Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

This is one of the most deceptive works I have ever laid my eyes on, and that is why it is amazing. From the very start, "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" appears to be pretty much what you would expect from your typical magical girl anime. The only difference being of course, the seemingly out of place art style that you would attribute to it being a SHAFT production. This is of course what the show wants you to think, as it prepares to take your expectations and slap you in the face with them. Suddenly, the Salvador Dali style of animation doesn't seem that out ... of place anymore, and that is when you realize you are watching something special.

In this review I am going to limit myself to what I consider to be the two most interesting aspects of this show. The writing, and the art. The review contains moderate amounts of spoilers.

WRITING:

This was the first of Gen Urobuchi's works that I had the privilege to experience and I have since watching it, sought after anything else that he has been involved in. His name only, has become enough for me to check out a work, be it anime, book, or visual novel. He has a very peculiar, unorthodox style of writing. It isn't by any means flawless and I am sure that a lot of people would find it off-putting, but when it works, it is golden. Urobuchi's writing is all about deception through the clever use of turning-points and unexpected, yet logical developments.

If "Madoka" was a conventional story, it would use the first few episodes to establish a premise (magical girl anime), follow it up by introducing some sort of main direction for the story (defeat bad guys, save people, etc), introduce an eventual villain, end it with a climactic battle, and perhaps wrap it up with an epilogue of some sort.

Instead, the premise for the beginning of the story is dropped almost immediately, only for the story to head in several completely different directions that are in a similar fashion dropped along the way, either because they were only there to decieve you in the first place, or because they only serve as a foundation for what is to come. The true nature of the story isn't established until it is a bit over half way through. Homura's story is only told right before they are about to head towards the show's climax. To put it simply, if at the start of the show, you think Madoka will become a magical girl by the end of the first or second episode, you will have to guess again... and again... and again... and again... and by the time you have given up playing guessing games, you will find yourself unexpectedly in love with a story that you never would have guessed was coming.

There is no real villain as "Walpurgisnacht" is treated more as an apocalyptic weapon than as an actual character, and "Kyubee" though he may technically be the source of all the destruction, he isn't by any means acting out the role of an antagonist. In the same sense, Madoka isn't exactly the kind of protagonist you would find in a magical girl show. She is powerless, afraid, unstable, and generally helpless to the horrors that surrounds her. Homura on the other hand, is where the heart of the show lies. Her actions, her efforts, her beginning, middle, and end, are the most defining aspect of the show.

If you are expecting a more conventional story, this kind of writing might rub you the wrong way, but for me, it was amazing. At the end of the show when I think back on what I have just watched, it amazes me how much it contrasts in where it starts, where it goes, and where it ends up. It really feels like a journey, and it leaves me breathless, staring up at the ceiling in silent awe. Of course, you can never achieve the same experience on a second viewing as you are already prepared for everything beforehand, but that first time you watch it is an experience unlike any other.

ART:

This show is absolutely beautiful. If you took away all of what I have already mentioned above, leaving only the art and preferably the music, I would have still loved it. As a big sucker for deranged animation and surrealist art styles, "Madoka" is right up my alley, reminding me of works such as Mamoru Oshii's "Angel's Egg", Tatsuo Sato's "Cat Soup", and even of German expressionism from the 1920's such as "The cabinet of Dr. Caligari", or "Metropolis". The art itself is very imaginative and vivid. My favourite part is the scene that is done completely in silhouettes.

My best recommendation is to watch the enhanced bluray version that even goes back and adds extra changes in the animation throughout the series, creating an even stronger effect, and making the experience all the more complete.

However, just like the story, the real beauty of the animation isn't the art itself, but how it is used. The surreal mode only kicks in when there is a witch nearby, meaning all other scenes are drawn in a relatively normal style of animation. Most notable are the character designs. The characters were all designed by Ume Aoki, author of Hidamari Sketch, who was never told what the show was about. She actually thought she was designing characters for a regular magical girl anime. Thus we have the perfect illusion of an innocent, saccharine, moe, girly looking show for when the art style is in normal mode. More importantly though, it also makes for an amazing contrast when the setting suddenly changes into surreal mode, and the cuteness of the characters make it all the more jarring when seeing the horrible environment that surrounds them. In fact, combining cuteness with horror seems to be a running theme in all aspects of this show, be it art, story, characters, music, etc. Combining opposites in a fictional work is somewhat of a risk but "Madoka" manages it exceptionally well, creating something rather unique.

There is much more to discuss about "Madoka". The Faustian themes of the story, the cosmic horror aspect, the deconstruction aspect (as well as the reconstruction aspect), the amazing soundtrack composed by Yuki Kajiura, the characters, the production, the story itself, etc. A single review simply cannot bring it justice, as even this one that barely scratches the surface has already dragged on for too long. As for concluding words, "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" is an experience that you cannot afford to miss. The story is rich, it is provocative in more ways than one, it is unique, it looks great, it sounds great, it is a must see.

Ah yes, Madoka Magica. Upon request of another I am reviewing this show and believe when I say that I did not truly wish to do this because of two reasons. Firstly, I see no reason in reviewing shows that will receive exceptionally low scores as it only wastes my time and yours, plus make a lot of people angry at the same time. Secondly, the director of this series is someone I do not like either based on many of his other works in addition to this one, so it is not fun to talk about him. His name is Gen Urobutchi, sometimes called ... the "Urobutcher" due to the extremely harsh ways he kills his characters. Without further ado, make a wish and lets go:

Plot: The series uses the same one Sailor Moon did in order to start itself. A young and fairly naive girl discovers an animal that is not as it seems and through some means becomes a Mahou Shoujo (Magical Girl). Naturally she tells others and her friends become them as well. I am bound by spoiler-free style to not talk much about its overall plot to prevent ruining anyones experience. However, when a show has a plot this bad I feel their is very little to spoil, this is very true in light of the ep 3 death that nearly everyone knows about. Mami, a mentor of sorts dies from the attack of a demon (Called a witch) in ep 3 and from there the girls are left to fend for themselves with a magical animal named Kyubey "helping" them every step of the way. I also need to mention that Kyubey is the animal/entity that bestows these powers on the girls in the first place. Giving out wishes to girls in exchange for near slavery as Mahou Shoujo. The first plot hole we need to address is Kyubey itself. This "thing" is emotionless and claims to merely be following a prime directive to harvest the energy (fancier word used in show) for its alien planet. If Kyubey can grant these wishes for anything to the girls, why not take their energy by force? Why have a roundabout way of getting them to be Mahou Shoujo and waste time killing an infinite amount of Witches and a lot of crap when it could just take the energy and leave. Its because Urobutchi said so thats why. Next point is that one of the girls named Homura is actually a guardian for the main girl Madoka. For reasons that never had what I would consider sound reasoning she cannot tell Madoka to not become a Mahou Shoujo outright, and since Kyubey is likened to that of a god in power thus never dying she also cannot kill the instigator. It stands to reason that Homura's best option would clearly be to either kill Madoka to end her protection cycle (Oh yeah, Homura is stuck in a time loop protecting Madoka because terrible reset ending said so) or yelled it out to her at the several points she could of instead of being emo and stand-offish every chance she gets. Even reality would of had a collapse because of Madoka learning this it would still be preferable to the never-ending "Groundhog Day" scenario Homura finds herself in. I could go on through several more plot holes but these two illustrate my main point. Point being that the series ignores solutions to problems in order to create a false sense of danger despite it just being a reset ending so the danger isn't really there. 1/5

Character Development: I am guessing that at some point Urobutchi decided to take a page from Evangelion and use its characters as pure symbolism. This is great in theory, but the problem is that in Evangelion they were Characters with a personality first and symbols second. This series' cast are all supposed to be symbols first and every once in a while some part of them develops. Madoka despite being the main character never develops, all we see is an alternate reality version of her where she is better but thats not development, thats just another version of her. The only girl worth mentioning for development here is the blue-haired girl named Sayaka and her friend who is a sickly boy in a hospital. Thanks to their interactions both develop and learn to cope with that situation in a great way. But of course a good male character with development need not stay long and once he is healed is kicked from the story, thankfully not in Urobutchi's favorite method of death, but is simply fazed out. Sayaka's development ends shortly there-after and everyone else either stays the same or has an alternate "what-if" version shown near the end. 2/5 for taking a small amount of time out to develop someone. 2/5

Sound: Finally, a good aspect of the series! I will not lie I loved all the dark music and the way it helped build tension and atmosphere. If the plot and characters were as fun and interesting as this music it'd be another story. Then again, the music had nothing to do with Urobutchi in terms of design, so it makes sense to me. The openings and endings are nicely done too. Not much t say here since it was all handled quite well. It'd be higher if it actually had a better variety aside from brooding sadness, but it does that very well thankfully. 3/5

Art: Its no secret to those who know me that grossly disproportioned moe (Cute for sake of being cute, big eyes small facial features with waxy feel) turns me off from a title. The good news is that "Madoka Magica"'s designs were handled by someone with no knowledge of the story and it resulted in nice concept art. While I am not fanatical about it, the backgrounds in the witch's realms and the girls' designs are not the worst I've seen (See K-On! for pure moe hell). It gets the job done but does not impress me. 2/5

Final Thoughts: If I owe my critical views of moe and Urobutchi to any show it is this one. Every type of trope modern anime has come to behold from reset endings (Thanks Key/Visual Arts), moe visuals (Wow K-On! "nice" job), and also flat characters (Thanks every boring battle shonen) Madoka has it all in one pretty bloody Urobutchered package. As I sign off from this review, I urge to remind the haters that these are my views and they do not need to match theirs, if you are a lover of Madoka thats fine (even if I honestly am saddened by that fact) and you should continue watching whatever interests you. I am here to merely give a harsher analysis with more detail and higher bars for media to live up to. Oh and one last note, you gotta love how the name of the studio that made this is called Studio Shaft, Urobutchi sure loves to give us the shaft all day long. Final Rating is 4/10

People may praise this anime to the skies but I think otherwise. I first watched this show like a typical magic girl action anime with very low expectations (due too the nanoha similarities at the beginning). I wont try to spoil anything for you but the show starts to make drastic turns and got me excited for a couple of episodes but the excitement dies later on. I didn’t like how utterly by the book it was at its presentation and story. It starts of like a typical magic girl anime. Episodes latter its not, but oh wait it resembles a typical tragic anime from ... 90s-early 2000s. Everything just rolls along perfectly and foreshadowed predictably that it isn’t a surprise to find people predicting the events that’s going to happen.

I wasn’t expecting something totally original and unpredictable. I was expecting something with a little character. Madoka has failed being the unique show I was looking for. I think it rose my expectations too high when I saw the first 6-8 episodes. And shows its true nature later on and it just becomes nothing more than a shell of its former self. I actually found my self rolling my eyes near the end. Nothing surprises me anymore, I don’t care about the characters anymore because all of them seem to act completely out of character for the sake of drama. The character archetypes can be found in a random no name anime/manga so don’t expect any deep characters. The story itself has been written a million times over since the beginning of time. There is nothing wrong with reinventing the wheel, but if you’re going to do it make it unique. And the ending is a complete joke and typically anime like and follows anime laws.

The art and animation is very bland and moeish. Shaft doesn’t do the art justice with its annoying directing skills. The only good thing about this show is the action scenes. Its what got me hooked on this show in the first place. But the action takes a back seat for a poor excuse of a greek tragedy play.

Don’t watch this show if you are expecting something fun, and don’t watch this show expecting it to be something deep and character driven. Just turn your brain off and watch this show mindlessly like the people giving perfect tens on this show, and you will enjoy it.

The animation looked nice to me, even with the people not in the foreground being all wierd, and the characters weren't very bad at all. But really, everything else was just bad. All the drama barely made me feel anything and it felt totally out of place especially towards the end when QB was talking about killing cattle and livestock. That whole scene was used to make all the obsessive fanboys/girls feel like the show just got DEEPER. I've heard that whole speech since I was in elementary school and every time I hear it, it's just a nuisance.

I liked Madoka in the beginning, it ... had a real good "something" going on, and that was the action, the plot actually having potential, and the emotion hitting you fairly hard. but when Walpurgis and time travel and forced drama came in, it was executed so badly it felt like I was just watching a bunch of girls talk about death. And thats just what it was.

