Madoka Magica is really engaging. The good pacing makes every episode worth watching. You can't skip a single one of the 12 episodes, and you wouldn't want to, anyway. Even though it's not really suspenseful, I wanted to know what would happen next the entire time.
What I really liked about it, and this was probably to be expected from a deconstruction but good nevertheless, is that the show doesn't focus much on fighting against a common enemy, rather it focuses on the conflict between the magical girls themselves. There is a common enemy, though: Kyubey. It was obvious. What wasn't obvious was Kyubey's motive. And even though I didn't quite understand its whole plan, it was explained, and that's what matters to me.
I also feel the need to mention the "be-careful-what-you-wish-for" theme. This isn't an uncommon theme, but what I like is that it really CONTRIBUTES to the story. It's not just a futile attempt at a moral.
As for the characters, well, they're not exactly the anime's strong point. They're all pretty stereotypical. The only interesting character was Mami, and they killed her off three episodes in. I liked Kyoko's backstory, though. It's an unusual take on the usual family-being-killed thing. Character development was fantastic.
The unique art was kind of weird at first, but once you get used to it it's actually really nice. The soundtrack is amazing, too. Overall, I'd say Madoka Magica is a bit overrated, but isn't all good anime overrated? If you haven't seen it, please go watch it now because it's great.
