Puella Magi Magica Madoka 

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ 

Alternate Titles: Madoka Magica, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
Genres: Action, Drama, Magical Girl, Psychological
Number of Episodes: 12

Plot/Summary: 

After experiencing a bizarre dream, Madoka Kaname, a kind 14-year-old girl, encounters a magical creature named Kyube. Madoka and her friend Sayaka Miki are then offered the opportunity of gaining magical powers if they agree to make a contract with the strange being. He will also grant them one wish, but in exchange they must risk their lives by accepting the responsibility of fighting witches. Invisible to the human eye, witches are catalysts of despair in the areas they inhabit. 

Main Character :

Review: 

This anime is one of those legendary anime that come up once in awhile, but gets people talking about it for years to come, similar to Evangelion. However, this anime is unique due to the fact that it is marketed and animated so that it seems like a harmless magical girl anime. In reality, this is an anime with magical girls, but not exactly about the magical girls. In a sense, the magical girl is just there as a plot device and the anime gets dark very fast.

On the technical side, the visuals and audio of this anime is top notch (as expected from Shaft studio) I personally don't fancy their art style for this anime but I LOVED the back ground music of this anime. The songs just fit so perfectly with everything going on and I especially loved the end credits song. A tip: for maximum enjoyment, watch this show on blue ray quality instead of the TV release quality, since Shaft has the tendency to release really unpolished visuals on TV .

As for the story, it was written by "Gen Urubochi", who is responsible for Fate/Zero and Psycho-Pass. For those unfamiliar with his work, his stories tend to have certain dark elements, such as the ugly side of human nature or the cruelty of society and so on. And just like all this other works, this anime expresses deep meaning behind everything from symbolism of the witches to how the characters act; all of it is very well thought of. However, I sometimes find the anime frustrating as they go on a "merry-go-round chase" to prevent something from happening, even though it will obviously happen eventually. Still, the overall story is very well thought out, and they have enough surprises throughout the anime to keep the viewers intrigued and excited. 

The pacing of the anime is considerably fast as the anime tries to fit as much content as possible within its short 12 episodes. There is always something interesting in each episode. However, the first 2 episode can be a little dry as they try to set the stage and show the audience the beautiful and happy place our characters live in. Even though the this anime looks like a typical magical girl anime, the story at hand is a very mature story. Audience are required to think about the story to fully understand the story. In fact, the story is so deep, there are people discussing about the story in the internet and has came forth with many different theories regarding why some of the things happened in the anime. The story telling of the anime takes on a more direct and darker approach instead of comedic and light hearted approach (as some audience can be tricked with the bright and vivid colours of the anime), where many scenes contain brutal combat and there are even scenes where some blood and gore can be seen.   

The characters of this anime is perhaps one of the strongest part of the anime, it makes the deep and dark story work in every way because of how each character acts in the anime. The characters are very real and relatable. This is especially true when it comes to the downfall of some of these characters; the way they act when they reach their lowest point makes you sympathize with them just as how you would with a real person. Overall, by the end of the anime, each and every character feels like a complete package. Every character have their own personal back story and motive explained. But, I personally don't find the main character "Madoka" to be likable, even though her story and motive is developed throughout the anime.. Viewers can go in and expect their favourite main character to be well developed by the end of the anime. 

To put everything simply... this anime is the type that everyone should give it a shot, if not because of how popular it is, then for its uniqueness. This is a one of a kind anime and you can't get this experience anywhere else.

Things To Look Out For:

Different art styles are used to symbolize an alternate dimension

The "moe" moments of the anime

Awesome action scenes ~~

Comparison between TV release quality and Blu - ray release quality  (Left for tv release and right for blu - ray)

Who needs magic when you have a bazooka !!

One sword ain't gonna cut it ! (Pun intended)

Review by Amos Teng.