MY HIATUS IS DONE. YEATARDAY WAS MY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!
There will be a lot of CAPS LOCK in this rant. What do you expect, IT'S A RANT.
Okay, so I started watching Madoka Magica (THE G IN MAGICA IS A "HARD" G. READ THE KATAKANA) because of all the hype, and I needed a short anime for me to finish before leaving for China. I'm also inexplicably drawn to shows that don't seem to fit my tastes at first (see Black Lagoon and Deadman Wonderland). And because my hiatus is done, why not write a rant?
Now, I have always known that Madoka Magica is a dark show. And, I pretty much spoiled a lot of it for me by reading the Wikipedia page (WHY DO I ALWAYS DO THIS?!?!?!?!) So I think I just killed a lot of the potential buzz *sigh*.
But the one thing I noticed in EVERY review of this anime (YouTube, MyAnimeList, Netflix) was a sentence along the lines of "Do NOT let the cover fool you. It may be a magical girl anime and look really cutesy, but this is a VERY dark anime." In response to one such comment, I found this little gem. I would like to credit a YouTube user JohnJacob JinglehimerSchmidt who made this very interesting comment on a YouTube video.
If you search on YouTube "Madoka Magica op" and select the first TV size one, he's there. And he's right. Darkness/tragedy and Yuri (I added that because a lot of people were surprised by the Yuri undertones in Madoka Magica) ARE staples of magical girl anime.
Let's start with the Yuri.
Sailor Moon-check
Cardcaptor Sakura-check
Shugo Chara-check
Revolutionary Girl Utena-check
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (Also directed by Akiyuki Shinbo)-check
And the tragedy:
Penguindrum-check
Ojamajo DoReMi-check
Princess Tutu-check
Full Moon O Sagashite-check
D.N Angel (I'm kind of cheating here, but you get the point)-check
Also, some of the anime I just mentioned have both traits. HA.
Now, let's compare episode counts: (TOTAL episodes, including OVA's. Excluding films)
Cardcaptor Sakura: 70
Shugo Chara: 127
Ojamajo DoReMi: 214
Sailor Moon (including the upcoming Crystal): 226
Madoka Magica: 12
It just so happens that these are some of the most popular magical girl anime out there. And because the popular shows are so long, it takes a while for "outsiders-looking-in" to see the darker parts of the show.
Sure, there are a lot of magical girl anime that ARE nothing but sugar, spice, and everything that seems sort of pedo. But the NUMBER of examples I provided should speak for themselves.
The ONLY reasons Madoka Magica gets all the hype is that it 1) kicks up the darkness level, 2) does it in a tiny 12 episode package (Well, there's also 3 movies), and 3) aired in a time when a lot of people thought moe was going to be the death of anime. Often time, the people who praised Madoka Magica a a deconstruction say they're not into magical girl anime, that they thought all magical girl anime were like Sailor Moon. And the problem is that those people don't see past the long transformations with short skirts (in the shows I mentioned above) to see the darker side of the show.
Yes, I acknowledge Madoka Magica as a deconstruction. And so far, YES, it is good. BUT I just think that a lot of people lack perspective about Madoka Magica and the Magical Girl genre itself.
I hope you are now a bit more educated about the Magical Girl genre and have a bit more perspective now.
How did you guys like this rant? Should I do more like this?
Cheers,
~Selena
Last Updated: 7 June 2014
Originally Published: 7 June 2014
