Suzune Magica
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This section may contain major spoilers!
Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with all the latest media released.
Puella Magi Suzune Magica (魔法少女すずね☆マギカ Mahō Shōjo Suzune Magika) is the fourth spin-off manga in the Puella Magi franchise, written and illustrated by GAN. It is one of three spin-offs that have been released after Rebellion, with the other two being Puella Magi Oriko Magica: Sadness Prayer and Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of "Jeanne d'Arc".
Unusually for a manga series, Suzune Magica was initially released as a single volume, with all other chapters being serialized in Kirara Forward. The first volume containing chapters 1 - 4 was released on November 12, 2013, and it began serialization with chapter 5 in Manga Time Kirara Forward on November 22, 2013, with serialization finishing a year later on November 22, 2014. The second volume containing chapters 5 - 10 was released on June 25, 2014. The third volume containing chapters 11 - 16 was released on December 12, 2014.
Synopsis
Note: These are all fan translations.
- Volume 1
- The admirable junior high school student who works as a live-in employee, Suzune. The girl who lives her everyday life always smiling has a hidden side. That is, she's a magical girl assassin. What's the fate of the four girls she ambushes? And the existence of magical girls, is it good or bad? This is the spin-off's first volume!
- Volume 2
- The admirable junior high school student who works as a live-in employee, Suzune. The girl who lives her everyday life always smiling has a hidden side. That is, she's a magical girl assassin. As the magical girls of the city are wiped out one by one, what's the way that's left to go amidst the despair and frustration...?
- Volume 3
- The admirable junior high school student who works as a live-in employee, Suzune. The girl who lives her everyday life always smiling has a hidden side. That is, she's a magical girl assassin. Confronted with the appearance of a new magical girl, Suzune is exposed to the anguish she kept hidden until now. Now she will invite in the final outcome...
Characters
- Suzune Amano (天乃 鈴音 Amano Suzune)
- A girl who is a smiling, hard-working student at day, and a stoic magical girl hunter at night. She refuses to state her reasons for killing. Whenever she meets a magical girl, she asks for their name prior to killing them, and later puts writes their name on a paper and puts it in her pouch, a habit she picked up from Tsubaki. Suzune uses a large sword as her weapon and wears a long jacket as her uniform. One of her powers is to "absorb" others' magic powers after killing them or their witches. Some of the powers Suzune shows using are illusionary powers, teleportation powers, fire-elemental powers (absorbed from Tsubaki), healing powers (implied to have been absorbed from a hospital-themed witch during a flashback), and Kagari's memory-altering powers.
- She was taken care of by her former mentor, Tsubaki, after a witch killed her parents; it's implied that Suzune's wish was to "become like Tsubaki", leading to her gaining absorption powers. Despite her statements that she's "doing the right thing", Suzune is still unconvinced she really is doing the right thing. After meeting Kagari, Suzune finds out that her memories were altered: instead of setting out to kill magical girls after killing Tsubaki, Suzune had merely ran away and hid herself in despair. Matsuri eventually met up with her and became her friend, but Kagari erased those memories as a part of her revenge plot. After Suzune remembers this and Kagari forces her to confront her anguish, she decides to end her life after killing Kagari's witch and saving Matsuri, but not before telling Matsuri to live on and never forget that they were friends.
- Arisa Narumi (成見 亜里紗 Narumi Arisa)
- One of the Yunagi magical girls, and probably the most hot-headed among them. Having been bullied a lot in school, she became a magical girl wishing to become stronger, possessing superhuman strength and speed, leading her to become more self-confident yet abrasive, even putting her former tormentors in hospital; though her attitude scared others off, leading to her being lonely, until Chisato asked her to join the Yunagi group after beating her in a fight. Despite Arisa's abrasiveness and haughty attitude, she can be caring at times.
- She becomes distraught after the death of Chisato, eventually vowing to kill Suzune in revenge; she also returned to being more abrasive, disregardful of school rules, and beating up other students. Unfortunately, Arisa never managed to fulfill her goal, as Kagari killed her in a surprise attack to get her out of the way. Arisa wields a scythe as her magical girl weapon, and her soul gem is in the shape of a heart on her back.
