Squeaky Clean Anime Review: Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Mahou Shojo Madoka Magica)

I've had many lackluster experiences from jumping on the figurative "hype train." And this doesn't just apply to anime (Frozen, Rise of the Guardians, TFIOS, Matched, *sigh*). But once again, I gave in and decided to jump on and watch Madoka Magica. Does it live up to the hype? Let's find out. The G in Magica is a "hard" g, FYI. The Rebellion movie will be a separate review.

Synopsis: 
Madoka Kaname is your typical eighth grade girl who one day rescues a white cat-like creature named Kyubey. Kyubey is searching the world for girls willing to become magical girls and fight witches in exchange for any one wish granted. Meanwhile, a mysterious transfer student named Homura Akemi wants to stop Madoka from making the contract with Kyubey at all costs. Together with some of Madoka's classmates, friends, and other magical girls, they fight witches and then discover the horrifying truth about magical girls, Kyubey's secret, and the universe to it's very core.

Story: 

As you've all probably heard before, Madoka Magica is a deconstruction/post modernism anime. It starts off with a rather simple premise, only to become darker, more complex, and deviating far from people's preconceptions of the show. Think of it like adopting an adorable kitty from an animal shelter, taking it home, it gradually turns into a terrifying tiger, and then it demands you to sit down and respect it. The story is very original, although the plot twist(s) didn't shock me because I was spoiled by Wikipedia (really my own curiosity) and tumblr. The writing shines the best when there's character interaction, which is where most of the show's psychological aspect is. The words really resonated with me, and just go to show how dark, thought-provoking, and mature this anime is. Quite often I found myself connecting the themes of this anime to the infamous "Law of Equivalent Exchange" from Fullmetal Alchemist. The plot itself didn't feel like a solid linear PLOT, really, but this can be due to the fact that Madoka Magica is only 12 episodes long. I would like to say a show as "well written" as this has perfect pacing, but at times, I did feel like the show needed to "get on with it." This is probably because I can kind of separate the anime into "arcs" and this setup felt a bit abrupt for an anime this short. And I felt that with a plot that's not necessarily linear, a few events (no spoilers) felt just a bit dragged out, with better events and plot points getting less screen time than I would have liked. I can't really talk about the "mystery" aspect of this pacing, because I already knew the ending from the get-go. Lastly, for an anime as dark as this, I was somewhat surprised that the ending felt melancholy and bittersweet. It was (almost) a perfect ending, with everything resolved, and you feel like you've accomplished something after watching this. oh, and one more thing: there is a very minimal Yuri undertone to this anime. I'd say this anime implied Yuri like Free implies Yaoi. Just to be clear.

Characters: 

The characters in Madoka Magica all start off as variations of character archetypes (like most anime do nowadays). Madoka, the (ridiculously) sweet and kind-hearted girl, Homura, the mysterious transfer student (seriously, there are way too many of these in anime), Mami, the big sister/mentor figure, Sayaka, the tomboy best friend, and Kyoko, the redhead rebel who takes no flack from anyone. But as the show progresses, the line between good and bad is blurred for almost all the characters, with Madoka being the emotional and psychological anchor for the characters and story. She's sweet, kind, and caring to the core, almost to the point that it got annoying a few times. All the other characters do get some backstory, which did make them more complex, dynamic, 3-D characters. This is probably why I considered Homura, Sayaka, and Kyoko to be anti-heroes. Every character in Madoka Magica, no matter how minor, helps move the plot forward in some way or another. There are no "useless' characters, and I felt all the characters were used to their full potential. Now, by all definitions, the characters in Madoka Magica are good. The only problem is, I found many of them to be annoying or I just plain hated them. They're not very relate-able, for starters. Even after finishing the anime, when every character showed redeeming qualities or did something to change the audience's perspective of that character, the only one I liked in the end was Kyoko, and even when she was first introduced, I didn't really like her. Most of the conflict and what made most of the characters annoying at some point or another could just be solved with someone (or me) saying/doing something profound, stating the obvious, or just needed to be said/done. Just one sentence could've done the trick at times! But then again, that's the shojo way to resolve character conflict, and Madoka Magica is a Seinen, so yeah.

Art: 

The human character designs are all very moe and their faces look like they were taken straight off a sketchpad. I say human because, well...the witches are something else. The use of actual photographs, stop-motion, a layered-paper effect, and innocent yet subtly creepy imagery in the witch's labyrinths and the designs for the witches starkly and VERY EFFECTIVELY contrast the moe character designs. I mean, you wouldn't think desserts, art supplies, and an orchestra would be creepy. But Madoka Magica makes it so. The best way I can describe this art style is comparing it to an American cartoon called Chowder. Anyone who's seen it knows there are parts that are fully animated, but the show sometimes uses stop-motion type photographs, patterned textures, and even live action puppetry. But as unique (I say this instead of good) as the art is, it does suffer a consistency problem. I watched the fully touched-up version of the anime on Netflix, and a few days later, I saw screenshots of the Japanese TV broadcast version. Some scenes weren't completely drawn, and others had the characters look fuzzy and even have misshapen faces. I wish Shaft would be more timely with the production of Madoka Magica, but I understand they apologize with the DVD release version. In the fully finished version, everything looks very nice, consistent, and very clean, especially with distance shots. One last thought I would like to add: Every single building in this anime is ridiculously nice. Like, how much money do these people have?!?!?

