Manga Review: Oriko Magica: Volume 1: I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!!! (Spoilers)

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 Warning: this review and subsequent reviews of Oriko Magica may contain graphic and disturbing images and depictions of child abuse; child endangerment and graphic violence; reader discression is advised.

 It's been a while since we've taken a look at the world of Magical Girls, Witches and hellish bunny cats hasn't it? Last time was Kazumi Magica which featured decent artwork, likable characters and asked some interesting moral questions regarding identity and acceptance of death. Will this entry in the franchise give us any of that?

Well I know we won't be getting one of those things because GOOD LORD THIS ARTWORK!! Everyones eyes are waaaay too big for their heads, Kyoko and Mami look like giants compared to this new girl and speaking of; giant Kyoko looks like she's trying to compete with Yukako Yamagishi and Starfire over who has the more ridiculously long hair. Also no, it's not just the cover art, the whole art for this line is done by the same guy. This artist seems to accentuate eyes the same way Rob Liefeld accentuates teeth. Though the art does get better in the Extra Story we still have to deal with this for now.

 But trust me there's more then just the artwork to pick on in this one so let's dive in. We open on Kyubey granting a wish and creating a new magical girl named Oriko. She then sees a vision of Whalpurgusnaught attacking but sees something even worse.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! Is that supposed to be Kyubey, seriously what the hell is that?! It looks like someone drew its face on a marshmallow and sat on it for too long.

 So after seeing that deformed monster as well as the vision her sanity understandably snaps and tells Bootleg Kyubey (who can fly for some reason, what is even the hell?) that her powers will be incredibly useful for his plans. But there's a bonus on top of that.

Great so she's openly helping Kyubey, at least this time we know out of the gate that she's nuttier then Squirrel poop.

 We then cut from that to Kyoko finishing off a witch. She wonders why there's so many of them around and where the local magical girls are. She's about to walk off when she sees a little girl observing the bodies of the witches last meals. Kyoko figures that at least one if not two of them were her parents and basically tells her "sucks to be you" but decides to at least give her a burger before leaving the Kindergartener in her own in the middle of the city, seriously Kyoko what the shit?!

 The girl starts having a really bad trip but she comes down in time to hear Kyoko tell her about witches and magical girls and how she should stay away from all of that if she knows what's good for her. The kid tells Kyoko that her name's Yuma and that she'll become a magical girl. Kyoko gets angry at this flippant choice of hers but this gives Yuma the perfect opportunity to scream "MY PARENTS ARE DEAD!!!!" But just as Kyoko is about to wash her hands of the whole ordeal Yuma starts to break out the waterworks so she decides to at least teach her how to live on her own. I mean it's not like you could just bring her to a cop and ask if she has any living relatives who could take her in or anything no no no Aladdin clearly needs Abu here. So after a montage we see Kyoko is really taking a shine to the little moppet even taking her with her on a witch hunt to show her the dangers of the work. When Kyoko thinks that Yuma was attacked by the witch she checks and finds something rather interesting.

Yeah her mother was nothing short of a monster. I won't show an example right now but this should give enough of a clue. "NO MORE WIREHANGERS!!!"

 So Yuma then declares that she wants to be strong like Kyoko and starts asking questions until Kyubey shows up and says that just as Oriko told him Yuma has the potential to be a magical girl.

Come on Kyoko who could say no to a wittle face like that, dawwww.

 Kyoko stands by what she said and tells Kyubey to piss off. But not before she asks him about the lack of local magical girls. He says that this was the work of another magical girl who's apparently been killing them for control of the territory. Kyoko then tells Yuma as clear as day not to become a magical girl, who unfortunately takes that to thinking that Kyoko will just toss her away because she's useless like her mother who loved to beat the shit out of her over. Ok real talk here, that whore biscuit got what she deserved, even Heihachi Mishima would be blown away by this and keep in mind that this is the same guy who threw his son off a cliff to teach him how to be a man. Speaking of crazy evil masterminds we end the chapter with Oriko conversing with Kyubey about how he should be grateful for human emotions. 

You mean emotions can give me the ability to breathe fire, turn my turds into gold, get Shinichiro Shirakura fired and have Marville make sense? AWESOME!!!

 Chapter 2 opens with Kyoko waking up, sensing a witch awakening and going out to take care of it, leaving Yuma alone giving Oriko the chance to make her move. As Yuma wakes up wondering where Kyoko is Oriko appears before her and tells her that she's most likely going to die fighting the witch. Speaking of; Kyoko encounters the witch and while she does have the initial advantage it turns into a back and forth bout. After Oriko weaves her web of deceit Yuma runs off to try and find Kyoko when she encounters Kyubey. Kyoko is nearly about be killed and eaten by the witch but then something happens and the witch is incapacitated. 

No seriously I can't tell what happens in these panels. Great so on top of the art style itself just looking bad its direction is also a jumbled mess, fantastic.

 Nonetheless Kyoko's saved; by Yuma. This of course pisses Kyoko off something fierce who smacks her and screams about how she wasn't to even think of becoming a magical girl. We see in a flashback that Oriko managed to convince Yuma to make the contract to save Kyoko since she doesn't want her to leave her for being useless. 

