Alphy

I'm a little late to the Mahou Shoujo Madoka party, so once again, between all the reviews already up on anime-planet, I'm not sure how new a spin could I give to this series. Nevertheless, I shall try. Here's a quick spoiler-free run down of my numbers on it:

Plot: 4
The series started off well, raising just enough questions and dropping enough hints early on as to the show's direction, although given the series length of 12 episodes, the starting could stand to dawdle less. Right around episode 4 when the explanations start, the plot holes start opening and go on unplugged the rest of the way. I'm glad the ending wasn't entirely super-sweet like some other Mahou Shoujo titles I could think of, but it still reeks of the same inexplicably convenient stale fish I've known the genre for. Bonus points for trying new stuff though.

Animation: 8
I love the work Shaft does, and with Madoka, while they took some obvious artistic liberties in some scenes, *cues music* "My Heart Will Go On aaaaand Oooooonnnnnnnnn~" .... -ahem- It's like the characters from Hidamari Sketch crashed into Manabi Straight's quasi-modern futuristic world, with the Witch dimensions looking like.... well, Production I.G.'s animated clip for Sakamoto Maaya's Universe. Butit'sstillawesome, rawr. And even if the style's not to your liking, you can still give them points for variation. The rest of the work, as far as I could tell, was consistently clean-cut and appealing.

Sound: 7
As usual, Yuki Kajiura brings her brand of mysteriously soaring new age melodies to whatever she gets tasked to compose for. And I, like so many others, enjoy every bit of it. There was a scene or two where I felt the music didn't quite match up, but for the most part, it works, from conveying dramatic epicness, to disquieting and mysterious unease, to cheerful and ignorant gaiety. Her stuff doesn't work for everything, and she isn't the most versatile of composers, but we love her all the same.

Once again, I'm no great judge of voice actors, especially Japanese ones, but young Yuki Aoi's voice as Madoka got really grating by the middle of the series, though that's more the fault of the writing than anything else. Saito Chiwa, sadly, didn't get to portray quite as many interesting emotions as Akemi Homura, which is a shame as I'm sure most of us remember how compelling she was as Hitagi in Bakemonogatari. And special mention must be made of Katou Emiri as show mascot Kyubei for having the easiest and/or hardest role of all the VAs, simply 'cause Kyubei's speech NEVER changes from that whimsical and calm tone of voice. Except when he needs to manipulate the emotions of gullible teenagers with a soft spot for injured cutesy animals. What a douche.

Characters: 5
I'd previously written that I found the characters here inconsistent and unlikable, but that's not entirely true now that I look back a little harder... To touch briefly on 3 of the main leads, I liked how cryptic and curt Tomoe Mami's back-story was, something I wish they took a few more cues from when fleshing out Sakura Kyoko. And as for Akemi Homura, while her back-story was essentially woven into the plot, I do wish the script writers had taken more time to consider her personality and actions. Without giving too much away, I'll just say "gradual and hinting" would've been preferred over "sudden and jarring".

As for our main lead Kaname Madoka? She, quite unfortunately, plays more like a plot device for the other dramas to center around. In fact, the blue-haired Miki Sayaka obviously got most of the script writers' attention, and if you can stretch your suspension of disbelief, it's quite a heart-wrenching story. All that said, I'm still of the opinion that there could stand to be more subtlety to the characters, and more than once, their decisions and actions seem to be dictated more by the script than their perceivable persona, which is disappointing in such a character-driven series.

The most consistent character would have to be Kyubei, who truly acts and sounds like what he is. But right from the get-go, he just seemed like a bad guy to me. Think about it: he goes around to young girls and offers to grant them any one desire of theirs in exchange for spending the rest of their lives battling deadly monsters. That's the premise right out the gate, and forgive me for activating Cruise Control© to point out the obvious here but HE'S THE DEVIL!!! Sure he isn't red, nor does he have horns and a pitchfork, or speak like a James Bond villain, but HE'S THE DEVIL!!! Sure, he might be all cute and whimsical, resembling a bunny and a puddy-tat spliced together with the colors and accessories of plush animals, but that makes perfect sense to me as a disguise seeing as HE'S. THE. FLIPPIN'. DEVILLLLL!!! I really don't see how anyone could see him as anything else.

