Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica wants be an outstanding show, something that wasn't delivered before, but fails at this feat in pretty much all departments of animation.

It's commonly conceived as a deconstruction of the mahou shoujo genre. However Madoka Magica merely twists some aspects of the mahou shoujo genre to give them a dark edge, but does not critically point out any potential flaws of the genre to make its audience question the genre's substance.

Starting off with the most obvious aspect, the visuals, Madoka Magica presents us with a lot of dark alleys and conversations without much animations going on. The few battles going on during ... the show do provide us with some rather good animations, although the many immersion breaking paper cut-outs are rather forgettable in those scenes.

The plot of Madoka Magica really wants to be a strong point for the series, often creating a feeling that "something interesting may happen sometime" to the audience. The problem is that nothing out of the ordinary actually ever happens. Virtually every single part of the show's story is forseeable, to an extend that a lot of people had actually thought up the show's major plot points much earlier before they had come up during the original airing.
For an ending that feels like the author was not exactly sure on what it should be like, while not delivering anything new or exciting, Madoka Magica also does not deserve much credit.

Having spawned dozens of character fan arts, the characters should be the shows strong point, but even here it is lacking substance. Over the course of all 12 episodes, the characters are very hesistant on making decisions and moving on, reducing the show's story to a few stretched out, sometimes very forced key plot elements. Due to this behavior the characters appear very one-dimensional, although the writer's intend on making these characters feel like actual people does shine through occasionally.

Taking all of its flaws in consideration it, I find Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica to be a rather boring show to watch. The action is good and enjoyable, but the characters talking and bitching about the same problems for episodes, and not coming to any interesting conclusions, really wears down on the enjyoment of this anime.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Goethe. Voltaire. William Shakespeare. Charles Dickens. Oscar Wilde. These are some of the most critically acclaimed and influential authors the world has ever seen. They have written texts that have shaped way we perceive the world. They have introduced ideas and philosophies that were previously unimaginable, and as a result left a deep imprint on the Western and Eastern worlds. But alas, none of them compare to Urobuchi Gen's magnum opus, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Never before was there such a profound piece of art on this level of brilliance. By comparison, all of the other authors mentioned seem like amateur fanfiction ... writers. I had a hard time writing that with a straight face, but anyway onto the review.

Madoka Shoujo Madoka Magica is a supposed, "deconstruction," of the magic girl genre. I use the term deconstruction loosely. It gained popularity, or rather notoriety, due its "deep," themes, "symbolism,", "complex" characters, and of course Urobuchi's trademark cruelty. All of these factors combined should be the recipe for success, correct? Not in this case. Madoka isn't a bad show by any standard. It is a show that reaches for the stars and falls drastically short.

Story(6/10)- Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica starts off misleading the viewer into thinking it is just a regular magical girl show. You have a pink haired protagonist with low self-esteem, a blue haired tomboy-esque chick who serves a foil character, and a magical creature that basically grants wishes. This has been the formula for any magical girl anime released in the past decade. However, this is all a facade to mask the fact that Madoka is a relatively dark show. The titular character, Madoka, comes into contact with a strange creature called, QB, who makes her an offer that is hard to refuse. You will be granted one wish, and in return you will become a Magic Girl who has to fight these monstrosities called, "witches," to save the world. Sounds like any young girl from Japan's dream right? However, little does poor Madoka know that their are huge consequences that come with this contract. Very early on in the show, we witness the hardships of being a Mahou Shoujo. Death, loneliness, despair. These are all that await these young girls. Sounds enticing right? Well, the show's execution is flawed and I will explain why.

Firstly, the show's pacing is off. The viewer is quick introduced to events without sufficient foreshadow or buildup, thus all the plot twists come off as contrived. Madoka would have benefited from being a 24 episode show as opposed to a 12 episode series. Everything comes off as rushed. There is not sufficient world building or anything that makes the show come off as organic in terms of the narrative.

Secondly, there is an over reliance on plot twists but most of these plot twists are simply just shock value. You thought what happened to Character A was awful in every way? No, that was just the beginning, THIS is much worse. And what lessons do we learn from all this suffering and cruelty? Nothing. There is no greater insight in seeing horrible things happen to these girls aside that Urobuchi's sadistic tendencies manifest themselves in interesting ways. The central theme in Madoka is to, "be careful what you wish for," and it is made obvious the first couple times bad things happen to the characters. But constantly adding new twists every couple of episodes to make the main characters lives increasingly harder becomes borderline ridiculousness. It doesn't help that most of these twists seem to come from thin air aside from a few that were alluded to.

Third, it is advertised as a deconstruction but it is anything but. Madoka may be a dark show but dark does not automatically mean deconstruction. At its core, Madoka is the same as every other Magical girl show out there only more edgier. It does nothing to point out the flaws of the magical girl genre and give us deeper insight into what it truly means to put your life on the line for an empty cause. Side point, the show also has underlying misogynistic themes. If you look closely, QB says that many of the great women in history were magical girls but all failed or messed up in some way or form. Is this to say that women are incapable of handling any sort of real power? Who knows, but that is my take on it.

Art (8/10)- Mahou Shoujo Madoka was animated by Studio SHAFT, a studio best known for their eccentric animation style. Madoka is a beautiful show. The backgrounds are very detailed and are laden with symbolism. The lighting gives Madoka this dark and ominous feel which adds a lot to the immersion. It makes it very hard to take your eyes off of the show. The character designs are a bit off putting to me though. The faces of the characters are square and a bit pudgy. Pretty weird in my opinion.

Sound(8/10)- The soundtrack was composed by Yuki Kaijura, famous for her works on The Garden of Sinners and .Hack series. This is probably one of her greatest efforts to date. The soundtrack is composed of melancholic soundscapes with occasional orchestrated high energy tracks that suit the more tense fight scenes. The sound direction for this show is truly impeccable as each track captures every moment appropriately.

Character(4/10)- The character aspect is arguably the show's Achilles Heel. The title character, Madoka, has to be the worst character in the show. She starts off with low self-esteem, leading me to believe there is going to be some interesting character development but surprisingly she never changes. The entire show literally revolves around her and yet she does nothing of interest for most of the show. Madoka is a character defined by her environment, a reactionary character if you will. She cries and moans over the bad things that happens to her and her friends, but we rarely ever get a deeper look into her character.

Her best friend, Miki Sayaka is hardly any better. She starts off as brash and bold, but we slowly get to learn more about her character. However, her backstory isn't fleshed out sufficiently to the point where I feel like she is an actual person. Her wish, although understandable, lacks any substance behind it. What I mean is, there wasn't a sufficient explanation as to why she made this wish aside from, I like this guy. As far as we know, there is no deep history between the characters so the wish comes off as stupid to me. Although she does, develop throughout the show, it hardly makes her likable or a better character. Her character developments seem inorganic because once again, they rely on shock value via plot twists.

The other characters such as Akemi and Kyoko are only slightly better but their motivations and reasons behind most of the things they do, don't make sense within the time frame it occurs. Kyoko goes from hating Sayaka in one episode, so much so that she wants to kill her, and in the very next she is revealing to her a sad sob story about her origins. There was no build up. What made her change her mind so quickly? Yes, she did say Sayaka reminded her of herself, but that isn't an adequate reason to change your mind about someone you were going to kill the episode before. Their "friendship," was rushed to the point of disbelief, and didn't make sense. Akemi is the same way, although her situation is slightly more understandable. But the extent to which Akemi would sacrifice herself for Madoka didn't make sense because they haven't even known each for a year and barely even a month. It does not make sense. Nobody would go through so much turmoil for someone they just met. And Akemi also has a power that was poorly explained and comes off as a plothole but due to spoilers I will not say what it is.

My favorite character is QB. I felt as though he was the easiest person to empathize with and his reason for making girls sign the contract was understandable aside from a few gripes I have with his reasoning behind it. But I don't think the show wanted me to empathize with someone they painted as a villain, but I felt he was more realistic than the aforementioned characters.