So it's pretty clear what kind of person Kyoko and Yuma are dealing with, a sociopath who would deceive and play at the metal scars of an abused little girl. So in other words Sofia Lamb with super powers.

 Kyoko softens up since Yuma made a wish for the exact same reasons she did and it struck the exact right cord with her, I'll give you a guess as to what that is. Kyoko pats Yuma on her head and swears to get revenge on Oriko. Speaking of we end the chapter with a girl calling Oriko and agreeing to meet up with her later, just as soon as she gets cleaned up.

O_O Ok this girl is clearly Lovesick, in more ways then one! Still better then the Joker in All Star Batman and Robin.

 Chapter 3 opens with a flashback of little Oriko handing out flyers for her politician father, they're both happy and smiling and who wants to bet this is going to turn out horribly for everyone involved?  We then cut to Mami and her gigantic drill curls taking down Charlotte with no difficulty proving that she hasn't met Madoka and Sayaka in this timeline. She finds the corpse of another magical girl in the Barrier and notices that her marks are inconsistent with the Witches bite marks. Kyubey pops up and drops the oh so subtle hints that another magical girl was the killer. Speaking of we cut to Oriko and the girl from last time; Kirika relaxing in Oriko's rose garden. Their flirting time is over however when a witch comes a calling which means that while Oriko makes the tea Kirika takes care of the pest.

 While she does kill the witch; part of its body destroys their tea table. Which causes Kirika to start sobbing and has a temper tantrum until she passes out. While Kirika sleeps in Oriko's lap she has another vision which leads her to apologize to Kirika for using her as she has, but she has to do so so she can save their world. Back with Mami she meets up with Kyoko and Yuma to exchange info about the Magical Girl hunter. Mami's target was described as wearing all black while Kyoko is looking for Oriko, the girl all in white.

 When Mami asks why she's so set on finding her Kyoko just tells her that it's none of her business. Even Homura doesn't know anything about the two. Mami of course doesn't believe her and tries to threaten her after Madoka tells Homura that she, Sayaka and Hitomi are about to leave.

One good thing I can say about this artwork, when people are pissed they look freaking terrifying, honestly this face could give Don Bluth's death stare a run for its money

Never mind they both make me pee a moat.

 After seing that vision of terror Mami thinks to herself about what the magical girl hunters motivation could be when she sees Kirika freaking out about losing something precious to her. Mami finds a bunny keychain and asks if it's what she's looking for. Since Kirika jumped on it like Galum just found his precious it'd be safe to say that's what it was. 

Yeah this girl may just be coo-coo but if you want my opinion Mami if she wants to make it up so badly maybe you should keep that favor in your pocket. Oh I don't know, maybe if you're lonely on a cold winter night you can bring her and Oriko over, light some candles, pour some Sake your parents squirreled away and see where the night takes ya.

 Or you can be the nice girl and have her treat you to crepes that works too I guess, and Mami knows the spot for the best crepes in town.

 Sure they may turn you into rabid gluttons but hey you can't beat that price or taste.

 Mami asks Kirika if that trinket was from someone special. When she sheepishly admits it is Mami says that she must have quite the crush. To Kirika however someone reducing her love and devotion to Okiko to buzzwords like "crush" "passion" and "romance" is basically her equivalent of walking up to Josuke Higashikata and telling him his hair looks like a rotting dick that's so disease ridden and filthy even birds wouldn't take a shit on it let alone use it as a nest. In non Jojo fan terms, the last words you will ever utter on earth. But before Kirika can get even more worked up a witch appears and traps her in its giant yarn ball. Mami transforms and prepares to fight it but Kirika transforms as well and rips the witch to pieces with no effort.

 Once the witch is dead Kirika turns her attacks to Mami. Once she sees Kirika's outfit, gigantic Wolverine claws and the claw marks she asks if she's the magical girl hunter; she responds with a simple "yep" and then goes into full blown Wolverine Berserker rage; going too fast for Mami to restrain her with her ribbons. Our volume ends with Kirika overpowering Mami, leaving her critically injured and Oriko asking if her father is watching her since she and Kirika are going to save the world. Yes they'll save the world by killing Magical Girls and basically serving Mitakihara to the Witches on a silver platter, so our villains are two flavors of crazy, one screaming at the moon nuts the other a James Bond villain with magical powers.

 So as with last time here's the link where you can buy the first volume. 

https://www.amazon.com/Puella-Magi-Oriko-Magica-Kazumi-ebook/dp/B00VQL4X1E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1536584574&sr=8-2&keywords=oriko+magica

 Now Oriko's stories are a little more like an anthology with the first two volumes being connected, the third being an alternate reality and the last volumes being more like a prequel to these two volumes. But as of writing I haven't read Symmetry Diamond so I don't know how true that is. Point being, read for yourselves if you haven't yet or if you have check in for part 2 where we see how our Anti-Villains' plans play out.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Oriko Magica is owned by Mura Kuroe, Magica Quartet and Yen Press.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record is owned by Aniplex, F4samurai and Magica Quartet.
Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.