Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki are regular middle school girls with regular lives, but all that changes when they encounter Kyuubey, a cat-like magical familiar, and Homura Akemi, the new transfer student.

Kyuubey offers them a proposition: he will grant any one of their wishes and in exchange, they will each become a magical girl, gaining enough power to fulfill their dreams. However, Homura Akemi, a magical girl herself, urges them not to accept the offer, stating that everything is not what it seems.

A story of hope, despair, and friendship, Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica deals with the difficulties of being a magical girl and the price one has to pay to make a dream come true.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Akemi, Homura Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Kaname, Madoka Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Sakura, Kyouko Main

Nonaka, Ai Japanese

Miki, Sayaka Main

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Tomoe, Mami Main

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Kyuubey Main

Katou, Emiri Japanese

Charlotte Supporting

Kaname, Junko Supporting

Gotou, Yuuko Japanese

Shizuki, Hitomi Supporting

Shintani, Ryouko Japanese

Walpurgis Night Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Mori, Yasunori Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Reviews

Jul 16, 2024

IkssPink

Recommended

Beautiful.
Visuals set the mood so well, animation and artstyle is perfect. The use of mixed media was gorgeous. The camera angles made every scene so impactful and mysterious. The backgrounds are just so surreal.

Soundtrack was wonderful.

As a teenage girl I really loved how the girls dealt with their emotions. Madoka and Sayaka are way too real.

The visuals, soundtrack, and girls made an already great premise into a show which was a joy to watch.
10/10 would recommend to anyone
I will never forget this show, I don't think I was ever this emotional because an anime before. (Had to physically cover my mouth with my hands ... so my sister wouldn't hear me SOBBING from the other room during the last two episodes)

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jun 6, 2023

KitsGravity

Mixed Feelings

Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is one of the shows which have a lot going for itself on the surface and despite a few shortcomings, does a decent job in engaging the viewer with its plot which engages heavily in philosophy and morality.

The show's premise is of young girls forming a pact with a catlike entity, which promises to grant them any wish in return for them having to fight witches, which are often the main cause behind human tragedies such as natural calamities and crimes committed. If this feels too generic of a plot featuring magical girls and attributing every unfortunate event to fantastical ... phenomenons, it's because it is. While the series does not get an A for originality, it does manage to deliver on other fronts such as strong character development, especially the oft-mysterious Homura or its main character Madoka, who might seem like another run-of-the-mill magical girl at a first glance but develops into an intriguing focal point for exploring the moral dilemmas presented in the latter half of the show. Kyuubey is the show stealer but more on him later. The animation is another dimension which the show gets right; with the psychedelic visuals during fight scenes and the minimalist clean art style not only giving the show its own unique identity but complimenting the uneasy and sterile atmosphere.

Now for the negatives - The plot of the show is handled poorly and leaves a lot of explanation even by the end as to why the witches exist in the first place, where does evil originate from, why are there no magical boys and without giving any spoilers, the whole argument about energy creation and destruction is unconvincing a little unconvincing. The series' other characters are weak and their goals while being too naive for mature audiences to comprehend, leave to lot to be desired. We are presented with Mami, a typical do-gooder and an ally of justice and Sayaka, a cliched case study of hope turning into despair, who would do everything in her power to follow her heart instead of choosing what's rational. While these attributes don't necessarily make for a bad character, having no other qualities make them one dimensional.

Coming to Kyuubey, he is probably the most interesting aspect of this entire show and fans of Lovecraftian stories might appreciate his morality (or rather lack of) and reasoning. Without giving any spoilers, his motivations, goals and brand of rationality is what the show's foundation is built upon and because of this, he is THE standout character in the 12 episode story. The viewer would be left pondering a lot of questions about him long after the end credits roll and a few enthusiastic ones might even embark on a lore hunt.

Overall, while the series is far from perfect but it is not without its merits. While it may not appeal to the audience more accustomed to watching more mature and nuanced shows such as Paranoia Agent, Texholyze, Made in Abyss, etc., it does have its place as one of the better philosophical series in shounen category and its strong set of characters and and an engaging story with philosophical elements are enough to warrant it a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 22, 2023

DigiCat

Not Recommended

Funny

After initially dropping this there is only one reason i gave in to giving it a second chance: Kyuubey is adorable

Repeat after me, cats are adorable, cats can get away with anything, cats can rip your soul out of you and they'll still be the most eternally cute cuddlefluffs of the universe

Ok now onto the actual review

I'll admit, this wasn't quite as bad as i thought it'd be, it has a few redeaming qualities, the aesthetic for one, from Madoka's house to the school to the hospital, these imposingly large settings along with the series's borderline obsession with chairs gives it an incredibly eerie vibe. ... Also well done is how the ED switches as the tone of the show shifts
Now here's the problem, 90% of the redeaming qualities is adorable little Kyuubey

This anime is suppost to be a psychological mahou shoujo

Now maybe this is more of a personal thing, but i'm a battle shounen junkie, and when i see "mahou shoujo" i see "battle shoujo"
The battles in this range from nonsensical to inexistent
The many witch battles look like Alice In Wonderland on acid, credit where credit is due the one good battle, battle between magical girls, that was on another level, but after that you're pumped up for the epic final battle vs the biggest most powerful witch... and nothing happens, the actual fighting last 0.1 seconds

And now for the finale... of this review, the psychological elements, the aspect of this show that has garnered it praise from the high heavens
What? ... Whaaaaat???
The characters are beyond stereotypical, what psychological aspects? The ones ripped off from wikipedia??
There's nothing inheritently bad with stereotypes, but they need to be used with some nuance some layers
Homura's character archetype for example is usually one i love
Many of my favorite characters have this archetype or a part of it incorporated in them
But the way Homura was written i felt no connection to her, every action every expression felt mechanical, scripted

Almost forgot, the WTF moment between Madoka and Homura in the final episode
I'll give you a clue, how weird it is is spoild in the OP

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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