Conclusion (6/10)- So in conclusion, is Madoka the masterpiece it was hyped up to be? Not at all. It did not do to the Magical Girl genre what Evangelion did to mecha, and at it is core it is the same as all the other anime in its genre. The comparisons made with it being similar to Faust and European literature are superficial and borderline offensive to the authors. Madoka does not match the quality of most literature so I thought I should just put an end to that notion. The reason I am so harsh towards Madoka is because I look at what it could've been and what it is, and I am deeply saddened it turned out this way. However, Madoka is not completely without merit. It is an interesting take on the magical girl genre, and has some phenomenal production values. I would definitely recommend a watch but don't go in with high expectations because they are bound to be crushed.

Of all the divisive figures in anime, very few can start flame wars like Gen Urobuchi. Most "elite" critics here on MAL and over on the bastion of sophisticated intellectuals that is 4chan, hate him and call him the Anti-Christ of anime. I personally find him extremely hit-or-miss. One thing Urobuchi has going for him is that like George RR Martin, he is a crusty old bastard that won't cave to fan demands and make a happy ending, sparing all of the fan favorite characters. When the viewer doesn't know who will live and who will die each week, it adds suspense and keeps things ... from getting boring and predictable. He also IS a competent writer that can create beloved characters and keep a steady tone with occasional bouts of witty and sophisticated dialogue. "I have long since learned, as a measure of elementary hygiene, to be on guard when anyone quotes Pascal." The Achilles heel of Urobuchi is that the man doesn't have a creative bone in his body. Seemingly all he does is rip off other authors, and he barely even tries to disguise it. Hell, sometimes he doesn't even try disguise it at all, like Psycho Pass with the works of Philip K. Dick, notably Minority Report. A copy of Minority Report appears prominently in the background of one episode on a bookshelf! This generally means that the quality of the Urobuchi anime is directly dependent on what he's ripping off and if that work lends itself to easy adaptation.

So if Aldnoah Zero is a shitty Gundam ripoff and Psycho Pass is a surprisingly great adaptation of Philip K Dick's Minority Report, what is Madoka Magica ripping off? Mostly NGE actually. "WHAT!? Those 2 series are nothing alike! This reviewer must be on crack!" Allow me to explain what I mean. In the second half of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anno decided to make it more of a psychoanalysis project, but during the first half, EVA was supposed to serve as a complete genre subversion of the "teens pilot giant robots" Mecha genre. What TV tropes incorrectly calls a "deconstruction" , is when you break down a genre by identifying all the cheesy tropes and cliches, and turn them all around into something new. More often than not, this creates a dark new twist on the genre that basically shows what would happen if that genre happened in real life. For example, during the Gold and Silver Ages of American comics, costumed heroes received immense powers and never let that power corrupt them or isolate them from the rest of humanity. They fought crime without wanting anything in return, delivered cheesy one liners, and helped citizens basically all day out of the goodness of their hearts. This of course sounds completely bullshit and totally opposite of the dark reality that we all know and live in. In response, Alan Moore decided to create Watchmen to absolutely demolish American costume hero comics and show what would actually happen. The government uses super heroes to win wars by slaughtering millions of people, heroes develop God complexes, or are greedy, or are violent sociopaths. All of the cliches are turned upside down and all the naive assumptions of the genre were shattered. Neon Genesis Evangelion initially wished to do the same thing to the mecha genre and show why emotionally fragile teenagers suffering the angst that all teenagers naturally feel, would actually be HORRIBLE candidates to pilot giant robots and save the world from monsters. Madoka tries to be complete genre subversion of the "magical girl" genre of anime, which if that sounds like a stupid idea, it's because it honestly kind of is.

WARNING: Some Spoilers!

So what does a genre subversion of "magical girl" anime look like? Exactly what you think it would look like. Little moe girls receive magical powers, but this time those powers always come at a tragic cost and everything is extremely grim and depressing. I won't spoil too much of the plot, but basically magical girls have to give up their souls in order to get their powers and spend their days fighting monsters that they will eventually turn into once they become too tainted. “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.”-Nietzsche in his book "Beyond Good and Evil".

Honestly, this WOULD have been a decent idea, if EVERYONE hadn't already done it before! Claymore did this back in the early 2000s! Berserk has dealt with this topic. Hellsing has dealt with this topic. Not only has everyone done it, but a LOT have done it better than Madoka did! As for the whole "brilliant deconstruction" of the magical girl genre, the freaking magical girl genre has ALWAYS been firmly tongue in cheek, so making a Sailor Moon version of Watchmen wasn't really warranted, it wasn't clever, it doesn't deserve heaps of praise! This anime is quite decent on a technical level with animation, voice acting, music, but I feel it is an insanely overrated series that didn't really even need to exist! EVERYTHING that this anime does and receives praise for, has already been done FAR better by loads of other series. Madoka isn't actually a bad anime, but it is NOT a freaking masterpiece that needs an 8.6 out of 10. If Watchmen in terms of quality as a groundbreaking subversion is on the 100th floor and Eva is on the 80th floor, Madoka Magica is somewhere around sub-basement 3. Madoka is basically a mediocre anime that receives absurd amounts of praise from noobs, who have no idea what a genre deconstruction is and think Madoka is groundbreaking and brilliant, when it actually isn't. In summary, FUCK this series! Although I DO love the pun that people keep shouting online: Rusev Madoka, Rusev Magica! It is rather rare to see Bulgarian/Japanese language puns. I guess if I had to pick the most positive thing Madoka contributed, it would be that.

[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.

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.

Honestly, I don't understand why people are so in love with this anime. I was made to watch it and it wasn't so bad, so I finished it. That doesn't mean that it was great by any stretch.

Let's start with what was alright in my opinion. The soundtrack was decent and I liked the ending song. The music complimented the story nicely and that's all. The art was also good, especially the backgrounds were very well done.

Characters - I give them 5/10. They were believable in their behaviour (mostly), but I didn't identify with any of them and their struggles didn't really have any affect ... on me. Why was that? Probably because of what the story was doing to them. I admit some of them had their cool moments, but there were few and far between.

The story - in my opinion it's above average, but doesn't deserve more than 6/10. The idea to show why becoming magical girl is a very bad choice of future career has its appeal, but the ending totally destroyed it and cheapened the struggles of the characters. Basically, it all was going in a good direction, story-wise, then it seems like the authors decided that the magical girls have to save the world and maybe even the universe, because it's no fun without that. I hated it.

Enjoyment - at first there was none on my part, then the middle of the anime was good and interesting, and then the ending, which blew everything out of proportion and ruined the whole experience for me.

Generally I don't watch the magical girls genre, but I heard "Madoka" was different. It was, and probably it's very good in comparison to other animes of this genre, but when I don't comapare it to anything, I can give it only 6/10. Above average, thanks to some originality, but nothing great or exciting.

Thank you for reading my first review.

The fact that so many people still name Puella Magi Madoka Magica “the greatest or most significant or most influential" mahou shoujo series of all time only tells you how anime still is from becoming a serious art. Classic critics have long recognized that the greatest mahou shoujou series of all times are Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon and Revolutionary Girl Utena, who were not the most famous or richest or best sellers of their times, let alone of all times. Other critics rank the highly controversial Princess Tutu over classic anime who were highly popular in courts around Japan. This new wave of anime fans ... are still blinded by commercial success: Puella Magi Madoka Magica sold more than anyone else (not true, by the way), therefore they must have been the greatest. True anime critics grow up watching a lot of mahou shoujo of the past. Madoka Magica fans are often totally ignorant of the mahou shoujo of the past, they barely know the best sellers. No wonder they will think that Puella Magi Madoka Magi did anything worth of being saved.

In a sense Puella Magi Madoka Magica is emblematic of the status of modern anime criticism as a whole: too much attention to commercial phenomena and too little attention to the merits of real anime. If somebody composes the most divine mahou shoujo seires but Crunchyroll refuses to hype it up and stream it around the world, a lot of bloggers will ignore it. If every teenager on MAL hypes up a mahou shoujo series which is as stereotyped as one can be but launches it worldwide, your average critic will waste rivers of ink on said series. This is the sad status of modern anime criticism.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica sells not because it's the greatest mahou shoujo series of all time but simply because it is easy to sell to the masses: it has no difficult content, it has no technical innovations, it has no creative depth. Gen Urobuchi just wrote flat characters and obnoxious plot twists to catch attention of the masses. If somebody had not invented "Madoka Mania" in 2011, you would not have wasted five minutes of your time to read a page about such a trivial anime.

