A Tale of Two Trailers
Sep. 12th, 2023 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
On the weekend, a trailer showed up for the movie promised to continue the Madoka Magica anime after more than a decade. It at least got my attention (alongside a lot of other anime fans, of course). I’d tried to put on my best face when first confronting the previous movie promised to continue the story. Even given how much other anime I never quite get back to with so much stuff I still haven’t seen, though, not getting back to Madoka Magica took on a different complexion over the years. What had been intriguing as a continuation became unsatisfying as “all we’re going to get,” and I suppose that meant my thoughts had included some unacknowledged measure of “surely things are going to be... corrected.”
It might have been that detachment that let me take on a “spinoff anime” a lot of other preliminary reactions to had been dubious towards (even where I just hadn’t bothered with “spinoff manga” after a while, given there’s so much other manga to read). The only problem was that Magia Record had felt lightweight to start, then left off “just as it was getting interesting” (which involved the original anime’s characters beginning to show up). I hadn’t picked up its continuation right away amid “the end is nigh (for animation production in Japan, at least)” worries, and as it turned out I did see complaints the production had sputtered and stalled and just not been that compelling in the end.
With all of that said, it might not have been enough to say here, except for one other announcement on the weekend, of a trailer for a Pretty Cure movie promised to feature vast numbers of magical girls from the two-decade-long run of that franchise. I’d started watching that different magical girl franchise when it had started officially streaming at last, and have to admit to finding its old-fashioned positivity refreshing straight off compared to the “dark magical girl” series that had been much easier to watch streaming before (although I’d been picky there, at least). The trailer isn’t as stylish-looking as the Madoka Magica movies, and I’m willing to suppose the full movie amounts to “pleased to meet you! Now let’s team up!” (The trailer emphasized the characters from the very latest series, showed the two lead girls from the two series just previous, characters “those kids still watching” would recognize, and happened to make a small point of who I recognize to be the very first magical girls in the franchise.) I at least hope I can stay aware of “this isn’t a zero-sum game; it ought to be good there’s space for different kinds of anime for different audiences; that different people like different things shouldn’t make a particle of difference to anyone.” The juxtaposition of these two titles in time is temporary in any case, but it at least amused me.
It might have been that detachment that let me take on a “spinoff anime” a lot of other preliminary reactions to had been dubious towards (even where I just hadn’t bothered with “spinoff manga” after a while, given there’s so much other manga to read). The only problem was that Magia Record had felt lightweight to start, then left off “just as it was getting interesting” (which involved the original anime’s characters beginning to show up). I hadn’t picked up its continuation right away amid “the end is nigh (for animation production in Japan, at least)” worries, and as it turned out I did see complaints the production had sputtered and stalled and just not been that compelling in the end.
With all of that said, it might not have been enough to say here, except for one other announcement on the weekend, of a trailer for a Pretty Cure movie promised to feature vast numbers of magical girls from the two-decade-long run of that franchise. I’d started watching that different magical girl franchise when it had started officially streaming at last, and have to admit to finding its old-fashioned positivity refreshing straight off compared to the “dark magical girl” series that had been much easier to watch streaming before (although I’d been picky there, at least). The trailer isn’t as stylish-looking as the Madoka Magica movies, and I’m willing to suppose the full movie amounts to “pleased to meet you! Now let’s team up!” (The trailer emphasized the characters from the very latest series, showed the two lead girls from the two series just previous, characters “those kids still watching” would recognize, and happened to make a small point of who I recognize to be the very first magical girls in the franchise.) I at least hope I can stay aware of “this isn’t a zero-sum game; it ought to be good there’s space for different kinds of anime for different audiences; that different people like different things shouldn’t make a particle of difference to anyone.” The juxtaposition of these two titles in time is temporary in any case, but it at least amused me.