Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Review MAL Rating: 8.53
"You don't to be like me. I'm.. just trying to act cool. No matter how scary it is, how hard it is, I can't talk to anyone about it. I always cry alone." - Tomoe Mami
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica was an endeavoring ride to breaking the general "magical girls" cliche, and it did a f*cking amazing job at it. Produced by Shaft, well known for adapting Nisekoi and Bakemonogatari series and their famous head tilt, this series soon became a masterpiece in only 12 episodes.
EXECUTION
Through their childish character design and cliche types of characters, they mischeviously made us assume this anime to be just like every other "magical girls" anime, WHEN in fact, this anime is just the opposite of the "magical girls" genre. This anime was meticulously executed and brillantly matched the style of the art and music to enhance its quality.
ART
The artwork was unique and very well matched the theme of the anime. However, personally for me, it took me some time to get used to this sort of an art style and it was hard for me to adjust to this at first. The character design was a little too childish for my taste, which I don't think was necessary to make the anime great. However, I loved the outlining of the characters which blended in very well with the quilt-like background.
The background was very very very unique, with its quilt like appearance and dark tone, it created a stop-motion kind of a video, which is rare to see in the anime culture.
In addition, I loved how the producers played around with the art styles, always shifting from one style to the other so that it provides a fresh experience everytime. I personally loved the scene where Sayaka Miki is battling her first witch (episode 7 and 8). Although the art style was simple- it contained the crazy, despairing emotion of Sayaka and it was able to delay that feeling to its watchers.
STORY
The art work, execution, and its character development gives the unique vibe of this anime, however without the well-planned storyline, this anime wouldn't be as great as it is claimed today. It is one thing to create a good story, but it is another thing to break a mainstream genre.
The story had an appropriate pace and it lead up to the anticipation pretty well. I'm just disappointed that they didn't take enough time to develope Sayaka and Kyouko's relationship a little bit more; I think if they did that, it would have made the death of Sayaka a little more meaningful.
Each episode was related to the main plotline and each contributed something important. I really liked that they were able to do that because I didn't feel like I was wasting my time.
