Maybe its how Shaft grabbed me visually, perhaps its how unique it is to the rest of its genre, but when I finally decided to give the Magical Girl genre a chance again by watching Madoka★Magica, I was rewarded with one of the greatest animes of its time, one that tears apart the stereotypes of Mahou Shoujo and creates from the ashes a breath of fresh air that made me ponder the very ideas of morality, power and most of all, the bittersweet tragedy of sacrifice itself. Normally I would break it down for individual ratings, but once, here is an exception, because it would take me an entire booklet to describe its intricacy. That day when I picked it from a shelf will be the day I consider a turning point in my belief.
In fact, I remember when I first collected the anime from a convention. Normally I avoid Mahou Shoujo's because frankly, the frills, sweet, moe characters with magical powers created by wishes or whatever wasnt appealing to me. It always seemed like a genre meant for 13 year old girls that wanted hope and a new world to entrance in, and being an 18 year old university student...thats rather embarrassing. Suddenly, it was in my hands...and so without much to care for, I watched the first episode, and from then on, I knew that this was the one that would change my perception completely. I saw black darkness and checkered beauty all within the dream of the girl who would become the main protagonist later on. In only 5 minutes, my perceptions of the Mahou Shoujo genre was shattered.
What shocked me most though was the intricacy of the storyline itself. Unlike Naruto or other "big" anime that constantly drag me to hell with fillers, this was a delightful exception, with every minute of the storyline leaving me on the edge of my seat, weaving the basket of plot thicker and thicker as our curiosity increases at what will happen next. There are no "fillers", you cannot skip an episode or you have basically missed out on a large chunk of the story for that. That is what makes it so perfect, its execution, but not only that, its sound.
The music of Madoka★Magica entranced me and thrust the series deeper into the world of psychological manipulation in terms of twisting my soul into pure emotion as time progresses. In fact, I even downloaded the OST and discovered my favourite interpretation of "Ave Maria" by Charles Gounod, interpreted by the legendary Kajiura Yuki, whose use of the violin moved me to tears by its intense feeling. Not even being roundhouse kicked in the face years back made me cry, so that says enough really.
Artistically, I had to get used to it, but then again, the characters were bubbly too, and speaking of that, after only 3 episodes, I felt like I was watching a different anime entirely, the character development being just so deep in such a short span of time, that it is almost impossible to top.
Ive never been a fan of the overly bubbly (unless its K-On!!), and picking this up, I expected disappointment. Yet now I realise how wrong I was, and my only regret was that I didn't give this a chance sooner. I smiled, I was thrilled, I felt my emotions tingle and at times even teared up, and although Im hopeful that the Anime industry can continue to produce perfect worlds like the one created here, but in this genre, I doubt I will ever see something this beautifully perfect again, and although it only spanned 12 episodes, I have nothing but fulfillment from this, and cannot wait to see the trilogy of movies airing soon. 10/10, and well deserved.
~Katsuro-chan
