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(Story - 10)
(Minor spoilers for episode 1. I recommend watching it first if you care.)
Madoka Kaname is your average middle school girl. She wakes up in the morning after having a strange dream and that day, a mysterious new student named Homura Akemi transfers to her class.
That same day, after school, she's hanging out with her best friend Sayaka Miki when they end up encountering a magical familiar named Kyubey, who is being attacked by the aforementioned transfer student using magical powers.
A kind older student from their school named Tomoe Mami who also has magical powers hears Kyubey's telepathic plea for help and arrives, saving them from a witch's labyrinth dimension after defeating the witch. Homura promptly leaves and Kyubey is successfully rescued as well. Afterwards, Kyubey thanks them and offers to grant the two ordinary girls any wish that they desire. In exchange they must become magical girls and fight witches.
So far it seems like a regular magical girl series, right?
Magical familiar (✓)
Magical girls/magic being used (✓)
Recurring group of enemies they must defeat (witches) (✓)
This could just be Cardcaptor Sakura or something, right? But those darker undertones are already there.
Near death of the central magical familiar (✓)
Terrifying enemies (✓)
Bitter rivalry between magical girls (✓)
And that's where this show differs from "your average magical girl anime". You probably already know this, but the show is a psychological thriller for a freaking reason.
The world of Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is a perilous place and things are not what they seem.
This anime may seem happy-go-lucky for the first few episodes, but these things are present all the time. And as you go on, you'll see these feelings of unease and despair become more and more apparent as they creep their way into these girls' realities more and more.
(Art - 9)
This gets a solid 9 from me. The art style is very unique. The character designs are pretty simplistic, but they're charming and their magical girl outfits reflect their personalities. All the main characters can be associated with their own color since their eye and hair colors are the same and they each have their own preferred styles, making them distinct as characters. The backgrounds/settings are really beautiful and creative (especially during fight scenes). Witches and their labyrinth designs are the perfect blend of unique and disturbing, but always with some sort of core theme to them. The animation is smooth as well. I don't really have any complaints, honestly.
(Music - 10)
The soundtrack of this show is absolutely amazing. From the opening (which stays the same the entire show) to the numerous ending themes to all the background music. I've found they're all exceptionally fitting to the various scenes. And the feels when you notice some of the lyrics of these themes... The various characters also have their own character themes which fit their personalities well.
(Characters- 10)
The characters are great as well. The main characters feel almost alive imo. You can really feel yourself rooting for them at times and in my opinion, each and every one of them has an equally important role in the series and they make this anime the masterpiece it is. They aren't one note and have a lot of depth to their personalities and their own reasons for doing things. Never would I have thought such a short anime could make me care for the characters this much. I won't say more to keep this review less spoiler-y.
My enjoyment and overall opinion of this anime is a flat out 10. Sure I may be a bit biased, having watched it 5 times, but it may just be my favorite anime. I hope my review convinced you that you need to watch it (if you haven't already). Oh and if you watch the series, make sure to watch Movie 3: Rebellion after words! (The first two movies are just alternate tellings of the anime.) Have a nice day! :)
