My friend Joe spent a 1990′s anime amount of money (I hope SOME of you get that…) on something called Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It’s a magical girl Anime in the vein of Sailor Moon. Now Joe is a much bigger fan of Anime than I am and for the most part when a magical girl show comes up on the rotation I’m watching it out of politeness more than anything else. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed them from time to time, they just aren’t quite my thing.
So when Joe said he had gotten Madoka and wanted to watch it I smiled and said ‘sure’ not really expecting much from it.
I was very wrong. The show is twelve episodes and we ended up staying up till four in the morning watching the damn thing. When we got done I was so conflicted by what I had just watched that I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not. A few days have passed now and I just wanted to say that Madoka is REALLY good. The visuals are very cool and weird and the story does an excellent job of giving you what you need, when you need it and at least left me satisfied if not particularly happy.
If you are a cartoon lover and haven’t already heard of Madoka then my recommendation is to not look up what the deal with it is. Just go to www.rightstuf.com (you can get it on Amazon as well but you will probably pay more as it is a RightStuf exclusive) and plunk down the money (or find someway to borrow it or something…) without looking too deep.
I had really limited knowledge going in and while I don’t think knowing what is going on will ruin anything the twists that happen are probably better unannounced.
As for the title it should be viewed as a warning. Madoka, like Watchmen did for superheroes, is treading some fairly new ground for the genre. While I think it is one of the best Anime I’ve ever seen I wouldn’t want ALL Magical Girl anime to go this direction in the future. After all something exceptional is made so by being an exception. Once everything changes to match that magic is lost.
~George
I adored Madoka when I saw it. It had some of the most beautiful visuals I’ve ever seen in anime and at least one fight scene which I think could be put up against anything and stand a very good chance at coming out on top.