Puella Magi Madoka Magica

[Kraco]

"Having a loving family, close friends, experiencing times of joy and times of sadness. These are the things that make up an ordinary life.

Kaname Madoka is a normal 2nd year middle-schoolgirl who lives such an ordinary life. Until, that is, a strange encounter occurs. She does not know if this encounter is coincidence, or the vagaries of fate, but two things are certain...

This is the moment when her destiny changes...

This is the start of a new magical girl story!" -AniDB

Themes: School, magical girl, fantasy, action
Links: AniDB, ANN, Official

Download: Episode 1 - gg



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First of all I should note I didn't intend to watch this, based on the description, no matter how big a Nanoha (series) fan I am. Because I'm not generally a fan of typical mahou shoujo stories. However, then I read on RandomC's blog the bizarre assembly of talents piled up for this thing: Bakemonogatari's director, Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom's script writer, and Kara no Kyoukai's composer for music. It's not exactly the kind of group of people I'd associate with middle school magical girls...

What comes to the show itself, you could surely see it's from Bakemonogatari's director. Immediately, in both good and bad. Some parts were even weirder than anything Bakemono presented, although the quickly flashing walls of text were mostly missing. And the most deranged camera angles and zooms, I should say. Well, Senjougahara's VA is present and sounds 90% Senjougahara in this show. I can't imagine the director didn't ask for that.

I'll keep watching for the weirdness alone. And it's not like it would have been bad otherwise either. Quite intriguing, in fact, so far. Seems like action will play an appropriate role, making it more tolerable.

[Board of Command]

WTF is a "Puella Magi"? I thought the series is called Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Why is gg naming it something completely nonsensical?

[RyougaZell]

WTF is a "Puella Magi"? I thought the series is called Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Why is gg naming it something completely nonsensical?

Can't believe I'm defending the trolls but... even ANN uses Puella Magi


Animation, aside from character design, was fantastic. I'll have trouble getting used to character design though.

Plot is weird... too weird... but I'll check a few more episodes.

[Board of Command]

The official name is Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. What is this "Puella Magi" bullshit? Is that even a real word?

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...-madoka-magika

At 23:52 in the episode, Kyube clear says "...mahou shoujo..." but it got translated into "Puella Magi." WTF IS THIS?

[Kraco]

While I chose to use that funny sounding name simply because I feel no particular draw to stick to Japanese names, it still should be noted that the official site also calls it "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" in the upper left corner.

I guess the use of Latin has something to do with the bizarre world of magic we saw. Hopefully.

[Ryllharu]

Despite my recent misgivings toward shaft, their first original stab at the magical girl genre is something I couldn't miss.

I really like that Yuuki Aoi isn't as shrieky as she was in Dance in the Vampire Bund or kurenai. She's much better in her Sora no Woto and Daimaou roles, which she calls on here. I also loved the cool and mature voice Gotou Yuuko (Mikuru in Haruhi, Menace in Queen's Blade) is using for Madoka's mother. Iwao Junko (Hikari in Eva, Tomoyo in CCS, Mima from Perfect Blue) as their teacher, a nice treat! I agree with Kraco's assessment on Chiwa Saito playing Akemi. An easy-going but delicately forceful Mizuhashi Kaori (Yuuno from Nanoha, Minami in Bakatest, Akane in KgNE) right at the end too. I'm in VA heaven.

As expected from shaft, the backgrounds look wonderful, the designs are strange (classrooms, music store, etc), and the characters design is mushy. But it all fits, like in the strangely watercolor background and vivid character design of Maria+Holic. I like when their work has a softness to it, rather than looking like a narrated slideshow (Bakemonogatari, Bund). I loved the "blackboard" design.

The side characters are amusingly deranged. Madoka is perky, kindhearted, yet apprehensive. Akemi is predictably cold, calculating, and troubled. A collection of clichés, archetypes, and standard mahou shoujo fare, but mixed around in a somehow refreshing manner, with a touch good amount of shafty weirdness. The, 'If you care about your family, you should stay as yourself,' line from Akemi was enough to pique my interest. It was interesting that her friend also got involved from the start.

We're off to a solid start.

[Munsu]

http://www.madoka-magica.com/

See the logo for Puella.

But Kraco already mentioned it, so fuck this post.

[Buffalobiian]

Music and visual presentation won this over for me. It currently beats out all my other shows as "Most anticipated series" for this season.

And of the two, the score in particular. I haven't been excited about a show for quite some time.

Immediately likeable characters: Satsuya (little brother), senpai mahou shoujo.

[Buffalobiian]

gg - Episode 02

[Ryllharu]

Well, shaft and friends certainly isn't disappointing.

Mami has got to be one of the coolest and most stylish magical girls I've seen in a long time. The single-use flintlocks are a distinct touch, and they also aren't her only weapons. The use of the ribbon to free herself was a first for me as far as I can remember. I completely expected one of the two girls to make a contract in order to save her, but Mami had everything under control from the start. The finisher that left her sipping tea was perfect.

As for the rest of the episode, I liked that Sayaka and Madoka couldn't really decide what they would wish for, since they haven't really faced such hardship enough to risk their lives. Sayaka's speech was thought provoking in that regard. Madoka's mother's response was predictably very amusing and gave me the warm and fuzzies.

I also thought about Madoka wishing that Homura was her friend, but thought about it again and realized what a selfish kind of wish that would be. It wouldn't put it that far from being a witch's curse. So now I'm really curious what Madoka will go for, or how they'll rationalize that one if she does go for that. Perhaps a variation, like wishing for Homura's happiness. Sayaka too, but we know a bit less about her, so it is even harder to guess at what she'll go for. She seemed to have a bit of an idea, but the way it was presented was that it was far too late for even magic to fix that.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree on all accounts regarding Mami.