Special mention must be made of Madoka's mother, who was for me, the most relatable and believable character in spite of her brief and sporadic appearances. Her strongest scene occurs in episode 6 when Madoka approaches her for advice on a situation filled with shades of gray. It's a situation I'm very sure everyone has been in, or will face sooner or later, and her mom puts to words the conclusion most of us reach at some level of consciousness. This is easily the show's most poignant scene and it still strikes a chord with me just thinking back.

Overall: 6
All in all, despite the hype, I went into this series with pretty low expectations so I wasn't overly disappointed. Ah, it does pay to be a cynic, doesn't it? And if you can stretch your suspension of disbelief far enough, the series isn't terrible. It's a slightly darker twist to the genre that's presented very nicely, and personally, I thought the pacing was alright. While it did miss quite a few opportunities for driving home morales and lessons, there's nothing wrong with a show devoid of any, so there.

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Hmm. Longer than I expected, but alright. I'm going to skip over discussing lazy writing and plot holes, because I'd run out of interesting ways to talk about each one before we were halfway through. Instead, let's talk a little about poignancy, which was a focal point of this series that wasn't carried out very well. There are very likely to be spoilers ahead, so quit here while you can.

....Are they all gone? No? ......Well, I'm going to start anyway. Poignancy refers to a state of keen emotional distress. In the context of writing, it's the difference between watching a woman carrying her newborn child getting blown away by a shotgun, and watching the same scene AFTER seeing the months heartaches and physical pains of the child-bearing process. Or the difference between an empty but blood-splattered room, and a blood-splattered room filled with kid's toys and a child bleeding out on the floor crying "I don't wanna die..." It's giving context to a scene to heighten the emotional distress conveyed.

One problem I had with Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica that I thought was rectifiable in spite of the plot, was how the emotional turmoil of the characters was displayed. After episode 3's so called 'twist ending' (which wasn't very hard to spot coming, by the way, even without prior knowledge of the series) the show decides he's shown his true colors as a edgy and angsty series, and never really reverts back into a state that can't be described with a manic depressive's vocabulary. The closest it gets is awkward, and that shouldn't be.

To give an example of this, in Futakoi Alternative, halfway through the series the main 3 characters are split apart as one of them sacrifices her freedom to let the other 2 stay together. After going through the heartbreak of her leaving, the next episode shows the two going about their daily lives, enjoying perhaps even more zany antics and situations than the previous half of the show, and having as much fun as they can. It all winds back down as they end up at a hotel ('cuz their place burned down) and break down crying in their separate rooms. The former scene, while over-the-top and wacky beyond belief, isn't the least bit joyful or humorous because you sense the characters are desperately trying to return to form, honoring their friend's sacrifice and hiding their grief behind bouts of hysteric euphoria, only to have the facade crumble away when they run out of things to distract them from their conscious thoughts.

Now, obviously not all humans act and deal with grief the same way, and I'm not suggesting they pull the same stunt in Madoka, but what's important here is the shift in tone. Madoka seems to finish episode 3 with Mami's death, and keeps piling on the angst, heart-break and emotional scarring up 'til the last episode. What tonal shifts do occur don't deviate too far from the depressing tone following Mami's demise, and it just gets tiring after a while. It's like how the climax of The Dark Knight movie seemed almost tiresome with how long it stretched, and this was only saved by how good the writing was.

That's not to say a show must revert to its former tone once it hits particularly jarring plot point, but it's particularly inexcusable when it happens within the FIRST QUARTER! I mean, imagine a roller-coaster ride that consisted of 20 seconds of variation, followed by a full minute of going down a steep slope. Sure it'd be exhilarating, but I'd bet you'd be sick of that slope before you even hit the bottom. Not to mention passed-out from the blood rushing to your head, but I'm stretching the metaphor a bit here. I can't state any examples at this point, but I know I've seen it done before, and usually past the half-way mark, you're pretty safe. At least in movies. Series' have longer running times to take into account.

Aaaannd that's my 2 cents as far as constructive criticism goes on Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. Feel free to mull over and voice your own views on improving the series (or my reviewing). Finally, as to why I wasn't mortified over the butchering of the plot, let's just say that any serious plot that makes use of both time-traveling and boundless wish granting is fundamentally broken to begin with. Neverending Stories 2 & 3 had problems enough with just the latter. Hell, I don't even know how to write something serious around that, so who am I to judge?

*EDIT2* Reworked the Character section, and while it's a fair bit longer than I'd like, it does the show a bit more justice. I lied about touching the Plot section, and I'm afraid the Overall score is going to sit right where it is, which you are free to hate me for =P