Under the crimson red glow of the sun, the girls jump into action. At the prompt of their premeditated quote varying from the power of friendship to that of installing justice, hurled at their enemy, the girls begin to transform (for you see, it is entirely impossible for a girl to do so without following this procedure, or, at the very least, posing brazenly in wake of their opponent that lays before them). Exploding into a barrage of colours and lights, while simultaneously losing their clothing for a brief period of time (but worry not, as, you see, those mysterious lights that accompany a magical ... transformation will cover up all the bits that would normally place you on the FBI watchlist if they were absent). As the transformation sequence is complete (a process that may take upwards of sometimes two minutes; no idea why the enemy just doesn’t attack them during that time since they are left completely vulnerable, but whatever), the girls take their stance, posing passionately at their enemy before them. The magical girls are ready to fight…

When the general public thinks of anime, several connotations and images are typically brought up, ranging from the battle shounen, in which two guys beat the hell out of each other with massive muscles, typical ecchi oriented anime in which girls are drawn to have ridiculously small skirts and extremely large breasts, and the most prolific, at least from what I’ve gathered from asking family and colleagues at university about this very same subject, are that of the magical girls! Even if you’re not particular that versed in magical girl oriented anime, as am I (for I’ve only seen the Sailor Moon series, Lyrical Nanoha and the show of discussion today) you’re at the very least probably familiar with the genre’s typical troupes and conventions, as the magical girl genre is perhaps the most parodied within the medium with countless examples out there, from Puruin in Welcome to the N.H.K to Stardust Witch Mereru in Oreiemo. As a result, there are several things people tend to associate with the magical girl genre, as I tried to replicate in my opening paragraph (and probably failed at mind, you) but there exists several deconstructions out there, going against the norm of what is to be expected from this typically more so child-friendly content, with the most popular example of these shows being Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica from 2011, becoming one of the most successful and popular anime ever created! But, alas, with all that said and done, let’s make a wish with some random cat who clearly looks like he will screw us over at some point, transform into a magical girl and dive into the world of Madoka!

Madoka, our main protagonist for this tale, along with her best friend, Sayaka, are regular middle-schoolers, until, that is, they encounter an adorable cat, by the name of Kyuubey, whom is capable of speech and through this, offers to produce a contract between each of the girls, resulting in them becoming magical girls (as Kyuubey needs them to fight off against these monster-like things called Witches) in exchange for one of their wishes to be granted. As the series goes along, more magical girls are introduced into the story, as the characters suffer through disappear and hardships, and, to cap it off, a lot of death as well! Madoka’s tone is one that takes a much more depressing and darker route than what is to be expected of these kinds of shows, and is consistent in its setting and overarching themes to make the world in which these characters inhabit, all the more bleak and miserable, with the constant threat of death always lurking around the corner, thus creating a sense of narrative stakes and tension since it is established early on in episode three, that characters do, and ARE going to die! This lends itself naturally in creating scenes with much more emotional weight, and the darker setting the narrative presents never really felt too forced, or what I’d usually classify as “edgy”. The show never tries to push its darker themes or ideas too hard to the point where it becomes silly, and instead opts for a mature and realistic tone that I feel was implemented in a serious and thought-out manner. The pacing for the show as well was also pretty consistent, moving the narrative along at a well enough pace to keep story beats moving. One thing that I actually really liked about the pacing, was how long it actually took for the girls to make up their minds in regards to their wish and what the dangers of accepting the contract may entail. I originally believed they’d make their wish at the first moment they could get within the first episode, but, instead, they ponder at great lengths, weighing it up in their mind, and as such, helped to ground the characters in a greater sense of believability, and made them seem more mature and rationale. Although, one thing I never really understood, is that why did none of the girls ever wish for more wishes? It was never established in the show that you are not allowed to do so, so why did none of the girls ever attempt this, especially since the wish is being promised by a cat who can talk! Maybe having more wishes could act as a means of reverting back, or changing something that may have gone wrong with your initial wish. Of course, this piece of criticism is one that is pretty pedantic, nor does it really effect my overall feelings towards the show, but I felt the need to point it out anyway.

The show also has enough plot twists and forks in the road to keep things interesting, and Kyuubey’s sudden reveal of new information to the girls that changes up the entire dynamic of how we think of the magical girls in general are easily some of my favourite moments in the show. Kyuubey is one sick pussy! As part of a race that always thinks cold and calculated, lacking any kind of emotion or sympathy for the magical girls he has created (whom he sees more so as pawns if anything else), Kyuubey upholds vital information in regards to the true nature of the magical girls and these sudden twists were one of the few incentives I had to keep watching, but I also feel that this makes Madoka a one trick pony, at least for me anyway. Kyuubey’s plot twists were one of only two things in the entire show to actually keep be invested in what I was watching and while I believe the show can be rather entertaining the first time through since one doesn’t know of the plot twists in the narrative, it leaves me with little desire to ever go back and watch again, which I suppose is fine, but I also value re-watchabiltiy in a title, and I feel that the other elements in Madoka are not strong enough to warrant another watch, and I don’t feel like I could get anything out of a second watch. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Madoka achieves what it sets out to do in regards to its narrative fairly well, but, again, this is quite a personal nit-pick for me, and perhaps quite a pedantic complaint none-the-less.

However, a less pedantic piece of criticism stems from the use of exposition in the show, and how overwhelming it can be at times. There are many times in the narrative in which Kyuubey dishes out exposition to the magical girls, about the origin of them or of himself, which, in small increments, can be interesting in learning more about the world, but these exposition scenes can go on for quite a while, and since so much information is being thrown at us in such a short amount of time, my brain eventually shuts off and I lose interest, especially since the exposition isn’t delivered in the most exciting way either. Now, one may argue that the exposition dumps in Madoka are justified since they given by Kyuubey, a creature who’s very existence is one that is very calculated and mechanical-like, so it makes sense for him to deliver information in such a way, and that is something I can totally understand, but it still doesn’t eliminate the problems I just mentioned, and if the exposition was spaced evenly over the course of the show, it would have helped to alleviate these problems for me greatly.

Some moments in the narrative can feel kind of trite and forced too, and depending on your tolerance levels, can put a damper on the entire experience. One such example of forced drama implementation is in regards to Sayaka, and the boy whom she loves, being taken away by one of her best friends. This love triangle sort of thing is not inherently a bad element on its own, but my main complaint is that this idea is never really fleshed out, nor is there any pay-off in regards to it either, and it felt like it was only there just to make Sayaka suffer all the more, and thus can come across as rather unnecessary in my eyes. There were also a few moments of poor comedy as well, in regards to the girl’s homeroom teacher who constantly complains and rants about the lack of dick in her life, and a friend of Sayaka’s and Madoka’s who believes they have entered into a homosexual relationship with each other and runs away, screaming! Thankfully, there were few scenes of this nature, but they often came across as jarring and mainly unfunny while watching the show. There was also a certain level of disconnect I got when watching the series since the girls sometimes acted in such a way to bring me out of my immersion, such as in the case where in the first episode, where, Madoka, hearing the cries of help from Kyuubey whom she hasn’t met yet, runs out of a music store and into some kind of underground area, and this always came across as strange to me as we just see her pop up there with no interconnecting dots showing us how she even got there in the first place since the latter locale seems like it would take a significant amount of time to reach. In addition, I often found it kind of strange how Madoka and Sayaka were pretty calm about seeing one of their upperclassman as a magical girl along with a talking cat, and instead of freaking out or just simply acting surprised like regular people, they decide to drink tea and eat cake, as if this event is one that happens every day! Again, this may seem like something small and insignificant to talk about, but its moments like these that drag me out of the experience.

Now, despite a few problems here and there in regards to the narrative, it’s overall pretty solid and does its job well for what It was trying to achieve; it reaches for the stars and tries to be as ambitious as it can in many areas and just falls short (especially with an ending that feels very much like The End of Evangelion of all things! Thankfully there is no scene where Madoka masturbates over someone else’s body!) However, my main problems with Madoka lies in its cast and how little I care for anyone, which is a massive problem considering that the entirety of the narrative stakes and threat of death present is reliant on how you can grow attached to these characters, and on that end, I believe Madoka does a poor job at investing me in these girls.

