Suzune Magica

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Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with all the latest media released.

Cover of the first volume.

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

Note: As all chapters post-volume 1 are currently only available in Japanese, most of the post-volume 1 info below comes from rough translation and interpretation of events. Thus, some of the information may be incorrect, so please do not treat anything as 100% accurate.

Main characters

Suzune Amano (天乃 鈴音, Amano Suzune)

Arisa Narumi (成見 亜里紗, Narumi Arisa)

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. Her soul gem is a blue teardrop-shaped gem located over her heart.

Chisato 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. Her soul gem is a yellow hexagonal jewel located in the center of her collar.

After a witch brings up memories of her painful past, where Haruka wished to erase her older 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 cheerful and optimistic 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. Matsuri can use this ability to detect invisible people or see through illusions, as used in the battle with Kagari. She also appears to have healing powers. Her soul gem is a green jewel worn as a hairclip on her left. 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 Matsuri 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 華々莉, 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; her soul gem is a red circular jewel in the center of a butterfly on her chest. With her illusion magic, she can change her appearance (as she used this to torment Suzune with an image of Tsubaki), turn invisible, and she can confuse others by using her magic to appear as someone else (as she confused Matsuri by covering Suzune with an illusion of herself). 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.

Supporting characters

Tsubaki Mikoto (美琴 椿, Mikoto Tsubaki)

Suzune's former mentor, who became a witch. Nothing is currently known about her past or wish. 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 and wielded a katana as her weapon. She apparently became a witch because she put Suzune's health before hers, always giving grief seeds to her first, and became a witch when she couldn't handle the state of her own corruption anymore.

Kanami (カナミ, Kanami)

A minor character from the first chapter, Kanami is a lone magical girl with a cheerful and friendly personality who dual wields knives with hand guards; her powers and wish are unknown. Her attack power seems to be rather weak. She was saved from a witch by Suzune, but was promptly killed after telling Suzune her name. She was wowed by Suzune's fire-elemental magic.

Mika Nishinaka (西中 ミカ, Nishinaka Mika)

The leader of a group of bullies that targeted Arisa in the past, until Arisa made her wish and scared them off with a display of strength. She then proceeded to put them in the hospital as revenge; it can be assumed that they left her alone after that.

Kanata Kanade (奏 カナタ, Kanade Kanata)

Haruka's older sister. She was a kindly person who was good at everything she did, leading to her being constantly praised by others and called a genius; however, her little sister Haruka was jealous and envious of her, as she thought no one expected anything of her due to Kanata. Kanata tried to be friendly with Haruka, telling her that she "could tell her big sister anything", but Haruka kept rejecting her and claiming that Kanata didn't understand her feelings. Haruka's immense jealousy eventually led to her wishing to erase Kanata from existence; Kanata appears to have been wiped from others' memories as well.

Kyubey (キュゥべえ, Kyūbē)

A reappearing character from Madoka Magica.

• Suzune3.png

  Suzune Amano

• Arisa2.png

  Arisa Narumi

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  Chisato Shion

• Haruka.png

  Haruka Kanade

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  Matsuri Hinata

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  Kagari Hinata

• Tsubaki.png

  Tsubaki Mikoto

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  Kanami

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  Mika Nishinaka

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  Mika's friends and fellow bullies.

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  Kanata Kanade

• KagarMatsurifather.png

  The Hinata twins' father. He's a minor character, only appearing in about three pages.

Observations

• 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.
• The theme of "hating someone so much you wanted to kill them" appears quite a bit in Suzune. Haruka wished for Kanata to be erased out of her jealousy, Arisa hated Suzune for killing Chisato and challenged her to a duel to the death, and the whole story happened because Kagari hated Suzune for killing Tsubaki and crafted a plot to make her life miserable.
• Chisato's backstory is very similar to Kyoko's. Both are even told in a similar puppet show-like style.
• 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.
• 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, her grief seed has butterflies on it, and the symbol that appears when Suzune briefly shows the magic she absorbed to Matsuri is a butterfly.
• Tsubaki's hairstyle is the same as the infamous "doomed anime mom" hairstyle, named because mothers with such a side-tie ponytail tended to die sometime in the story, usually early on or in the backstory.
• Suzune's overall story is similar to the original request that became Madoka Magica, with the request asking for a bloody story where the girls dropped off one by one.
• Tsubaki's appearance may have been reused from one of GAN's original characters, Sanae.

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.

Trivia

Trivia for Suzune and Arisa can be found on their pages.