My only gripes with this is that the witches turned out to be no-name illegibly tagged monsters. Nothing went wrong this episode, but they can really end up being cannon-fodder villians that we simply don't care about (or monsters-of-the-week).

I'll give them the benefit of doubt though, since the entire team pulled everything off perfectly so far.



Especially the BGM. Loved the music.



edit: On the other hand, the "recharge" actually being a "cleansing" was the key catch this episode. One potential theory that springs to mind is that Witches are fallen magical girls who didn't get their item cleaned in time.

[Kraco]

edit: On the other hand, the "recharge" actually being a "cleansing" was the key catch this episode. One potential theory that springs to mind is that Witches are fallen magical girls who didn't get their item cleaned in time.

You think Mami was lying? But who knows, and in the end even she might not know the truth.

This is a pretty interesting series despite the weird graphics. I also hope in the future we will see witches who haven't turned into eldritch monstrosities. That would be a lot more intresting than these... things. I find it hard to believe the main battles would be between Madoka and Homura. This show seems to be laughing at Nanoha but still I expect it to follow all the way to more humane enemies.

[Buffalobiian]

You think Mami was lying? But who knows, and in the end even she might not know the truth.

I don't know whether to think that she's ignorant of the truth, or whether she's lying - but she's certainly capable of it.

[KitKat]

I don't think Mami is lying (what's this? KitKat is watching a current series? *gasp*). I think she's so confident that she's right, that she won't be able to see things going wrong and clues that the world is not as she believes it to be.

I wholeheartedly think Kyubey is lying. What does Kyubey get out of this contract deal? It seems to have been trying to coerce Madoka into making the contract from the beginning, showing her the world of ruin and saying basically, "This will happen unless you make a contract with me."

Bill, you might be onto something with your fallen Puella theory of witches. I did notice that the Grief Seed they recovered looked suspiciously similar to Mami's gem. And the fact that they could leach magic power from it into their own gem.

I'm curious about what happens to a girl's gem if she's defeated by a witch. Does the witch become more powerful? Could another Puella Magi pick up a dead girl's gem and use it the same way?

This show has a lighthearted facade, but really dark undertones. Madoka's carefree family life is starkly contrasted with the potential ruin of her dream from the first ep. I like it! Will definitely keep following.

[animus]

The witch sequences felt oddly like something from a Persona game. It was interesting and I'm already in love with Mami's gunslinging.

Leave it to Shaft to have the witch as some magazine cut-out collage, but I hope they don't all look like that.

[Buffalobiian]

gg - episode 03

[KitKat]

Yet again, this show definitely does not disappoint. Hats off to them for killing a main character so early in the series. Though, I suspect either Madoka or Sayako will wish for Mami to be brought back. The question is, if Kyubey brings Mami back to life (so far we haven't heard any limitations on wishes, so I'm assuming it's no big deal for Kyubey) will she still be a Puella Magi? Or will she just be a normal girl?

I'm also curious about how the size of the soul gem is somehow related to what wish is made. My theory is that the more power is required to fulfill the wish, the less power the girl has, and vice versa.

Kyubey seems quite unfazed by the loss of Mami. It must happen to him a lot, his Puella Magi getting killed by witches.

[shinta|hikari]

OMFG. If Mami stays dead, this show just made itself golden. Head chomp FTW.

I'm really curious as to what kind of power Madoka has. I hope it is as good or better than her fallen senpai's.

The themes in this show are very mature and dark, certainly not something one would expect in a mahou shoujo anime. I liked their talk about Sayaka's wish. It really does represent a lot of things people their age unconsciously (and for more intelligent ones consciously) struggle with.

I said that Fractale is this season's best show, but that was before this episode.

BTW, the ED (and battle BG theme) for this show is so bad ass. Kalafina rocks, as usual, but this is my favorite song from them to date.

[David75]

I really had a hard time with ep1 and 2.
Even if themes are darker or for a more mature audience, this really is little girls going around and fighting Magrit or Klimt monsters.
I hesistate trying Ep3 for those reasons, even if your last post lures me a lot into doing it.

[Buffalobiian]

I said that Fractale is this season's best show, but that was before this episode.

This show's taken the my number one spot this season since the first episode. Fractale can play catch-up later, but this one took off right from the start.

Headchomp was brutal. Zero gore. Full impact. The blood was artistically replaced with the "melting" ribbon that bound the dark girl, as well as the spilt tea at the end. I loved the shattered tea-cup symbolism.


When Mami revealed she had darker intentions, my first thoughts were that this "game" is really a competition between Puella Magi, with witches acting more like monsters for grinding and item farming. I also expected a much more sinister intention from Mami, but it turns out she was just so lonely that she could only jump at the chance of inviting other girls to join her - despite knowing full well the dangers she's leading them into.

Kyubey's system doesn't quite make sense at the moment. I would have thought that you'd need to "fill your quota" by killing witches in order to have your wish granted (later modified to that only one girl can have their wish granted, and are competing against each other). If you wish can be granted before hand (like how Mami survived), then what's keeping you from breaking your promise? You can always let your magic run out and live a normal girl's life again. Maybe they turn into witches when they break their contract??

The first time I watched Madoka and Kyubey's bed scene, I thought he was really evil - the way he brought up Madoka's potential and spoke about it after she said she wanted to be like Mami. That unchanging :3 has the effect of not letting know what that little thing is thinking. He could be simply telling the truth, like asking them for a wish so they wouldn't die after Mami got eaten. Even that time I initially thought he purposely set up the whole thing. Now, I'm not so sure..

In any case, people dying in a Mahou Shoujo show? Definite WIN.