Mahou Shoujo Madoka★Magica
Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Aniplex/Shaft
*SPOILER WARNING*
Madoka Magica is exceedingly popular, and I'm aware that a lot of people, especially thosewho frequent anime forums, will already have been spoilered by the internet at large, but Madoka Magica is seriously worth watching. Don't ruin its wonderfully twisty plot until you've seen it for yourself!
I should also mention that some of these gifs are a little gore-y.
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This anime is a surprise wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a ball of holy-crap-what-just-happened.
The 'Magical Girl' genre of anime ('mahou shoujo' in Japanese) is widely popular and has a whole slew of titles within it, including the anime that pretty much everyone has heard of, even if they live under a rock - Sailor Moon. The basic formula of a mahou shoujo anime is
On the surface, Madoka Magica is much the same - ordinary girls are approached by a squishy and adorable-looking feline creature and are allowed to make one wish. In return for their wish, the girls are given a Soul Gem (the source of their power) and must battle evil beings known as 'witches'.
So far, so normal for a magical girl anime.
The series' description on My Anime List (a fan-maintained database) is:
"She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny—this is a beginning of the new story of the magical girls."
which describes precisely the impression of Madoka Magica everyone has before they watch it, and through the first two episodes. This was exactly the effect that it was intended to have - the viewer is lulled into a false sense of security and is completely drawn in by the series emotionally by what they expect is going to happen.
Then... it gets dark. Really quickly.
(To be honest I'm still not over what happens in episode three, which is where it all starts to rapidly plummet out of normal mahou-shoujo happy-happy land.)
The world of Madoka Magica is a bleak one, with magical girls turning on each other and all vying for the 'grief seeds' given by killing a witch after the witch has grown by spreading despair and luring people to their deaths. These grief seeds are the only thing that can keep the mahou shoujos' soul gems bright, and stop them from turning into witches themselves (a fact that has been hidden from them), describing a cycle of hope and despair that is engineered by Kyuubei, the creature that fulfills the initial wishes of the magical girls.
Madoka Magica is a complete standout from the magical girl genre as a whole, and plays with the tropes of the genre by being purposefully dark (until the end, which is a bittersweet one - I won't reveal anything further than that!)
Also:
Transformation sequences - where the main character activates their 'power talisman' of some sort and is magically changed into their mahou shoujo form - are a hallmark of magical girl anime, and most of the time, are very long and lavishly animated. Madoka Magica has pointedly quick sequences - the above character, Homura, is given the most elaborate transformation sequence in the series besides Madoka's in the opening, but this is still incredibly short for the genre, only taking a second or two.
The art style of Madoka Magica is a huge standout (and something that was expected from the anime's producers, SHAFT, who are famous for producing top-notch works). Apart from the regular animation, each separate 'world' (basically a pocket dimension) that each witch exists in is animated in a different, mind-bending style, radically different to the sketchy (yet relatively normal for anime) style used in the anime's 'real world'.
Some examples:
Witch Charlotte
Witch Gertrud
Witch Elsa-Maria
I should also mention that some of these gifs are a little gore-y.
___________________________________________________________________
This anime is a surprise wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a ball of holy-crap-what-just-happened.
The 'Magical Girl' genre of anime ('mahou shoujo' in Japanese) is widely popular and has a whole slew of titles within it, including the anime that pretty much everyone has heard of, even if they live under a rock - Sailor Moon. The basic formula of a mahou shoujo anime is
On the surface, Madoka Magica is much the same - ordinary girls are approached by a squishy and adorable-looking feline creature and are allowed to make one wish. In return for their wish, the girls are given a Soul Gem (the source of their power) and must battle evil beings known as 'witches'.
So far, so normal for a magical girl anime.
The series' description on My Anime List (a fan-maintained database) is:
"She has a loving family and best friends, laughs and cries from time to time... Madoka Kaname, an eighth grader of Mitakihara middle school, is one of those who lives such a life. One day, she had a very magical encounter. She doesn't know if it happened by chance or by fate yet. This is a fateful encounter that can change her destiny—this is a beginning of the new story of the magical girls."
which describes precisely the impression of Madoka Magica everyone has before they watch it, and through the first two episodes. This was exactly the effect that it was intended to have - the viewer is lulled into a false sense of security and is completely drawn in by the series emotionally by what they expect is going to happen.
Then... it gets dark. Really quickly.
(To be honest I'm still not over what happens in episode three, which is where it all starts to rapidly plummet out of normal mahou-shoujo happy-happy land.)
The world of Madoka Magica is a bleak one, with magical girls turning on each other and all vying for the 'grief seeds' given by killing a witch after the witch has grown by spreading despair and luring people to their deaths. These grief seeds are the only thing that can keep the mahou shoujos' soul gems bright, and stop them from turning into witches themselves (a fact that has been hidden from them), describing a cycle of hope and despair that is engineered by Kyuubei, the creature that fulfills the initial wishes of the magical girls.
That's Kyuubei. He's... not as cute as you might think.
*shudder*
Madoka Magica is a complete standout from the magical girl genre as a whole, and plays with the tropes of the genre by being purposefully dark (until the end, which is a bittersweet one - I won't reveal anything further than that!)
Also:
Transformation sequences - where the main character activates their 'power talisman' of some sort and is magically changed into their mahou shoujo form - are a hallmark of magical girl anime, and most of the time, are very long and lavishly animated. Madoka Magica has pointedly quick sequences - the above character, Homura, is given the most elaborate transformation sequence in the series besides Madoka's in the opening, but this is still incredibly short for the genre, only taking a second or two.
The art style of Madoka Magica is a huge standout (and something that was expected from the anime's producers, SHAFT, who are famous for producing top-notch works). Apart from the regular animation, each separate 'world' (basically a pocket dimension) that each witch exists in is animated in a different, mind-bending style, radically different to the sketchy (yet relatively normal for anime) style used in the anime's 'real world'.
Some examples:
Witch Charlotte
Witch Gertrud
The fact that Madoka Magica is so desolate, and yet still ends with a glimmer of hope as Madoka (the titular character) manages to escape the unbreakeable cycle of hope and despair, resonated extremely strongly with the audience at the time, helping rocket it into a must-watch series an average rating of 8.59/10 and a ranking of #72 (which is ridiculously high for a short series with what was, at first, only a small following).
I can't help but end with my favourite of the orchestral themes that recur throughout the series. It's absolutely haunting, and stays with you, much like Madoka Magica has stayed with me, and I think it will for a long time.
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cited:My Anime List
gifs:
kyuubei, homura transformation, elsa maria, mami and homura, gertrud, charlotte, header
word count: 823
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