Jun 18, 2014
I was skeptical coming into this series. After showing me the trailer on Youtube, my friend laughed and remarked that the trailer was "perfect". It was simply a show about cute magical girls, he assured me. Being outside the conventional targeted demographic for this such a genre, I was very dubious of whether I would enjoy such an anime. However, since his recommendations had never led me wrong before, I decided to give it a try and started watching it with him.
By the first episode I was somewhat intrigued. The characters all seemed fairly likable, if not coming off as a little juvenile, considering they
...
are in middle school. The production and animation of the show was also demonstrably well-done which certainly made it more engaging to watch. However, the component that really piqued my interested were the witch fights and their bizarre and trippy animations. I really enjoyed watching those scenes and experiencing somewhat of a sensory overload as various, indiscriminate objects haphazardly wrapped around the screen and the textures and colors came to life. I did my best to try and describe these scenes, but really there is no substitute for viewing them yourself.
We continued with two more episodes, and throughout I found that the exposition (where the laws of this universe are gradually explained to the viewer) was nicely intertwined with action sequences and the further revealing of character motives and backstories. I watched this show in early 2014, long after it had already been released, and looking back now, I consider myself very lucky that I had managed not to overhear anything about this wildly popular show. Due to this, I was entirely unprepared for the bombshell twist that was dropped on me at the end of episode 3. It was so unexpected that I nearly lost my head at how sudden a development this was. In my opinion, shock value in media can be done either very well or very poorly. Let Puella Magi Madoka Magica be a textbook example of it done flawlessly. I had originally come for the trippy presentations of the witch fights, but now I was definitely staying for the story.
After the ensuing episodes, which glue the rapidly advancing plot together quite nicely, I was beginning to understand that this was a deconstruction of the magical girl genre. Not being very well versed in the genre played straight, my only regret is that I had not watched some conventional magical girl anime beforehand so that I could better compare and contrast. Nevertheless, the writing is enthralling enough that it shouldn't matter too much for viewers without much previous experience with genre.
Then we come to episode ten. There are too many brilliant factors to cover comprehensively in this acclaimed episode, so I will only talk about a few. We finally gain some semblance of a true understanding in regard to what is happening in the plot through very smart and angled storytelling that allows us to sympathize with several of the characters (trying my best to be vague in the interest of avoiding spoilers). Through this, I found it very hard to not perceive the sadness and sense of hopelessness that was so heavily percolating from the storyline. It is here that mask comes completely off and this anime reveals the full extent of its dark undertones for the whole world to see. And at the end when the opening credits play, and then the lyrics start to make sense... saying I was touched would be putting it much too lightly. I have to admit, I consider this episode of Puella Magi Madoka Magica to be the single greatest episode in television anime of all time.
The ending, while considered controversial by some, in my opinion put a very satisfactory ending to this magnificent and breathtaking tale. The ending was not some thoughtless, happy-go-lucky fairy tale ending, but more of an intellectual and thought-provoking close to the story that caused me to parse and ponder its true ramifications for weeks to come; and that's just the way I like 'em. With dazzling and intriguing visuals, a great and emotional soundtrack, and writing on a level that I have not yet seen another anime match, I can't recommend this series enough. But if you haven't seen it yet, I hope you didn't read too much into my review. Go watch it now, and just keep in mind the wise words of my friend: "After all, it's just a show about cute magical girls."
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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