Madoka, as previously mentioned, is our main protagonist for this tale, and is perhaps one of the most boring main characters I’ve seen in a while! She plays the typical cute girl, mainly characterised by her extreme amount of kindness and love for the people around her. Madoka’s character feels more so like a small puppy in regards to the way she was written. She is completely innocent, and is represented more so a victim in the show, with an insane love for everyone, including her family in which the first episode hammers down our throats that she has a happy life filled with love! As such, whenever she does get hurt or abused in the show, it acts as an emotional trigger to make us feel more sympathetic towards her since she is just so innocent and happy! It’s like watching a puppy getting kicked or something, and that is basically Madoka’s character in a nutshell. This doesn’t make her character bad just incredibly dull, and she is easily the least interesting character in the entire show, spending much of her time crying in the narrative. While there is a great scene between her and her badass mother in the final episode, in which we see how strong Madoka’s resolve is to finally put an end to the suffering of the magical girls, her character remains mostly pretty stagnant and uninteresting for the most part, which is even more painful since she is the main character of the entire series! Madoka more so takes a back seat to the rest of the cast and aside from the final episode, contributes very little to the story. I suppose her function in the show is to act as the straight man (I mean woman, don’t want those damn SJWs attacking me for assuming genders!) to the rest of the cast, and thus helping us to relate more to her as a person and to attach ourselves onto her, but I honestly forgot her character even exists half the time.

Mami is somewhat more interesting than the aforementioned Madoka but still wrought with problems. She is a senior to that of Sayaka and Madoka and acts as their mentor of sorts during the early parts of the series, and while we do learn something about her character in episode three, whereupon Madoka tells Mami she will always stick with her which brings Mami nothing but joy, and was surprisingly heart-warming to watch, her character doesn’t really go anywhere from that point onward. There are a few subtle hints in the first two episodes that imply some more things about her as a person, but its nothing of any real substantial merit, nor can one truly evaluate her intentions in the early parts of the show as she, let's say, is "evicted" early on.

Now, let’s talk about Sayaka, whom is the only character I was actually invested in, aside from Akemi anyway, and her spiral into self-destruction is easily the most interesting aspect of the series for me. Not only that, but her wish actually has some kind of emotional drama, as she uses said wish in order to make her friend, whom has been suffering inside a hospital, good as new once again. As such, Sayaka’s character feels far more grounded than that of the previous two I just talked about, and her downwards spiral into destruction is given enough room to breath and be fully fleshed out, making it all the more hard hitting and impactful. Sayaka’s character made me feel something other than just indifference, and her character is more so indicative of the darker side of magical girls in the series, and the show does a good job at representing this idea. She even embarks on an idealistic battle with another magical girl whom gets introduced in episode five, a girl by the name of Kyouka, and even though this battle of ideologies in regards to their duties as magical girls is as basic as they come, at the very least there is some kind of character conflict going on, and some level of introspection into what it means to be a magical girl to these characters. Kyouka and Sayaka, at first, seemingly dislike each other due to their differences, but the show tries to make them grow into friends over the course of the series, something I could never get behind because it just ended up feeling kind of superficial and it never feels as if the two characters grow to like each other on screen, it’s merely just implied. Kyouka’s character as a whole is just fine, and while we do learn something about her character, and the reasons why she acts the way she does (even if I would argue that her backstory is one in which tries to use emotional manipulation and shock to make us feel for her) at the very least we do learn something about her character, even if her relevancy in the entire narrative is rather minimal, and acts as a sort of mirror to Sayaka’s character, as Kyouka too wished for something that benefitted another, which backfired badly, just as what is happening to Sayaka. It’s nothing amazing, but these two characters do a decent job at making me at least somewhat care for what is going on.

And finally that leaves Akemi, whom I can’t speak too much about since I wish to avoid spoiler as much as possible in this review. Akemi is first presented as being this mysterious figure who lurks in the shadows, with a major hard-on for Madoka, but in episode ten of the show, a whole episode is devoted into fleshing out her character and the reason why her hard-on for Madoka is as big as it is! It’s actually a well-done emotional episode that adds a lot on to her character, and does a good job in explaining why Akemi is as persistent as she is, and I also get a kick out of her using machine guns and grenades when fighting – it cracks me up every time!

In terms of animation and art design, Madoka is great. As expected of both Shaft, and the directing of Akiyuki Shinbou, Madoka’s visuals are unique and extremely experimental, adopting for insane amounts of colour and bizarrely interesting Witch designs, utilising many different animation techniques to make them feel different, but also horrifying in their design. The fact that the Witches are designed and animated differently than that of everything else in the show, gives them this uncanny and monstrous demeanour. The same thing can be said for the character designs too, and how each one of them feels so memorable too me, especially that of Mami’s and Sayaka’s magical girl costume, which I adore. The fight scenes were also a spectacle to behold as well, with great use of movement and fighting choreography, especially during the first fight between Kyouka and Sayaka in episode 5. The whole show is dripping with different animation ideas and art; it’s a feast for the eyes and I love it! The same thing can be said for the music as well, with the opening of the show winning the award for perhaps most misleading opening ever conceived, and one little thing I could admire about the show is how the ending theme changes in episode three, from the sweet and calming melodies prior, to the track called “Magia” in accordance to the shift in tone of the show; a track that’s full of despair! I also adore “Sis Puella Magica” with its orchestral arrangements and mystical tone, that fits wonderfully into the show. Everything about Madoka in these two departments is done to great effect, making the show’s music and animation extremely memorable.

In conclusion, Madoka Magica is a fine show. With what it sets out to do and what it accomplishs, I feel it does a good job, and there are many things to praise about the show, from the art and the music, to some of the decently developed characters the narrative presents us with, but ultimately, the biggest drawback is the lack of characters I feel a damn for. Out of the entire cast, the only character I slightly cared about whom may have lived or died was Sayaka and thus, most of the narrative stakes the show presents me with falls flat since I was not invested in any of them. It’s one thing to have narrative stakes and death in the show, but another to have characters whom we care about having those stakes afflicted upon. However, despite all that, Madoka at least remained somewhat fun for much of its duration and at the very least, I’d say it warrants a watch on that end. Just remember, that if a cat offers to forge a contract with you in exchange for a wish, either be smart and wish for more wishes or run the hell away!

Madoka Magica- an extremely popular, well loved, and held up by many as a landmark in the magical girl genre. A show that many describe as having beautiful artwork, a fantastic soundtrack, and contains one of the most exciting and unexpected stories in anime of late. Is Madoka Magica all of these things? Yes, and no. Let’s find out what it is that works and doesn’t. Note that I will try my best to avoid spoilers- but for my analysis of the plot, there may be one element that could be considered a minor spoiler.

Beginning with the Artwork and Animation:
Madoka definitely lives up ... to its reputation of having unique artwork. The trippy witch labyrinth sequences are, in a word, psychedelic. Imagine, if you will- a mixture of Salvador Dali’s Dadaism mixed with Picasso, all in a very surreal, vibrantly colorful atmosphere. As for the character artwork and backdrops, Madoka is fairly average- with quite a few moments of very low detail in the characters, and a number of still frames used to conserve the budget. For the use of the surrealist art alone, this anime earns a place among the visually striking, but is dragged down at times by the standard animation.

The show succeeds to a much greater degree on the Sound and Voice Acting front, however. I watched it in both languages, and both are equally watchable. There are no real virtuoso performances in this, but it’s handled very competently. The soundtrack, on the other hand, is very good. Opening and ending songs aside, the background music is really something- with everything from dark, grinding industrial music to classical violin to medieval chant to soft piano instrumentals to introspective and dramatic orchestral pieces, and even a few rock pieces, too. I’m no Yuki Kajiura fan by any means, but this is decidedly one of her best works. The soundtrack is very effective in tense and dramatic moments, as well as it is in emotive and introspective ones. If nothing else good can be said about Madoka Magica- the music is really something.


Also, what is this, “Survivor’s Guilt: The Anime”?

