Slave of Anima

Slave of Anima is a witch appearing in the Magia Record Anime. She was later added into the game in Valentine Message ~The Memories are Pale Black~.

Witch Card

肉焼きの魔女。その性質は、労務。労働のためだけに生きる犬型魔女。回し車を動力として肉を焼き続けている。何のために働いているのかはもう忘れてしまった。やがて魔女が過労死すると結界内の手下の中から適当な者を選び出し、次の魔女として回し車を回させる。

Slave of Anima
Runes	SLAVE OF ANIMA
Type	Witch of meat grillers
Nature	Labor
Episodes	Episode 24

The Witch of meat grillers. Her nature is to labor. A dog-shaped Witch who lives purely for the sake of her job. She continually grills meat by turning a wheel as a power source. She’s long since forgotten why she was working this job in the first place. When the Witch eventually dies of overwork, a suitable candidate is selected from the minions in her Labyrinth, and made to spin the wheel as the next Witch.

Minions

肉焼きの魔女の手下。その役割は、下働き。魔女と共に働されている。魔女が焼いた肉の提供と皿洗いが主な仕事だが、お客がいるわけでもないので肉はこっそり捨てている。厳しい労働環境だが、肉焼きの魔女になるよりはましだと思っている。

Slave of Anima
Runes	SLAVE OF ANIMA
Duty	Subordinate workers
Episodes	Episode 24

Minions of the Witch of meat grillers. Their role is to be subordinate workers. Their main jobs are to serve the meat grilled by the Witch and to wash the plates, but there aren’t actually any customers, so they secretly throw the meat out. It’s a harsh job environment, but in their opinion, it’s at least better than becoming the next Witch of Meat Grillers.

Trivia

The word 'Anima' is originally a Latin word with multiple meanings, such as life, mind, spirit, wind, and the vital principle. The word is the etymological origin of several well-known words, e.g. 'animal' and 'animation.'
The Witch's name being "Slave of Anima" likely means that the Witch encountered in the anime is a Familiar that has succeeded the original Witch after it died or was defeated, or the Familiar became independent and broke away from its master.
The word "karoshi" (過労死) is written throughout her Labyrinth. Translating literally as "overwork death", karoshi refers to sudden occupation-induced death due to extreme physical and mental exhaustion, commonly heart attacks and strokes, or being compelled to suicide.
- Ingame, the words "Mission" "Deadline""Yosan" and "Kaizen" is seen throughout her barrier
  - Kaizen refers to the Japanese term meaning change for the better or continuous improvement.
The Witch's dog-like appearance is most likely based on a turnspit dog, an extinct breed that was used to make the meat cook evenly. They were placed on big wheels that were connected to meat spits, and as the dogs ran the meat would rotate. These dogs would often suffer from the heat and smoke coming from the fire, as their wheels were placed above it, or even have coals thrown at them if they were working too slowly.
The Witch as a whole may be a dark joke by Gekidan Inu Curry regarding the poor working environment in the animation industry. At Madogatari, they created and exhibited Shaft the Animation Witch. The name of its Familiars is "SYACHIKU." Shachiku in Japanese literally means "company livestock," and slangy refers to wage laborers who work very hard under poor working conditions. The Witch running endlessly in a wheel over a fire calls to mind the Japanese expression "hi-no-kuruma," which refers to a harsh financial situation where makeshift solutions become everyday events. This may reference the rushed and low-budget production of the Magia Record anime adaptation. Further, the Witch takes the form of a dog, which may be a self-referential joke on Inu Curry's part, as "dog" ("inu") is part of the duo's name and that Doroinu sometimes refers to himself as a dog.
- Furthermore the name 'Slave of Anima' can be interpreted as 'slave of anime' (i.e slave of the anime-creating job).
Her labyrinth's motifs appear to be a combination of a restaurant and a computer desktop, featuring files, recycling bins, and pie charts.
In the anime, there are dead versions of her familiars on the floor of her barrier, Referencing how her familiars become the next witch of Meat Grillers
In the game, when the Witch is defeated, the body collapses and the dog in the wheel runs away. This is likely because of the unique way that Familiars "become" the Witch, replacing the old one when it dies instead of physically transforming when it becomes strong enough. This would also suggest that the body itself is the Witch, but this seems somewhat inconsistent with the wording of their description saying that selected Familiars "become" the next Witch.