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I started out hating this show. I had repeatedly heard it described as a deconstruction of the magical girl genre and a masterpiece. But as I watched, it didn't seem to be deconstructing or saying anything interesting about the genre so much as it was just a dark and edgy take on magical girls. There were interesting bits here and there, but overall I wasn't very invested and at first the only character I thought was compelling was Sayaka. But since it's short and came so highly recommended, I decided to keep watching.

Then I got to episode 8. The ending of that episode absolutely wrecked ... me. I was so upset by it that I had to take a break from the show for about a month. I thought about giving up on it entirely, but it's rare that a piece of media provokes such a strong emotional reaction from me, so I knew there must be something special about this show and I stuck with it.

Everything comes together brilliantly in the final four episodes, and I was glad I watched the whole thing. Once the truth is fully revealed, the show's themes became more clear to me. I think a big part of why it took me so long to "get" the show is because I was expecting a genre deconstruction. But that's not really what this show is. Sure it takes the magical girl genre in an unusual direction and inverts a few tropes. But ultimately, it's not trying to take the genre apart. Instead, it's using the genre to explore more serious themes of libidinal economy, surplus value, and exploitation. But I think the ending goes to show that it does basically accept the values of the magical girl genre. It's just deploying those values in an unusually sophisticated way. So it's not a deconstruction. But it is in fact a masterpiece.