Review: Madoka Magica
Anime shows about Magical Girls and their adventures where cute and sweet are in overload are hardly rare, in fact one might say they are staple to the Anime fans diet. Puella Magi Madoka Magica (魔法少女まどか☆マギカ, Mahō Shōjo Madoka Magika, “Magical Girl Madoka of the Magus”) or Madoka Magica for short, is as deceiving as it is sweet! It lures you into watching it with its cheery designed characters and their cute and cuddly stuffed animal looking companions and when you add in the amazingly light and pretty opening sequence, you can’t help but be drawn in to this world and a false sense of security! Madoka Magica is not what it appears to be behind the tired and almost cliché facade of the magical girl adventure lurks a new dark and twisted look.
Released: January 7th 2011
Studio: Aniplex/Shaft
Director: Akiyuki Shinbo
Writer: Gen Urobuchi
The plot follows our main protagonist Madoka Kaname, a seemingly normal middle school girl and her best friend Sayaka Miki when they come into contact with the mysterious stuffed animal styled creature called Kyubey. He offers them a contract in which the girl can have any single wish granted to her in exchange for her becoming a magical girl whose mission in life is to fight against witches who are responsible for unexplained suicides, murders and accidents.
In the meantime a transfer student named Homura Akemi is making every effort to stop Madoka becoming a magical girl. As Madoka considers a new life as a magical girl, she encounters other girls like Mami Tomoe and Kyōko Sakura and learns that the life of a magical girl is not glamorous and fun but filled with torment, sorrow and despair. She discovers that they must literally give up their souls and begins to uncover the deep dark secrets of the Magical Girls, Kyubey and the witches they are destined to fight.
Each magical girl in the series has their own individual stories and experiences in the series and without completely spoiling the series for anyone here is a short intro to each girl.
The main protagonist and the namesake of the anime Madoka Kaname is a typical 14 year old girl who comes from a caring and devoted family. After her encounter with Kyubey and Homura, Madoka contemplates her future as a possible magical girl but she sees herself as someone who has no special qualities or talents and often aims to be others especially after seeing Mami Tomoe fight witches. Like most Magical Girls she is a kind and gentle soul who would rather be run from a fight then engage her enemies. As far as a character goes, Madoka is all the cliché traits of a magical girl; she is cute and kind with a naïve and innocent nature and her development is limited to only a few revelations throughout the series.
Homura Akemi is the first magical girl to appear in the series. Perceived as a cold and calculated character Homura is the magical girl with the most tragic story and also the most character development, meaning she also has the most spoiler alerts attached to her but she is a complex character and becomes a vital part of the series.
Sayaka Miki is Madoka’s best friend who helps her rescue Kyubey when they first come upon him. She is an energetic tomboyish girl who is as independent as she is idealistic. While being one of the Magical Girls her character only really comes into effect later in the series when her own personal story kicks in. Sayakas development is the true outline of how tragic the life of a magical girl can be and what happens to them when things do not go as planned.
The other girls include Kyōko Sakura and Mami Tomoe who unfortunately compared to the other girls are not as developed or well developed as the other three partly because they both only feature in half of the series and could be considered as “reoccurring” as opposed to regular characters and because really it comes down to the fact that they are not as necessary to the plot as the other three.
The last character that deserves a mention is the loveable (not so much) cuddly looking toy creature Kyubey. We have seen this classic design of the lovable cuddly companion in almost every perception of the magical girl genre but Kyubey’s design and development leads to one of the most outstanding and creepiest characters to date. He goes from being this inviting creature to what can only be summed up as the devil incarnate, a wolf in sheep’s clothing/stuffing.
Magical girls are a dime a dozen at this stage and everyone knows of at least one anime in this genre even if they haven’t watched it. The most popular one to come to mind is Sailor Moon which relates well to Madoka in the sense that it is a team of girls who fight evil. There are similarities between the two, the most obvious being the ditzy gullible protagonists but Madoka differs from Serena, she develops as a character and has actual growth and almost matures throughout the series. Serena was used to push moral lessons but not actually really learn them herself, Madoka learns from each lesson and must deal with the world as it is in reality and not the one in her mind.
Both shows deal with the theme of ‘good versus evil’ but in very different ways. Sailor Moons villians are mostly people who change into demons that are trying to collect human energy by targeting human weaknesses e.g. jealousy, self-confidence. Madoka on the other hand takes a more realistic approach to the matter while throwing witches into the mix. Taking social issues such as depression, suicide and murder and twisting them into the acts of witches who manifest from grief seeds.
Where Sailor Moon has the cutesy thing going for it it keeps to that plan in the demon transformations making them not as dark as they perhaps could have been. Madoka on the other hand makes a massive effort to show just how gruesome and terrifying the witches are, while it has its cutesy moments the animation darkens and distorts reality when they show the witches.
All in all Puella Magi Madoka Magica is the perfect modernisation of the magical girl genre, taking us away from the cliché cutie look and girly storylines of the Anime shows we grew up with and casting a darker shadow on the genre. The magical girls have grown up with us and with Madoka Magica has shown us what they have matured in to and what could be coming our way from the magical girl genre. Definitely worth a watch!
[easyreview title=”The Arcade Verdict” cat1title=”Story” cat1detail=”A slow start but when the story kicks in it will throw you for a loop!” cat1rating=”7″ cat2title=”Animation” cat2detail=” An excellent mixture of bright colours, dark tones and creepy imagery” cat2rating=”9″ cat3title=”Music” cat3detail=” An excellent mixture of bright colours, dark tones and creepy imagery” cat3rating=”6″ overall=”true”]
P.S. The third film “Rebellion” is due out in Japanese cinemas on the 26th October this year. It takes place after the events of the series and follows Homura. Exciting to see how they will follow on from this show!
[Words, Céire Ní Dalaigh]
