Magical Girl’s Witch Trial (Magical Debate Mystery ADV) Introduction and Review

This is an adventure game in which trapped girls try to uncover the culprits behind regularly occurring murders through trials.
Since all the characters are magical girls, this is a mystery with a unique premise that requires you to solve the mystery based on the supernatural ability of "magic."
It is characterized by its gothic atmosphere, emotionally poignant depictions, and the relationships between its unique characters.

The completion time was approximately 16 hours.

Purchase here (¥3,500 as of November 2025)

Steam

Game Overview (No Spoilers)

When Sakuraba Emma woke up, she found herself locked in a prison cell.
The owl-like administrator, who calls himself Gokucho, tells the girls who were also imprisoned there that they will have to live there as prisoners.
The girls are highly likely to be "witches" who are harmful to the world.

Emma and the other prisoners continued their prison life and deepened their bonds, but then a murder occurred.
Gokucho announces that he will hold a witch trial to find and execute the culprit.
A game begins in which players suspect and argue with each other in order to execute the witch who committed murder.

This concludes the general introduction to this work.
The general flow is: Chapter start interaction part → Incident occurs → Investigation part → Trial → Chapter end part.

As you progress through the story, choices may appear along the way.
Choosing the option marked with a skull icon will lead to a bad ending.
If you want to see how it ends, choose this option.
After a bad ending, you can choose to "return to the previous choice," so it's okay even if you haven't saved.

During the scenario progression, you may sometimes need to select your next destination from a map.
Only the locations where events occur will have their names displayed, and you will be able to select them.
The scenario will progress once you select all the available options.

As the scenario progresses, character information and a glossary of terms will be added to the encyclopedia.
You won't be inconvenienced if you don't read the information here, but if you want to immerse yourself more deeply in the world of this work, you might want to read it.

In the trial portion, the discussion progresses by taking the correct action in response to what other characters say.
You can make as many mistakes as you like, but if you exceed the time limit, it's game over.
In that case, you will have to restart from your last save point, so we strongly recommend saving frequently during this part.

After the message "Interrogation begins" appears, each person will start speaking.
During this time, the timer in the upper right corner will gradually decrease.
After listening to the end, a simple hint is given, and then the speech starts again from the beginning.
You can ask for clarification multiple times, but be aware that the conversation will repeat from the initial statement, thus wasting time.

You can speed up the dialogue by pressing the Ctrl key or the fast-forward button in the upper right corner, but the time will decrease accordingly.

If you select a section that is displayed in a different color along the way, you can take action such as raising an objection.
If the answer is correct, a cutscene will be inserted, and you can proceed to the next question.
If I made a mistake, I'll start again from my first statement.

Rather than immediately refuting a statement that has changed its tone, it's more efficient to listen to the entire statement before taking action.
Even if you take the correct action, be aware that you may need to present relevant evidence afterward.

Let's repeat this process and uncover who the culprit is.

Once the culprit is identified, voting will begin with all participants.
The person who receives the most votes will be executed as the culprit.
This scene reveals the character's true nature and inner self, and it's a scene that the film puts a lot of effort into.
Because there are some brutal scenes, people who are sensitive to such things may want to turn away.

Review (no spoilers)

It was a captivating game that I played straight through to the end.
First and foremost, I want to convey that this is a very interesting work, and I enjoyed it far more than the price I paid for it.
I'll write about the good points and things that bothered me, in order.

As you can see from the game's outline, it's a Danganronpa-like game.
If you've never played Danganronpa before, I think you'll be able to play this game with a fresh perspective.
If you're even slightly interested, I highly recommend you give it a try.
If you were able to enjoy this game without any problems, I think you'll be able to enjoy the Danganronpa series as well.

Since I've played Danganronpa 1 through V3, it's difficult for me to evaluate this game with a completely fresh perspective.
Therefore, I'd like to deliberately compare this game to Danganronpa to convey its appeal.
It might be considered bad manners to bring up another game and compare it to the one being discussed, but in this case, the source of the inspiration is clear, so I hope you'll be lenient.

First, let's talk about the settings.
The basic premise—the protagonists being trapped in a confined space and having to go to court to find the culprit after each murder—is the same as in Danganronpa.
However, compared to Danganronpa, which was full of pop culture and dark humor, I think this game had a predominantly gothic and serious feel.
The reasons for being trapped and the murders that occur are different from those in Danganronpa, so I think those differences in reasons contribute to the difference in the atmosphere of the works.
These subtle differences in settings will affect the story's development and ending.
While the superficial setting is certainly similar to Danganronpa, I thought it had been clearly differentiated and had its own originality.