Animation: 

The animation during the action scenes is very smooth and consistent throughout the entire series. Almost exceptionally so. Mixing the smooth movements of the magical girls with the erratic, (creepy) stop-motion animation in the witches labyrinths was very jarring, but worked to the show's advantage VERY much so. The action scenes, combined with the amazing OST (more on that later) made all of the action scenes very exhilarating and often would make my jaw drop. It doesn't do an Attack on Titan, where the camera spins around a lot, which was much appreciated. The animation also doesn't feel like shonen action, which I guess should be expected from an anime of this quality level. Even in non-action scenes, Shaft didn't skimp too much, which is also a good indication of quality.

Voice:  

Now here's the one area of the anime that I had low expectations. I know moe is very hard to dub in English well. But the thing is, Madoka Magica didn't need cutesy moe voices for the dub. This is a dark show, after all. The dub didn't distract me, and the dub script was not rewritten much from the original script. I switched between sub and dub very frequently throughout the series, and I honestly couldn't hear the difference between Madoka's voice in sub and dub. Because if you can act out a(n annoying) character so well that you feel the urge to yell at/slap that character, that deserves major praise. Shout out to you, Christine Marie Cabanos. You easily gave the best performance in this entire anime. Kyubey's voice took a little getting used to. I don't think Cassandra Lee quite nailed it whenever Kyubey has to explain/reveal things to the magical girls. Everyone else (Cristina Vee, Sarah Williams, Carrie Keranen, Lauren Landa, Shelby Lindley, Marianne Miller) gave rather average performances (compared to better dubs), but I actually didn't mind. Every dub VA in this anime has a wide (enough) emotional range, and this dub shows it with all the characters. Sure, the quality of this dub isn't earth-shattering, but I would actually recommend watching this in English, even though to others this may just seem like a passable dub (and it actually kind of is). Also, since this is an action anime, that's another reason to watch this dubbed.

Music: 

As usual, let me start with the opening. Now, I saw a YouTube comment on a video of the opening that said something along the lines of "I love how this opening lies so much to the audience." To which I would disagree, because I think it isn't a happy-go-lucky song like the kinds used to open other moe or magical girl anime. Sure, it's not something I would want on my MP3 player, but it actually suits the anime quite well, both music and animation. The soundtrack to Madoka Magica was composed by Yuki Kajura. As such, a lot of the music is dark, chilling, and ominous. The OST music in this anime DEMANDS attention with many memorable tracks with many different "feelings" to them. A sign of a good OST is when there are many tracks that would be great as just music, to which Madoka Magica delivers with flying colors. Even when characters are just having a conversation, the music makes it ten times darker or intense. The same goes for the show's ending themes 2 and 3. One of the best tracks in the OST is the second ending theme "Magia." It matches the anime in both melody, mood, and lyrics (yes I looked them up). Seriously, I got chills whenever I heard that used as a battle theme in the anime.

Execution: 
As a deconstruction, Madoka Magica does fine. However, it's not AS BRUTAL of a deconstruction as many people say it is or like we've seen from other anime. (If you want more info on this, read my magical girl rant) In 12 episodes you get a solid and complete story, well-written characters with proper character motivations, and a soundtrack that will blow your mind. However, despite the overall quality of this anime, I consider Madoka Magica to be a WW (weekend watch) anime, albeit a very good one. It's one of those short shows that you can finish in a weekend if you have nothing to do. And while I don't think I could have written a better ending, it does leave a bit to be desired (something that people say Rebellion fails to fix.)

My Enjoyment: 
It should be pretty obvious that this anime is not necessarily meant to be "enjoyed", but to be "awed at" or to promote deep thinking. The pacing was a bit strange, and I never really found my self in awe until towards the end of the story (probably because I spoiled the entire plot before watching this) and after I gave the anime a little thinking over. I never felt a moment of AMAZINGNESS while watching this anime, probably because many parts felt slow compared to what my expectations of the show were. And honestly, I didn't have that "OH MY GOSH THIS IS AWESOME" buzz that I've gotten after finishing other anime. I even waited a few days, and it didn't come. I'm sorry if that makes me an immature anime fan. However, all the headcanons, fanart, and other Madoka Magica stuff on tumblr did leave me with a little bit better of an impression of this anime. Seriously, I actually really like (Non-Yuri) Madoka Magica fanart. So, learn my lesson, and go into this anime with NO SPOILERS.

The Score: 

Averaging the eight numerical values for the categories listed above, I give Puella Magi Madoka Magica a 7.8875/10 and my orange flag. Yes, I think Madoka Magica IS overrated, but only a little bit. This actually came close to getting my pink flag, but it just fell short due to me actually not REALLY LIKING this anime a whole lot. I would recommend this anime to people like deconstructions or moe girls doing awesome things. Actually, I would recommend this anime to a lot of people.

Story: 8.3    Characters: 8.3
Art: 7.2     Animation: 7.9
Voice: 7.5     Music: 8.8
Execution: 8.0     My Enjoyment: 7.1

For similar anime, I suggest the ever so popular Neon Genesis Evangelion, a classic deconstruction with similar character development, symbolism, and psychological aspects. But if you like your girls moe with a psychological battle-to-death story thrown in, I suggest the very recent Selector Infected WIXOSS.

NEXT REVIEW: Cowboy Bebop *sigh* 3,2,1, I'll start writing...

Cheers,
~Selena

Last Updated: 27 August 2014
Originally Published: 1 August 2014