I am talking about Maho Shojo Madoka Magica; directed and produce from Shaft Studios, and music composed by Yuki Kajiura. It aired on MBS, TBS, and CBC with 12 episodes in all. It began its airing on January 7 through what was suppose to be March 24 ultimately became April 21. The show, though so early in the year, has already been deemed the best anime show of 2011, best Magical Girl genre ever, and some will even argue to be the best anime series ever. It was deemed originally to be average, and probably not worth looking into. As time went on, however, that soon quickly became a masterpiece, and is one of the most recommended shows from last Winter and 2011 alone.
As for me? This show was absolutely no contest. I watched others last Winter including Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?, Gossick, Yumekui Merry, and *inhales* Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!! All of which were pretty cool to watch, but Madoka simply took great new heights to the anime world, and raised the bar for future shows to come. This was the show to watch.
The story leaves you speechless, and it'd be hard to tell you any of it without spoiling anything for you. The only way to give you a small taste, here's is the synopsis article from Wikipedia;
"There exist strange creatures who have the power to grant one wish to each chosen girl. However, in exchange, that girl must then become a Puella Magi, a girl with magical powers, and fight against witches, evil creatures born from darkness that are responsible for murders and suicides.
In the city of Mitakihara, a schoolgirl named Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki are approached by a familiar named Kyubey, who offers to grant each of them one wish in return for making each of them a Puella Magi. Another Puella Magi named Homura Akemi tries to prevent Madoka from making such a deal, while Kyubey urges Madoka by telling her she will become the most powerful Puella Magi. However, contrary to glamorous notions of being a magical girl, a Puella Magi finds herself dealing with death, isolation, agony over the value of her wish, and existential crises. Madoka, following her friends, soon sees the darker side of being a Puella Magi, and because of knowing the truth about being a Puella Magi, she questions if she should become one as well."
Courtesy of Wikipedia.org
To best explain it, the first two episodes start off slow, and after episode three, either your jaw will drop, or you will be screaming at your monitor. Luckily for you, you are permitted to watch all the episodes in one sitting if you like. For people like me who watched it from the very beginning, we were abused and teased for roughly 12 weeks of waiting to find out what happened next. And if that wasn't bad enough, they haulted production of airing the show after the March 11 Tsunami and Earthquake, with episode 10 airing not even a full 12 hours before. All the other shows aired right away, or were delayed a week, but the stupid company put it off for an entire month! They called it "self-restraint". I think that meant us self-restraining ourselves not to hurt them. The last two episodes aired together on April 21 as a "double-bill" or "short movie". I was happy how it ended, and was relived it was finally over, but I couldn't help feel a little unhappy or empty for lack of a better word. I was on that show every Thursday here and anticipated it every week. But since it was delayed, I kind of had time to subconsciously detach myself from it, and the ending wasn't as truly grand compared to if it'd aired on March 24 like it was suppose to. Nevertheless, it was still awesome, and I was content to how it ended. God forbid a sequel ever comes. I've had enough of an emotional roller-coaster for one Winter, thank you. >.<
The graphics were pretty wild. Though, very simplistic and old school throughout the series, there were some parts in there what one said could only be described as "Monty Python on acid". It was incredibly simple. No CG animation was often used, the city and characters were very well shown they were hand drawn, and even the close ups on the characters, you could immediately tell the crosshatching in the eyes. When the show was delayed, the producers mentioned that they could take that time to rework the art in the two episodes. Though, there is no way to point out any differences to them had they aired on the 17 and 24 like they were originally, I did notice some graphical improvements in a couple of scenes, e.g. the final battle scene against Homura and the Walpurgisnacht in episode 11, and Madoka's transformation in episode 12. The graphics may not be the prettiest, but after its airing, I don't think they could have designed it any other way.
And the music, Ohohoho... The music could probably make even Beethoven cry on some of the scores. Most of it strung along the lines of Celtic music. Some were happy and upbeat, and some had its moments where it would get to you. But, the real culprit was one OST/BGM titled "Sis Puella Magica!" This little piece also had a Celtic background with a Japanese choir singing in the foreground, and would usually play during the most climatic moments practically every episode. The song is heart wrenching on its own. Combined with its serious moments during the episode, you may be forcing yourself to hold back your tears. It received an overwhelming praise to the community, and was one of the most demanded soundtracks from the show. And then, you had its title opening and ending.
Though "Connect" had its positive praises for the opening of the show episodes, but it would be "Magia", responsible for the closing credits had once again an overwhelming praise by the fans and media. Today, the scores from both the opening and ending, and the BGM have scored 8.5 or better, and still has one of the most memrable pieces today. It has to potential to rival a few of Nobuo Uematsu's scores, and can certainly hold a fair fight against Sephiroth's main title. Don't be surprised if you find yourself humming some of it throughout the day.
Interestingly enough, the show has also produced a couple memes; the one in which comes from the cat-like familiar, Kyubey, which was mentioned throughout the series saying "Make a contract with me to become a Puella Magi" or "Is your wish really worth your soul?" Its usually used often when a request is made on a web site or in general, or accepting requests from someone else. Of course, the most notorious meme is a Kyubey emote used throughout the internet. Usually looking like this ◕‿‿◕ but can have much greater detail for something like ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼ or even ......I＼ ／I
／人◕‿‿◕人＼
Just when you seen it all comes a show that you thought you've seen hundreds of times and blows your expectations beyond time and space itself. Memorable characters, deceiving plot twists parctically every episode, and one of the few series that can successfully make a story of 12 episodes and not have fillers that aren't necessary..Combine with a very dark story border lining morbid, and sometimes sadistic, comedic relief spread very sparingly after a certain point, if any at all, and a roster of characters you can't help to sympathize with, and you have probably one of the heaviest, emotional ripping series Japan and the world has ever seen today..You would have to be extremely cold and sadistic if you come back after watching it, and not feel a thing from it. This is the show you must watch at least once in order to understand what everyone else felt by the show. With one of the few strongest shows to have such an over powering fan base, dare anyone to remove this show off a top 50 greatest anime series of all time and make it out without a scratch.
For me, I have to give this show a perfect score. There is pretty much nothing wrong about it, and it will stay a classic for a very long time. If you haven't watched it, do it right away. You won't regret it.
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