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OVERVIEW
Kill la Kill was the first major work by a Studio Trigger, made up of ex-Gainax members that left to create their own studio. It was one of the most hyped anime of 2013, and for good reason. This show was made by the people who made Gurren Lagann and FLCL, which speaks magnitude. Due to this fact, people were expecting an over-the-top, insane, stupid, and wonderfully fun anime. Did they get what they wanted? Well, it will vary from person to person, but after this review, I hope you can decide for yourself. And as a side note, I think it will be fine ... to keep rather high standards here, seeing as I will have hordes of fanboys chasing me and burning me at the stake because of this anyway. So, Let's begin.

STORY
Now, let's be honest with ourselves, we didn't start this series expecting a thought provoking story, or even a semblance of sense. But it is safe to say that the story is a mess, even by the standards of one of Gainax's drug-induced works. The overall story, when you step out in to the sun and give it a good long look, isn't really anything unusual. It is a basic revenge story that somehow spirals out of control and becomes an epic fight for humanity. There were several arcs that could have been removed; the show is quite full of the fatty filler known to plague anime. It got quite predictable at times, and could just drag on. But that's a parody, meant to make fun of stupid anime tropes. So, does that make it okay? No. When you are making fun of something, you shouldn't be the very thing that you are making fun of. There is not much there in the story department, so let's move on to the animation.

ANIMATION
Kill la Kill's animation is amazing in that one moment you are amazed by the brilliantly animated fight scenes, that will certainly succeed in getting your adrenaline pumping, and then becoming complete shit, to say the least. The series sometimes goes so far as to make use 2d cutouts. Fully budgeted anime SHOULD NOT use cutouts; it is a big, black mark on the animation quality. This should not be okay, and I chide Studio Trigger for these atrociously animated scenes. The only real reason that this series can get a decent animation score is those fight scenes that I look back on so fondly. Take note that I may be being a bit generous here, because those scenes only went to show that Kill la Kill was not a show made with the income of a 16-year old, but a show coming from a studio made up of massive people in the industry, and one may argue that those scenes could be seen as a negative, because a respectable crew like this should be able to keep the animation quality steady.

SOUND
The soundtrack may be one of the few things I like unconditionally about this show. It was composed by the person who made Attack on Titan and Guilty Crown's OSTs. The individual character themes are entertaining and fun to listen to, but there is one particular song called Blumenkranz that happens to be my favorite. They all sound good at the very least, so go listen to it.

CHARACTERS
The cast is mostly composed of two-dimensional cardboard cutout archetypes, but the cast was still charming. As a side note, the show is known for it's excessive fanservice, which I found to be annoying, distracting, and rather stupid. It took a lot of effort to get past the excessive nudity this series sports, but once I did, I found that there is something to like. I think gender will significantly affect a person's enjoyment of this show, because some will see the fanservice as a plus, while others will find it disgusting, insulting, and distracting. As a girl I did not find the fanservice insulting, but I did find it unnecessary and distracting. So if you are having trouble dealing with it, at least try to bear it and look past the nudity, because as I stated before, there are things to like about this anime.

ENJOYMENT
Despite all that I've said, I got quite a bit of enjoyment from this anime, enjoyment of this show will vary from person to person. The points that I took off of this show were taken off because of the plentiful flaws, which may or may not effect your enjoyment. If you think you will like it, you probably will, because it does not hide anything, and is exactly what you think it will be. In my opinion, if you go in to it without expecting anything great and the ability to completely shut off your brain, then this show should do you just fine.

Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, and I would say a very good one at that. It is a series known among its fanbase for being something that will take your expectations, cut them up, douse them in petrolium, burn them, throw them off of a ten-story building, rip their nails off, drown them, and hand those expectations right back to you two days later. It is an exciting ride full of twists and turns, and an enjoyable one, at that.

