Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
Puella Magi Madoka★Magica

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I liked reading this manga a lot. The anime is pretty much identical
Art:
The art is really well drawn, a lot of the panels look very detailed and the art stays very consistent throughout. The character designs really shine through with the costumes that each magical girl wears. I think that a lot of thought was put into how each outfit looks and the costumes go well with the characters personality.

Fight scenes:
One con that I experienced in the book is that the fighting scenes can be a bit difficult to read. The panels are very chaotic so it takes a bit to read. Each ... one seems to be spaced out fairly well with filler in some parts that make the plot enjoyable.

Characters:
I liked the characters. Madoka is a great protagonist and works well with all the other characters. My only complaint is that her naiveness throughout made it a bit irritating. Homuras dark and mysterious personality helps with pushing the story further. They are well rounded with motives, interesting backstories and their strengths and weaknesses are balanced out.

Plot (Slight spoilers ahead):
The plot is unique. This is a manga that takes the magical girl genre and twists it to be a horror that can give a refreshing change of pace. This is a big strength as a lot of magical girl mangas can be a bit repetitive with how the story goes. I wont give too much away with what happens but fair warning that there is violence. Not enough though to where you would have to reflect on your choices. The soul gem concept is very unique and gives a lot of debate on ethics. The witch concept is something that makes being a magical girl morally gray.

Who would I recommend this to?
I recommend this manga if you want something that is new. The mix of lighthearted magical girls and horror works well so if you want that give this a try.

I think almost every weeb worth their salt has an opinion on Madoka so I hope mine is worth listening to.

Madoka Magica is a cultural touchstone for Otakus everywhere.
It was many peoples first anime and it revolutionized the Magical Girl sub-genre, as it popularized the whole "magical girls but grimdark" trope that has become so common now.

So why is it scored so average by me?

Well its not without its issues. The art (especially action scenes) is difficult to follow, some characters (Mami) feel rather bland and clearly exist only to die. The plot is also rather poor and the ending veers into a textbook ... Deus Ex Machina.

However. Those issues included, it is still an important turning point for Otaku culture and worth a read for that alone. A more casual reader could also forgive pretty much every flaw I mentioned and would definitely enjoy it.

Though I don't think Madoka is the best ever, it is definitely something with a broad enough appeal for me to recommend it to pretty much anyone.

I really did not like this manga.

The first and foremost problem is that it’s difficult to read due to it seemingly being very disjointed. It jumps from scene to scene and explanation to explanation with little to no smooth transition making everything seem very abrupt.

The same reading difficulty actually applies to much of the manga content itself. This manga does a piss-poor job of explaining the plot and circumstances. It does an even worse job with character development. Most of the time, it seem like the author is rushing through the manga at break-neck pace and decided to ignore explanation of details for a clearer ... picture in favor of moving the plot along.

That is actually an uncommon experience for me. In most cases, the issue is that the plot drags and the manga would spend inordinate amount of time going over the same situation/information until it’s basically cemented into readers’ head. Madoka does basically the exact opposite.

Reading other reviews of this, it seems the most common praise I hear for it is that it’s much darker than typical magical girl faire. This is true and it allows for a more unique read…but honestly, it wasn’t really that special. Allowing character deaths, blood, and sorrow in a traditionally upbeat genre is a nice touch, but without a well presented story, it’ll just be a bad story with a nice touch.

I had originally planned to watch the anime afterwards as Madoka appears to be one of the few cases where the manga is an adaptation of the anime rather than the other way around, but I’ve decided to skip it now. Whatever popularity Madoka appears to enjoy, it obviously doesn’t fit my taste.