The idea behind the show is that these girls who are given magical powers are granted one single wish in exchange for their soul and servitude, in order to eradicate these entities of curses and malice known as witches. If offered a single wish in exchange for one’s soul, does it not occur to the person that they should perhaps ask for more? The wishes are often very poorly thought out, especially in foresight and scope. There was no stipulation that “more wishes” was against the rules. This isn’t Aladdin’s genie, who laid the rules down up front before any wish could be asked.

The wishes are also extremely shallow and selfish, especially considering that they’re offered “literally anything” by the wish granter, with the guarantee that it would come true. Their wishes are the equivalent of wishing for a car, when they could just be given an entire factory that can produce any car, or other vehicle for that matter, and an unlimited number of resources with which to supply it. The wishes are similarly short sighted and fruitless overall. It’s not necessarily true to say that the characters are stupid- because they really aren’t. Madoka describes herself as being very average and “not particularly smart, beautiful, or talented”, and she’s exactly this: average. This show examines a group of otherwise absolutely average individuals given otherworldly powers. They don’t conform to normative anime color coded hair and character archetype tropes- which was refreshing, but at the same time, being that the characters were more grounded, they were also pretty predictable in their decisions. This, I think was used to good effect in a sort of “don’t do it!”, and “this can’t end well” type of way for the viewer, but inevitably you know that they’re going to do it anyway. Perhaps this adds a more tragic element to it for the viewer, but for me it was mostly frustrating to watch characters make stupid decisions that were obviously not given much thought to.

Often in anime or film, we have characters who are defined by one trait- such as Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass being the embodiment of a lawful good rule follower. He exists for no other purpose than to uphold the rules. Or, we have a one note harem girl who is an animate <insert prefix>-dere archetype. Similarly, the characters in Madoka Magica who have the most screentime have the least depth and are least thought out. I think it’s because these other, lesser characters weren’t given as much exposition, but were given very cut and dried motivations for making their choices (and wishes). It’s not enough to say that their “wish” becomes the essence of their being, but even before they act out on said wish, their character is held back by this shallow, small scale goal. Perhaps they were designed to be that way- average, small minded people who don’t think ahead, but I see it as an oversight in character development- where they don’t consider that, when given an opportunity, they should concern themselves with all avenues that it may lead to. This was the focal point of the first four episodes or so- and I applaud the show for having the characters take time and reflect on their decisions (or lack thereof), but ultimately this is pointless, because they’re either conned into or make the same decision they were struggling make to begin with, even when faced with the gravity of making said decision.

Furthering this point, Homura’s motivations are poor, to say the least. Dio Brando wanted to enslave the world because his dad was a jerk to him as a child. That’s a bad motive. Many shows revolve around a concept of friendship and the ties that bind, but this show takes this to a bit of an unbelievable degree- while still borrowing concepts from a much more tightly run series. If faced with a traumatic event involving a friend, and then given the decision to redo that part of my life, potentially with a different outcome, while my friends and family lose recollection of said event, VS allowing the event to happen or just taking myself out of the equation and observing whether it played out differently, I would choose the latter. If presented the trolley problem, and I had to kill an animal in order to eat it and survive or whatnot, it’s a non-decision to make- but one that’s turned into a needlessly wrestled-with problem in this show- ESPECIALLY when combined with the wishes.

This show also highlights very strongly why time travel is like taking a shotgun to the plot. Not only does it create a series of very questionable events and choices (and holes), but also opens up the story to “well, if this character can go back in time, why didn’t they just go back to X event that leads to Y consequence?” issues. Again, this topic was handled better in a pair of other, similar shows that were much less loose with their rules of time manipulation and the consequences thereof. I found myself asking “if this character can go back in time, why is it that they don’t just go back and stop the birth of the antagonist that plagues them?” Or “why doesn’t this character go back in time and kill X person?” This would create another paradox on top of the one that already exists in a time manipulation series- but, when a series plays loosely with its internal consistency and logic without a particular explanation of the limitations or grounds by which the time travel is made possible- then ergo, anything should be possible, right? This would have wrapped the plot up in a pretty pink bow (pun intended), with just a few words and actions by certain characters, but by virtue of “that’s not how the show was written”- it wasn’t.

One other thing that needs to be addressed, though, is this false claim that Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre. Perhaps my own understanding of what “deconstruction” in a literary use is, but my understanding is that it takes some established trope, idea, archetype, etc and draws attention to it- specifically how it works in a more “realized” setting vs the “idealized”. For example: In School Days, this is taking the idea of a harem, and then showing how playing a bunch of girls off on each other is probably a bad idea, and that Japanese schoolgirls aren’t all necessarily polyamorous/okay with sharing partners as many ecchi/school/harem shows would have us believe. I do see that as a “deconstruction”. A literal taking apart of the trope. Things like parodies aren’t deconstructions, but are subversions- which I think many conflate the meanings of. A subversion is something that you “expect”, but doesn’t happen in the expected manner.

Now that I’ve established a baseline definition of a subversion vs a deconstruction, here’s how it applies to Madoka Magica: Madoka (the character) has a horrible inability to make decisions for herself. Even the title of the show is a bit misleading in this instance, also similarly to Code Geass- and those who’ve seen the show know exactly why. Because you know based on the title alone “Mahou Shoujo” or “Puella Magi”, this show is going to be about some girl who uses magic. Duh. The girl with the dream of being a Magical Girl is offered the chance, but fails to make a decision. That would be a deconstruction- rendering the “Magical Girl” element of the show meaningless. However, if she were to find out that being a Magical Girl is not exactly what she expected, or that it’s not something to necessarily strive for, or not even a good thing at all; then these are all subversions to the Magical Girl trope. Where the Magical Girl is typically painted as a little girl wearing a fancy dress and running around with a cutesy, stuffed animal looking mascot fighting some generic Machiavellian evil in a lighthearted manner, the subversion to this paints these all in a different light- which is exactly what Madoka Magica does.

The ending also left a bit to be desired- but was also fairly satisfying given the nihilistic feel the story had leading up to the conclusion. However, it felt like they were trying to outdo Gurren Lagann and End of Evangelion at the same time, especially in terms of scope and scale. There’s such a thing as “too much”, and I think Madoka came very close to going over. I can’t say I hated Madoka- far from it, really. As a show, it hits some of the right notes- and there’s a blessing and breath of fresh air in the complete absence of fanservice, but as a whole, it really just failed to leave a lasting impression.
Einstein once said that “insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” Madoka Magica embodies this definition with a capital I. It was a different ride; certainly not what I’ve come to expect from a magical girl series, but ultimately has some serious holes in the universe and the logic stemming from twists that leave me a bit ambivalent about how much magic there really is in Madoka.

Magical Girls. When someone says that word nowadays, many people think of one series, this series, Madoka*Magica. Across the web, this title is heralded as a great series, but is it really?

The story of this series starts off like most MG animes. However, unlike many series, the protagonist takes a very backseat role on the action. Actually, the protagonist barely even fights. Its up to the other girls to carry her weight around, but when all they're talking about is the protagonist and she does not do anything of value, the plot suffers. The entire story is practically built around her and since she does ... nothing of value for more than 3/4 of the series, the plot loses a lot of its meat. It has a good concept where there are consequences to the MGs and their presence, but the characters themselves rob it of its power. The ending is also very anticlimatic.

The art of the series has a sketchy quality, yet the animations are crisp. That being said, the colors and abstract art that comes from the enemies, the 'witches' is blinding and it was hard to follow the action through all the kaleidoscope-like images. Character designs are good, though.

The voice acting matches the characters, and the BGM is strong as well. The opening and ending are good enough.

The biggest fault with this series are its characters. The main girl is a whiny girl who wants to be a MG but...doesn't want to be a MG? Her convicts and beliefs change by the second. She does not seem to get her ducks in a row until the end. Her friends are about as deep as a dried up kiddie pool in summer, with the exception of Mami and Kyubey. One is a MG who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and is doing the best she can. The other is a mastermind. I won't say more for fear of spoilers...Sadly, because of the rest of the cast and how they rely on Madoka to pull her share, they all fail in the end.

