Character Analysis Archive

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Author: u/Genprey

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Related reading: Mitama and Momento Mori

As mentioned in my last post, Ren has been already covered by a content creator in this video here. As to avoid simply reiterating what was said, I will start by adding some of my own input for the things referenced in the video before sharing my own observations.

Ren Isuzu has arguably one of the most somber backstories in Magia Record, and part of that has to do with how grounded in reality it is. In our lifetime, we are bound to have experiences that put us down to the point where its hard to carry on throughout our day. Most of us, fortunately, have the means to cope and bounce back up, to the point where we regard downward trends in our lives as inevitable, and even make out of them as stronger individuals as a result of self-reflection and perseverance. Although she isn't quite my favorite character, I think Ren is one of the most well-written so far, as the writers took what is a very serious subject and treated it with the attention and gravity it deserves.

Ren's Transformation Sequence is very brief, and between that and the fact that it's closer to the more generic intros, it's easy to pass it off until you read through Ren's personal story. We first see her descend to the ground, and as she lands, Ren's wings expand, revealing her in a praying position and ending with her standing up, now clothed in her magical girl attire. For how simple and short it is, this intro tells a lot about Ren, particularly her resemblance to a classical angel. Putting aside their association with religious text, Angels typically represent all that is good in humans. The most striking feature of angels, and the one represented here, are, of course, their wings, which represent purity and protection. In most forms of media, angels are depicted as entities who provide hope, particularly with them descending upon a downtrodden individual.

We discover that Ren has attempted suicide twice--once before meeting Kyubey and another after becoming a magical girl. During her first attempt, Ren would meet Kyubey and express her fear of dying/wish to live. The second would, thankfully, be prevented by fellow magical, Rika. Reading this, you might be wondering why Ren is presented as an angel when she was the one who was saved by Rika. This seems backwards, perhaps by design, but her image as an angel most likely refers to Ren's desire to see and bring out the good in people.

Ren's attire shares a few resemblances to that of Japanese ghosts, or Yurei. In Japanese culture, the human body is said to be a vessel for souls. When an individual passes away, their spirit is released as either a "God" (Kami) if they lived a fulfilling life and were celebrated properly upon death, or that of a Yurei if the deceased person still held on to an unfulfilled desire. Yurei are stuck in a pitiable existence where they only crave for their desire to be fulfilled. If met, the Yurei may transform and finally pass on, however, if left unchecked, they may become destructive forces.

As we all probably know by now, Kyubey is no angel despite granting Ren's wish to live. For all intents and purposes, incubators strictly pursue their goal, and we see this as Kyubey interacts with Ren after their initial meeting. He tells her that Witches were responsible for the cruelty in people's hearts, which is mostly false and intended to motivate Ren to go out and contribute to the cycle magical girls unknowingly are put through. Given false hope, Ren would hunt witches, but her desire would never be fulfilled. She would still see the dishonesty, selfishness, and evil of people, despite doing exactly what Kyubey told her. This would sink Ren further into despair and lead her to her 2nd suicide attempt.

Rika, however, can be said to be Ren's Guardian Angel. She is essentially the good Ren wanted to see in others, as well as her literal savior. Not having any prior association with Ren, Rika's action was, unlike Kyubey, entirely selfless. Not only that, she would then support Ren, introducing her to more friends and ultimately showing some of what is beautiful about the world. Both girls share another transformation sequence together, which is mostly just really freaking adorable, but also has a few possible references that I will talk about a bit later.

This sequence of events is somewhat identical to that of a Yurei. After her first near-death experience, Ren would continue to wander, trying bring out peoples' good-nature by defeating witches. However, this was a misguided attempt that would leave Ren's desire unaccomplished and to her second suicide attempt. Meeting Rika, however, would open Ren's eyes to the fact that, among those who are evil, are more people that are kindhearted, even despite flaws that they may have.

Many of you may recall farming Ren's event so much that you could run your own Crayola factory. During this event, we would learn of Ren's hobby for coloring, something that would be a major theme of her character. Much like Mitama, Ren appears/comments on a variety of Memoria that tell of some extra bits of her character--in this case, what coloring means to her.

I take one step into this colorless world to say goodbye.

This Memoria represents Ren's lowest point in her life. The name of the card directly describes her state of mind, while the flavor text directly references her her defeatedness and suicide attempts. In the picture we see an unfinished lunch and a book that has only been read halfway next to the edge of a rooftop.

The day we met you taught me something so important. "There are many beautiful things in this world I have yet to see." The sunset I drew with my colors was still black and white because my heart had not yet caught up to you.

The Day I Saw Light reminisces on Ren's first experiences with Rika, who showed her beauty among vices. Ren's fresh outlook was not instantaneous, rather it took time for her to begin opening up and trusting Rika as a friend who truly had her best interests in mind. As per the description, the picture shows a black and white sun, showing that, while Ren was beginning to see hope, she hasn't yet fully understood it.

The joy in my body I felt when I saw that present, the pounding in my heart when I wrote that first page...even after 5 years, 10 years, no matter how many years pass...I'll never forget it. No matter how many pages I flip through, forwards or backwards, I will never feel this way again.

Continuing from Ren's first Memoria, The First and Last Page highlights the moment Ren began to positively change her outlook. The book that was once full of black and white pictures were now beautiful images that Ren gladly views. In this picture, we see a colored image of snowdrop flowers. These flowers are most notable for growing immediately after winter has taken its toll on nature and begun passing into Spring. For that, Snowdrops are often associated with virtue, hope, and optimism.