Another highlight is the relationships between the characters.
Unlike Danganronpa, this game only features girls.
Therefore, it feels like the film eliminates the noise of romantic feelings between men and women and focuses on depicting purer emotions such as friendship and affection.
Of course, it's not just positive and noble things that are depicted; dark emotions and even madness are also portrayed.
The dilemma of characters dying early on not having a chance to develop their personalities is resolved in a certain way, and I felt that the setting was used very effectively in that respect.

I feel that the trials are easier to play compared to Danganronpa.
Simply selecting the part of the statement that is highlighted in a different color will display the counterarguments, making it easier to judge whether they are correct before actually making a selection.
I think there will inevitably be times when you have to rely on brute force, so players who want to progress quickly will find it comfortable.

Another point to note is that while Danganronpa included shooting, puzzle, and action elements as minigames, this game does not have any of those.
Personally, I prefer this game as an adventure game because it allows me to concentrate on reading.

The way the case unfolds in unexpected directions is just as captivating as it is in Danganronpa.
However, while the culprits in Danganronpa are quite stubborn and refuse to give up easily, in this work they seem to give up rather quickly.
They might be being careful not to make the character look unattractive by having them struggle desperately.
In Danganronpa, special abilities (such as Ultimate [something]) aren't always used to solve the cases, but in this game, they're almost always intertwined with the tricks, which I thought was very well thought out.

On the other hand, one point of concern is the questioning in the trial portion of the story.
When pointing out comments made later in the recording, even fast-forwarding still takes a certain amount of time, which I found somewhat inconvenient.
This might be an unavoidable design choice, given the time limit that has been set.
Ideally, it would have been nice to be able to skip parts that had already been cleared.

Also, I questioned whether the option that immediately leads to a bad ending was truly necessary.
Even knowing it's a bad ending, I still find myself wanting to choose it out of a morbid curiosity to see what kind of conclusion it will have.
Therefore, each choice leads to a digression (even though it's the player's choice), which ultimately feels like it disrupts the pacing.
However, there are also intriguing bad endings as alternate routes, and the fact that they've included voice acting and put so much effort into these bad endings shows how meticulously crafted the game is, so it's not entirely bad.

I've written a lot, but as I mentioned at the beginning of my review, it's a very interesting work that's well worth the price.
If you haven't played Danganronpa but enjoy works with mystery elements like this, I think you'll genuinely enjoy this game.
For those who play Danganronpa, I felt that if you're interested in this "Another Danganronpa"—a game that looks similar but has a different skeletal structure—then it's definitely worth playing.
It wasn't exactly a bright and cheerful story, but it was an exciting one that kept me engaged until the very end.

Thoughts and screenshots included (spoiler alert)

From here on, I'll be writing my impressions along with screenshots.
This contains spoilers, so please be careful not to read it if you might play the game.

first half

When it's said in the same voice as Lord Frieza, even if someone calls me cute, it feels a little strange.
Compared to Monokuma from Danganronpa, he doesn't provoke or irritate me unnecessarily, so I actually quite liked him.

This is an homage to Mami from the bad ending route.
The sudden genocide in the bad ending route is truly terrifying.

From the bad ending route.
It's painful to see them talking in such a cheerful manner.
It was also heartbreaking to see how they were tormented by guilt over Sherry's death, believing it was their fault.

From the bad ending route.
I wonder what kind of meat it is!
Is that an Amirstan sheep?

Emma's inner monologue made me sad when I read it.
Having zero friends is sad.
I hope there's at least a family registration option.

It breaks my heart to think that Noah might have used this magic on impulse to try and reduce everyone's stress, even just a little.

The way the player is prompted to press the button themselves has a very powerful impact.
The text makes you feel not just that everyone is dying, but that you yourself are the one who carried out the executions.

As soon as Emma decided that Alisa seemed easy to manipulate, she kept repeating, "I need her," which came across as a little unpleasant.
Of course, she was egged on by those around her, but I get the feeling that Arisa was truly starved for these kinds of words.

It's kind of scary when a character who's usually smiling suddenly becomes serious, isn't it?
Sherry is one of my favorite characters, so I was really surprised that she turned out to be the culprit.
I thought the detective character or the partner character would remain partners until the very end.

