When the general public thinks of anime, several connotations and images are typically brought up, ranging from the battle shounen, in which two guys beat the hell out of each other with massive muscles, typical ecchi oriented anime in which girls are drawn to have ridiculously small skirts and extremely large breasts, and the most prolific, at least from what I’ve gathered from asking family and colleagues at university about this very same subject, are that of the magical girls! Even if you’re not particular that versed in magical girl oriented anime, as am I (for I’ve only seen the Sailor Moon series, Lyrical Nanoha and the show of discussion today) you’re at the very least probably familiar with the genre’s typical troupes and conventions, as the magical girl genre is perhaps the most parodied within the medium with countless examples out there, from Puruin in Welcome to the N.H.K to Stardust Witch Mereru in Oreiemo. As a result, there are several things people tend to associate with the magical girl genre, as I tried to replicate in my opening paragraph (and probably failed at mind, you) but there exists several deconstructions out there, going against the norm of what is to be expected from this typically more so child-friendly content, with the most popular example of these shows being Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica from 2011, becoming one of the most successful and popular anime ever created! But, alas, with all that said and done, let’s make a wish with some random cat who clearly looks like he will screw us over at some point, transform into a magical girl and dive into the world of Madoka!
Madoka, our main protagonist for this tale, along with her best friend, Sayaka, are regular middle-schoolers, until, that is, they encounter an adorable cat, by the name of Kyuubey, whom is capable of speech and through this, offers to produce a contract between each of the girls, resulting in them becoming magical girls (as Kyuubey needs them to fight off against these monster-like things called Witches) in exchange for one of their wishes to be granted. As the series goes along, more magical girls are introduced into the story, as the characters suffer through disappear and hardships, and, to cap it off, a lot of death as well! Madoka’s tone is one that takes a much more depressing and darker route than what is to be expected of these kinds of shows, and is consistent in its setting and overarching themes to make the world in which these characters inhabit, all the more bleak and miserable, with the constant threat of death always lurking around the corner, thus creating a sense of narrative stakes and tension since it is established early on in episode three, that characters do, and ARE going to die! This lends itself naturally in creating scenes with much more emotional weight, and the darker setting the narrative presents never really felt too forced, or what I’d usually classify as “edgy”. The show never tries to push its darker themes or ideas too hard to the point where it becomes silly, and instead opts for a mature and realistic tone that I feel was implemented in a serious and thought-out manner. The pacing for the show as well was also pretty consistent, moving the narrative along at a well enough pace to keep story beats moving. One thing that I actually really liked about the pacing, was how long it actually took for the girls to make up their minds in regards to their wish and what the dangers of accepting the contract may entail. I originally believed they’d make their wish at the first moment they could get within the first episode, but, instead, they ponder at great lengths, weighing it up in their mind, and as such, helped to ground the characters in a greater sense of believability, and made them seem more mature and rationale. Although, one thing I never really understood, is that why did none of the girls ever wish for more wishes? It was never established in the show that you are not allowed to do so, so why did none of the girls ever attempt this, especially since the wish is being promised by a cat who can talk! Maybe having more wishes could act as a means of reverting back, or changing something that may have gone wrong with your initial wish. Of course, this piece of criticism is one that is pretty pedantic, nor does it really effect my overall feelings towards the show, but I felt the need to point it out anyway.
The show also has enough plot twists and forks in the road to keep things interesting, and Kyuubey’s sudden reveal of new information to the girls that changes up the entire dynamic of how we think of the magical girls in general are easily some of my favourite moments in the show. Kyuubey is one sick pussy! As part of a race that always thinks cold and calculated, lacking any kind of emotion or sympathy for the magical girls he has created (whom he sees more so as pawns if anything else), Kyuubey upholds vital information in regards to the true nature of the magical girls and these sudden twists were one of the few incentives I had to keep watching, but I also feel that this makes Madoka a one trick pony, at least for me anyway. Kyuubey’s plot twists were one of only two things in the entire show to actually keep be invested in what I was watching and while I believe the show can be rather entertaining the first time through since one doesn’t know of the plot twists in the narrative, it leaves me with little desire to ever go back and watch again, which I suppose is fine, but I also value re-watchabiltiy in a title, and I feel that the other elements in Madoka are not strong enough to warrant another watch, and I don’t feel like I could get anything out of a second watch. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Madoka achieves what it sets out to do in regards to its narrative fairly well, but, again, this is quite a personal nit-pick for me, and perhaps quite a pedantic complaint none-the-less.