I'll be perfectly honest and upfront about that the fact that I'm very new to the world of anime and manga, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is officially the first anime series that I've completed from start to finish.

I had no expectations really when I chose it from a list on Netflix, and had no idea of its popularity or anything. I simply thought the characters looked cute and the description sounded fun. Boy, was I in for a surprise!

✿~ Story ~✿

Simply fantastic! The story is much darker and deeper than I could have ever imagined, with twists and surprises thrown ... in throughout. And it consistently grabbed my attention and left me wanting more at the end of each episode, dying to find out what happens next. Who knew that a story about magical girls and witches could be so complex and emotional? 10/10

✿~ Art ~✿

This category is probably my only real issue with Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, and it's not even that bad. There's just a certain art/animation style when it comes to the witches and their strange labyrinths that I didn't entirely care for. It was too weird and trippy for me, and would have rather had those scenes match the artwork and animation of the rest of the anime, which was very beautiful and nicely done! Still, I have to admit that the weirdness of the witch and labyrinth scenes did fit with the mood of the story. 8/10

✿~ Sound ~✿

To tell the truth, I didn't notice the music very often during the episodes, but when I did, it was some amazing stuff! But that's one magical quality about music: there comes a point where you no longer hear the music... you feel it. And when the story gets so powerful and emotional, and the music is equally powerful and emotional, it's a beautiful thing. The intro song "Connect" and main credits theme "Magia" are especially good as well, and I'd often listen to them through instead of skipping past them. 9/10

✿~ Characters ~✿

I can't speak for anyone else, but my "favorite character" switched between each and every main character at some point throughout the anime! They all have something special about them and have so much to give to the story, and I became deeply attached to them all in turn, which made for quite the emotional rollercoaster! Any book or movie or show that can make me so emotionally invested in its characters definitely did it's job right! 10/10

✿~ Enjoyment ~✿

My knee-jerk answer is that I most certainly enjoyed this anime! But giving it some thought and thinking more critically, I have to admit that sometimes I did feel that it was progressing a little slow, or had some issues with certain aspects of the plot and character choices that I felt were unrealistic or just plain didn't make much sense to me, not to mention the wonky artstyle, etc. So was it 100% perfect? No, it wasn't, but far more often than not I was on the edge of my seat with my eyes glued to the screen! And I will highly recommend this series to anyone who asks. 9/10

✿~ Overall: 9/10 ~✿

[Open your mind cause the reviews are esoteric YO]

After suffering another long absence and subsequently ameliorating my punctuation and grammar(go read my first few reviews), I decided I would spice things up a notch by reviewing a critically acclaimed and popular series from last year. The question is, has Puella Magi Madoka Magica managed to escape the turd train? Read—OBEY!— and find out. That being said, without further ado, I now introduce the long awaited sequel to the perpetually incomplete reviewing saga that is Daimyo.

Story 7/10

Puella Magi Madoka Magica, is a seminal anime from the year 2011 directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and written by Gen ... Urobuchi.

In order to gain a proper understanding of this anime, you must first understand the story. If possible I'd like to do without drawing out too many spoilers; but this storyline is such a bucket of shit, that if I don't at least attempt explain some of the finer details, you'll fuck up your galoshes as you tread through my review. Now I must profess, it has been quite some time since I completed this show, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in any of my accounts. Basically, what we have is a story about a bunch of fucking girls doing girly stuff. Drinking tea, designing costumes, discussing boys; or at least that's what the show wants you to believe in the beginning. You're quickly brought to reality —as real as a show about a bunch of girls can get—. We are soon led into a world of deceit, jealousy, paradox, paradox, paradox and more paradox. We're missing a key point here, though. Why is all of this happening? What if I told you, it's because there is some race of super advanced aliens granting little girl's eternal youth and the power to make 1 wish, just so they can feast on the power created by their happiness and misery, thereby, restoring balance to the universe and creating a thermal energy source for future generations to enjoy. Yea you'd probably tell me to stop smoking crack. Who came up with this shit? What ever the original intention of this show, I can confidently tell you that this show is more than hilarious. If you're the right kind of bastard, you'll laugh for days while you watch this. Which is even easier to do with the show's shabby visuals and balls on the wall animation—2011 and they still fucked things up—. Seriously, whoever drew this show can't draw a straight line. Must have masturbated too much to the visuals or something. This is of course emphasized by the fact that almost everything on this show seems spontaneous; like literally they were pulling plot developments and twists out of a hat (Constanza).

All of this is kind of bearable, but there's one thing you just won't be able to stand. This is a 12 episode series, and I swear to Jehova they were talking for 5 fucking episodes straight. We don't give a fuck about tea parties, violin players, or any of your shitty lives. I just want to see you guys kill and beat the shit out of things. I mean some would call it character development, but in my opinion, it's more like degradation. Though a show like this does have it charms, it's limited by the fact that once again, it is just about a bunch of fucking little girls. These tough enough girl shows lose credibility. Like that Higurashi show, it's just a bunch of none sense. The only time you need to be afraid of a girl, is if she has a gun pointed at you, poisons your food, tries to kill you in your sleep or proposes to marry you. Actually, those are a lot of times to be afraid. Be very afraid of this show's plot, very afraid...

Characters 4/10

The show stars the titular character Madoka. Who is, without a doubt, the worst character in the whole series. I don't know of any other series that immediately comes to mind, where the main character gets away with doing almost nothing of importance but somehow has the whole series revolving around them. The only way to describe Madoka, is as a nuisance that just won't go away. A pain in the ass that never heals, she's there right from episode 1 all the way to the end. There's just nothing to like about her: over optimistic, too damn kind for her own good, cheesy, nosey, you name it. She's everything you hate in a shoujo character cranked to 11. What makes her even her even worse, is her neh neh neh voice. I mean all characters in this show are guilty of this. Then they have her played out like she's some sort of God. Because all the female characters are like Gods these days or something. If her name wasn't in the title of this show, she'd be completely un- necessary.

Next up, Akemi Homura, who continues the trend of the quiet emo girl being the strongest. Hardcore dyke though, because behind that tough girl exterior, she can't live her life without Madoka. How this came to be? I don't even fucking know. Didn't make much sense to me even when they explained it.

Sayaka Miki, the next dumbass in this series. I think I established earlier, that when these Alien overlords come to steal your emotional resources, they offer you the chance to make 1 wish. This stupid bitch wishes for some guy who didn't even like her to get healed. You heard that right. This dumb fuck gets 1 free wish, could have been wealth, power, you fucking name it but no she blows it on a whim. That's like some female intelligence and logic right there. If she was going to go that route, why not wish for the power to heal people, then use it to heal him, then become some sort of doctor and use it to scam millions out of people. You know why she didn't think of this? Because all the characters in this show are over-emotional retards. She'd rather mope around and then watch as the man she wasted her wish on to heal and tended to everyday in the hospital, falls in love with someone else.

Mami Tomoe, is like this show's Kamina. But since this show is nothing like TTGL, she's completely full of shit. I mean she's like one of those soft spoken, know-it-all characters that sip tea and fuck knows else.

Kyoko Sakura, is the least obnoxious character on this show. Which really isn't saying much. Somehow, she ends up being the one I detest the least. That does not mean, I like her the best. She has a rough start, though. I mean they introduced her as the new selfish bitch, but unlike the other characters on this show, she actually progressed.

Kyubey is like some evil deranged version of some shitty mahou shojo luna/kerobero type character. He's a no good son of a bitch, is all you need to know.

The problem with most of the characters in this show, is that they all make me want to jump in and punch the shit out of them. Yea, yea, yea, I know they're GURLS. But seriously, wasting my motherfucking time like that, that's a low blow, bro. They're lucky anime budgets are so low these days, that they could only afford 12 episodes. Imagine this steaming pile of donkey shit as a full blown out 26 episode series.

Enjoyment 7/10

I enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would. Somewhere I must have missed out when they giving membership passes to this show, my little pony and other similar sensation shows. From reading this review, you can tell I enjoyed it for the wrong reasons.

Music 5/10

Just your usual generic j-pop. Nothing special here. No memorable themes even. Or so I'd like to say. I ended up giving this show a pass due to the first opening. Pretty good stuff. "See You Tomorrow" by Aoi; investigate.

Art 3/10

They no can draw straight lines. Daimyo no can make sentences...

Overall 5/10

Overall, you're just going to put this show in shit territory like Angel Beats. However, where I saw Angel Beats had the potential to be better, I just don't see how this show could get any better. That is, short of an alien invasion and all the characters getting killed. This show is a solid 5.5. While it's not always good to use my previous reviews as a scale —seeing as I gave Hareluya II boy a 9 lol—. To give you an idea on how I view it compared to other shows I've done, it's better than maken-ki but worst than angel beats. Thankfully, I had the privilege and opportunity to watch other shows from 2011, that I deem to be better, fate/zero and kaiji S2 , for example. So if you're still reading this review at this point, go watch those instead.

Does the title of the show appeal you?
Does the cover of the show makes you think this is going to be some happy magical fairy tales?
Does the plot synopsis makes you think this is going to be about Madoka's happy magical girl's life?
Do you think this anime will be mostly kids stuff?
Have you ever heard of the term "Don't judge a book by its cover"?
Do you like Plot Twists?
Do you like/love Mirai Nikki?
Do you like/love Sailor Moon?
Do you like/love Lucky Star?
If you answer yes to even a single question above then give this anime a try and you will mostly likely love this anime. I ... said most likely.

(There will be some SPOILERS in my review)



Story: (10/10) (SPOILERS)
The story starts of with Madoka, a middle schooler of Mitakihara Middle School. One day, she had an encounter with a cute creature called Kyuubey and revealed that he can grant any wish she wants and in return, needs to make a contract with Kyuubey and become a Magical girl. Sounds fun and cute right? Yes, that's what the show wants you to believe. In the first 2 episodes, it starts of as just fun and cute and typical girls life. However, after the 3rd episode, the show starts to show off its true nature and begins to creep you a little bit and makes you wonder what's really going on in this universe. Every episode, the episode gets darker and darker and after the 10th episode, the show reveals the true full nature of the universe. Believe it or not, time travel/time altering is involved here and the show managed to make it work. It's a rare case because most shows today just f*cks up the story line when time travel/time altering is involved but here it was kind of easy to follow and no brainf*cks. Now here's my reasons on why I think the storyline of the show is a masterpiece. Firstly, one of the concepts of the show which is "Would you do everything just to save your friend's life? Even if it affects your life"? You wouldn't know that this concept was being used before watching the 10th episode. Why do I like this concept? Because it's an effective and dramatic story telling tool. It really shows how Homura deeply cared for Madoka. So much that she even kept time travelling just to figure out how to save here. She has been doing this for about 100 times and this obviously affected her emotionally and her personality even changed. Secondly, the quote "with great power comes with great responsibility". It fits really well into the story. In the 2nd episode, the show makes you think that being a Magical Girl will make your life a bit easier since you now have magical powers. 3rd episode and further on proves that it isn't. There will be consequences to pay, including your life. Mami and Sayaka died and you know that they will never come back. Finally, the unexpected but happy ending. I thought that Madoka will make a wish, fight the final boss and they live happily ever after. That's not what exactly happened. I don't want to go through the details of the ending but all I want to say is it ended happy and extremely sad at the same time. The ending did feel a little bit rushed but I guess it's acceptable because of the fact that the show only had 12 episodes.



Art/Animation: (9/10)
The animation might not be perfect but it was still great. The environment looked great and the labyrinth design looked weird but in a good way. Same goes for monster and witches design. They look weird but in a good way. The main and supporting character's design is what fooled me into thinking that this show was going to be some magical girls crap. I'm usually not a fan of these kinds of character design because they looked....well....unrealistic. Well, as they say, don't judge a book by its cover.