STORY
Madoka starts normally, following the most stereotypical magical girl formula: Cute animal turns schoolgirls in to magical girls so they can ... wear puffy pink dresses, fight evil, find love, and all that boring material that WE HAVE ALL SEEN BEFORE. Ah, if only it were that simple... The truth is, this series is full of dark, depressing material, that only shows itself when you least expect it. Being 12 episodes, it is completely lacking in that fatty filler material that many slice-of-life magical girl are sometimes known for, and thank god, too, because I quite frankly find filler to be quite boring, and lacking in any intellectual or intense content that I so love in anime. Other than those first few episodes, it is extremely intense and plot focused. And quite frankly, I am glad that those first few episodes are as they are, because it helps make the 180-degree turn all the more shocking. It has a solid ending (assuming you don't watch rebellion), and great character development.

ART
I rather liked the art of Madoka, although in the version I watched it in had rather plain and simple backgrounds. This didn't really distract me though, and the backgrounds were not by any means the thing I was paying attention to, by the time the show made its massive switch in tone. For its characters, it used a moe art style reminiscent to one of Studio Shaft's previous works, a slice-of-life known as Hidamari Sketch. It might have seemed out of place had the show not used Higurashi-esque methods for the faces (though to a very low scale) and dark, dreary colors. Overall, it worked for the lighthearted bits, and oddly enough, it worked for the dark bits as well.

SOUND
The soundtrack from Madoka was composed by Yuki Kajiura, and turned out very nicely. Kajiura tends to do work on the darker series, so it was a role fitting for Kajiura, and she did a very good job. Mami Tomoe's theme was very goiod, I liked Sayaka's theme, and Nux Walpurgis are all worth mention at the very least, but one particular piece stood out to me for different reasons- the ending. The look of the ending isn't anything really special, but the music is some of the best I have heard out of an ending theme as of late. I tend to just skip endings, but Magia was a very good song, that made up for the otherwise boring ending sequence, and was is worth watching, for that alone.

CHARACTER
The character's are relatively stereotypical at first glance, but develop beyond those stereotypes that they were initially given. As the show progresses, Madoka and her best friend Sayaka, who are learning about the magical girl's world, and are considering becoming magical girls, slowly crumble in to despair, depression, and even insanity... The other characters each have something that separates them from the stereotypes of their genre, be it ulterior motives, past obligations, or emotional baggage, all undergo at least a little bit of development, and even with the ones you don't, as the show goes on you get to learn all about each one respectively, and by the end you know and love each one as a character. I have two main problems regarding the character department; I felt one was rather lacking in screen time, and I felt that Sayaka was rather lacking in wisdom; she has a belief in justice, which is all good, but there is more to the world of both common humans and magical girls than justice, and she would have done well to understand that nothing comes without a price, and that you reap what you sew, as Kyoko puts it. commend Madoka for not rushing in, and becoming a magical girl immediately, as that was an intelligent choice, and in a cruel world where not everything is as it seems, such a caution is a very good trait to have.

ENJOYMENT & OVERALL
As stated above, Madoka is a thrill ride that is full of twists and turns, and has a deep and psychological story that will really grip and engross you until the very end, as soon as the show picks up. It is an intense story that puts the lighthearted, fluffy demeanor of the magical girl genre and drops it in to a cruel, realistic world, that uses your very own expectations to become great. I finished it in one night before I even knew what was what, and it was not something that I would ever want any lover of the magical girl genre to miss out on. The beginning is rather boring, and nothing that I haven't seen before, but if you get past the initial silliness of the thing, it becomes an enjoyable rollercoaster. Of the problems, the main ones are the slow start, the plain backgrounds, and character decisions that I considered lacking in intelligence sometimes, though chances are that won't bother you, as I seem to be among the minority in having that opinion. I can fully recommend Madoka to just about anyone, and similar shows include along with Princess Tutu (another dark magical girl), Neon Genesis Evangelion (a mecha deconstruction), and Tokyo Mew Mew, for those looking for a cutesy, stereotypical show. It streams all legal-like on Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netfix.
I hope you enjoy this series as much as I did, see ya later!

Kari-san