However, a less pedantic piece of criticism stems from the use of exposition in the show, and how overwhelming it can be at times. There are many times in the narrative in which Kyuubey dishes out exposition to the magical girls, about the origin of them or of himself, which, in small increments, can be interesting in learning more about the world, but these exposition scenes can go on for quite a while, and since so much information is being thrown at us in such a short amount of time, my brain eventually shuts off and I lose interest, especially since the exposition isn’t delivered in the most exciting way either. Now, one may argue that the exposition dumps in Madoka are justified since they given by Kyuubey, a creature who’s very existence is one that is very calculated and mechanical-like, so it makes sense for him to deliver information in such a way, and that is something I can totally understand, but it still doesn’t eliminate the problems I just mentioned, and if the exposition was spaced evenly over the course of the show, it would have helped to alleviate these problems for me greatly.
Some moments in the narrative can feel kind of trite and forced too, and depending on your tolerance levels, can put a damper on the entire experience. One such example of forced drama implementation is in regards to Sayaka, and the boy whom she loves, being taken away by one of her best friends. This love triangle sort of thing is not inherently a bad element on its own, but my main complaint is that this idea is never really fleshed out, nor is there any pay-off in regards to it either, and it felt like it was only there just to make Sayaka suffer all the more, and thus can come across as rather unnecessary in my eyes. There were also a few moments of poor comedy as well, in regards to the girl’s homeroom teacher who constantly complains and rants about the lack of dick in her life, and a friend of Sayaka’s and Madoka’s who believes they have entered into a homosexual relationship with each other and runs away, screaming! Thankfully, there were few scenes of this nature, but they often came across as jarring and mainly unfunny while watching the show. There was also a certain level of disconnect I got when watching the series since the girls sometimes acted in such a way to bring me out of my immersion, such as in the case where in the first episode, where, Madoka, hearing the cries of help from Kyuubey whom she hasn’t met yet, runs out of a music store and into some kind of underground area, and this always came across as strange to me as we just see her pop up there with no interconnecting dots showing us how she even got there in the first place since the latter locale seems like it would take a significant amount of time to reach. In addition, I often found it kind of strange how Madoka and Sayaka were pretty calm about seeing one of their upperclassman as a magical girl along with a talking cat, and instead of freaking out or just simply acting surprised like regular people, they decide to drink tea and eat cake, as if this event is one that happens every day! Again, this may seem like something small and insignificant to talk about, but its moments like these that drag me out of the experience.
Now, despite a few problems here and there in regards to the narrative, it’s overall pretty solid and does its job well for what It was trying to achieve; it reaches for the stars and tries to be as ambitious as it can in many areas and just falls short (especially with an ending that feels very much like The End of Evangelion of all things! Thankfully there is no scene where Madoka masturbates over someone else’s body!) However, my main problems with Madoka lies in its cast and how little I care for anyone, which is a massive problem considering that the entirety of the narrative stakes and threat of death present is reliant on how you can grow attached to these characters, and on that end, I believe Madoka does a poor job at investing me in these girls.
Madoka, as previously mentioned, is our main protagonist for this tale, and is perhaps one of the most boring main characters I’ve seen in a while! She plays the typical cute girl, mainly characterised by her extreme amount of kindness and love for the people around her. Madoka’s character feels more so like a small puppy in regards to the way she was written. She is completely innocent, and is represented more so a victim in the show, with an insane love for everyone, including her family in which the first episode hammers down our throats that she has a happy life filled with love! As such, whenever she does get hurt or abused in the show, it acts as an emotional trigger to make us feel more sympathetic towards her since she is just so innocent and happy! It’s like watching a puppy getting kicked or something, and that is basically Madoka’s character in a nutshell. This doesn’t make her character bad just incredibly dull, and she is easily the least interesting character in the entire show, spending much of her time crying in the narrative. While there is a great scene between her and her badass mother in the final episode, in which we see how strong Madoka’s resolve is to finally put an end to the suffering of the magical girls, her character remains mostly pretty stagnant and uninteresting for the most part, which is even more painful since she is the main character of the entire series! Madoka more so takes a back seat to the rest of the cast and aside from the final episode, contributes very little to the story. I suppose her function in the show is to act as the straight man (I mean woman, don’t want those damn SJWs attacking me for assuming genders!) to the rest of the cast, and thus helping us to relate more to her as a person and to attach ourselves onto her, but I honestly forgot her character even exists half the time.
Mami is somewhat more interesting than the aforementioned Madoka but still wrought with problems. She is a senior to that of Sayaka and Madoka and acts as their mentor of sorts during the early parts of the series, and while we do learn something about her character in episode three, whereupon Madoka tells Mami she will always stick with her which brings Mami nothing but joy, and was surprisingly heart-warming to watch, her character doesn’t really go anywhere from that point onward. There are a few subtle hints in the first two episodes that imply some more things about her as a person, but its nothing of any real substantial merit, nor can one truly evaluate her intentions in the early parts of the show as she, let's say, is "evicted" early on.
