Puella Magi Madoka Magica discussion (from The News Thread)

[Vashdaman]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica has dominated the Newtype Anime Awards:

Best Mascot: Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Best Female Character: Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Best Opening Song: Connect (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)
Best Actress: Aoi Yuki (Madoka in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Iris in Pokémon Best Wishes)
Best Supporting Actress: Chiwa Saito (Homura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Honours:
Best Anime Series: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Director: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Screenplay: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Character: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Design: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Photography: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Artistic Direction: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Colour Design: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Effects: Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Best Commercial: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Wow, you know the anime industry had a disastrous year when a show called Puella Magi Madoka Magica won all those awards.

It's one of those shows that you know, no matter how you cut it, is part of your top ten anime.

But.......there is so much genuinely good anime out there....even if you had thing for pink haired 7 year old moe children it would still be utterly incomprehensible to include this on a top ten anime list.

I actually really want to watch this now, just so I can confirm how crap it really is.

I'm not an 8 year old girl obsessed with pink so I really can't see me liking this.

 

[Rui]

Wow, you know the anime industry had a disastrous year when a show called Puella Magi Madoka Magica won all those awards.

I actually really want to watch this now, just so I can confirm how crap it really is.

I'm not an 8 year old girl obsessed with pink so I really can't see me liking this.

When you post such blind negativity it really does come off almost as trolling ^^;;

1. It's not aimed at little girls at all, it's aimed at adult men.
2. If you go in determined to hate something, you probably will end up hating it. However from all accounts you've just judged this on appearances when the entire point of the series is to turn those judgements on their head. It's not uncommon for a series to look like a cute kids show but actually have depth e.g. Now and Then Here and There, Narutaru, Utakata, Princess Tutu, Katanagatari. Heck, a lot of shoujo manga in general covers harrowing topics with cute faces, and it's not to pander to lolicon (check out the available-in-English Confidential Confessions or Life manga for examples, even though they both annoy me for other reasons).
3. If we only let anime with cool-sounding titles win awards, the world would be a very odd place.
4. I don't even like the series and yet that post was so outrageous I felt I had to protest >_>;

R

 

[Vashdaman]

If that show is really a well made sophisticated piece of anime, then whoever was in charge of its marketing did a truly diabolical job.

Maybe I'll give it a go sometime and see if it can beat the odds and haver me singing its praise.

 

[Vashdaman]

1. It's not aimed at little girls at all, it's aimed at adult men.

... Now your the one tolling! LOL is all I have to say on that matter.

Narutaru, Utakata, Princess Tutu, Katanagatari

All three of these have more reasonable less gaudy art then Modoka, Katanagatari's art is genuinely brilliant and deserves no comparison with the pink magic girl.

If we only let anime with cool-sounding titles win awards, the world would be a very odd place.

OK I'll compromise, how about we only let shows that don't have terrible names win. Fair?

I don't even like the series and yet that post was so outrageous I felt I had to protest >_>

I thought my post was quite reasonable.....for my standards....

 

[Wakey]

I'm not an 8 year old girl obsessed with pink so I really can't see me liking this.

do you like cake? the 3rd episode has cake!!

 

[Reaper gI]

1. It's not aimed at little girls at all, it's aimed at adult men.

... Now your the one tolling! LOL is all I have to say on that matter.

Precure is openly targeted at adult men, it's normal for magical girl shows.

This was written for the same audience as Fate/Zero (why it uses it's writer), do you think that's targeted at 8yr old girls?

 

[Rui]

I wouldn't call PreCure openly targeted at adult men. It certainly has a hugely passionate secondary audience in them, but it was surely no more actively targeted that way to begin with than Tiger & Bunny was at women (to the extent that it ended up).

All three of these have more reasonable less gaudy art then Modoka, Katanagatari's art is genuinely brilliant and deserves no comparison with the pink magic girl.

The point is not how good the art is, but that they use a very simplistic, cutesy art style to depict things which aren't necessarily cute. I'm sure Madoka Magica would have still been somewhat popular with Initial D's character designs, but the juxtaposition is part of the point.

R

 

[Vashdaman]

I know nothing about Precure or Fate zero, so I really wouldn't know. But are you seriously telling me that "magical girl shows" are specifically aimed at the adult male demographic? Generally shows about pink haired magical children are mostly popular with children themselves. Seriously scroll up and look at that pic in my post again, she has pink hair, a silly looking dress and even a cat thingy! All things which would appeal to children and not grown men...unless my manly-o-meter has gone haywire that is.

Like I said if this isn't aimed at children or the (surely) very niche moe loving male audience, then they must have misjudged what appeals to grown men?

 

[Rui]

I think your manly-o-meter has indeed gone haywire. The main character is a young girl. Even discarding the glaring plot issues I am trying not to spoil, she (possibly) likes pink and that kind of thing. The main character of a series doesn't always have to be the same demographic themselves as the target audience; indeed it would be terrifically boring if they did IMO.