Sound: (9/10) (SPOILERS)
Soundtrack didn't get a perfect score from me because not every theme I've heard was worth listening to. There are some that gave me a few goosebumps. How about the voice actors? Are they annoying? Nope and I loved every single voices here. I watched the show in English Dub so I'm going to give my opinions on English Dub VA. In my opinion, they were great, considering the fact that I've heard them before and they didn't sound horrible on the previous shows either. 4 of the main characters which is Homura, Madoka, Kyuubey and Hitomi were voiced by the VA who also voiced one of my favourite characters which is Mio, Azusa, Ritsu, and Tsumugi from K-On. One of the main characters which is Sayaka was voiced by the VA who also voiced Lizbeth from Sword Art Online. I absolutely loved her voice as Lizbeth and she was even more glorious to hear here. Now, the OP and ED soundtrack. Only 1 OP was used and I thought it was ok. Although, the opening was misleading (in a good way) and it felt like the 2nd Opening from SAO. By the tenth episode however, my opinions on the opening changed. You find out the lyrics is sung in Homura's point of view and the clips shown in the opening were actually Madoka's past timeline. Now my opinion on the OP song is it's great and very emotional.
3 ED's were used. The 1st ED was also misleading and great. However, ED 2 which was sung by Kalafina is one of the greatest ED songs I've ever heard. It fitted the plot twist that happened after episode 3 ended. Never heard the 3rd ending because I skipped it.



Character: (10/10) (SPOILERS)
You thought the characters are going to be cute and all moe shit? Yea, keep believing that because that's what the show wants you to believe. At least, for the first 3 episodes. After watching the 3rd episode, the show will slap you so hard and that's where the characters faces the reality of being a magical girl. The show realistically depicts the struggles these characters go through each episode and that's what I loved most about the show. It also depicts the bonds and friendship these girls have towards each other. Which character do I like most? I'd go with Homura. If you read my review on the story section then you already know why. The show gave these characters some character development. Especially Homura. It will hit you right in the junk if you watch Homura's past.



Enjoyment: (10/10)
A perfect score from me. Why? Because of how the show tricked its viewers, making them believe that this was going to be some happy moe crap. Man, the drama and emotions at Ep. 10 and towards the end of the series really hit me so hard. So hard that I even shed a few tears and this is coming from a guy who rarely cries when I'm watching TV shows.



Overall: (9.6/10)
As much as I want to give this anime a perfect score of 10, I just can't. When I rate an anime a score of 10, everything has to be perfect. What I mean by everything is Story, Animation, Sountrack, and the Characters. Since the Animation and Soundtrack didn't get a perfect score due to reasons I listed above, the anime will not get a 10.
Overall, it's an enjoyable anime to watch and earned a spot for my "Favourite Anime" list. DO NOT let the cover and the plot synopsis fool you. Same thing happened to me too. I watched the first and second episode and I was like "People love this sh*t"? After the 3rd episode, I was like "Oh Jesus Christ, I see".



Pros:
-Show tricked everyone
-Not what you were expecting
-Outstanding and Dramatic Story
-Great Animation
-Great Soundtrack
-Great Characters


Cons:
-Ending felt a little bit rushed



Do I need a closing sentence? If I do then this is my closing sentence:
Everything is a LIE!!!!

I would like to preface my critique by stating that I am new to watching anime and to reviewing any series as a whole. I enjoy fast-paced action dramas the most, especially those featuring leads with strong personalities. And I have had no experience watching magical girls anime in the past. With that being said, I had heard that Puella Magi Madoka Magica transcends its genre, so I decided to give it a shot.

[Plot]
I went into Puella Magi Madoka Magica hopeful. I desperately wanted to love it, and I was expecting it to really pick up after episode 3 or 4. ... Yet there was something about the blend of pastel riddled innocence and trippy, Burton-esque darkness that didn’t settle well with me. Admittedly, there was a slight turn for the better, but not enough to instill in me a strong desire to keep watching. Nevertheless, I stuck it out and continued the show, if only because of its huge reputation. To be frank, I didn’t find many of the earlier plot twists very shocking, and I didn’t feel personally invested in the characters.

My perception of this show soon began to change, around episode 8 or 9. Here I was beginning to get frustrated. I found Kyubey’s course of action to be predictable, and almost cheating on the part of the show’s writers. There were so many plot holes, and the science used to explain some of these plot holes was just plain wrong (from a physics, biology, and medical standpoint). Plus, the show presented so many unanswered “what if’s” for me that I was becoming more and more skeptical.

Episode ten was bittersweet. I was impressed with the direction that the show had taken, and was excited to finally get answers to some of my questions. But the further I progressed into this episode, somehow, the more disappointed I got. Without getting into the physics, the events that took place in this episode completely nullify the explanation that Kyubey had given in the previous episode. And what’s more – I had seen this type of plot before. While it might be a revolutionary idea in the magical girls genre, it certainly wasn’t my first time seeing these sorts of events play out. There was nothing I could distinctly say I had never seen before.

Overall, I would classify the story as fairly entertaining, but not high quality. Those willing to overlook gaping issues in the show’s logic will likely find more enjoyment in it than I did.

[Characters]
Here is where I believe Puella Magi Madoka Magica is most lacking. Madoka is a flat, and to be honest, boring character that did absolutely nothing for me. She is not interesting, and the fact that this show is so Madoka-centric was a little off-putting.

The other characters start off in a very stereotypical fashion and don’t really get that much more interesting. Though it might be argued that they change perspectives throughout the story, I found the character development to be either too predictable or too unrealistic. There seemed to be no happy medium. Call me heartless, but I had a very hard time connecting to any of the characters personally. They were all likeable enough, but there was no motivation for strong attachment. Of all the girls, I would have to say that Homura is probably the most exciting, given the sacrifices she makes. I could sympathize with her the most, even if her actions seemed a little unreasonable.

And while many people seem to like Kyubey, I have a few issues with him as well. First and foremost, I could not (and still cannot) fully see him as a villain, probably because he reminds me too much of a rejected Pokémon to be seen as that formidable of a threat. Plus, his lack of true malice and total indifference as a facilitator doesn’t make him seem like a true “villain.” But what really bothers me most are Kyubey’s monologues. If you’re going to have a character centered on logic rather than emotion, make damn sure that the character’s dialogue is, in fact, logical.

[Art/Sound]
The art and sound of Puella Magi Madoka Magica were probably its best features. The contrast between the animation style of the witches and that of the magical girls is outstanding as a means of symbolizing dark vs. light. Although it was definitely unsettling for me at first, it was something I grew to appreciate as an art form the more I watched the series. I do wish the characters were more unique in their designs. While I can understand that certain animators have their own individual styles, I would have liked to see more variety. Most of the characters were only distinguishable by their hairstyles and eye color, since they all wore the same school uniform when not in their transformed states. (With that being said, the costume design for each magical girl and the transformation animation were both on par).

The soundtrack certainly complimented the visuals, though the opening and ending themes weren’t anything to write home about.

Conclusion:
Puella Magi Madoka Magica was far from the masterpiece that it is claimed to be. Though it certainly breaks away from the magical girls mold, it did not live up to the raving reviews that praised its name. Yet even with all of my criticism it definitely wasn’t a total waste of time. I would not classify Puella Magi Madoka Magica as a favorite, but it’s certainly well worth a watch.

"Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" is the epic tale of one Paella Magi (magic users who direct their talents towards making ludicrously tasty paella) named Madoka and her life long quest to make the ultimate paella, the Paella of the Gods. In order to do that, she must first obtain that rare and elusive ingredient - the mythical pokemon Magikarp.

You may have realised by this point that I'm trolling you. And that's a bit like this anime: while the early episodes baits viewers into thinking it's an extremely moe magical girl show, with the only thing remarkable about it being extraordinary width of the moe girls' ... faces, it soon reveals itself as something unexpected.

While the traditional demographic of a magical girl show is young girls, "Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" isn't. Though the cutsey element is there, it's accompanied by a strong, detestable whiff of moe. That's right, in keeping with the trend in recent years, it's one of those magical girl shows aimed at pokemon trainers. And by pokemon trainers I mean otakus.

"Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" is really about some mutated squirrel thing named Kyubei trying to persuade Madoka and her friends - but mostly Madoka - to make a contract with him to become Paella Magi (or Magis? What's the plural for this word??) who can go around battling witches (who causes bad things to happen to people, like suicides and stuff) with their magical power. But soon it becomes clear that this is far from the whole story...

The first couple of episodes probably strike most as being ok at best and terrible at worst depending on their level of tolerance for generic magical girl fluff (of which I'm not particularly fond of) and bland moe guff (of which I'm allergic to). Underneath it all though, there's a hint of something unsettling, like a stray note sneaking into an otherwise consonant chord. This starts to manifest itself towards the end of the third episode, at which point the series starts to show its true form as a dark, twisted subversion of the genre.

The remainder of the series contains plenty of shocking revelations, religious symbolisms, and a dose of moral dilemmas thrown in for good measure. It seems that the purpose of the earlier magical moeblob material is to lull you into false expectations that the later episodes can rudely jerk you out of.

Just how well does the whole thing work though?

Well first of all, the moe still annoys me, and was a big barrier I had to get past in order to enjoy the show. I understand that it's used for misdirection, but do they really need do it this way? "Planetes" (now THERE'S a truly excellent show) did a similar thing, but mostly through its story instead of deliberately being obnoxious. Even in this show itself, Kyubei's cute mascot-esq exterior only makes him seem more sinister than annoying when constrasted with his unknown intentions. Clearly, making the show very moe isn't necessary, and I'm not entirely convinced that it's there PURELY for misdirection and not for pandering purposes. Perhaps I'm just a cynic.

Then there's the visual style. Trashy moe character designs aside (Madoka's mum could have passed for her sister), I've never been a fan of SHAFT's style, and even though people tell me "Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" is the least "SHAFTy" work they've done, I can still see it quite clearly. Just look at the glass classrooms; odd designs for things like buildings, chairs, and decorations... it's the kind of things Apple would come up with, if they did interior designs. Like Apple, SHAFT often gives off an annoyingly smug air of pretension, and of style over substance. No where is this more obvious than in the witch fighting scenes. Within the realms of witches, the show tries to build up an overwhelming sense of chaos and madness by continuously bombarding your visual sensors with sprawling masses of psychedelic, surreal imagery: cut out butterflies; wicked barbed wires strewn across the screen; grand concert halls with designs reminiscent of the style of "Gankutsuou"... the themes vary from encounter to encounter, often accompanied by discordant instrumentals or wailing vocals, curtesey of the distinctive compositions of Yuki Kajiura. Is it different? Hell yes! Is it effective? If truth be told, it's all a bit too much. With the exception of one or two scenes, most of fighting feels flat and dull in spite of, or rather because of, the eccentric art style. There's a sense that it's trying too hard to be different... just for the sake of being different (a very SHAFT thing to do), and the design themes (with the aforementioned exceptions,) mostly have little if any relevance to the battle at hand. At least the music is good though.

The plot is probably the main draw of "Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" - it's full of the unexpected, and isn't afraid to think big. Some parts are deliberately left vague to let viewer draw their own conclusions, and from the amount of discussion the show's generated, it's clear it's been effective in that regard. Although there're a few plot holes if you look a bit deeper, I think those who take it apart and catalogue its plot holes are missing the point a little - first of all, it's no good trying to apply hard logic to some of the abstract concepts which can be open to interpretation; also, given the scale of story and the fact that it involves overpowered elements such as wishes, it's almost too much to expect the story to be completely water tight. For what it's attempting, I think it's a damn good effort just to make the plot (mostly) functional, at least on the surface. It's hard to say much more without spoiling things, and believe me, there's a heck of a lot to spoil.

The cast starts off pretty generic, particularly Madoka herself, a timid girl whose paper thin personality can be summised by the description "naively nice". Other characters were also pretty forgettable, if not as annoying as Madoka - I remembered most of them as "Madoka's friends" - and even Homura seems to fall unremarkably into the quiet and mysterious stereotype bin. A few episodes in though, some of the characters starts to grow beyond their 1D state. Sayaka (fomerly known as one of "Madoka's friends") is fleshed out through her unyielding ideals (and/or selfish desires?); Homura through her compelling backstory later on; and Madoka... remains naively nice. (If it wasn't for the fact that she's the titular main character, I'm not sure I could have remembered her name...)