- Chisato Shion (詩音 千里 Shion Chisato)
- One of the Yunagi magical girls, and the one who invited Arisa to join them. She is a strict follower of the rules, often lecturing Arisa on her rebellious and lazy attitude. She uses a pistol as part of her weaponry, though she has two on her belt, she is never seen using more than one at a time; while her powers are unknown. She was killed by Suzune during a night patrol.
- It is revealed in a flashback that Chisato convinced Arisa to join the Yunagi girls, after finding out she was lonely after beating her in a fight; another flashback reveals that Chisato's father was a creator of children's picture books and made a wish for his sake after her mother died.
- Haruka Kanade (奏 遥香 Kanade Haruka)
- The leader of the Yunagi magical girls, and a respectable, well-behaved student. She held a large animosity towards her older sister who was loved and praised by everyone while Haruka was overlooked. Haruka uses a separable blade as her weapon, and specializes in charm magic. After a witch brings up memories of her painful past, where she wished to erase her sister from existence, she succumbs to her despair and becomes a witch herself.
- Matsuri Hinata (日向 茉莉 Hinata Matsuri)
- One of the Yunagi magical girls, a positive-thinking girl who is classmates with Suzune. She wants to become friends with Suzune, even after finding out that she is a magical girl killer. Her magical weapons are robotic gloves that can shine or shoot bright lights at her opponents, and she also possesses the ability to search for others, though this ability is best used as support in battle. She has a plush charm of a rabbit head named "Usa-chan", and nicknames Kyubey as "Kyu-chan".
- Matsuri reveals to Arisa at one point after Haruka's death that she was blind when she was younger, and wished to have sight as a result. Kagari knocks her out upon arrival so she can deal with Suzune alone, but Matsuri wakes up in time to save Suzune and confront Kagari. Despite Kagari's monstrous deeds and attempts on Matsuri's life, Matsuri never tries to kill her and tries to convince Kagari to stop her revenge. She is eaten by Kagari's witch and supposedly dies, but it turns out to only be an illusion, and manages to survive after Suzune defeats the witch. On Suzune's deathbed, Matsuri promises to never forget her, the Yunagi girls, Kagari and Tsubaki, and that they'll stay friends forever. Afterwards, Matsuri inherits the bell-and-pouch pendant and wears it as a hair tie herself. She is the only survivor of the events of the story.
- Kagari Hinata (日向 カガリ Hinata Kagari)
- Matsuri's older sister, who is hunting down Suzune in revenge for killing Tsubaki. She has a playfully cruel nature and takes delight in teasing and tormenting Suzune. She seems to have a soft spot for Matsuri, but isn't afraid to kill her if she gets in the way of her goals. She also shows no remorse in murdering Arisa, nor for any of the other deaths she indirectly caused through altering Suzune's memory.
- Kagari seems to be attached to a picture book of a witch that Tsubaki once read to the twins; it is implied her wish was to become like the witch in this book. Her magic appears to be illusionary-themed, and she is seen wielding a sword and chakrams. She is also capable of altering people's memories: she used this ability to turn Suzune into a magical girl killer and erase Matsuri's memories of becoming friends with Suzune; however, the person's real memories seem to eventually come back over time, as with Matsuri just before Kagari returns, or in dreams, as with both Matsuri and Suzune. Kagari ends up turning herself into a witch as a last-ditch attempt to kill Suzune, after suffering defeat by Matsuri.
- Tsubaki Mikoto (美琴 椿 Mikoto Tsubaki)
- Suzune's former mentor, who became a witch. Suzune killed her and inherited her bell-and-pouch pendant, which she wears as a hair tie. She formerly took care of Matsuri and Kagari as some form of caretaker, and told them stories; at one point she encouraged Matsuri to be a kind person and listen to her father and Kagari. She took care of Suzune after her parents' death at the hands of a witch, and treated her like her own daughter. She had fire-elemental powers.
