riko. While Riko was thrashing around in her nightmare, Manaka had searched through her bag for anything that could help her. She found the knife and recipe tucked away neatly in her bag and had placed them in Riko’s hands. She’s sorry she went through her belongings without asking first. Riko says she has nothing to apologize for since it was thanks to the knife and recipe she felt in her hands that she was able to gather the courage to overcome her fears and thanks Manaka for helping her. She hopes to grow up to become a strong and kind Magical Girl like Mitama and Manaka are. Hearing this Mitama gives Riko a big hug.
Riko thanks the two once more and heads out, with a big smile on her face. Mitama asks Manaka if she shouldn’t teach Riko how to use a kitchen knife at least since she’s giving cooking classes at her restaurant Walnuts. Manaka says she could teach her in no time flat, but she’s pretty sure that’s not what Riko wants. Besides, even without any lessons Manaka can tell that Riko is going to grow up to become a great cook.
Riko texts Onee-san to apologize for being late but promises she’s on her way now. As she’s walking, Riko thinks to herself that she’s still clumsy but she can still change for the better. She may not be like Onee-san now, but one day she’ll get there, step by step.
References
- ↑ Big sister. Referred to as Miss K in the NA
External Links
JP Server
- Opening Video Youtube Recording
- Episode 1 Youtube Recording
- Episode 2 Youtube Recording
- Episode 3 Youtube Recording
- Episode 4 Youtube Recording
- Episode 5 Youtube Recording
- Episode 6 Youtube Recording