Now, let’s talk about Sayaka, whom is the only character I was actually invested in, aside from Akemi anyway, and her spiral into self-destruction is easily the most interesting aspect of the series for me. Not only that, but her wish actually has some kind of emotional drama, as she uses said wish in order to make her friend, whom has been suffering inside a hospital, good as new once again. As such, Sayaka’s character feels far more grounded than that of the previous two I just talked about, and her downwards spiral into destruction is given enough room to breath and be fully fleshed out, making it all the more hard hitting and impactful. Sayaka’s character made me feel something other than just indifference, and her character is more so indicative of the darker side of magical girls in the series, and the show does a good job at representing this idea. She even embarks on an idealistic battle with another magical girl whom gets introduced in episode five, a girl by the name of Kyouka, and even though this battle of ideologies in regards to their duties as magical girls is as basic as they come, at the very least there is some kind of character conflict going on, and some level of introspection into what it means to be a magical girl to these characters. Kyouka and Sayaka, at first, seemingly dislike each other due to their differences, but the show tries to make them grow into friends over the course of the series, something I could never get behind because it just ended up feeling kind of superficial and it never feels as if the two characters grow to like each other on screen, it’s merely just implied. Kyouka’s character as a whole is just fine, and while we do learn something about her character, and the reasons why she acts the way she does (even if I would argue that her backstory is one in which tries to use emotional manipulation and shock to make us feel for her) at the very least we do learn something about her character, even if her relevancy in the entire narrative is rather minimal, and acts as a sort of mirror to Sayaka’s character, as Kyouka too wished for something that benefitted another, which backfired badly, just as what is happening to Sayaka. It’s nothing amazing, but these two characters do a decent job at making me at least somewhat care for what is going on.
And finally that leaves Akemi, whom I can’t speak too much about since I wish to avoid spoiler as much as possible in this review. Akemi is first presented as being this mysterious figure who lurks in the shadows, with a major hard-on for Madoka, but in episode ten of the show, a whole episode is devoted into fleshing out her character and the reason why her hard-on for Madoka is as big as it is! It’s actually a well-done emotional episode that adds a lot on to her character, and does a good job in explaining why Akemi is as persistent as she is, and I also get a kick out of her using machine guns and grenades when fighting – it cracks me up every time!
In terms of animation and art design, Madoka is great. As expected of both Shaft, and the directing of Akiyuki Shinbou, Madoka’s visuals are unique and extremely experimental, adopting for insane amounts of colour and bizarrely interesting Witch designs, utilising many different animation techniques to make them feel different, but also horrifying in their design. The fact that the Witches are designed and animated differently than that of everything else in the show, gives them this uncanny and monstrous demeanour. The same thing can be said for the character designs too, and how each one of them feels so memorable too me, especially that of Mami’s and Sayaka’s magical girl costume, which I adore. The fight scenes were also a spectacle to behold as well, with great use of movement and fighting choreography, especially during the first fight between Kyouka and Sayaka in episode 5. The whole show is dripping with different animation ideas and art; it’s a feast for the eyes and I love it! The same thing can be said for the music as well, with the opening of the show winning the award for perhaps most misleading opening ever conceived, and one little thing I could admire about the show is how the ending theme changes in episode three, from the sweet and calming melodies prior, to the track called “Magia” in accordance to the shift in tone of the show; a track that’s full of despair! I also adore “Sis Puella Magica” with its orchestral arrangements and mystical tone, that fits wonderfully into the show. Everything about Madoka in these two departments is done to great effect, making the show’s music and animation extremely memorable.
In conclusion, Madoka Magica is a fine show. With what it sets out to do and what it accomplishs, I feel it does a good job, and there are many things to praise about the show, from the art and the music, to some of the decently developed characters the narrative presents us with, but ultimately, the biggest drawback is the lack of characters I feel a damn for. Out of the entire cast, the only character I slightly cared about whom may have lived or died was Sayaka and thus, most of the narrative stakes the show presents me with falls flat since I was not invested in any of them. It’s one thing to have narrative stakes and death in the show, but another to have characters whom we care about having those stakes afflicted upon. However, despite all that, Madoka at least remained somewhat fun for much of its duration and at the very least, I’d say it warrants a watch on that end. Just remember, that if a cat offers to forge a contract with you in exchange for a wish, either be smart and wish for more wishes or run the hell away!