Despite the brainless drivel that assaulted me in the early episodes, the dialogues in "Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" can be superb when it tries, adding depth to the characters as well as throwing in some philosophical musings. Kyouko's telling of her own backstory contains a good dose of cynicism on human nature; Homura's despairing admissions of her feelings in the final episode is heart wrenching; Kyubei's dispassionate speech about cows (yes, cows) and the greater good knocks down the ego-inflated perception of our own worth. Those are some of the most memorable, most poignant moments from the show. There's a limit to how deeply (as in, not very) the show looks at these issues, but it generates enough food for thought to lift it above being mere shallow entertainment.

Having said that, I do think it's a show that's clever rather than intelligent. It's the kind of show that you can spend ages trying to work out details of what happened, or freeze frame and observe the plethora of symbolisms littered around the witches' realms. But it all boils down to a superficial coolness rather than something deep. The various themes it does touch on are used for making the story darker and colourful rather than as topics for serious exploration. That's not what it's going for though - it's no "Planetes" after all.

"Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" could have been improved with more episodes. Though for the majority of it the pacing is great, revealing bits and pieces of the plot at just the right times, there are some parts that feels rushed. For example Kyouko's change of attitude feels too quick to be convincing; one shocking piece of revelation about paella magis fell out of a facepalm worthy act of stupidity on Madoka's part, and the event feels too engineered to be beliveable. Also, Homura's backstory episode bulldozed through an incredible amount of material, mowing down character consistency and story integrity along the way... it was like killing someone by bashing their brains out with a hammer - powerful, effective, but a bit crude.

I guess I should talk about the ending, considering all the hoo-ha it caused. I personally really like it. For me, it wraps up things up in satisfactory fashion, both emotionally and in terms of the story. What's more, provided a kind of justification for the design of Madoka's personality - Madoka's fate and what it symobolised could only have worked so well with the pure and naive personality she has.

Taking everything into consideration, "Paella Magi Madoka Magikarp" is an over hyped show. I think those that who are writing essays on the deeper meanings it contains are crediting it with more depth than it has. End of the day, "Paella Magi Madagasca Madoka Magikarp" is a rollercoaster ride that goes a bit too fast at times and is un-necessarily coated in moe style... but it's a ride I ultimately enjoyed. For a show that mainly aims to be entertaining and to keep viwers guessing, it's done more than enough.

I'm probably going to get tons of negative comments about this, but for some reasons, Puella Magi Madoka Magica didn't live to the expectation I got while reading the reviews on MAL, or the other ones online.

EDIT : it's come to my attention that it would be important to precise that I was new to the Maho Shoujo genre, which might cause disagreement upon my review. It's understandable, really. I wrote this review with nothing to compare the anime to.

Story : 7/10

I was in my horror anime phase when Madoka came to me in a suggested anime list. For this only point, the ... anime deserves a strong 10. The ambiance is creepy and a lot more will be said on the Art/Sound points. However, since this is really about the story, I might want to explain why the anime deserve a 7 from my part. I really, really felt like the story was way (way, way, way) too much for the small amount of episodes. Madoka brings you to an universe that had a lot of potential : magic. Dealing with magic in an anime is pretty much opening every possible door and I felt like only a few were opened. Sure, the witches were present to doom this world and make fall in despair and agony, but there are some details that weren't clear, that didn't satisfy my curiosity of always knowing more. I'm like that, so it's pretty much a personal overview.

Art : 8/10

Ok, very good art, BUT, only on the scary side. The characters were well drawn, but pretty much all over the same height, same kind of face, same kind of clothes. HOWEVER, the witches art, everything that is inside them is completely insane. It's a crazy universe, at one time very creepy and awfully ugly. This, along with the sound effects I will talk about, makes watching Madoka worthwhile.

Sound : 10/10

Incredible. The music, the sound effects, everything. You say magic, you get magic. Sounds are well done, incredibly accurate for the ambiance of the anime. This deserves a strong 10, or even 11 if I could.

Character : 6/10

This is where I lost it. I understand how people might have seen the friendship, the bonds and especially the struggle of the characters, trying to save the world knowing they were doomed to begin with, but I didn't see it quite this way. In my opinion, Homura is the only character that deserve an higher note than 6. Madoka is the classic main character who does the impossible at the very end to save it, while Mami is the strong and confident character that guides the other on the right path. Sayaka is the weak-hearthed but strong-willed character who wants to help but can't and Kyoko is the classic vilain-not-so-vilain character. Again, I understand how people could have seen the over view of the characters, the bonds they shared, but I'm analyzing them on a personal point of view and on an individual basis.

Enjoyment : 6/10

For my part, everything was really rushed in. For some animes, this method works, they're made to be fast (I'm thinking of Btooom! or Elfen Lied, for example). However, Madoka, in my humble opinion, deserved way more episodes than that (I know there were movies, but please bare with me, I'm rating the anime). I watched it really fast and I think that it just went by, nothing really had the time to amaze me, even the 'so massive' plot twist of the end.

Overall : 7/10

Madoka Magica is a nice anime. It has some fairly good points, it is creepy and it gets you in an hollow mood. Pretty much what you'd be looking for if you were seeking something similar to Higurashi no Naku Koro, which, in a way, shares many similarities (young girls, normal ambiance mixed with very creepy and scary stuff). I would recommend Madoka Magica, but with caution. I know it is considered as a masterpiece by many users on here, but for me, it was only a good anime with amazing music and sounds, but way too short for it's potential.

As always, critics are welcomed, but only if you motive them for a reason different than '' I liked it, your review is bad, you suck ''. Thanks for reading!

It's not often that the first two minutes of a series give you such a great idea of what to expect, but the now-famous first two minutes of this one pretty much nail it: The young woman walking up the massive staircase of alternating black and white tiles, the heavy steel door that opens into a hellish world of destroyed buildings and smoking ruin, the mysterious raven-haired figure who engages a supernatural monstrosity in futile magical combat, and the orchestral metal song that adds a sense of ominous doom to the entire scenario. It's a suitable introduction for a dark, densely plotted series that throws ... convention to the wind in almost every regard, and explores every theme from the nature of human desire to the karmic balance of emotions in the universe. It screams: Welcome to Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Enjoy your stay.

After the above described sequence, the series takes on a brief air of normalcy. We're introduced to Kaname Madoka, an average schoolgirl with a loving family and two giggly buddies. During an after-school excursion to the mall, Madoka and her best friend Sayaka wander into a deserted back room where, before their very eyes, the world seems to transform into a nightmare of pulsating walls and evil imp-like creatures. They're summarily rescued by Mami Tomoe, who introduces herself as a “magical girl.” Mami and a mysterious talking creature named Kyuubey give them a proposition: They too can be turned into magical girls, and in return, Kyuubey will grant them each one wish. However, being a magical girl entails a life of servitude and dangerous combat against “witches,” shadowy embodiments of human despair and sorrow. The girls are forced to confront their own naivete and meditate deeply on the question: Is there any wish worth risking life and limb for?

As the series goes on, the plot evolves into an increasingly complicated web of connections, but it's never confusing, and definitely never boring. Hardly an episode goes by without a major plot twist or a defining character moment, and the show's story moves with breakneck speed as a result. Originally I thought this hectic pacing might be to the dislike of some, but closer examination reveals that there's a careful balance of revealing and reflecting, exposition and action, that serves the show well. Each time a twist appears, there are moments of temporary insanity which are later offset as the characters quietly examine the consequences of their new-found knowledge, and consider how best to respond. The series gives the audience just enough time to inhale a breath before it, once again, plunges head-first into carefully planned madness. There is a feeling of the story being rushed, but this feeling builds deliberately and with purpose as the show hurtles towards its ending; it's a feverish but acceptable pace.

In addition, it's clear after multiple viewings that it took an unfathomable amount of careful planning and deliberation to structure this plot. This series doesn't just have rewatch value, it defines rewatch value. Watching the show a second time armed with knowledge gained from previous viewings reveals just how much careful groundwork is laid in the first six episodes. Conversations can take on an entirely different meaning the second time around, since the viewer is now aware of the developments that lie ahead. Foreshadowing that might not have been understood the first time becomes clear. There's a remarkable amount of cleverness and consistency underscoring almost every aspect of the story. Pay particular attention to the dialogue between Madoka and Homura. You'll see what I mean.

Character-wise, there's hardly a single member of the cast—either main or supporting—who feels unnecessary or lacking. The main characters possess a surprising amount of depth, and the nature of the “magical girl” agreement in which lives are risked for wishes forces each of them to examine themselves with brutal honesty. There's also a cleverly played comparison and contrast between the veteran magical girls and those who are being asked to join the ranks. The veterans include Homura, the mysterious transfer student who hides deep-seated insecurity behind a cold and emotionless facade; Kyouko, whose fiery temper and self-loathing result from shattered idealism; and Mami, whose easygoing air of confidence conceals an aching loneliness and desire for human contact. Then there are the two girls who are newly propositioned by Kyuubey: Sayaka, a selfless girl whose desire to help others with no regard for her own well-being is more of a fault than a strength, and Madoka, an average girl whose lack of self confidence and inability to think of a wish are mainstays of the plot. It's a unique cast where nobody is quite who they seem to be, and their reasons for hiding themselves and making the choices that they make are revealed in a pacing-appropriate manner as the series progresses. The interactions amongst the veterans, who all have their own personal reasons to fight, are interesting. However, the real character conflict evolves when the newcomers are confronted with the harsh philosophy of their more cynical counterparts: This isn't a fairy tale, and dreams about kindness and helping others are a distraction that could land the magical girls in a grave. This clash of idealism and pragmatism is the source of much of the show's drama. There is an excellent degree of understatement to the character interactions that might not be apparent on the first watch.

It'd be easy to let the main characters steal the spotlight, but there's also a good cast of support who are deserving of praise on numerous occasions. Madoka's sharp executive mom and caring stay-at-home dad are definitely worth mentioning. Although they're both unaware that their daughter is being propositioned to fight manifestations of human suffering, they inadvertently give Madoka advice that she carefully weighs before making decisions, and therefore play an important role in her development. The only character I might point at as underdeveloped is Hitomi, a friend of Sayaka and Madoka who doesn't have a lot going for her other than being a plot device on a few occasions; her personality seems to take a turn from “comedic relief” to “dead serious” when it fits the show's needs. Admittedly that's a nitpick. I find it to be forgivable and easily overshadowed by the depth of the cast as a whole.

Someone with time and determination could probably write an extensive dissertation about thematic developments in Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, but it's out of the scope of this review, mostly for reasons of length and relevance. Suffice to say that the series touches on a variety of themes that, like the plot twists, are foreshadowed right from the beginning. The two most noticeable themes (in my opinion) were the balance of human emotion in the world, and the nature of human desire and selflessness. The first is touched on at dozens of points throughout the show, with the key question being whether or not one human's happiness always spurs another to be unhappy in an equal quantity. The second is not as clearly visible, but the series seems to be prodding at the question of whether or not people do the right thing because it's right, or because they want to be rewarded. During a memorable discussion in which one of the girls is considering using her wish to help a love interest recover from an illness, another girl asks her: Do you want to help him for his own sake, or because you want him to be grateful to you? These are mature themes that get developed into something genuinely impressive by the end of the series. The dialogue is always surprisingly poignant, and underlined with a note of subtlety. Themes extend directly from the character interactions and plot; the writers are generally careful not to bludgeon the audience with overt philosophical explanations. Many times I think elegant writing of this nature is a lost art, but a series like this always reaffirms its existence. I've mentioned only two core themes. The series is a regular playground for anyone who likes to go in-depth and pick at details, and there are many more that I've sidestepped around, both for the sake of brevity and to avoid spoilers.

The show's characters and world were brought to life by Shaft, a studio with a track record of unique and eye-catching visuals. That track record is certainly maintained here. The series is noteworthy not only for its markedly high production values, but for several artistic decisions that accompany its descent into darker material. The magical girls themselves, while undoubtedly well designed, are ultimately somewhat typical looking—decked out with very ornate jewelry and frilly clothing, as you'd expect magical girls to be. However, the world that Shaft has created is one that changes constantly around them, to the point where they seem to be the only element left standing that isn't horribly warped. The city, which is originally a brightly lit place colored in pastel shades, becomes a dark and rainy slum as the series makes the transition to content of a more grim and revealing nature. The centerpieces of the show's artistic creativity are undoubtedly the labyrinths created by witches when they manifest themselves in the human world. Every witch encounter is animated with a unique and unconventional style; unorthodox art within unorthodox art. One is made up entirely of two dimensional images which form a scrapbook-like affect that resembles a hallucinogenic-induced nightmare. In my personal favorite, the characters and the witch are depicted as black silhouettes on a constantly shifting black-and-white background, with dark red blood from wounds serving as the only other color in the scene. As the series progresses, the witch encounters become increasingly haunting and psychologically grating, and the art direction makes it clear that, to the characters, the witch labyrinths represent a world even more cold and alienating than the one they already inhabit.