Additionally, activating this Memoria will have Ren Guard Rika from incoming attacks, symbolizing her love and the desire to protect the friend that led her out of darkness.

In the ceaseless malice and sorrow, the world lost its colors; even so, I would continue living here, to get the colors back into this world, and, with you, who illuminates the hope to me.

Finally, this Memoria recalls everything from Ren's lowest point in her life through her discovering the beauty of the World she lives in. When put together, these Memoria, all referencing colors/coloring tells of Ren's rebirth. Death is not a prerequisite for rebirth, rather it has a more practical meaning that refers to experiencing something that changes your outlook on life. From personal experience, my worldview would change during my college years as a result of my friends and I meeting a traveler who shared his experiences and insight with us. You can take a tragic moment in your life and use it to grow stronger, or change as a result of finally achieving success with a major goal in your life.

Earlier on in this post, I teased Ren/Rika's Christmas form, and there's a reason I waited until now to share my observation. Much like in my observation of Mitama's New Years alt, this is where I'm going to stretch things a bit, so take this all with a grain of salt.

Christmas is a particularly religious Holiday, but also reminds us all of the goodness and love people share for each other. For this, I would like to bring up two popular, Christmas themed tales that I feel somewhat relate to Ren's backstory.

It's a Wonderful Life focuses on a middle-aged man named George is shown at the beginning of the film contemplating suicide. As he wonders around the edge of a bridge, George encounters an angel who would show him a world where he never existed. Seeing all the tragedies that had occurred without his existence, George would discover the value of his life and desire to live, soon returning to his family on time to celebrate Christmas.

In A Christmas Carol, we first see the popular character, Scrooge was a selfish and cranky old man who would be visited by various spirits. His adventure would famously end after being shown his own grave, prompting Scrooge to beg for his life and wake up a completely different, kindhearted man. Both of these tales involve individuals who are reminded of the good and bad in people and had major experiences that'd completely change their character and outlook on life.

Likewise, Angels are commonly placed upon trees, initially as a way to announce the birth of Jesus. Nowadays, they more broadly represent joy and, to some, are a means of warding off negativity and evil from the homes they're placed in.

Ren appearing as a Christmas character could very well be just a coincidence, but it's a rather cute coincidence, given some themes surrounding the Holiday. Rather than her normal attire, Ren matches Rika by wearing a Santa outfit, representing the entity most famous for bringing joy to the World every Christmas. Unless you're Kyubey, then you'll get nothing but a visit from Homura. The scary one.

Finally, we have Renata, The Doppel of Electronic Ordinance. Aside from being identical to Ren's name, "renata" means "rebirth", one of the major themes of Ren. It is described as such:

The master of this emotion uses powerful electrical signals to burn the ill will from its target's body, incinerating its personality along with everything else. Though they are horrified by this Doppel's power, they are also tempted to believe that murder such as this is the only way to put an end to all human ill will. This Doppel also has power over both life and death, and, when it appears, the master's body and soul split apart temporarily, leaving her soul meandering in the space between life and death.

An ordinance refers to a type of authoritative order that is put in place to restrict certain behavior/actions, mostly with the general populace. Put this together with the Doppel's method of attack, we can infer that "Electronic Ordinance" refers to controlling the behavior of people with the threat of electrocution.

Doppels reference the desire of the girl they reside in, however, this wish is typically distorted to an extreme. Ren wanted other people to be good-natured, but it's safe to assume that she would not be on board with incinerating those who are not righteous.

There's a lot going on visually with Renata, and the most striking part of its appearance is Ren, herself, whose soul is seen hovering above her unconscious body. As noted in the description, Ren's soul stays between life and death, something that goes back to the early part of her life and the reference to Yurei. Connected to Ren's spirit is her Doppel, which takes the form of the monitor of an electrocardiogram, a machine that is used to measure the heart activity, mostly of those who are suffering through life-threatening conditions. At the top of the monitor we see a shroud which, as observed back in my observation for Mitama, is used to obscure the dead.

When summoned, we see Ren "die" as her soul emerges from her body looking real ghastly. As the doppel levitates into the sky, static forms all over/around Ren, until she is repeatedly electrocuted. As Ren is being shocked, Renata sends off shockwaves which move toward and incinerates Ren's enemies. Renata doesn't make use of electricity by chance, in order to resuscitate someone who has fallen unconscious, electrical shocks are sometimes administered. In this case, Ren is receiving this treatment, as the shockwaves resulting from it destroy her enemies. Strangely enough, her soul seems to have a full skeletal structure.

As expected, this entire animation plays around with the concept of life and death. We see the "death" of Ren, but also her resuscitation through some extreme shock treatment. The choice in design for this doppel is most likely based on the association of electrocardiograms with individuals who are close to dying. Something to note about Renata is it's secondary effect, which is dealing extra damage to enemies at 20% HP or lower--in other words, targets who are teetering between life and death. Additionally, it provides Rena with an evade and a heal over time.

Ren's background is a lesson that, no matter how nasty the world may seem at times, it is equal parts beautiful. Sometimes we get so hung up on the things that frustrate us that we lose sight of the joys in life. You can be the most beautiful and righteous person in the world, yet there are those out there who aim to put you down, either out of their own misery or jealousy. Despite these individuals, it is important to remember the "Rikas" in our lives, as well as the things we find joy in, much like how Ren found joy in coloring. These are the things that keep us tethered to life and should be held on to much tighter than those who wish us harm.

As of me finishing this write-up, I had started my observation of Sana. However, the more I dug into her, the more things I found. Between having more to observe and the fact that Sana's backstory is really depressing, I decided to give that more time. With that, the next girl I want to focus on is Mayu.