PMMM is one of those shows where it looks cute on the surface level, but as soon as you start getting into it, you realize the cuteness is just a facade for something of a completely different level that reshapes the entire Magical Girl part of shoujo manga/anime.
Story: 8/10
PMMM follows the life of Madoka, a pink haired girl who has the ideal life for herself. She has a family that loves her, and some friends that mean the world to her. Then, the typical "new student in class changes the life of the protagonist" cliche hits, and it's all "fun" and "games" from there.
The story itself is fairly well put together for the amount of episodes to the show.
Forget about the typical tropes that are common in the Magical Girl genre, for while this show has the traditional transformation sequences and themed attacks, there's not necessarily a "good-guys-always-win" mentality to this show. It may be what's popular with most Magical Girl shows, due to the fact that most are designed with younger audiences in mind, but this one is not. I would not recommend showing this to younger children.
Art: 6/10
Personally, I was not a fan of the art style. This show was made with a certain style in mind, but some scenes are downright cringe-worthy to look at, due to the fact that bobble-heads tend to appear and their faces aren't always proportionate. The colors were bright and fun and beautiful, and there were some scenes where the animation was just gorgeous, but there were a handful that were not, and thus it got a lower score in my book.
Sound: 8/10
I am always a sucker for the orchestration behind things in the media. It's often what makes or breaks it for me. Madoka Magica had a very nice soundtrack, with plenty of music to fill where music should be. There were different themes and styles that all meshed and helped shave off the cute surface level that so many outsiders see it as.
Character: 6/10
Some of the characters had very nice backstories built to them, even as supporting characters, but others do not. The Protagonist Madoka fell rather flat for me, as she was a rather cowardly, wimpy character that spent a good portion of the show crying about her situation. Granted, with everything that happens to these characters, I don't blame her, but she doesn't get that much character development. This may be because of minimal time to build her character, but the supporting characters have more development than she does.
Overall, it's a great anime. It all comes together fairly well, and if you want a short anime that's not as it seems, I say go for this one. It won't let you down. Just be ready, for if you're of a softer heart, you may need to keep tissues nearby. This one had me nearly in tears.