Each episode was a test of my conviction to finish this series. I nearly gave up several times and when I finally completed it, I felt as though I got nothing for my effort. I won't recommend this to anyone who wants a series with any notable male characters in it or with any females that give the typical anime girl a good name. The people who may enjoy are those who like this kind of genre no matter what, or those who can see past Madoka's faults.

Overall, this anime is famous for reasons I just can't understand. The horrible cast, weak Madoka-centered plot and bad ending render this show overly hyped and nearly a waste of my time. Watch at your own risk.

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is an interesting anime, and it surprised me. Nonetheless, it is by no means a masterpiece.

The story in this anime is extremely complex. Everything starts rather simply, but things got exponentially more complex as things went through.
-------Spoiler ahead:
The story was fine until it touched the laws of the universe and thermodynamics. The principle of harnessing the energy of a witch conversion to nullify the universe's entropy is way too far fetched.
The time travel aspect of this anime was good, but nothing exceptional. It certainly improved the story.
Furthermore, the concept of witches and grief seeds was not very good in my opinion. ... For instance, familiars are spared so that they collect human energy, to become a witch, and only then be killed by a magic girl so that they can collect the grief seed and get the witches energy, which essentially is indirectly absorbing human energy.
So pointless. Why not make it so that magic girls, if they wish so, can directly kill humans to get stronger? I think evil magic girls could be explored more and replace witches.
Kyubey being evil, or perhaps simply neutral, was a plus to the story.
Because of these issues, and the over the top ending, I can not give this anime a high rating for the otherwise good story.
6/10

The artstyle was hit or miss. I particularly did not enjoy the way witches and their barriers were made. In general, the art was mediocre. It delivered its purpose, but just that.
5/10

I liked the music of the anime, and overall the sound quality and effects were good and fitted the anime well.
7/10

Character development was the main theme of this anime. The plot mainly served as a way to display the characters feelings, rather being the focus itself.
As such, we got to know all the characters deeply and know their personal struggles. That said, it became a bit repetitive, and in no way was it a masterpiece.
7/10

The plot was initially dull to me, but then, it got overtly complex trying to achieve depth. It got me going in conjunction with the characters, but it was not a particularly memorable experience to me. The enjoyment was mediocre.
5/10

Overall, the anime certainly pleased the fans of the genre. But to an outsider, it just provided a fair experience. The plot certainly is the most interesting aspect of the anime. I am sure some will think of it as a masterpiece. But to me, complexity is not necessarily quality, so this anime can not have masterpiece status to me.
6/10.

[Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica - Review]

I was actually afraid to post this review, there are several factors to this. One is that I am not praising Madoka and the other is that I am not destroying. This anime gets pretty into that eight or eighty and I'm a bit beyond that, I would say. I'm in the middle, to tell you the truth.

To start talking about the anime, there is always that "blah blah blah, deconstruction" thing and about this, maybe the anime is not even a deconstruction of Mahou Shoujo and that would not give Madoka any merit in my review. Being a deconstructive ... anime is more a form of reputation than a merit that adds quality to the work. Well, is it meritorious to simply kill a character who is fighting evil? I do not see it as a merit that gives quality, really.

Proceeding, let's talk about the anime itself, with no escape this time. Soon in the third episode, Madoka shows who he is. Until then, we were not earning much. They introduced the drama of Sayaka, a conflict between Homura and Madoka, or something. With Mami's death, Madoka enters another conflict. It may not seem like it, but all the characters in this anime have some conflict, I find most of them interesting, the point will be the development of these; Sayaka with the boy he loves, Homura with Madoka and the timelines, Madoka with the absence of self-confidence and Mami, Kyoko with the question of sacrifice and Sayaka, there goes.

The characterization of their characters is not so great, the anime would benefit much more than three-dimensional characters, but can not do something so close. However, I do not think the Madoka characters are as bad as they claim to be the elitist; they are not inconsistent as I thought they would be. Kyoko is a clear example of a poorly written character by someone who criticizes Madoka. I think she's the best character, honestly. Both in characterization, development and the like. Incidentally, I am very interesting his drama with the main theme of Madoka: the sacrifice for other people, self-sacrifice. She felt that sacrificing herself was stupid because of what she spent sacrificing for her father when she became a magical girl. By identification to the request of Sayaka, she begins to have a drama with the same; not only did he want to kill her as SELFISH, but after he realized that he was no longer who he always wanted to be. The irony and the reason I describe it is simple: Start wanting to help others and when Magic Girl only think of herself, but when meeting Sayaka, change her mind and return to being who she was, to the point of dying for it, better saying, by other people, is great and ironic. By far the most subtle development of anime.

The development of Madoka was very interesting too, it is not part of the premise of being selfish and so do not want to help anyone. She starts from the premise that she is weak and without self-confidence, seeing everything around her going against her to become Magical Girl, but felt that she ought, for a greater good, the self-sacrifice of Madoka, our Goddess. His relationship with Homura is interesting, since Homura begins only wanting to stop her from being a Magical Girl because of all the friendship she had with Madoka, who was sacrificing herself for Madoka at times, suffering and suffering because of it. Madoka was his only reason to live, the only thing he would sacrifice for, after all, he had nothing. I do not like to stop the anime to show it in a filler episode, but it's ok. Until the beginning, Madoka did not know who Homura was, however, when he discovers the weight that Homura carries to save her, he realizes that he has to sacrifice himself for her, not only that, for all that sacrificed for herself. Mami, Homura, Sayaka and a little, Kyoko. One of the best developments too.

But as not all anime is packed with decent / good characters, you have Sayaka. Her problem is not anti-development, concept, drama, ideas, but execution. The anime insists on showing us how shitty the world is and how useless it was Sayaka's sacrifice by putting a lot of stuff like men talking about what woman is shit on the bus / subway or even her drama with Hitomi and the boy she likes . Honestly, I love the idea, I love Sayaka to the point where they made plot device characters just to make her change her personality. Sayaka's concept is genius, but execution is forced and lazy. The concept is genius at the point where you show how self-sacrifice is bad in some people, even show us that some of these people DO NOT AGAIN the weight of sacrificing themselves for others ... Could be the best character of the work in EVERYTHING , but with its execution, happened to be as bad as the Mami, that is nothing more than plot device.

Madoka's message is good, it's well executed with its exceptions, but there are a few things I should really comment on. Madoka is extremely inorganic and has almost nothing subtle. Everything is played in your cwith exposure and exposure, a few points and there was no need to show. But, this is not so bad in that, if you think of these dialogues as really character action and not mere exposure as in shounens. Dialogues reveal characteristics, dramas or things to the viewer; Madoka goes there and uses it to his advantage. Never, I repeat, never see Madoka without paying attention in the dialogues, they are all important, no matter what, read and reread. Yes, Madoka has some conveniences and even some unfortunate omissions in the script. One of them is Homura not stopping the time to catch the soul of Sayaka and an omission, as an example, would be why Kyubei choose girls to be magical people, the explanation is more omission than anything. Another perhaps more problematic convenience would be that if there are several magical girls in other regions, why only have Kyoko and Homura trying to fight the night of Walpurgis and then only Madoka and Homura? Yes, the Madoka script has its conveniences to work. One point I really do not find interesting in Madoka is the pacing and the time it takes to get things done. So it does not seem subtle to you some developments. They happen very quickly, with the viewer not digesting such changes in the characters, as even Kyoko and Sayaka. They would need more time to develop them, to be more subtle than they were, perhaps as many as 15 episodes. I love Kyubei. Kyubei was a most interesting character throughout my experience with Madoka. Their questioning to humanity is all well done and rational, because this is Kyubei: rational and emotionless, questioning who does things for them, damn emotions. He would never understand humans, he would never understand Madoka and the weight he wanted to carry, because he feels nothing, all the sacrifices he gave them to make were rational. Approaching Sayaka when she most begged for a miracle is an interesting point of view, that he really does everything for his missions. And this is all about Madoka's script, but ... Madoka has another incredible point: Direction, animation and world work (environment). I would say how the Madoka world has been set up with glass rooms, or like when the direction omitted much from this very world to focus only on the characters ... It is a huge immersion. Not to mention the fantastic excitement of Shaft that amazed me watching! That's all for now. Madoka is a decent anime that has its problems in the script, with some characters, but that performs much better in other points of view. It's decent, no big deal and not horrible. Note: 6/10.

