User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Wiki in the Anime vol. 1: Fall 2015/@comment-7418318-20160209224356


 * digs for blog. Puh, finally found it. ^^*

I just finished watching Mahou Shojou Madoka Magica (or in translation Puella Magi Madoka Magica) and I want to talk about it a bit.

SPOILERS ahead, so beware if you haven't watched it and intend to (which I highly recommend!)

The first thing I thought when watching was "Hey Yuki Kajiura, right?" (and yes, that's the case) followed by "I'll have to get that Soundtrack!" followed finally by "Nice animation". ^^

Since I have a general dislike for the Magic Girl genre, I so far avoided this series. The name and the designs make it look like your average happy-go-lucky Magic Girl stumbing into a magical worls where they fight monsters and then live happily ever after to protect the world.

The first two episodes and part of the 3rd this seems to be the case for Madoka too, though I really liked how the first Magic Girl we see in action is summoning guns and shooting things with it, very short transformations and most importantly NO SHOUTOUT ATTACKS! :D except for Mami's finishing move attack  I already stared to like the series then. There were a few deep conversations about "Why are we so lucky when others have it worse" attempted cute pet murder (at least it seems like it at the time) and the casual mention of a possible violent death to be the end of magical girl's career and life... but nothing too overt. As I said it fools you into thinking it's your average Mahou Shojou stuff... until the MC's mentor get's her head bitten off - literally!

That was the moment I realized that all the talk about this series being quite dark didn't mean "A shade or two darker than your usual happy-go-lucky series" but actually dark - though the comparisons to Neon Genesis Evangelion I read... no, just no.

What also surprised me (positively) is how they went a completely different route regarding the MC. Usually in the first episode of such series the MC become a magical girl... here we only get to see flashbacks (into the future) and dreams of Madoka as a magical girl, but the actual change only comes in the second to last episode!

The way the witches and their barriers are drawn in a picasso style lends to their disturbing atmosphere and yet also gives us some clues as to what the witches used to be, though for me the coin didn't click until it happened on screen followed by the explanation.

I like Kyube. Just like Migi from Parasyte it has a completely different value-system and can't even understand how Humans think. So innocent and cruel at the same time... and despite that innocent cruelty it's does make a lot of logical sense how it put's it.

Though there is one big flaw in both the series and the two movies that retell the story (haven't watched Rebellion yet): Where did Walpugis Night come from? If the strongest witches come from the stongest magical girls, why did Walpugis appear out of nowhere, without a super-strong MG turning into her? But that's just my thirst for backstory.

Overall I can only recommend it to anyone who doesn't mind a dark story with a bit of mind-screwing, tear-jerking, having 3/5th of the main cast die and the 4th effectively cease to exist as a Human... (and seeing those five die multiple times in flashbacks) and a part happy, part unhappy ending.