• 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".
• The first and third kanji for Kagari's name mean "flower", "flashy", or "glamorous" (華) and "jasmine" (莉). The second (々) is a character indicating that the previous kanji and sound (or voiced/unvoiced version) should be repeated. "Kagari" could also 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); more obscurely, it could be read as "deer hunter" (鹿狩) or "god hunter" (神狩).
• 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.
• Matsuri, Kagari and Tsubaki are all named after flowers.
• 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 was revealed in a tweet by GAN.

Trivia tweets

Note: Translations are rough and may not be 100% accurate. Suzune's and Arisa's can be found on their pages.

• Chisato's design comes partially from "police" and "swimming" themes. GAN feels like she was suitably designed.
• Haruka was designed because GAN wanted to draw a "blonde princess"-like character. Her costume became more revealing over time as it was designed.
• Matsuri has a telephone motif. Her hair buns are the handsets, her braids the code, and her dress the dial. She has "gauntlets" as weapons because GAN wanted to do Shining Finger, but having it performed against humans would leave a pretty nasty impression so he dropped the idea (it's intended to crush the head of targets after all).. Matsuri is also supposed to be the character the audience can most identify with in volume 3.
• Kagari was designed in the middle of the story. Her name was taken from the "Kagaribana", or "cyclamen". She has the only katakana name in-story because GAN could not find an opportunity to put her kanji name in. (Rest of the tweets needs translation.)
• Tsubaki tweets: 1, 2, 3, 4. Tsubaki is apparently around 20 years old in the flashbacks. (Rest of the tweets need translation.)
• Kanami is described as friendly and easily trusts in people, but also rather gullible. Her favourite food is sweet potato. (Rest of the tweet needs translation.) She is also kind to the elderly.

Gallery

Front covers

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  Volume 1 cover art

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  Volume 2 cover art

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  Volume 3 cover art

Official art

• 1422720685116.jpg

  Special Arisa image drawn by GAN, and a stripped version of volume 2's cover.

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  Art of Suzune.

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  Art of Arisa. Note that Arisa has blue eyes here, even though the manga covers give her pink eyes.

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  Art of Chisato.

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  Art of Haruka.

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  Art of Matsuri.

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  Art of Kagari.

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  Art of Tsubaki in a maid outfit.

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  Art of Kanami.

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  Power Ranking of all characters

Manga pages

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  Suzune's profile.

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  Yunagi girls' profiles.

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  Volume 1 bonus colour page.

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  Chapter 10 colour page.

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  Chapter 13 colour page 1.

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  Chapter 13 colour page 2.

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  Yunagi magical girls.

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  Arisa challenging Suzune.

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  Kagari blocking one of Matsuri's attacks.

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  Young Kagari with her hair down.

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  Kagari holding Matsuri after knocking her out with a spell.

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  Volume 1 bonus end page.

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  Haruka's witch.

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  Kagari's witch.

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  Tsubaki's witch.

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  Tsubaki versus a witch. Note the katana.

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  Tsubaki attacking.

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  Tsubaki in casual clothing.

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  Young Haruka.

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  Young Suzune with Tsubaki.

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  The storybook Tsubaki reads to the Hinata twins.

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  The twins begging Tsubaki to read more stories.

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  Young Matsuri. Note the lack of light in her eyes, symbolizing her blindness.

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  Young Matsuri in her bedclothes.

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  Young Kagari.

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  Matsuri's true first meeting with Suzune.

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  Kagari's chakrams.

• Kagarisword.png

  Kagari's sword.

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  Matsuri confronts Kagari.

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  Kagari charging Matsuri.

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  Kagari toying with Suzune.

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  Matsuri using her search powers.

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  Kanami's weapons.

Miscellaneous

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  Kirara Magica series announcement pages, with the initial character designs for some of the series' characters.

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  Page two of the announcement.

• Suzunebonusmaterial.jpg

  Volume 3 bonus material.

See also

• Manga Time Kirara Forward Suzune Serialization

External links

• The first twelve pages of Suzune are available for official preview here. Click on the orange button. (Japanese)
• Various download links for Suzune Magica on Walpurgischan.
• GAN's pixiv account. (Japanese)
• GAN's twitter account. (Japanese)
• Set of official art by GAN on pixiv. (Japanese)
• Tumblr post containing trivia tweets and art of the characters from GAN. (Japanese)
• Tumblr post containing the more art and trivia from GAN. (Japanese)
• Unofficial Tumblr for everything Suzune related.
• Walpurgischan's Suzune thread.
• Puella Magi Suzune Magica on TV Tropes.