People were saying all sorts of things, like it was abnormal that she killed someone when she wasn't a witch, or that she felt nothing after killing, but I was really moved by the scene where Emma desperately shouts that she's actually a kind-hearted girl.
Even the formidable Gokucho seemed to have a bad taste in his mouth and looked awkward afterward, which was quite memorable.

The scene with the charred bottle is often the subject of jokes, but I couldn't help but laugh at the idea that he suddenly decides to become a glassblower at this point.

The way she confesses in a weak voice that she was working hard to do things that were harmful to everyone is slowly sinking in.

He looks like he'd kill you if given the chance.

The last scene of the first half felt rather abrupt, but I guess this is how a bad ending goes.
I thought the form had an atmosphere that perfectly suited Emma's last name, "Sakuraba."

Second half

I was impressed by how the story unfolded.
In recent years, there has been an increase in works that involve time loops where the protagonist repeatedly tries to survive, but I felt that this work, which doesn't focus on that aspect, is quite unusual.
Rather than a storyline where Hiro keeps trying again and again, it uses the characters who were killed off early on as a subtle plot device to shine a spotlight on them and delve deeper into their stories.

The fact that you die on the first day means you lack an informational advantage, and therefore you can't start a New Game Plus, which is a novel aspect of the game.

It was refreshing to see a character who wasn't a main character break the fourth wall and speak directly to the player.
Unlike Hiro, who simply respawns from his own subjective point of view after dying, Coco can be said to be a character closer to the player.
It's interesting how they were so well-informed yet ended up being eliminated so early.

I was wondering how they would fight against the mastermind, but they ended up becoming the first victim themselves.
The unexpected twists and turns continue into the second half, keeping you thoroughly entertained.

In the first half, when Emma was the main character, there were few instances where she herself was suspected, and she was in a position similar to Naegi from Danganronpa.

However, Hiro starts out as almost the prime suspect, and isn't even given a proper chance to search for evidence. (I think the lack of evidence-gathering makes the pace quite good.)
In that sense, the way the trial proceeded, reminiscent of Ace Attorney, felt like walking a tightrope and was thrilling.
It was fun trying to control the flow of the situation using my glib tongue and skillful hands.

Leia made a quick exit in the first half, but I like how she becomes a charming character as a clumsy sidekick in the second half.
Even Hiro is left dumbfounded and speechless; that's practically a talent in itself.
Unbelievable...!

I think the audacity to utter such a disingenuous line without any shame is what makes him so appealing.
Having the mental fortitude to confidently assert that this behavior is "correct" shows great strength.

I'm saving this scene because Margot's panicked reaction is precious.
She didn't look like a 15-year-old at all; she had the air of a seductive, mature woman.
He was a formidable opponent in the discussion, and I was impressed by his skill as a con artist.

I was excited, thinking, "Finally, a trial from the perpetrator's perspective?!" but that didn't happen.

Hiro likes things that are "right," for better or for worse, so I like that he properly respects the efforts of people who are working hard with a positive attitude.

I think it's Leia's personality that allows her to draw others in with such positive energy, even Alisa getting involved in the whole thing.
Well, Alisa is a good person at heart, so it's not surprising.

Leia concealed crucial evidence at the very moment she was most likely to be noticed.
I think that's definitely possible.

I love how Noah grins and gets into battle mode.

It's a bad ending route, but I think it suits them in its own way.
Personally, I prefer the scenario in the main story where Hiro trashes Leia.

Indeed, both his appearance and demeanor are those of a demon lord, and I was impressed by how perfectly that description fit him.

The interesting dynamic was that, while revealing his true nature as the mastermind in order to revive the Great Witch, he returned to his original role as a support character, similar to how he was in the early part of the story.
Maybe it's just me, but I found it strange that my impression of Meruru didn't change much before and after her true identity was revealed.
Perhaps it's because it's consistent with the objective.

Leia, who even receives praise from the Demon Lord calling herself a monster in every sense of the word, is truly impressive.

I took a screenshot because the excuse was kind of cute.

Just seeing Sherry speak with a serious expression makes me straighten my collar and listen attentively.
When she's talking excitedly and energetically with her usual smile, I tend to just ignore what she's saying.

It's exciting that Hiro and his friends, who have fought their battles in the witch trials, will also face the final boss through a trial.

It's exciting when you see a crack in the logic of the final boss, who's been humorously going along with the trial.
The ending was predictable and left a good impression, but I was a little disappointed.
While it's satisfying to finally defeat characters who are as stubborn and tenacious as those in Danganronpa, this game offers some room for sympathy, so this level of persistence feels just right.

By the way, my favorite characters are Sherry and Leia.