The fifth volume of Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend “Jeanne d’Arc” is the final part of the Madoka spin off that features Joan of Arc as its main character. Tart’s story moves towards its conclusion, but there are some rather interesting events before the inevitable conclusion.
There are five chapters in this volume of the manga, which starts with chapter seventeen and concludes with chapter twenty-one.
Her king dismissive and her supporters disbanded, Tart and her remaining companions meet the forces of the English magical girls at Compiégne alone. Minou, commander of a hundred witches, and her sister, Lapin, defier of death, are a seemingly unstoppable team. Such a terrible foe can only be overcome by an even greater sacrifice, but the aftermath will leave Tart more vulnerable than ever before. When the time comes to face Isabeau, France’s most powerful enemy, will La Pucelle’s light shine forth once and for all?!
Tart, Riz, Melissa and Elisa find themselves confronting an army of witches in chapter 17. They also have to deal with Minou and Lapin. Tart and her allies end up being split into two groups, with Melissa and Elisa confronting Minou.
Tart and Riz are fight Lapin, and Riz has a plan in mind.
We see that Riz has previously met many other magical girls ever since she made a contract with Kyubey, but none of them were ever quite what she was looking for – until she found Tart.
We also get a demonstration of what Riz’s true power, and it is quite the spectacle. However, it comes with a very heavy cost.
After all that, Tart ends up getting captured.
The end draws ever closer in chapter 19. Tart is left in a jail cell, where Kyubey – sorry, ‘Cube’ – appears and tells her about Riz’s wish.
However, some hope appears as soldier still faithful to Tart launch an attack. During the confusion, Melissa and Elisa free Tart. Tart refuses at first, but upon hearing the voices of her allies, she decides to fight once more.
Isabeau arrives on the battlefield in chapter 20, and she still proves to be a mighty foe. Cube explains to Tart what exactly is going on with Isabeau, and it is quite the revelation. Isabeau is massively powerful, but Tart refuses to back down.
It is time for the final battle in chapter 21, and Tart has some allies providing her with strength. Through that support, she is able to fight evenly with Minou and Isabeau. Shortly afterwards, Tart’s story comes to an end. We get a nice little nod to Puella Magi Madoka Magica at the end.
So that wraps up Puella Magi Tart Magica: The Legend of “Jeanne d’Arc”. There are times when you get history lessons in the form of walls of text scattered throughout. I guess you could skip them, but they do contextualise the events that you see happening.
I do feel that the final parts of the manga are better than its beginning – I really like the reason for Isabeau’s power. I won’t spoil what it is here, but it is something that I haven’t seen in any of the other Madoka spin-offs. It also helps that it is a rather interesting idea.
Out of all the Madoka spin-offs, I still consider Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice to be my favourite, and one most in need of an anime adaptation.
However, I certainly wouldn’t be disappointed if Puella Magi Tart Magica received an anime adaptation, particularly with the events of this final volume.
As for the characters, I liked them a fair bit. I’d have to pick Riz out as my favourite – she has quite a close relationship with Tart, and her abilities are very interesting. Maybe I just tend to prefer the dark-haired magical girls…
This manga is something I would definitely recommend for fans of the Madoka franchise. History fans might also get a kick out of reading this as well, with all the history shared throughout the five volumes (even if reading through it does tend to be a bit of a slog).
I will also say that this depiction of Joan of Arc is my favourite from Japanese media – Fate‘s Ruler just doesn’t quite live up to Tart for me.