- Kyubey (キュゥべえ Kyūbē)
- A reappearing character from Madoka Magica.
Speculation
- It is speculated that Suzune Magica had such an odd release life due to poor sales. After volume 1 sold poorly, it was given a chance to get more attention via serialization alongside volume releases. Due to volume 2's poor sales, however, Suzune is speculated to have been cancelled, resulting in the rushed final third where everything is wrapped up and concluded at a fast pace. However, since there has been no word by GAN on this, it is all merely speculation.
- Kagari's butterfly motif might refer to the phenomenon known as the "butterfly effect", referring to how a small change in time leads to large consequences; Kagari in fact invokes the butterfly effect by altering Suzune's memories slightly and erasing Matsuri's of Suzune, changing their paths in life significantly and with disastrous consequences.
Trivia
Trivia for Suzune can be found on her page.
- Arisa shares several traits with Kyoko: a hot-headed, abrasive attitude; laziness and disregard for school rules; Arisa even wears a hoodie at one point.
- Chisato's backstory is very similar to Kyoko's.
- Haruka shares several traits with Mami: a yellow colour scheme; a leadership role, being a well-respected senior at school; a wish for herself that she heavily regrets; and a large chest size.
- The kanji for Arisa's last name, 成見, is spelt with the kanji for "forming/changing" and "look/see/sight", respectively. This might refer to how her perspective on life and others changes over the story.
- Chisato's first name is spelt with the kanji for "great distance" or "a thousand miles". The kanji of her last name, 詩音, mean "poetry" and "sound" respectively.
- Haruka's first name is spelt with the kanji for "distant fragrance". Her last name, Kanade, means "to play music".
- Matsuri's first name is spelt with the kanji for "jasmine". "Matsuri" can also mean a festival or celebration.
- Hinata, Matsuri's and Kagari's last names, means "sunny place".
- Tsubaki's first name is spelt with the kanji "camellia". Her last name, Mikoto, is spelt with the kanji for "beautiful harp". "Mikoto" could also mean noble, precious, or revered.
- Kagari's name is spelt with katakana and has no particular meaning. However, "Kagari" could mean a cross-stitch (縢) (possibly referring to how she is responsible for the events of the story) or a basket made of bamboo (篝).
- Kagari has a definite butterfly motif: the back of her hairstyle vaguely resembles a butterfly, the surrounding decoration of her soul gem is a butterfly, and the symbol that appears when Suzune briefly shows the magic she absorbed to Matsuri is a butterfly.
- All the characters' first names are spelt with katakana in the story, with kanji only appearing in the profiles at the end of the collected volumes. The only exceptions are Tsubaki, whose kanji name appears in a speech bubble in volume 3, and Kagari, whose kanji name has not been revealed.
- Kagari and Tsubaki are the only major original characters without character profiles so far.
- Arisa shares several similarities with Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion: the hairstyle and hair colour (though Asuka has red instead of pink), abrasive personality to an extent, a desire to be strong and not be lonely, and a relationship of some sort with a blue-haired girl with a contrasting personality.
- Tsubaki's hairstyle is the same as the infamous "doomed anime mom" hairstyle, where a mother with a side-tie ponytail is certain to die at some point in the story.
Gallery
Front covers
Volume 1 cover art
Volume 2 cover art
Volume 3 cover art
Official art
Yunagi magical girls
Arisa Narumi
- Arisa2.png
Arisa Narumi
Chisato Shion
- Haruka.png
Haruka Kanade
Matsuri Hinata
Kagari Hinata
Kagari Hinata
Young Kagari with her hair down
Kagari holding Matsuri after knocking her out with a spell
- Tsubaki.png
Tsubaki Mikoto
Volume 1 bonus end page
Haruka's witch
Kagari's witch
Colour pages
Volume 1 bonus colour page
Chapter 10 colour page
Chapter 13 colour page 1
Chapter 13 colour page 2
Miscellaneous
Kirara Magica series announcement pages, with the initial character designs for some of the series' characters.
Page 2 of the announcement.
Suzune's profile
Yunagi girls' profile
