What if you were given one wish and with this single wish anything you desire can come true?
Would you wish for countless riches? A beautiful wife? Perhaps a car, a house, or nice job?
Or would you use this opportunity to make someone else happy?
(Photo credits: Wikipedia)
If I would have to beg you to read at least one article in its entirety, it’s this one. So, please,
Spoiler Alert
A huge reason why I love this anime so much is its twists. I LOVE twists. Therefore I really don’t want to give spoilers. But to be able to make a point, I sometimes have to.
This review contains some spoilers. If possible, please watch the anime first. I assure you, it will definitely be worth your while.
If you’re willing to risk it, please read on.
Last chance… this anime won’t be as fun without the twists…
Why watch a girly anime?
It’s a story about a very young girl who is being recruited to become a Magical Girl, like Sailormoon or Card Captor Sakura.
The main character has pink hair wears a pink dress. Her friends, the other Magical Girls, also wear fashionable dresses.
So why would this anime appeal to manly dudes, ahem, like myself?
The saying don’t judge a book by its cover, or in this case, don’t judge an anime by its cover art, couldn’t be more true.
Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, or translated to English as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, or simply Madoka, is not a children’s anime. It’s not even close to being in the same genre as, say, Akazukin Cha Cha.
I’ve been hearing a lot about this anime since the start of this year, but the magical girl premise and the lack of notable seiyuus always moved me to skip this one and watch something else.
It was only recently, when I read several surveys, that I finally decided to watch this hyped anime. The said surveys that put Madoka consistently among the top in the following categories:
- “Anime You Can’t Understand the Popularity of” (#3)
- “Shockingly Serious” (#1)
- “Most Exciting Anime” (#3, after 2 action-packed anime)
- “Anime That Hooked You on the First Episode” (#7)
- “Top Anime of 2011” (#2)
- “Godliest Anime Episodes” (#1)
(survey results from sankakucomplex)
The next paragraph contains some spoilers…
Lastly, the truth is, the fact that it’s so “girly” is actually part of the plot and one of its best twists. What everyone (the viewers and the characters) views as a cute, cuddly, happy world of Magical Girls (at one point Madoka was designing her would-be costume) turns out to be something… dark… and even deadly.
(Sorry, it’s really hard to explain without giving anything away.)
Not-so-typical Storytelling
The way things unfold in Madoka reminds anime fans of a mixture of Bakemonogatari, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Angel Beats!, and Soul Eater.
The setting is (surprise! surprise!) in a middle school, where the students and the teachers are non-factors, meaning, they don’t affect the storyline, they rarely interact with the main characters, and they stay in the background (much like the NPCs in Angel Beats!).
The world, as well as the sounds and dialogues used, are dark, like Evangelion’s Tokyo-3. Narrations and illustrations are done both artistically and sometimes abstractly, like Bakemonogatari.
The way the story is told constantly keeps you thinking.
A dark, dark Anime
Truth be told, it would probably rank as one of the darkest, if not the darkest, anime of all time, right up there with School Days, Death Note, and even Evangelion.
It is dark because its plot is absolutely serious and it tackles the concept of loss and death.
This is done masterfully by not focusing on the battles like most Magical Girl anime (Sailormoon, Card Captor Sakura). In Madoka, the show focuses more on the struggles of the characters and the sacrifices they have to make. The battle itself is secondary. In fact, in some episodes, the battles are shown merely as artistic silhouettes.
Lastly, these battles are short and few. Despite being Magical Girls which are supposed to fight evil witches, the first 7 or 8 episodes feature only about 2 witches and a total of, maybe, 3-4 minutes of action.
Much of each episode revolves around the struggles of each characters – whether it be helping others or helping ones self, being righteous and just, or simply being useful for once.
Overcoming Fear
Kyubei, a telephatic magical creature, grants a chosen one any wish she desires. In exchange, the girl is bound to become a Magical Girl, to fight an endless battle against Witches.
The question they had to answer was: what wish is worth a lifetime of battles, where in any moment, one can die?
As each of the two weigh the happiness the wishes can bring and the possible joy of being able to help people (by being a Magical Girl), they soon realize the darker side of the deal – death, destruction, and losing someone.
Worse, soon they will have to learn how to copy with the pain of losing someone dear, being alone and different, and the fact that if they die, no one will even notice.
Overcoming this fear of the unknown is the first step. The fear of witches comes as a remote second.
Morality
Another issue tackled consistently is that of morality. Like the question of whether one should use her wish for herself or to make others happy, does a girl use her new powers to help others, or to make herself stronger and therefore survive?
Killing Witches make Magical Girls stronger. So if a Magical Girl sees a familiar (an “egg” that will soon become a Witch), should she kill it and gain nothing, or let it feed on humans so it could then hatch into a Witch before killing it, making her stronger?
The different Magical Girls in the series have different views of things, and these views often clash, bringing up yet another morality question: should you stop/kill another Magical Girl so that her ideals won’t conflict with yours?
Just Getting Started
Surprise! I wrote everything before this section after watching just seven episodes! Just seven out of twelve, and it’s already a hit in my book.
Now, after finally completing all twelve episodes, I never knew the best was yet to come. I thought it had already peaked with the 4th-6th episodes, but a guaranteed shocker comes by in the last five episodes; until everything is finally resolved in a superb, never-before-seen surprise ending that kept me reeling and thinking about reality and the supernatural. ^_^
Seriously, the twists are THAT good, the philosophical and theological concepts are THAT serious, and its impact in its viewers are THAT great.
An easy “S”.
Summary
Whew, I haven’t enjoyed reviewing an Anime like this in a long time. I haven’t even tackled the more technical aspects of the Anime yet, like its voice acting (which is superb, by the way – I can’t wait to hear more of Aoi Yuuki [Madoka] and, of course, Eri Kitamura).
If you like a serious Anime that’s not just fighting and not just moe, but still filled with fighting and moe, this is definitely a must-watch.
If you liked Evangelion and Death Note, you’ll probably like this one, too.
Lastly, if you love twists and sudden major turn of events, you’d be surprised at how much twist a pink magical girl can give you. :)
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