Would it be too much to ask for a series with great visuals and a great plot to also have great music? Apparently not, because Madoka Magica is augmented by a strong musical score that is, quite frankly, the perfect icing on this particular cake. The soundtrack is composed by Yuki Kajiura, who had previously created the acclaimed soundtrack for Kara no Kyoukai (among other things) and would later go on to compose a marvelous score for Fate/Zero (among other things). Suffice to say that the word “slacking” does not appear to be in the woman's vocabulary. What's always impressed me the most about Kajiura compositions is the wide range of emotional tones that she can successfully convey with music, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the arsenal of songs written for Madoka Magica. There are lighthearted flute and piano driven melodies for moments of laughter at school, songs spearheaded by upbeat percussion for scenes of rapid action, and weightier orchestral tracks with heartrending string instruments for moments of sadness and reflection. The result is that the music carries the show's unmistakable double hallmark of cuteness and darkness every bit as much as the art. Even the show's opening and ending themes seem designed to reflect the dual nature of the series. The opener, “Connect” by ClariS, is an upbeat J-pop tune. Its counterpart is “Magia” by Kalafina; the ending theme changes several times (each change is a reflection on the tone of the series) but “Magia” is the most prevalent. It's a melodic metal track with heavy lyrical themes that correspond to those of the series. “Magia” also plays as an insert song on several occasions, most notably in the introductory sequence that I mentioned earlier. For me, and probably for many others, the music is a big part of why the series “had me at hello,” so to speak.

Far more than the sum of its parts, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is a truly unique and ambitious series that delivers in every regard. There's something here for everyone—action, character-driven drama, a thick plot fraught with conspiracy and revelations, and a myriad of mature themes which are developed so well that most anime can't touch them with the figurative ten foot pole. The only regret I associate with this charming and intelligently written piece of work is that I waited so long to watch it. My only regret after watching it was that I waited so long to watch it again. If you haven't done so already, I suggest you avoid making those same mistakes.

When I first started, I had no idea what I was getting into. I thought this would one of those weird childish shows that people with too much time on their hands use to pass the time, and boy was I wrong.

This is a very different "magical girl" anime, completely different from what you'd expect. Instead of a cutesy childish theme, it does a complete 180 which gives it a dark mature feel.

This is one of those animes where everything comes together and makes sense in the end, giving you a "Mind Blown" feeling. The characters may seem 1 sided or flat, ... but through watching you come to understand that each character has a different story to tell.

I was completely surprised that I liked this anime as much as I did.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an action anime produced by SHAFT. One of the most compelling and interesting stories I have ever experienced in anime. I will be carefully avoiding any revealing of the surprises in the plot of the show, as a result, this post may be very vague.

The concept of the show is deceptively basic. Various demons, known as witches, exist in the world causing death and despair to anyone they come in contact with. Puella Magi, teenage girls given magical powers and combat abilities, are employed to fight these witches, in exchange for a single wish. What may seem like a standard ... magical girl series, quickly becomes an inevitable spiraling journey into darkness for the group of magical girls.

The central character of the show is Madoka, a teenage girl drawn into the secret life of the Puella magi. The main plot of the show is her contemplation as she decides whether she should join the fight against the witches, which becomes an increasingly complicated decision as more of the secrets behind the origin of the witches and the purpose and fate of the Puella Magi are revealed.

Every aspect of Puella Magi Madoka Magica is executed with an extremely high level of professionalism. SHAFT are a very original and imaginative anime studio, who have instilled that originality into this series. The magical girl anime genre is usually light and cheerful, SHAFT have taken the genre in a much darker direction, with plenty of death and depression. One of the main themes is inevitability, the Puella Magi are given many different choices and many different paths, but it quickly becomes obvious that they really do not have as much free will as they may think.

SHAFT have an easily identifiable art style, one using many different techniques not entirely common in anime, such as stop motion using various detailed textures. These techniques are used expertly in Puella Magi Madoka Magica to further the dark atmosphere of the scenes in the show, contrasting with the more traditional art styles of the characters in the show, but matching beautifully at the same time. Outside of these original techniques, the standard character art and designs is also of an extremely high level, with the character designs referencing the colour themed characters of standard magical girl series, but toned down slightly to fit the theme. The various backdrops, whether using the standard drawn style or the more standout stop motion style are all exquisitely drawn. The music and sound of the show must also be recognised, furthering the dark mood and setting of the show.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica has an excellent cast, all excellently voiced, each with their own well developed struggles and storylines within the overarching plot. One of the most important things to mention is how realistic the characters are, in how their backstory is developed and how they react to the strange and depressing events. The overall story is bleak and tragic, the characters are developed and identifiable, which only makes their struggles more relatable and ultimately tragic.

In conclusion, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is a series every anime fan must watch. Definitely the best anime series so far this year, I will be extremely surprised if any series manages to best it before the end of the year. An extremely original, well written storyline with weighted characters and an interesting and effective art style. Definitely reccomended to everyone, watch this series.

Forget about the whimsy, pleasant, and archetypal mahou shoujo series, Mahou Shoujoi Madoka exemplifies the evolution of “magical girls” anime. As expected, the plotline involves magic plus transformation, and features school girls with supernatural abilities who are committed to fight evil. Like any typical mahou shoujo anime, friendship and fulfilling a sole wish are the main reasons why Madoka and the other heroines chose to make a deal with Kyubey to protect humanity. However, don’t be deceived by the emblematic majokko and flashy sweet natured vibe of this series, as there is something apparently dark and serious behind the seemingly generic plot.

In the beginning, ... I tried extremely hard to avoid this series, for I’m not fond of fantasy based animes. However, after watching the first episodes of almost half of the new animes, of all, I was taken aback by Mahou Shoujo Madoka’s high-quality audio-visual and mind stimulating themes. Truly, nothing is more effective in stealing my attention than the permutation of symmetry, labyrinths, and fractals mixed with evil candy canes, cakes, dollhouses and obscurity. Also, the sensible used of cool soundtracks to soothe the mood, added to the reason why I suddenly found myself considering the plot as a background.

Nevertheless, I can’t just simply ignore the plotline. There’s unexpected horrid and mystery behind the relaxed colours and wide-faced characters, which successfully created a positive deception and negated the familiar viewers’ perception about Mahou Shoujo Madoka.

Likewise, I love how death is used effectively to chain actuality and idealism. It certainly deviates the viewers’ discernment about the show and clearly separates this magical girl series from its predecessors, where usually heroes always escape death—as Gregory House mentioned “almost dying changes nothing, dying changes everything”.

One thing is for sure, prejudice is detrimental because the series that I tried so hard to disregard is now something that I look forward.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is one of the most overrated anime ever made. Yes, I said it, attack me fanboys! For heavens sake, please stop worshipping this show, it certainly isn't bad but it is not a religion or something. Maybe I sounded a bit salty, excuse me, Madoka (I'm not going to write down the whole name twenty times) is actually a decent, above average anime. But it's not a masterpiece, thanks to plot holes and poorly written characters. If you want to know what's exactly wrong with it, I suggest that you keep reading, if you are a Madoka-fanboy/girl please stay away, I ... don't want to hurt your precious feelings.

~story~ 5/10
This anime is praised by a lot of people for being the first and best deconstruction of the magical girls genre, surprise: it's not! Revolutionary Girl Utena and maybe even Princess Tutu did the same thing long before Madoka was created and they did it better. Why? Because these two series did not only rely on shockfactor and (over the top) drama, like Madoka did. Yes, the plot twist is quite good, but your story is not supposed to rely on one plot twist! And there wasn't any foreshadowing. So even though the plot twist is quite interesting, it's certainly not the best moment in anime history. Also, the drama was a little bit over the top, "look, everybody suffers", "look, everybody suffers more", "you're supposed to feel for the characters and cry your eyes out", "look even more suffering!" "WHY ARE YOU NOT CRYING?!" Yes, I know it, being a magical girl sucks, but I just didn't care for these characters, because they're so bland. And I'm not going to care for them if you make them suffer more, give them an interesting personality instead.

Okay, I got a bit carried away, let's just start with the story: our cute main character Madoka lives an everyday life with her loving family and best friend Sayaka. She and her best friend meet two other girls, Homura and Mami and an cute looking alien called Kyubey. Homura tries to kill Kyubey and Mami protects him and tells our main character that she is a magical girl and made a contract with Kyubey. Apparently if you make a contract with Kyubey, he grants one wish and you become a magical girl. Magical girls have to fight witches to protect other humans. Madoka and Sayaka are quite interested in becoming a magical girl until 'something' happens. After that the darker sides of being a magical girl appear. And what follows is despair, struggling and crying, oh and another plot twist near the end of the story. Of course I'm not going to spoil everything in case you haven't seen Madoka, but this anime is not only known for the cute looking characters.....

One of problems I had with this anime was the pacing, it starts of very slow but after the first half the story seems really rushed.
Also, info dumping, Kuybey was supposed to be an emotionless being that did not care about humans, but he starts monologuing out of nowhere to tell the viewers how something works or why. That's really weird because why would he do that? It's not like he cares about the other characters, so why would he tell them random stuff, even if they don't ask for it? It's just a lazy way to explain the viewer what's going on. Also, making important female figures (like Joan of Arc) magical girls was hilarious and really stupid, same thing goes for the idea that the universe can only exist if there is enough teen angst. And my last problem was with the ending, it was weird, not fully explained, but of course a lot of fans loved because it was tragic and sad, and emotions are more important than logic, right? No.

But the story is not extremely bad, it had epic fights and the psychological problems of the characters were intriguing, though this could have been way better, if there were more episodes and a little bit less over the top drama.
[CONCLUSION]
It is interesting, but it wasn't half as good as some fans claim it is. Te story had some serious issues with the pacing and there was just too much drama. Also there was a lot of lazy info dumping and the story relied on 'feels' and plot twists, sadly enough the story was really promising, a shame that it turned out like this. And I really disliked the ending, fusing with the universe, what?! So Urobuchi, I know that you're regarded as one of the best writers in the world of anime, but the writing of your 'masterpiece' is not that good.

~animation~ 8/10
In loved the art, everything looks cute at first and because of this, the viewers are (even more) shocked when a certain thing happens. The art during the battles was... weird and really awesome, when the characters battle the witches everything looked very bizarre and surreal. The art was really good, though I personally disliked the way the characters looked at first, too cute and their faces looked like blocks. But it works and after a while I got used to it.
[CONCLUSION]
The animation is great, especially during the battles. Though it gives you the feeling like you're on drugs. The character designs were certainly unique but I personally disliked them, but if you watch the show you'll know why the animators used this style.

~sound~ 9/10
The opening 'Connect' is a cute song and I understand why the creators decided to use this song. The ending 'Magia' is darker and fits the show better, so I liked the opening and the ending. The OST's were also very good, especially 'Sis Puella Magica'. The background music was used the right way, every song fitted the scene in which it was used. So great job!
[CONCLUSION]
The music was really good, the opening, the ending and the OST's. Also, the voice acting was really good. The music was the best part of this anime (that's not an insult, but a compliment for the music)

~characters~ 3/10
You could have replaced the main character (Madoka) with a brick and the first 9 episodes would have been exactly the same! Our main character has only one character trait that really stands out: she cries a lot, oh and she has a lot if cheesy lines which she screams at her friends in the most annoying and whiny way possible. The characters were by far the worst part of this anime, our main character is at first plain annoying but it gets even worse, (spoiler) our main character (the whiny little girl) turns into a godlike being and is now part of the universe or something like that.... really creators, really. The other characters aren't that good either, Sayaka is the happy, tomboyish best friend but later turns in a tragic heroine (or that is what she could have been if she wasn't that stupid and cliche) and her friendship with Kyouko is stupid, ("I want to kill, because lolz", two days later "I actually respect you", a week later "Let's die for each other") this is not how friendships work, Kyouko is a just a one dimensional evil girl that gets a sad backstory and also turns into a tragic heroine. And Homura at least gets some proper character development, though a bit over the top (and her friendship/obsession with Madoka is somewhat creepy) oh and they also tried to make her a tragic heroin. Mami wasn't developed at all. There was only one character that interested me, Kyubey. He is quite intriguing, not really evil but not good either. One problem, his logic is really flawed (I have to get witches otherwise the universe is doomed, oh the witches are gone, still no problems with the universe because of plot convenience). All in all, the characters acted stupid. And they are either annoying little girls or a goddess because of weird logic. Also, their psychological problems were not nearly as interesting as they could have been.
[CONCLUSION]
Our main character is annoying, weak and stupid during the first 10 episodes and after that she's just weird. Oh and almost everyone was just a stereotype with weird relationships with each other (Sayaka and Kyouko, Homura and Madoka). Kyubey could have been a great villain, but he wasn't thanks to his flawed logic, still he was an interesting character.

