Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story

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Japanese: 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ～The different story～

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Type: Manga

Volumes: 3

Chapters: 12

Status: Finished

Published: Jun 12, 2012 to Nov 12, 2012

Genres: Drama, Horror

Themes: Mahou Shoujo, School

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: None

Authors: Magica Quartet (Story), Hanokage (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.15¹ (scored by 8,703 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #522²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1232

Members: 18,070

Favorites: 678

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8.15

Ranked #522Popularity #1232Members 18,070

MangaMagica Quartet (Story), Hanokage (Art)

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Volumes: /3

Chapters: /12

Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story

Vol. 1
$6.99

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Synopsis

Ninth-grader Mami Tomoe is not your average middle schooler. While she regularly attends Mitakihara Middle School, she also works as a magical girl—one who has made a wish in exchange for magical powers and a new duty to seek out and destroy otherworldly beings known as witches. But Mami is also a special case among magical girls—while most fight for their own sake, Mami prefers to work with others, becoming a guardian of justice who destroys any evil creatures she can find, whether it be a witch or a mere familiar. It is this selfless lack of self-interest that often distances her from other magical girls, and as a result, Mami is often lonely.

During one of her usual witch hunts, she finds a novice magical girl struggling against a particularly strong witch. After Mami lends her help, the magical girl introduces herself as Kyouko Sakura from the city of Kazamino. Impressed by Mami's skill and hospitality, Kyouko quickly requests to team up with her and become her apprentice.

Beginning as an adaptation of one of the hit anime's drama CDs, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story is a tale of the relationship between two magical girls shown from an alternate perspective.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story is loosely adapted from "Farewell Story," the third drama CD made from the story of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica that covers the backstory of Mami and Kyouko.

The series was published in English as Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story by Yen Press from March 25, 2014, to October 28, 2014. It was also published in Brazilian Portuguese by NewPOP Editora.

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Characters

Sakura, Kyouko

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Tomoe, Mami

Main

Akemi, Homura

Supporting

Kaname, Madoka

Supporting

Miki, Sayaka

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Kyuubey

Supporting

Shizuki, Hitomi

Supporting

Kamijou, Kyousuke

Supporting

Sakura, Mother

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Sakura, Momo

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Reviews

May 22, 2024

NAGISAAAAA583

Recommended

The different gives an extended backstory for ALL OF THE CHARACTERS, art style is the same as the madoka magica manga.
It's based off on the CD 3: farewell story. drawn by hanokage, it's like a what if scenario if mami didn't die.
The characters are just as good as the original ones in madoka magica, gives more details on the relationship between kyoko and mami that was hinted in the madoka magica anime, gives details on kyoko's ENTIRE backstory, fleshes out mami's character, and gave us the mami x kyoko ship.
if your favorite characters from Madoka Magica are mami or kyoko or both, ...

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Apr 11, 2023

erraticlunar

Recommended

Ive reread this book countless times and I honestly liked the different story more than i liked the main series. The original doesnt give you much time with any of the characters especially Mami and Kyoko. A lot of people have complained that the main series doesnt have much character backstory and that Mami was basically there just to die, but the different story fixes basically all of these problems.

I liked how it was set more in the past (despite it being an alternate universe, i still dont completely get the madoka timeline thing lol), after Kyoko just made her wish and a few months ...

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Sep 28, 2025

CleverMird

Mixed Feelings

Spoiler

Can it be? A Puella Magi Madoka Magica spinoff manga that’s actually worth reading?

It is! Well, kind of.

We start with the familiar setup. Magical girl Mami Tomoe is killing witches and familiars in Mitakihara City, which brings her into conflict with the other magical girls in her area, who think that familiars (who don’t drop the Grief Seeds needed to maintain their power) are a waste of time. Combined with the demanding schedule her hunting creates, she’s feeling lonely and burned out until she meets a newly contracted magical girl named Kyoko Sakura. The two team up and form a close bond until ... a tragedy drives them apart and Mami must learn to cope with solitude again.

Essentially, this comic is an alternate universe that aims to flesh out Mami and Kyoko’s backstories, as well as answering the question “what would have happened if Mami has survived Episode 3?”. The answer, according to Different Story, is that things would still have been pretty sad. Which is, I suppose, pretty in-keeping with the overall tone of the story, but man, this was a pretty depressing one, especially towards the end.

As I said in the intro, this was probably the first of the Madoka Magica spinoffs I’ve read that was actually worth the time to read. It’s not redundant with a (clearer and prettier) TV show like the original is, it’s not as overstuffed with characters as Kazumi Magica, and it’s got better art and more heart than Oriko Magica. Instead, Different Story expands on one of the characters we spent less time with in the original show, allowing us to see that the cool, chill mentor didn’t quite have it as all-together as we thought. And although Kyoko got more time in the spotlight during the show, I will never complain about seeing more of her either, particularly before the horrific events that made her the jaded, cynical young woman we will eventually meet. By the time that the story reaches its inevitable, tragic end, I was genuinely devastated, even though Mami was probably my least favorite of the core 5 in the show.

Still, just because it’s better than its predecessors, that doesn’t make this series perfect. It still suffers from the same confusing blocking and overly-busy page layouts that have plagued the rest of the Madoka Magica spinoffs. Some of that is, of course, due to the difficulties of translating the impossible landscapes of the witches’ barriers to a black-and-white static image, but a problem it remains, just as it remains a problem to determine who is talking at times with the unclear dialogue bubbles.

Most importantly, however, is that as much as I’ve complained about the breakneck speed of previous Madoka spinoffs, this one wound up being too long for its story. The conflict between Mami and Kyoko wound up feeling stretched out with too many conversations that didn’t add much or repeated information from earlier on.

In the end, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story wasn’t a bad read, but also was something I’d only recommend to strong fans of the animated series who can’t wait to see more of Mami and Kyoko. Anyone else will probably just find it tedious.

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Will there ever be an anime adaptation? kurumi-san - Sep 26, 2015	16 replies	by --Luminous-- »» Jan 23, 9:32 AM
Poll: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica ~the different story~ Chapter 2 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 14, 2012	4 replies	by athenasanthem »» May 25, 2023 11:16 AM
Poll: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica ~the different story~ Chapter 3 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 14, 2012	3 replies	by HibiChika »» Feb 2, 2023 8:05 AM
Poll: Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica: The Different Story Chapter 12 Discussion removed-user - Jan 9, 2013	14 replies	by TheDeathstormer »» Aug 5, 2022 5:28 AM
Any translation for this? Squilon - Sep 9, 2021	1 replies	by Nxver »» Oct 4, 2021 3:18 AM

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