If your anime list only consists of 3 - 5 titles, I wouldn't be quick to call PMMM a masterpiece.

That's not to say the anime wasn't necessarily bad, but it certainly isn't the critically acclaimed masterpiece that everyone makes it out to be. Seriously, it's like we're reliving the times of Elfen Lied and Higurashi (the anime adaption, not the VN— the VN was pretty good) when everybody thought tragic loli harems with gore were the best animes ever.

It's not doing anything that other animes haven't already done, and it certainly isn't a "deconstruction" of the magical girl genre like everyone makes it ... out to be. If you want an actual deconstruction, watch Revolutionary Girl Utena. Utena did a much better job at criticizing issues within the shoujo genre, oh, and the creators don't compare their characters to terrorists.

(For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, in an interview Urobuchi compared the girls to Al-Qaeda.)

Dark themes aren't something unfamiliar within the magical girl genre. Princess Tutu was dark, Sailor Moon had it's share. Even PRETTY CURE, a mahou shoujo directed at 5 year-old girls, had pretty rad fight scenes. PMMM takes a bunch of elements from Magical Lyrical Nanoha, an anime made by the very same company.

PMMM is just another tragedy with moe girls directed at a male audience (yes, it's directed at a male audience, the creator himself made this pretty clear) so dudes can fantasize about boning helpless woobie lolis.

All that being said, I did enjoy watching it. I just don't think it deserves all the praise it gets.

Just to balance out all the blazingly positive reviews, the show definitely was quite unique - which isn't per definition a good thing) and the plot did come together well enough, but in no way did it get past the "fair" level. It was enjoyable enough to keep watching, but at the end I was expecting some kind of grand finale which didn't deliver. Still, I do give them credit for giving a *very* basic explanation for the magic girl phenomenon rather than none at all, like most shows do, but still it lacked in my humble opinion in the two most important departments; story ... and characters. Really, the only thing it absolutely excelled in was uniqueness without a too bad story, which for most avid anime fans might be enough reason to love it as much as they do, I guess. Either way, if you need an in depth review, there enough of those on the site, but I just wanted to show a glimpse of the other side of the anime.

Oh and, as far as the art goes, yeah, sure, it might be totally intentional and totally unique, but that still doesn't make it beautiful or anything. That's exactly the same thing that often happens with modern art. Oh well, just wanted to add that to explain the 5 I gave to the art.

This show is not the best show on planet earth.

I really like the art style. It is really nice and um... sketchy and reminds me of some cool doodles. I hadn't seen an anime with that art style before.

The characters are a bit bland. Kyubey is very weird because of his facial expression. It is permanently like that, annoyingly. Unlike the manga.

I totally/kind of disagree this anime is Yuri. Just because there are a bunch of girls together as friends, doesn't make it. It is just friendship and teamwork! Homura is a really good friend, actually!

The show has lack of humor, and the songs are ... very BORING. I think the show is targeted to an older audience, because, the story is good, but it contains lack of great songs and humor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NO SPOILERS AHEAD~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica is an anime which has a blend of two good concepts including magic , but its way too poorly executed. The 2 hit concepts wasnt even properly let to flourish with this anime.this anime had so much potential to be in the top 10 of myanimelist but it even doesnt deserve to be in top 200 now... rating given here to this anime is way too much!!!

Let me tell you the best things and worst things of this anime~

Best Things ->> 1>awesome ost soundtrack [ listen to decretum, you will love it]
... 2> has good concept of magic , its not usualpetty magic tricks but it has some serious magic stuffs in it, but too poorly executed... same goes with the time travel concept part too.

yes dis much...dese 2 points only found gud in dis anime....


Worst things ->> 1> Way too poorly executed action sequences, seems like its for infants ..
2> voice acting isnt interesting at all, and it sounds irritating at many places.

3>characterization is way too poor.

4>animation isnt lively but just looks like glossy powerpoint slides put in a sequence, way too much lighting in some parts even.

5> art could have been a little better, but most look like little dolls rather than human beings.


The story is mostly about 5 girls sayaka, madoka, kyouko,homura and mami and an incubator who gives them the power to be a magical girl at the cost of their lives which resides in a soul gem. the incubator also grants them wishes which are impossible to be fulfilled in the human world. The magical girls then resolve to fight against the witches,take their grief seed and purify their soul gem so that they wont become a witch because the tainting of soul gem would lead them to turn into a witch. each magical girl is asiigned a power based on their wishes and for whom they demand it. time travel concept in this anime was pretty much good but way too poorly executed, even the action sequences which mostly looked like origami arts just flickering but no real power pact action...

Story ~ a 6/10.. gave it because it had a good concept but way too half assed

Art ~ 4/10.. decent not that much good... characters mostly looked like dolls rather than human beings :P

Sound ~ 9/10 ... as i said dis is da best part of anime, listen to decretum ost..u will love it

Character ~ A 5/10 ...not too strong,describing charaters is poor too...characterization is on down side...

Enjoyment ~ i enjoyed the concepts and soundtrack but it couldnt be fully memorable one because of so many low points a 5/10 here too

Overall ~ this anime has emotions too,gud one you will feel it .But it just doesnt fully exploit the emotions, concept, actions in this anime... just as i said half assed... watch dis just to get an overview of it but their wont be any sheer enjoyment after watching it. has a pretty good ending and deserved one too . ending had some feels too...
5/10 for me on the whole..could have been more but the half assed explotation doesnt allow me to give it more...

Many rate dis anime a 1/10...i dont think this is such a bad anime...dont believe dose ratings... it maynt be the best executed anime but its a one time watch..has a gud concept..dats why i say give it a chance... and th anime becomes clear and little bit gripping after episode 9..so wait till epiosde 9, you will get answers to all your unanswered questions...

But again, this way too overrated here...maximum this anime deserves is 5..no more than that...dont go wid much expectations. its just a one time watch... and dont forget to listen to decretum ost, its superb!!!

--- The review contains spoilers ---


Shock tactics have been used by armies numerous times throughout the course of history to gain an upper hand over their opponents. Generally, such tactics ranged from a full-force charge to a sudden firearms attack. The whole point of such tactics used is not victory but to keep the opponent under constant psychological pressure. Aside from war and combat, such shock tactics have become staples in mediative forms of entertainment such as anime and films. Although this time around it doesn't revolve around destroying the enemy; the basic objective remains the same. Sadly in recent years, the objective of shock ... tactics has diverted from enhancing story and characters to rather being cheap tricks to keep the viewer's attention. By now you, the reader must be wondering what does shock tactics have to do with cute moe magical girls?

The problem with an abundance of magical girl anime is that they are far too static in terms of plot structure and characters both. Some random cutesy average middle school girl gets weird magical powers from a cute little monster and they fight other monsters every other episode. Repeat and rehash this for a 2-3 cour and you would have yourself a typical magical girl title. As such the mahou shoujo genre hardly has any variety to it thus become dull after watching a couple of shows, but Shaft's newest entry to the mahout shoujo title is here to create change.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an original series written by Gen Urobuchi and animated by the head-tilt loving studio, Shaft. The basic premise revolves around a young girl named Kaname Madoka and her sudden encounter with the magical creature, Kyuubey. Kyuubey can grant Madoka and her friends a wish at the cost of her becoming a magical girl and having to fight against evil beings called witches. Though the premise seems almost identical to most magical girl titles at first glance, it is anything but. Instead of eating cake and being surrounded by feelings of love and happiness, Madoka finds herself surrounded by death, despair, and isolation. While being a magical girl may seem like fun and games at first, the girls soon discover that it’s a one-way ticket to hell. Within a few episodes, the show quickly shifts gears from a sugary magical girl title to something more along the lines of a tragedy.