~enjoyment~ 7/10
This is a show about girls fighting witches with all kinds of weird weapons and the world seems to be on drugs, yes this show was enjoyable. But I had the feeling that it started very slow and I was really done with Madoka's crying after the fifth time. As I said before, this show could have been way more interesting if the psychological issues of the characters were handled better. Also during the middle of the show, it got rushed and the pacing was a bit off. But it got really interesting again after the ninth episode.
[CONCLUSION]
The battles were really enjoyable, but there were some pacing problems and because of this, the story was rushed and not everything was properly explained. Also some characters (including the main character) were a pain. Because of this the anime wasn't as enjoyable and good as it could have been, this was a pity, because this anime could have been a masterpiece! Still it's enjoyable and an anime that every real anime fan should have seen. I'm not a fan of this anime, but I certainly did not hate it, it was a decent anime, nothing more and nothing less.
Peace!

Ah, Madoka. A short anime, yet one that seems to have affected many people within such a short time span. I doubt we've seen a magical girl series this talked-about since Sailor Moon. As a magical girl fan since childhood, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into the ever-popular Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica.

Story

If you want an anime that sticks firmly to your plot, then Madoka should be right up your alley. It rarely strays from the task at hand, and is always focused on what is happening. There are many plot twists and interesting notes that keep the viewers guessing, and can even ... keep you the edge of your seat. There were some plot twists I admit I guessed already, but you'd be hard pressed to guess them all in this series.

I must also praise Madoka for its pacing. Somehow, everything seems to tie in at the right moments in the series, and it even wraps up nicely in the end. I don't think I've ever seen an anime with every scene so carefully placed then this one.

Art

I have to admit, I was initially attracted to the moe designs. They were really cute, and I was expecting such nice cuteness to develop in the series.

No dice.

Not to say that that's a negative, because that is actually a plus. Expect a very dark series that uses strange abstract backgrounds to make a scene really pop out at you or even scare you. The "witches" are one of the most beautifully detailed parts in the series, as they are where this abstract animation appears. Their worlds are unique to each and every one of them, and it's always interesting to see what trouble they will sprout for the characters next. The animation itself is also fluid and nice. Again, everything seems to be taken care of nicely, thus the studio did a nice job on this front as well.

Sound

I have to say that even as I praise what is above, nothing is better than the music in Madoka. From the opening song of the entire anime (which later becomes the ending), "Magia", to the emotional opening "Connect," this anime has an amazing soundtrack. There are a lot of pieces that add to the emotional turmoil of the scene, and make a scene like a transformation all the more...."magical," for lack of a better word. If you are on the fence with Madoka, I heavily suggest at least trying it out for its OST.

Character

And with that, the praise train abruptly wrecks, because we are at, in my opinion, what Madoka did the most poorly out of everything in the show. It really is a shame, because I was expecting much more out of the characters, but in the end, they seemed extremely shallow to me and unlikable. And, worst of all, in the center of that is Madoka, herself, who is probably one of the most irritating protagonists I've ever had the treat to watch, and by far the worst character in the show. It's not that her character becomes irritating; in fact, I liked Madoka in the beginning. But I was surprised by how much her character DIDN'T change throughout the series. Until around the second to last episode of the series, she was still "hunky dory happy sunshine fun times." Which I don't usually mind, but this is a series that isn't "hunky dory happy sunshine fun times." Bad things happen to these girls. Often. And you'd expect Madoka's character to harden, and become stronger as a result? No. Instead, she cries and cries in just about every episode after three. Sometimes, MULTIPLE times within an episode. And continues to insist that everyone should have "peace, love and happiness." Yeah okay Madoka.

It doesn't help it that the rest of the cast is at the same level of unlikeable. All the characters are pretty much cut board cut outs of tropes, but even when they grow past that, it is much too late. I can honestly say I never cared about Sayaka, the reckless hyperactive friend of Madoka, or her storyline; and Homura, the quiet assistant of Madoka, can be irritating in her own ways. I personally felt like her episode to explain her past came by much too late in the series, as I was already beyond caring. It didn't help that I found her countless "interruptions" in fights or important scenes annoying as well (regardless of her powers). The only likable character isn't around long enough for you to develop an attachment to her either.

Enjoyment

And I must say that the characters really dragged down my enjoyment of the series as well, because this show LOVES to take these cutesy characters and do horrible things to them. Thus, when bad things happened, I was pretty indifferent, and didn't really care about it at all. I found myself rushing to the end as well, because I was really ready to be done with this show. This was very disappointing, because the music and story are all well done.

Overall
To throw all these points together, Madoka is a decent show that tries some great new things, but is also in need of improvement. Is it a good show? Definitely. Is it a great show? Er....that one's up for debate.

Final Scores
Story: 8/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 10/10
Character: 3/10
Enjoyment: 4/10

OVERALL: Madoka's a 6 out of 10 in my book. Good show, but has flaws that took over the enjoyment of the anime.

Thank you very much for taking your time to read my review.

I normally don't watch magical girl genre, and I also normally don't watch an entire series in one night. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica quickly captured my interest and had me captivated throughout every episode.

You may be thinking that this is some 'happy-go-lucky' typical shoujo anime. However, that isn't the case at all. It is dark and twisted, and has unexpected plot twists as well as serious issues.

I was initially shocked by the artwork because it is so unique. Parts of an episode will be in one style of animation while other parts will be different. It is so intriguing to watch the episodes and ... see how the animation style reflects the atmosphere and tone of the scene.

The sounds complimented well to each episode and every scene. It also wasn't just your average sound effects, but there were songs and snippets of melodies and such playing at different times. I normally don't notice the sound too much in an anime, but here, I really did notice the difference and enjoyed the attention to detail.

The characters are all so unique. Each has their own way to fight and for different reasons, even though ultimately they have the same goal. I thought that most of the characters were well-developed. Kyubey caught me off guard, and changed my view of the entire series. It was interesting to see how the relationship between the characters changed because of Puella Magi.

I enjoyed this series so much, and I am going to rewatch it very soon. I'm not going to say there weren't flaws in this anime, because with any piece of work there is always going to be something to change. However, I felt like the overall experience and anime was brilliant, and would highly recommend it to anyone-even those who typically do not watch this genre.

You'll often hear Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica (henceforth referred to as simply "Madoka") described as completely revolutionising the Mahou Shoujo - or magical girl - genre of anime. You'll hear people say it "deconstructs" the Mahou Shoujo genre. But just how accurate are these statements?

Madoka is different from other Mahou Shoujo. That much is made evident around a quarter of the way in. It isn't all sunshine and rainbows in the Madoka universe - oh no. The true nature of the universe is revealed to us - quite suddenly - as one in which death is a very real possibility; one in which we can ... expect the heroines of the show to die.

But does all this mean that Madoka is a deconstruction of the genre? Heavens no. Sure, we are presented with a universe that is far from the norm of Mahou Shoujo, but it is in no way a deconstruction of the genre. The "deconstruction" trope refers to taking apart something (hence the deconstruction) in order to better understand its meaning and relevance to us in reality. Madoka does not deconstruct - merely because there is death does not make it a deconstruction. It does not mean elements of the genre have been laid bare to the rigours of reality. Madoka simply looks at the genre through a different scope.

The perspective that Madoka is viewed from is, as I have mentioned above, completely different from most Mahou Shoujo. It is darker and there is death. There is quite a heavy focus on the suffering on the heroines. It paints quite a bleak picture. But are these elements enough to warrant praise? Does it make the series revolutionary? Does being different really make it good?

Of course not.

Madoka is so often touted as being brilliant because it deconstructs the genre, because it shows the world of Mahou Shoujo from a different scope, or simply because of the twists. Simply put, many see Madoka as being good because it is different - because it subverts cliches and has heroines far different from the norm who have to deal with issues that usually are never explored in the genre. It would be foolish to dismiss the setting as being irrelevant entirely, but the truth is Madoka isn't good because of the fact it's dark. It is good because of how well it was executed.

Remember how I mentioned that the fact Madoka was different from other Mahou Shoujo was mentioned around a quarter of the way in? That's important. The dark universe of Madoka is not made immediately obvious to the audience. It completely takes the viewer by surprise, but it's a good kind of surprise - one that was foreshadowed subtly, albeit in a twisted fashion. It doesn't feel cheap. The brilliance of the execution that removed the façade of innocence from Madoka is twofold - not only does it completely take the viewer by surprise, but the event itself is not an irrelevant one. It serves as a catalyst for much to come in the series.

No event in Madoka is irrelevant; everything is interrelated, and every event seems to have significance. Nothing seems out of place - it's one concise story that flows well. The audience is kept on their feet; desperate to find out what happens next; desperate to find out how it all ties together. However, this is a double edged sword. This focused and fast-paced storytelling coupled with the fact it is only 12 episodes in length means that some developments are unfortunately rushed - for example, some plot twists come without warning and some characters seem to suffer due to these constraints (notably one of the original trio who seems to have just been cast aside).

The characters are however, for most part, very relevant to the plot, with their problems all tying together. The characters themselves are played quite well, with performances that really do add depth and life to their characters. However, I did not find the characters themselves very interesting - sure, their role in the plot was good, and I liked how their conflicts all seemed to converge, but (to use an example) could the character of Kaname Madoka really be seen as an interesting one? The personalities of certain characters in Madoka could only be described as generic and at times bland. This isn't that big of an issue though, considering the brilliance of Madoka once again lies with how the characters are used. It is their conflicts and their experiences which really adds life to this series.

The production value of Madoka is for most part quite high. The animation is usually fluid and of a high quality, with fighting scenes and transformation scenes being of a very high quality. There are slight mishaps, but it isn't a big issue. The art style of Madoka can only be described as unique - the faces are really, really wide. I was really impartial to this decision, but I can see how people might dislike this art style. However, even if you dislike the wide faces initially, by the end of the series you probably won't mind them. It really becomes trivial in the grand scheme of things and won't adversely affect your enjoyment of the series at all.

Another interesting facet of the art style employed in Madoka was the change in environment to a bizzare, surreal world whenever one of our heroines entered the realm of a Witch (which, if you don't know, are the antagonists of the series). The designs of witches themselves can only be described as bizzare. This is not to say this is a bad thing. The art style allows the viewers to see the contrast between the "real world" and the "Witches' Realm" - the difference between reality and this seemingly fantasy world; this world that is completely separate from the reality they knew of before - the world where they can get killed.

The sound was great, with the opening and ending songs providing an interesting contrast between jovial and dark. The use of sound in the series was generally done well - most of the music used was appropriate for the situation.

I found Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica to be an enjoyable ride. Sure, it isn't as revolutionary as many would have you believe, nor does it deconstruct the Mahou Shoujo genre, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. The show is littered with a myriad of symbolism and cryptic messages written in runes, factors that only seem to encourage you to rewatch it. It's definitely a series that I'd recommen and, despite its flaws, is still a brilliantly written series. A must watch.

Madoka Magica is an overhyped, overrated, pretentious mess. The pacing is horrid, characters are stale, the story is all over the place and the conclusion is plainly bad.

It's a "dark" magical girl series, which fails to get any emotional response because of how bad the pacing and the characters are. All this is held together by very pretentious "artsy" artwork and music. The only thing decent in the whole series is Kyubey, everything else is passable at best, horrible at worst.