(Why is pinkness in particular such a big deal? I've never understood this about our country.)

Split into a new thread now since this has totally taken over the News sticky.

R

 

[Vashdaman]

I do actually appreciate pink in the right circumstance personally, but everything about that character is completely unbearably pink, even her eyes are pink!

Anyway now that you have casted doubt what I thought was my foolproof and unchallengeable manly-0-meter, my whole existence feels threatened and I need to have a long walk.......could I really have been that far off the mark.....

 

[Vashdaman]

Damn, I took too long in posting my last and somewhat troubled comment.. in which I stated I am now questioning just how many I really am....

 

[Rui]

Damn, I took too long in posting my last and somewhat troubled comment.. in which I stated I am now questioning just how many I really am....

No worries, it magically followed you

R

 

[Vashdaman]

Very good! Now I shall continue my with my confusion over the challenges you have made to my world view.....is everything I thought manly unmanly? And everything I thought unmanly manly....

 

[Reaper gI]

Very good! Now I shall continue my with my confusion over the challenges you have made to my world view.....is everything I thought manly unmanly? And everything I thought unmanly manly....

Indeed possible that you have been watching shows aimed at male kids (shounen) and thinking they were for adults.
Adult men should feel no need to compensate by needing violence and tits in everything.
We can embrace our appreciation for cute, especially for characters moulded into idealised daughter figures, like Madoka herself.

 

[Animefreak17]

i say lets give it a go and see whats what

 

[Lupus]

Madoka looks all cutesy and childish but it's actually pretty grimdark, of course if you watched the show you'd realize that.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

I have to say the visuals are somewhat offputting to me. Not because I'm all manly man or anything, but in choosing an anime to watch the first thing to grab you is the visuals.

Looking at it I would hazard a guess that it's not my cup of tea, not out of a sense that it therefore must be rubbish, but that I'd rather go into an anime that I have a higher probability of liking before I go into something that I may or may not like.

However, I really liked Ouran, so very pink shows can definitely surprise me and considering its good press I' mwilling to give it a shot sometime.

 

[Cloud Strife]

However from all accounts you've just judged this on appearances when the entire point of the series is to turn those judgements on their head. It's not uncommon for a series to look like a cute kids show but actually have depth e.g. Now and Then Here and There, Narutaru, Utakata, Princess Tutu, Katanagatari.

And turn it on its head it certainly did. First few episodes you would probably think its going down the typical Magical Girl Route, but after that is when it gets dark...quite literally! In some ways it actually reminds me of Bokurano

It easily makes my top 5 for this year along with Steins;Gate and some others. Mind you, even a kids show that is aimed at kids can still be watched by anyone...Beast Player Erin springs to mind.

 

[ayase]

I think your manly-o-meter has indeed gone haywire.

In fairness to Vash, I don't think it necessarily has. Those of us who've been inside anime fandom for long enough sometimes end up with slightly distorted vision. More tolerant perhaps, but certainly not in-line with the attitudes of the majority. Is it good to give things a chance before you judge 'em? Yeah. Is it manly to collect statues of cute anime girls? In the eyes of most people, I'd imagine the answer would be no.

Personally I'm not predisposed to taking an interest in "cutesy" looking things unless people rave about them and assure me they're actually quite cool really (as happened with Higurashi, MagiPoka, Strawberry Marshmallow and yes, My Little Pony). My attitude was identical to yours up until about two years ago Vash, before I fell into the inescapable chasm of otakudom. I've found a nice little ledge about a hundred feet from the bottom if you want to join me. It's far enough down that I'm free from shame but not so far down that I collect hug pillows.

 

[Vashdaman]

We can embrace our appreciation for cute, especially for characters moulded into idealised daughter figures, like Madoka herself.

And there lies the problem......No self respecting man should ever embrace their appreciation of cute, no, we suppress it... and then suppress it some more until when we hear the words "cute" we think we just heard "boot" instead... and I'm thinking of a manly boot like a dr. Martin.

Nah I'm only joking Reaper, your more of a man than me, and I actually envy your ability to openly appreciate cute. I wish I could do same....but....I.... can't...I just can't....

but it's actually pretty grimdark

Like waay grimdark.

I've found a nice little ledge about a hundred feet from the bottom if you want to join me. It's far enough down that I'm free from shame but not so far down that I collect hug pillows.

You know that actually doesn't sound too bad...maybe I should just order that clannad DVD I was thinking ..

NO, GET A HOLD of yourself Vashdaman, think manly thoughts, think manly thoughts

Ah, much better.....hang on a minute...was there a piece of parcley on those chips...

In all seriousness I did go on a bit of a judgmental rant about the pink magic girl back there, I can only apologize. I'm sure it is (hopefully) better then it looks, and I may check it out at some point.