So I just watched Peulla Magi Madoka Magica...[SPOILERS obvi]

SPOILERS YO

What...

I mean....what?

I don't know how I feel about this. The whole time I was getting mad at Madoka because she kept wussing out at the last second or Homura would step in and stop her from becoming a Magical Girl, and it was starting to piss me off!

I kept expecting every. single. episode for her to turn and she never did! So basically at Episode 6 I was like "this show is crap"

But the reviews on crunchyroll said it was amazing so I kept going. It only has 12 episodes so it wasn't like Sword Art Online were I said "PEACE OUT".

The whole time I knew something was up with Kyuubey...he was far to creepy cute to just be a creepy cute side kick.

This show was hella dark and (honestly) had a lot of crying...almost too much.

It wasn't until episode 10 that it all clicked and the pieces fell neatly into place. Then I was like "Well I have two more episodes and I finally understand now so..."

I just...it was too sad for me. Like I get it, it is the complete opposite of what the magical girl genre has become, but must it be that dark?

Every episode you find out more and more why being a magical girl is a bad idea. I know that it is suppose to make you think of the sacrifices the hero must endure and that there are no real happy endings but...it was just so dark. And I like dark shit.

It was creative and intriguing once everything made sense. This is defiantly a show that you can't give up on half way through...which I do not necessarily think is always the best style of story telling (a few more tid bits of the truth here and there would have kept me in it more than I was)

All in all...its defiantly something that if you wanna watch an anti-establishment kind of Anime that goes against all standard genre hoopla and makes its own dark sub-genre. This is for you.

But for me...meh.


/rant

 

Honestly, this is my favorite anime of all time. While it has that dark message and can be negative, the message it ends up leaving us quite positive. There is a reason why it is so loved, and that goes down to basic storytelling.

And I can't wait to see your reaction if you see The Rebellion Stiory.

 

First things first, crunchyroll is ****.

Okay, moving on. Madoka wasn't supposed be about heroic sacrifice at all. The whole point was that they're being swindled by the devil and no matter how heroic or selfless they are it all comes to the same conclusion because their actions basically don't matter. Being meguca is suffering. It's a Faustian build where once you make the deal you're in an eternal grind with no way out. Except returning to God, which is actually played with further in the films than in the series. The author is nicknamed Gen the Butcher because he likes this kind of thing.

I do agree that it can be tough for certain people but I basically finished it in a day without any thoughts of stopping. But I do think they made the only correct call with holding the information back. It puts you in the same position as the characters to a certain extent and that colors your view of the world they're presenting for each of the events. If you knew mahou shoujo became witches episode one you'd see everything completely differently. If you knew it was a ploy to get them to sell their souls you'd see it differently too. But possibly even more importantly, they gave the viewer enough information to guess all of these things with fair certainty without ever actually saying it. There were people who called Homerun being a time traveler before the episode aired and there were people who knew soul gems became grief seeds. Long story short, they made a good choice making it something that you had to think about a lot and rewatch episodes to be able to predict. That just fits.

I feel like anti-establishment is not the word to use here. Gurren Lagaan was anti-establishment because it supported individualism over the established group mentality and supported breaking rules etc. Madoka wasn't about anti-establishment ideals. What I think I've heard used before to describe it is an inversion. The way everything in Madoka is upside down, from gender roles to the big bad to the portrayal of mahou shoujo. The series constantly inverts tropes from the genre to get its message across. That's why some people call it an inversion series. But that's really more semantics than anything else. I just thought that was interesting.

Also, latefag is late. But seriously, good on you forming your own opinion and not just jizzing over the series because it's poplar.

 

edit, also concerning Madoka:

Sooooo... Mission accomplished?

I thought it was because in several stories he has had characters killed off. Sometimes rather cruelly. After making their lives hell or after a brief period of happiness.. ...Poor Assassin and Lancer. And Sayaka. And Mami. And-

 

No shit?!

I knew that the music was to similar to Fate...it make sense that it was the same creator.

Ah. I feel a bit better.[DOUBLEPOST=1388946225][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yeah...I am still trying to process it. I mean it was good, I can't lie.

But its like Evangelion, they throw a lot at you that you need time to think about it before you decide if you like or dislike it.

 

Yeah, Fate/Zero. He also worked on Fate/Apocrypha. In fact, there is an amusing set of images of killed characters from Fate/Zero and Madoka talking about being killed in their respective works.

Also, that Gen quote? Also from Fate/Zero. Specifically the afterword of the first volume.

 

I need these pictures BIU. Please.



As for PMMM, when I watched it, I knew nothing about it. I saw the anime in an AMV contest at a convention and thought "Hmm. That looks like a good anime." Anyways, I just wanted to say the it is a fantastic series and I love it muchly. But I don't want to watch it again because all of the impact in it is on the first watch through. Like Jiku said, knowing that the magical girls are witches changes how you view the show. Knowing the information before it is revealed changes your whole perception of the story.

 

Make it so number 1.

Spoiler

Lancer: Geez, our creator builds us up just to knock us down; we're no match for his tastes. Hahaha.
Mami: That's right. I agree completely. Hehehe.

Spoiler

Assassin: About us, we were treated as straw men from the time when we were summoned, in addition, we were exploited hard, and at last, were commanded to do banzai attacks. So, is there anything wrong?
Sayaka: To tell about me, the boy whom I gave my heart to didn't return my affections, and at last I had become a witch, moreover, I had made my friend blow herself up...

Spoiler

Tokiomi: I never thought that even the anime staff would betray me...! If death is unavoidable, I wish I had died elegantly, or at least normally...!

Spoiler

Got no translation for this one.

Spoiler

Ryuunosuke: Wahhh they're cuuuuuuute. I like both of them. Misterrrrr, make them into some awesome furniture!
*extra perks♪*
Caster: No touching permitted, Ryuunosukeee...
Madoka: The guy next to me is scaaaaaaryyyyy. That old guy from inside is scary tooooooo. Homura-chan, you seem kinda strange toooooo. O-over there looks betterrrrr.
Kyubey: ...Make a contract?

Spoiler

 

[DOUBLEPOST=1388976622][/DOUBLEPOST]

It's Madoka, not Poplar. Also

Spoiler

deconstruction

 

I've heard it described as a dark subversion.

 

watch the movie, Rebellion, and you'll understand much more and how much darker it really can be.

 

XD I like how Mami and Lancer are all chill in their pictures. Poor Tokiomi, being all depressed.

 

They're all like "I'm not even mad."