This series is neither dark nor is it artsy, It's just a pretentious mess which tries to be dark and fails, the "dark" plot twists ... are neither unexpected nor are they particularly original, nor did they make me care about what was happening. This series tries to have some message, and also fails, because everything the characters do proves to have been a pointless waste of time by the end, when the plot completely disregards all their prior actions.

Characters are stale and cliche, they don't change, don't grow, anything they do has no relevance to the plot.

The music/sound in this series would be good, but it's hard to swallow it together with how pretentious the rest of the series is. Pretentious to the max.

Enjoyment... I guess Kyubey was enjoyable.

I advise everyone stay away from this series. If you really need a "dark" and "edgy" magical girl series, try something like Uta Kata, it's far from perfect but certainly more coherent.

*Might contains minor spoilers, after the review ends I put my interpretations which has 100% spoilers*

Magical girl genre is one of the more niche genre even in anime community. Anime fans proportions is heavily dominated by action fans. Yet in this action fans group, chuuni subgenre can be considered as unpopular compared to those that dominated the market, with the only exceptions for nowadays being Fate series. But by combining the aspects of those in this two genres, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica has become a new achievement for the medium. It popularized both genres, and has made many other magical girl shows that's created afterwards, tried ... to imitate its legacy. Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is one of the few series which can be enjoyable by wider audiences, it can serves as one of the gateway anime for newcomers, those who watch anime casually for just hobbies, and even some anime veterans who have longer experience for the medium and loves analyzing anime. More pros for me is that it has only 12 episodes so it's easy to binge, as I don't usually wanted to invest my time for a really long series except if I heard many good things about it.

Entering Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica, we will be greeted by pink haired girl, who runs throughout a long staircase until the door in the end of the staircase opened up for her, and then a bizarre scene featuring a black haired magical girl struggling in a hopeless fight against an abstract being which seemed to be from another world, with dark metal OSTs being played. This scene implies the tone of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica a lot. Introduction matters in order to grab one's attention towards a certain thing, it's called as first impression, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica can utilize it in order to make the combination of the two niche genre become popular, and enjoyable.

Magical girl genre has a history of having darker tone as the series goes and many of them also deal with the theme of sacrifice. While Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica also did the same with their predecessor, it also invented something's new, fresh, and ingenious messages that's being embedded as the core theme of the story. It meticulously utilizes forshadowing, characterizations, and dialogues in order to imply it, making this theme anything but hard to digest, at least for me. People who want to watch Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica however, can still enjoy the series for having a visually stunning fighting scenes, surreal magic world, the eerie-yet-relaxing atmosphere of the series thanks to the comfortable looking school, the tragic events that happened within the story, with the background music that's really strong to evoke such feelings to the viewers. Other people can also simply enjoy this series for being dark and full of despair without overthinking about it. Yet for some people, who likes to analyze a series Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica might also still hold a special place as a great work. When I firstly watched Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica as a new anime fan who only have few anime on my completed list, I consider it as awesome for the former reasons, yet when I decided to re-watch it after I learn on how to analyze works, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica have made me let out a sincere smile due to how intelligent it tries to deliver its core thematic elements with satisfactory ending.

The core thematic elements of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magicais simple, yet poignant. Imagine that you've met a creature who can grant you 1 wish of anything in your choice in-exchange that you'll become a magical girl that should fight against an evil beings called witches. Sounds cool? It maybe is for some watchers, and some others surely will notice that it's already said that such battles can costs your own life. Is there a wish that's more important than your own life? Being a chuuni genre, of course this theme looks exaggerated that one should fight in a life-and-death battle, so to put it realistically that almost everyone can apply it on their own life, "When you wish for something, is it the actual thing you need the most from the inside of your mind so that if you die tomorrow, you will regret nothing?" I have questioned this in my life for several times, and thankfully, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is the first step for me in order to realize the answer.

Speaking about plot points of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is impossible without mentioning the characters, as the structure of the story being a semi-character arc and in the end of almost every character arcs, new plot twists are introduced instead of being having "Monster of the week" plot progression, which I found in almost all magical girl shows that I have seen and I have to say honestly, that kind of plot progression is boring. This method of plot progression also will made the user think on how in the world will this series which has high dose of despair and hopelessness will end up as more twists are introduced? The first twist being the visual introduction of the actual tone of the story, the second being the introduction of the core thematic elements, which is further implied with Kyouko and Sayaka's dialogue before they started their next fight and lastly, the true definition of being a magical girl is on the world. Episode 10, which is infamous for having the rest of the cards being revealed from Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica's sleeves, can be interpreted in two ways. One may look it as an inevitable bad end that will land upon all the main characters that made the characters anguished until they developed into what they're yet still not solving the problem, while others might see it as a hope, which is foreshadowed on the episodes that the magical girl in action just have repeated the same mistakes over and over again in which the culmination of all the bad ends. But unbeknownst to her, had she did something that simple before, all the mistake she had should never happen. To summarize in the end, every characters on Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica have done the same mistake and that they can't tell the others before falling to the pit. As how the life implications will be when you have fall to these pit of "can't think what you truly needs in mind yet have done said actions", only regrets remains. I found that this mistake, despite on what kind of personality you have, has been at least done once by all people in the world, as nobody can escape for being wrong. And yet you need to get over with it and not fallen deeper, in this which part I will describe on the spoiler section.

The chuuni tone of this anime is also fun at least for me. It deals with the existentialism elements of the history of humanity and magical girls and how the world of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica works, befitting any of the common chuuni titles. According to my friend who studies Chemical engineering, it has some truth on it too, making it more appealing for those who are fans of the genre. One might question whether our universe is actually run with such conspiratory and unfair system, which is fun to think about it. I don't take it on an individual levle but simply because thinking like chuunibyous is fun to do.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica have a high production value and know how to use it properly in order to create an epic visuals that is surreal as if the existence of magic itself do exists in that world, having the witch labyrinth that gives a distorted feels on such an evil being, as expected from SHAFT studios which is renowned for its previous works Bakemonogatari. The character design looks nice too, and moreover, the magical girl clothes models can be linked to each of their own wishes. This also makes help on the characters memorability, aside from their quirks and character explorations, which I also have to put on the spoiler sections.

The voice acting is also wonderful. One can notice the level of voice acting with how much do you feel a character as they speaks, and I can at least totally understand their feelings even if I have to watch this raw despite not knowing what they're talking about. This is a sign of good voice acting as if the voice actresses know how to blend with the characters personality and to evoke certain feelings.

The OP lyrics is actually another foreshadowing on the show actual tone, as it is actually pretty sad, and the first scene itself shown that Madoka is crying on it so that one can already guess the tone shift, so I have to digress the people who said that it has no signs of it. The ED, which is actually the first song you've heard on the first 2 minutes and appears on episode 3, gives a darker tone, but the lyrics is surprisingly more positive compared to the OP. It also depicts on the magical girl chasing for hope through the darkness, in search for light that will brought peace upon her. As for the OSTs, like I have said before, brought by the talented composer Yuki Kajiura, it never fails to amuse me. My favorite OST among all of it would be "Sis Puella Magica", because it gives a strange sense of emotions for me. It feels both relaxing, mysterious, and depressing at the same time and this kind of theme truly befitting for Kyubey the most.

I have to admit that the cover poster of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is deceiving, it looks so lighthearted that people can easily mistaken it's a lighthearted series, despite it balanced the light and dark tone in my opinion.

To summarize, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is a fantastic ride of a more chuuni magical girl series that you will hardly found in any other anime. Magical girl in general might be weird for having darker tone in the end, but Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica put it on another level along with the implication of a simple yet profound themeatic elements, yet subtly show that a speck of light on the darkness of Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica can be seen, if one have enough love for it. It is by no means a perfect work, as there's few off-model scene and the character arcing is too visible that it doesn't have dynamics that much except for the characters required for said arcs, but it has achieved many things it has to offer for me for just 12 episodes in an entertaining way. It skillfuly throw hints on what this core thematic elements is all about that those who have enough love on it will realize on how compelling Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica actually is.

This marks the ends of this review with minor or might be no spoilers. For the implications of said themes to each characters for you who have lesser love for the series to realize it, which I have already posted it outside of MAL (100% spoilers):

The first few episodes are more of focused on Mami Tomoe, the senior magical girl which saved Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki from the witches. She can be described as a seemingly poised but actually fragile and reckless person. This is reflected on her fight with Charlotte (and it's emphasized on episode 10 when she is the one who lost her emotion control the first after realizing the truth of being a magical girl and shot the others.) When her family involved in a car accident, Kyubey approached her to offer her to become a magical girl and granting her a wish, and her wish is to live her life by her own, possibly because she know that she won't survive without her parents financially. So now let's see now on the basic traits of Mami, shall we? Among all of the Magical Girls introduced within this series, Mami looks the most elegant and luxurious of all. This is reflected by her magical girl character design (She has a curly tails harstyle while all the other girls have a simple and plain hairstyle, Her dress also gives splendor feels the most for me, and yellow is the color that represent money for me), the way she fights witches that backed up with the soundtrack "Credens Justitiam" make me feels that she's a gorgeous magical girl who fights for justice, and the place where she lives looks the most expensive compared to others. For me, all the splendor that Mami has was all rooted from her wish when she made a contract with Kyubey, which makes sense. But then again, is Mami's wish all that she will need the most for her life? How is it when a middle school girl live alone without feeling the love of her parents despite already having a luxurious life? I bet the first word that comes to mind will be: Lonely. Yes, Mami is a really lonely person in the heart, which is shown during some scene before she tried to fight Charlotte in episode 3. Moreover, she is also the most mentally unstable among the girls. For me this implies that her parents really loves and cares about her, so that the sudden loss of that feelings gives Mami a shock effect that makes her to that state.

The next character that I will talk about is Sayaka Miki. My comments on Sayaka Miki's characterization in it's simplest form will be "The least historical but the most fleshed out." She is depicted as a tomboy girl which is Madoka's best friend and classmate. Like Mami, she also has a strong sense of justice, proven on how she acts during the first time she become a magical girl. After Mami's death, she got a bit concerned about being a magical girl, but then she decided to do so, after knowing that her crush Kyousuke has suffered an injury on his hand so that he could never play violin again, which is his best abilities he likes to do, she decided to become a magical girl with the wish to heal Kyousuke. But is that what Sayaka Miki needs the most? Let's see how the story will flow further. At the first glance, Sayaka was so happy seeing that Kyousuke was healed and he can play the violin again, and Kyousuke looked happy to at Sayaka when he return to play violin. Sayaka then, as a magical girl began to hunt down for the witches, even the witches independent familiars (The one that also appears within the witches labyrinth, but then flew away from it. It can devour humans to turn themselves to witches but in that form, they don't drop grief seeds.) Another magical girl called Kyoko confronted her shortly, telling her that a familiar don't drop the grief seeds, thus making them useless to be killed and that she shall wait for it to become a witch so that it will clean her soul gem from being tainted. But Sayaka got enraged, believing that it's the same with she let a human die, which means killing humans for her. The two engaged in fight but Homura comes for them to cease the fight after Sayaka seems to be losing. But because of her wish that is related with healing, her pain dissipates quickly. They both have another fight in a street bridge after Kyoko said that she should've wished for him to like her and now that its too late, she will break her leg to make it happen, also with the prescence of the other two magical girls, and Kyubey. But this time Madoka threw up Sayaka's soul gem, hoping that doing so will prevent them to fight further. But another plot twist has just began. Sayaka lost her consiousness while Homura was chasing for the soul gem and returning it to Sayaka. Kyubey then explained that during the process of one to be a magical girl, when they're saying their wishes, their soul was being extracted and turned to be the soul gem, rendering them unconscious if their soul was 100 meters away from them. This subverted almost everything we expect about being a magical girl during the first two episodes (yeah I know that some magical girl anime have a somewhat tragic theme, but this anime didn't try to make it so at its first impressions.) After the incident, Kyoko tried to befriend Sayaka, but Sayaka with her strong sense of justice, often left her and keep thriving against all witches and familiars, doing what she believe was right. But then when she heard that her friends Hitomi, who also have a crush with Kyousuke was going to confess to him, she began to fell in despair. She feels that she can't be a good couple with Kyousuke with her current condition. She afraid on how if he knows that she was practically a zombie that fights against so many grotesque looking monsters. So by this time, we know that Sayaka's wish wasn't what she need the most. Ironically, its on what Kyoko said to her, which is to make Kyousuke fall in love with her. Because of this one mistake Sayaka has done, her personality grew darker as she rampagingly fought through countless of witches and familiars. She didn't even take the grief seeds, believing that its pointless now that her wish went wrong. She fell deeper into despair when she heard some guy badmouthing about a girl which is implied to be a magical girl. She got angered upon them and its implied that she murdered them both, believing that those guys aren't any better compared to the witches. So let's see now, does Sayaka still bring positivity, justice, or whatever you call it after knowing Hitomi was going to confess to Kyousuke? Or is it the opposite? Isn't she just become like the witches now that she killed those guys despite their attitude? And most of all did she still have any positive aura on her? All we can see is just that she was in a total desperation and even brought negativity rather than the positive. So now we even can come up with the question: Isn't this Sayaka become more and more witch like? And so it happened, when Sayaka's desperation was already beyond help, her soul gem shattered and she turned to a witch. The lesson is: Don't let yourself being eaten by hopelessness just because one of your wish went wrong, move on and do what you think is the best for you and this world sake.

