Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica

There's a few important aspects I look for when picking a magical girl manga or anime. I believe those aspects are what make the genre special. Is is why it's a genre in the first place. First, the world the story is set in is a world of hope. This means the world has a lot more kindness and goodness than evil and cruelty. Essencially the world is one worth saving and fighting for. Second, the magical girls and their allies are the embodiment of humbleness, selflessness, charity and purity. They may have doubts about several things but their morality, purity of heart and conduct are firmly established. Third, the evil is a temporary state of madness or the temporary result of an injustice to be corrected by the heroes. Basically, evil in the world is a mistake and the result of ignorance, rather than active malignant will.

Shows like Sakura Cardcaptor and Sailor Moon are excellent examples of magical girl shows done right. Endearing, heartwarming, hopeful. The positivity and the restauration of faith in humanity is what magical girl stories is all about. It's no wonder why characters like Sakura and Serena are such popular characters, even after all this time.

Then there is this show called Madoka Magica, the complete and spetacular ruination of all the tenets of the genre. This is on purpose of course. If you're looking for a magical girl anime here, keep looking, this is not it. Madoka Magica sets out to present the precise opposite of all the corner stones of the genre. The only thing they kept positive here is the friendship in between some of the characters and the pure intentions of Madoka, the main character. This is done however so they can suffer more. It's sort of a trap. The rest is all over the walls like splatter of blood from dead magical girls. Because they go there, they kill magical girls. You probably know about this already, this is a very famous show.

What they do is to subvert the three important aspects of the genre as I described above. First, the world this characters live in is not a world of hope. In fact it's pretty bleak and target of even bleaker intentions from outer space. In fact hopelessness is an important part of the plot. Second, the magical girls can be corrupt, uncaring, selfish and even evil. The opposite of what magical girls suppose to be. Third, evil is the result of a calculated risk, not ignorance, in fact, it might be even brought about by pure intelligence.

This is a really interesting show but not because it's a different take on the genre. The story stands on its own and the fact it's a magical girl show on the surface is just for flavor purposes. This story could work even if you removed all the magical girls and replaced them with dogs. Of course there's the plot hole that all stories with time travel have, but really, this is to be expected, and it doesn't detract anything from the story.

My only complaint is that maybe there are 2 or 3 episodes in there that is clearly just gloating about how the show is bleak and sad while adding nothing to the plot itself. The ending is pretty good, though anyone who stops and think about it for a second can see that Madoka is not the smartest girl when it comes to making wishes. This is actually not my cup of tea, but I give credit where credit is due. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is a very good show for what it is and I can see why so many people like it.