For one, the plot-heavy structure of the show already makes it so that events become the driving force behind Madoka’s emotional development rather than the characters. Since a lot of the series focuses more on outright plot twists and important secrets being revealed, the characters tend to take a back seat at times. As a result, this leaves very little time for proper interaction between Madoka and the other characters. Sure, Madoka and the other girls do chat, but there’s very little in the way of an actual realistic conversation between any of the characters. Now while the lack of character conversations may seem beneficial to the tight pacing of the series, it is crucial as character deaths are highly abundant. Considering that human bonds and relationships are part of the foundation for a healthy emotional state, it would make sense that if more time was given towards Madoka’s connection with the other characters that their deaths would have held more water. Unfortunately, Urobuchi and Shaft felt the need to simply go for a quick emotional appeal by trying to shock the viewer through numerous character deaths. And despite these scenarios being a bit of a shock the first time , they quickly lose their impact as the story progresses. Towards the end of the series, characters start dropping like flies, and you’ll begin to wonder just how much emotional damage one girl can possibly take before she cracks.

The direction of the series does have its merits though as a number of plot twists are well thought out. While some of them get predictable, others will completely take you by utter surprise. The general unpredictable nature of the show along with its fast pacing makes for an entertaining series. It's fairly easy to get pulled into the dark atmosphere. So from an entertainment point of view, Madoka is strong, but sadly enough the more shocking twists in the story only serve the same purpose as the numerous character deaths. Rather than be used to further enhance the characters, these twists exist to briefly "wow" the viewer or attempt to further differentiate Madoka from more standard magical girl titles. Also, the fact that a number of these twists are just clichés or devices borrowed from popular sci-fi titles makes their integration into the plot very poorly handled, shallow, and also a tad bit too forced for my liking.

A running gag has been storming through the anime community that Urobuchi is more of a heartless bastard who derives orgasmic pleasure in the killing of his characters with his works, hence the name Uro'butcher'. Anyone that has read Fate/Zero or the visual novel, Saya no Uta, will mostly be familiar with the way Urobutcher utilizes a character's death to play with the emotions of the viewer/reader. However, unlike his past works like Fate/Zero, Madoka characters are simply killed off without little to no character development. It isn't easy to watch a character that we have got emotionally attached to over a period of time. For any death to have an emotional impact, there needs to be some prior development, the establishment of the core personality of the character, and their strong relationship with others in the story. You can't just introduce random characters, kill them, and say "ohhhh they died isnt that saaaaaaaad." and expect an emotional impact. You need development. In a particular fashion of writing, it would be appropriate to say, Madoka characters are like puppets on a stage, once they have done their job of moving the story forward, they are given the axe.

Considering she’s the character that the entire ordeal revolves around, one would think Kaname Madoka would at least be a fairly interesting character. Unfortunately, Madoka herself has very little in the way of an actual personality. Through her few personable interactions with the other characters, we find out that she’s a sweet girl with very little self-confidence. The little development she gets comes from all the events around her rather than the strength or will of her own character. It is not until the very end of the huge slaughter-fest that Madoka starts to show any reasonable development and change thus making the change rather forced than a gradual change from the psychological breakdown she was going through. In short, she’s almost like the female version of Shinji Ikari, just without all the psychological development (wow, I just appreciated eva, lol). One could even make the argument that you could place anybody in Madoka’s shoes and the story would still progress in the same way.

Besides the main character, Madoka, all other magical girls have their personalities set on a specific trait. You have the female badass, the well-mannered senior, the lively best friend, and also the mysterious transfer student. Perfect cookies made from the perfect cookie cutter.

With a few exceptions, each of the other magical girls goes through a small transition in a similar vein to Madoka’s where she faces despair before reaching an untimely end. Though each is teeming with potential for growth, the lack of development leaves a bland feeling.

A final mention goes to the series mascot, Kyuubey. Though he seems to be nothing more than the complimentary mascot character at first, he does provide the series with another layer of depth to set it apart from the bulk of magical girl titles. Despite remaining fairly stagnant over the course of the series, Kyuubey’s role in the story at least keeps it engaging. Also, the main villain boss, Walperugis, lacked any sort of personality. It's just lazy writing when even the main villain has no speaking factor about him other than being big, bad, black, and randomly introduced.

As a title by the highly renowned animation studio SHAFT, high-quality animation was expected and delivered. Anyone familiar with their works of the -gatari franchise should be familiar with the quality animation in madoka. The artistic direction by Akiyuki Shinbo is one of the series' stronger points. The witches and the labyrinth designs are highly experimental and are also the highlight of the show and maintain their beauty throughout the run of the show. The show's aesthetics are great from futuristic classrooms but they are never really used to enhance the overall story so they don't count more than being eye candy. There are many obscure camera angles, dynamic lighting which is a signature of the studio itself. Unfortunately, these scenes are few in number throughout the series, which is a shame considering they had the potential to add a metaphorical layer to the show. Though the viewer may choose to read into the symbolic elements of the show, there just isn't nearly enough exposition given to allow them to enhance the value of the title. As such, the artistic direction in Madoka carries little weight other than to act as an element of visual shock
The sound was done by the famous anime and video game music composer and a person I fanboy myself, Yuki Kajiura. She waves her magic wand over the show to give it the mysterious feel it has. Much of the mysterious and pseudo-dark atmosphere originates from the music itself. Several times scenes came out much stronger due to the music e.g. the rooftop conversation between Madoka, Sayaka, and Kyuubey.

Voice acting is also very strong overall as the all-star cast of seiyuu selected are able to successfully breathe life into their respective characters. In a similar vein to the utilization of Kajiura’s score, the voice acting is an element that greatly enhances the mood of certain scenes.

Despite deviating from the norm of magical girl titles, Madoka struggles to establish a strong emotional connection with the viewer and its characters. In an attempt to remedy this fault, the series engages the viewer through multiple instances of shock rather than the characters and their interactions. And while it is entertaining to see characters drop like flies, there’s very little to actually differentiate Madoka from the bulk of grim-dark titles out there. For people who generally enjoy a darker touch to their story, Madoka can be a good recommendation, however, those who feel shows can be creative without resorting to shock value almost all the time there's much to recommend other than Madoka.

Personally, I expected a lot for this anime. There had been a lot of hype and good reviews, not to mention the high rating. However, I did not enjoy the anime as much as I thought I would.

I usually expect an anime to draw you in as soon as you watch it, such as; Tokyo Ghoul, Black Butler, Assassination Classroom etc. which are rated similar to Puella Magi Madoka Magic. This anime did not have a dramatic or increasing build-up, after watching 3-4 episodes the anime still had no build-up whatsoever. Usually a short anime, such as this one, would develop their build-up earlier on ... in the episodes.

Personally, I did not like the characters. Madoka, really annoyed me, of course I understand that she's just a character and that the director made it so that she does certain things just to support the plot, but I found it ridiculous that "she" continued to involve herself with witches and magical girl even after knowing all the trouble they go through. Because I didn't like the characters, I think this is the main reason why I didn't carry on the anime.

The art for the anime is very unique and I liked this aspect of the anime. I wasn't so keen on the design of the characters but the art for the world was interesting.

Overall I rate this anime a 6/10 because after comparing each aspect to the other I wasn't either excited or unhappy with this anime, though I was disappointed after hearing all the hype. However as I haven't completed this anime, i can not entirely judge this anime and this is my opinion as of now. Unfortunately I will be dropping this anime but don't let my review discourage you from watching this anime :]

I hope that this review was helpful and informative, this is my first review so hopefully I will be able to pick up more ways to make my reviews better.

Ps. This is my opinion only so you neither have to agree or disagree, thank you.

-Tay

This anime was not bad to watch and the animations was rather cute but in the second half it all started getting confusing and cheesy.

Enough I found the plot twist to be almost surprising but I did not grasp the concept of the theme and it's purpose. Another thing I like to add is that tries hard to make you feel emotional and sympathize with the characters is utterly corny and unappealing to me. The emotions of those little teenage girls is completely nothing to the sheer scale of the universe and it makes me gag when they try to impress with their timid ... visuals.

The show tries to show how our decisions our not as black and white as we think but in reality everything is grey and no matter how emotional we are, we are not even a speck in the universe and our actions are just the will of a natural order or chaos. Humans are no different than animals and we just like to think we are different from them but were are just creatures who are only pawns in a universal game of cruel chess.

In other words this anime wasn't awful but I do not dare call myself a fan of this highly overrated girly anime for silly fan boys obsessed with magical girls.