The animes setting revolves around Magical Girls, who form a contract with this white mysterious creature named Kyubey, where they can ask for any wish imaginable in return for carrying the duties of being a Magical Girl. A Magical Girls job is to hunt down and kill witches, which are formed from as Kyubey put it "As Magic Girls are born from wishes, witches are born from curses." If they were not stopped these witches would otherwise continue to kill and torment innocent people, in the forms of accidents, suicides and other horrible outcomes, since normal people cannot see them, people are none the wiser to their existence. When they are near a witch, the magical girls go into a sick and twisted alternate world called a ‘labyrinth’ made by the witches, where all the animation style changes and really creeps you the hell out. Still sounds like an innocent story right, WRONG.
The story of this anime is surprisingly one of the darkest stories I’ve seen, there being twists and tragedies occurring that cannot help but make you feel sick to the stomach, and scenes that will no doubt bring a tear to your eye. The anime centres around Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school. One day, she had a very magical encounter along with her friend 'Sayaka Miki' where they met Kyubey and the magical girl 'Mami Tomoe' and from there they were shown the life of a Magical Girl. The story contains an unbelievable amount of sadness for a Magical Girl anime, especially the last few episodes of the series where I couldn't help but have watery eyes for most of the time.
All the characters in the anime are done extremely well, where you feel a connection with all of them as you learn of their trudged pasts and the kind of challenges they really need to go through, the exception being 'Mami Tomoe' which I felt like was a character that didn't really get explored much, and was never really able to connect with the viewers.
The art style of the anime was absolutely brilliant, when in the normal world the art style is normal, with some high quality visuals for the scenery, great lighting, and great atmosphere. The character designs were top notch, both when they were normal and as magical girls. However when they enter the ‘labyrinths’ the animation style changes into a unique and crazy style each time. This not only makes the labyrinths seem crazier, but scarier as well, the kind of things you see seem like they came right out of someone’s worst nightmares. Each time it’s slightly different and brings a whole unique feeling to the anime as a whole; as it affects the viewer’s feel of the entire setting of the anime.
The sound was an absolute piece of gold, not only was it captivating but it successfully aided the scenes so much more, that it brought entire feelings of emotions with them, from joy to pure sadness. The sound effects used in the anime were outstanding, from the simple sounds of the ambience and such, to the awesome sounds of the magic and fighting sounds that occur, the sound effects are done supremely well.
The only negative I feel this anime had was how it didn’t explore into 'Mami Tomoes’ character, however this doesn’t negatively impact the anime for reasons that I shall not spoil for you. Another thing that some people might find a negative is the fact that from the outside the anime is a giant lie, from the cute and happy intro to the seemingly happy setting in the start, the anime can truly fool those expecting and wanting a happy and joyful anime, because when in the middle of it, this is absolutely not the case.
In the end the series has one of the most emotionally sad yet happy endings I’ve seen, it truly nails the ability to make me cry every time I see it, and every time I Think about it. However the anime did get a sequel movie, which is really a whole other thing to review, but I will say that the ending for the movie truly destroyed my very soul in a way I wouldn’t think possible, it has THE most heart shattering ending I have seen.
Overall the anime was an enormous surprise to me; easily being one I can call a Masterpiece in all ways without the look of such quality on the surface. I personally believe every single person should watch this anime. Whether or not you like Magical Girl animes, this one will be an anime to never forget. A true emotional and heart wrenching experience. 10/10