Let's went to another character now, I bet you can already guess who is it. Yep, it's Kyoko Sakura. Kyoko is by far the best characterized magical girl for me. She has a balance between her backstory and how she acted on the series. Unlike Mami, Kyoko comes from a terrible family records, which makes her quirks differs alot with Mami. Her father was a preacher. When Kyoko's father see the suffering of some people, he thinks that the church must be revolutionized so that he used a new doctrine for his church. But then again most people seems to be disagree and thus they left the church one by one. Kyoko's family went to an extreme poverty after that. Kyubey then came and offered Kyoko a contract. She wished for her father to regain his followers. But is it what she need the most? Will her wish become as what she wanted or will it backfires? The fact happens to say that its the latter. Kyoko's father happened to be disliked on how his followers acted more of a cultist rather than a normal person. It went worse when Kyoko said about the truth. His father claimed that she isn't any better than the witches and he began to lose his sanity, become a drunker, and ultimately killed all of the family. Yep, Kyoko have done the same mistake Sayaka did. She should've wish for her family wealth and happiness instead and she knew if she just did a mistake on her wish. Kyoko's changes on her family was less of a shock compared to Mami's and was never to be as loved as, making her personality firmer, selfish, and more badass. She is more tomboy than Sayaka. Also the fact that her family has ever suffered in an extreme poverty made her value food so much, which is shown on how she was angry when Sayaka thrown the apple she gave to her on episode 7. She also believed that humans, witches, and magical girls is just like a food chain and only kill the witches. After Sayaka's collapsing incident when they have some fight and Kyobey explained some fact about being a magical girl, felt decieved, she got angry upon Kyubey saying that he only turned them to zombies. But this event also makes Kyoko felt sympathy for Sayaka, thinking that they both have did the same mistake and undergo the same burden of being a magical girl, and both girls being tomboys. And this is where we can see the difference between Kyoko and Sayaka, which is Kyoko is a more easy-going person, given she has went through a lot of shit which was worse than knowing the truth of being a magical girl compared to Sayaka. This also being showed before that she didn't hold grudges to Homura for stopping her fight seemingly sided with Sayaka when she come to her when she played some Pump it Up like games while eating chocolate sticks. She also cared a lot about Sayaka's safety, proven that she always followed wherever Sayaka hunt for the witches and familiars and she even helped her once, and probably will do that more if she got overwhelmed. She still wanted to save Sayaka, despite the girl had already turned to a witch. She asked Madoka to help her on this. During the fight, Madoka tried to call for Sayaka's witch form in attempt to make her back to her original state while Kyoko dodged and defended her attacks. But it happens to be pointless. So that Kyoko perform a double suicide with the witch with her magical ability while Madoka got escorted by Homura who was arrived just then. This showed us on how Kyoko truly loved Sayaka, given the fact that she could care less about justice, other people's sake, and even other magical girls. Overall I think Kyoko is actually a likable badass redhead girl. She has a great resolution and strong too. Her musical theme is somewhat gives damp and soft feelings, in contrast to most of our first impression to her, perhaps this was meant for she show her caring side towards Sayaka after episode 6. Also, I like cheongsam!

Okay so we will go with the character which is liked the most by the fandoms (me too), Homura Akemi. Homura was actually starts off to be the most timid among all the magical girls, even more than Madoka. When she was just recovered from a long-term illness, which made her not being able to attend school for a long time, she enrolled on Madoka's Middle School on Mitakihara. Homura during this time had a twin braid hairstyle, wear an eyeglasses, and weak at sports, the complete opposite on what she is when she was introduced on episode 1. Madoka is the first person who acted like her close friend to her, while also saving her life when she was being attacked by a witch along with the other 3 magical girls. They become friends each other. Homura is the only person who haven't become a magical girl yet during this timeline. When there's a giant witch called Walpurgisnacht attacked the city, the magical girl team had a fight with the witch, and ended with all of the magical girl are killed in process, due to the massive amount of strength this witch have. During this time, Homura was saddened seeing Madoka, the one she loved the most, dying. So she made a contract with Kyubey and wished to be able to redo her first encounter with Madoka. So then during this timeline, there's 5 magical girls. But things still not fixed. Homura is the only magical girl who survived, whilst Madoka, struggling for her life in agony got her soul gem tainted so much that Homura witnessed by herself on how she became a witch. Homura then resetted the time, now trying to tell them the dark truth behind being a magical girl. Things didn't work perfectly as Homura wanted, Sayaka put her distrust upon Homura and parted way with the team, and turned into a witch, possibly due to the same reason on what happened on the previous episodes. After defeating Sayaka, the girls now believed on what Homura said before, but Mami loses control on her emotion and wanted to kill all the other magical girl. She killed Kyoko in the process, but stopped and shot by Madoka when she was going to kill Homura. So now there are only two magical girls remaining. They ended up defeated Walpurgisnacht, but both are in a dying state and there's only 1 grief seed remained. Madoka asked Homura to use the seed and kill her, in which Homura once again turned the time back after doing so. Through countless number of time loops, Homura still failed to save Madoka. This is what made Homura got desensitized and being somewhat "cold" towards stuffs, even deaths, because she had witnessed it countless number of times. She also may have used her infinite time to practice a lot amount of skills (shown by how she was superb at sports and studies during the first episode compared to how she was during episode 10.) But her goal is still the same, which is to prevent Madoka becoming a magical girl, which is obvious upon all the word she said during all of the episodes. So did Homura's wish actually what she needed the most? No, what she obviously need is just living happily together with her friend which she love and adores so much, Madoka Kaname, forever. Despite not actually care about other magical girl life other than Madoka, she still has her human sense of pity, seen by how she try to give Sayaka some grief seed knowing that she will become a witch if she didn't use it. I know what people likes about Homura, which is probably her cool looking style and behavior, her black design (lol she do the flipping so many times) and also what she have gone through. Yep, I like that about her too, she was so determined to save Madoka. But then things got worse after she knows that Madoka and Walpurgisnacht got stronger on each of her time travel so that she was trying to defeat the witch alone. But sadly she failed until "it" happened. Lastly, her music theme is somewhat feels like a hidden sadness for me, which is revealed to be true at episode 10.

Now before go with Madoka, let's go with Kyubey first, shall we? This creature is also have strong determination to make teens a magical girl, which is in this case we see a lot is Madoka. He even went as far as lied to Madoka on saying "It's been a pleasure to know you." to make her a magical girl. The fact on why he wanted to do so is that because there's some energy that can be actively used when a magial girl turned to witch so that it would prevent the world from doomsday, which also means his species extinction. Well I've read somewhere about the theory of creation that the universe are created from a "Big Bang" which one gigantic star explodes and all its matters separated and went away each other and it has something like nebula on it, which created stars, planets, etc. If all of the gigantic star matters keep went away, the nebula will be finally drained and no more stars will be created, whilst the existing star will die and it will be a true doomsday if no new stars were created. If being a magical girl can be used to made some spacial energy to nebula or to at least preserve the Sun energy than it makes sense for Kyubey to want more magical girls. He also said to Madoka that the collaboration between human and incubators already exist since the beginning of the human age, and the wish of all the girls is what make human civilizations grow further. But he hide all this dark truth, in fact, he did it on purpose to make one impression on being a magical girl is fun so that they made contract with him. Sadly enough, since there's noone would ever think that far, one wouldn't ask for it so he will never tell about it. What makes him creepier is that he didn't have any kinds of feelings, and will do everything to achieve his purpose while still maintaining his cute an innocent design. Cute and expressionless, now that's a combination that I've never seen before.

And now let's go to our final character we're going to talk about on this series, Madoka Kaname. Alright I got it, she got most of the screentime so you can see on how she was first being introduced as your typical cute, hopeful, and innocent little middle schooler who came from a fine family until that ending. She was the most excited to become magical girl after being introduced about it by Mami, but she haven't think about the wish well, since she knows that it can only be used once so it must be thinked properly. But then she got concerned about it after seeing Mami's death. Imagine how shocking would it be for a person like Madoka to see that scene? That would be the most horrible thing she had ever seen and will traumatize her hard, right? That's why she got depressed about Mami more compared to Sayaka, supported that she is the type who wanted everyone to be friends and happy. She try to avoid fights as much as she can, she even try to stop any fight between the girls, shown by her act of throwing Sayaka's soul gem before they fought (actually she wanted to stop the fight before too, but being powerless and they already fought, she can't do a thing.) The interesting things is that there's always some incident that happened on this timeline in which prevent Madoka to made contract with Kyubey, so finally what Homura have did for ages have grown its fruit. Yes, she got mindraped the most by Kyubey during this timeline, but its still better than losing her life and turned to a witch. But the main difference that happened during this timeline is that she realized that being a magical girl can turn one to a witch before she herself turned to a magical girl. So after knowing all the truth all over through all the incidents, she changed as a person. Now she know how she should say her wish and really determined to do it compared to how she was during the first time, it is even emphasized by her against her mother for the first time for this. Now then let's analyze this. When Homura almost end upp in a total deseration and turned to a witch, Madoka finally come and made her wish to Kyubey. Her wish is to "Erase every witch that has ever existed and those who yet to be born in every universe, and if there's any law that forbid her to do so, those law will be broken." This means that Madoka's wish will broke the law of nature and thus making herself the new law of nature, rendering her a godlike being, since that means she also erased her own witch which is yet to be born. Did Madoka happy in the end after reaching her godhood? Yes, she stated that at the conversation with Homura. Did she achieve her goal to made all the magical girls happy and have no woorries on their life? Yes, although it will be sad for Homura at the first time, but she recovered from it some time after the event.

So that's why Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is my favorite anime. It achieved way too much on just 12 episodes. The plot twist that this show brought really will give any middle school girl into a total despair and hopelessness, if that was real. It also explores through how people wish can be wonderful if done right, and how it could backfire when it isn't truly what they need the most, and how each characters used their wish for with their respective results. Also the show didn't make us to notice that the "wish granting" system is heavily flawed so that it is possible for someone like Madoka to break through it. I've been in middle and high school too and there's so many people who can't describe what they actually need properly, which been done by mostly female over male statistically. So does this show meant to be for everyone? I guess not, some people may dislike the progress of this show theme from being heartwarming to downright gloomy. But since it only has 12 episodes, I think everyone should try this anime, and for deciding whether they like it or not, that's all back to yourself. And if you asked about my favorite Puella Magi, I'll said that I liked them all firstly, but if I have to sort it out from my most favourites that would be Homura, Kyoko, Sayaka, Madoka, Mami. Via all these characters struggles, this story tells about a life-changing themes.

Moral of this story: In some events of life, you may have encountered a big problem, or your wish didn't go as well as what you need that is seemingly impossible to face them with a smile. But you must! Just do it! The moment you whine and desperate about it is the moment you become a "witch", the one who causes negativity to others that may give birth for another problems for others while not solving yours. Use any methods, as long as its legal, and the path will open itself for you as long as you never give up.