SF Debris to review Madoka Magica

I

Invisible Crane

Adventurer
SF Debris (one of my favorite internet reviewers) is going to review Madoka Magica next week (after doing a Doctor Who serial and a Star Trek TOS episode). Now despite reviewers name SF Debris is no stranger to anime and animation in general having done reviews on the first 2 Eva Rebuild movies, 2 episodes of Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex, Avatar The Last Airbender/The Legend Of Korra and My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (he's not a brony btw)

http://sfdebris.com/videos/animation.asp

Heres the thing, I've heard nothing but positive opinions on PMMM with just about everyone saying it's one of the greatest anime shows ever made, supposedly doing to the magical girl genre what Eva did to the mecha genre (and anime in general). I have the show on DVD but I've yet to watch it because in my experience when praise that high is put on a show I often find myself not seeing what others saw in it. In addition I guess I have to ask (without spoilers) is PMMM really the anime game changer it's made out to be?
 
Invisible Crane said:
Heres the thing, I've heard nothing but positive opinions on PMMM with just about everyone saying it's one of the greatest anime shows ever made, supposedly doing to the magical girl genre what Eva did to the mecha genre (and anime in general). I have the show on DVD but I've yet to watch it because in my experience when praise that high is put on a show I often find myself not seeing what others saw in it. In addition I guess I have to ask (without spoilers) is PMMM really the anime game changer it's made out to be?
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That is perhaps a not entirely unreasonable position, it really depends on what your Anime background is. A casual viewer probably won't appreciate Madoka in the same way as someone more familiar with the genre and Magical Girl shows in particular.

It starts with a very familiar set up, Cuddly toy worthy animal wanting to make the main character into a Magical Girl, she has friends, there's a aloof/hostile Magical Girl that you just know will come round and join the team, the cool veteran who shows them the ropes. Then after a few episodes those slightly niggly bits that you've been overlooking as you'd not normally expect them in a love, justice and rainbows magical girl show come into play.

I found the animation & music to be excellent, the story is well paced and wraps up very nicely.
 
I thought it was good but not great. Unless you passionately hate the idea of magical girl shows and find them unwatchable, it's an enjoyable series with classy music, artwork and pacing. It's not the life-changing second coming of anime many people claim, though, or at least it wasn't for me.

I also question the assertion that it's entirely a casual/hardcore thing; well made dark magical girl shows were around before Madoka Magica appeared on the scene (e.g. Princess Tutu, Uta Kata). It's probably a more "do you find the girls cute and vulnerable?" thing.

R
 
Rui said:
I also question the assertion that it's entirely a casual/hardcore thing; well made dark magical girl shows were around before Madoka Magica appeared on the scene (e.g. Princess Tutu, Uta Kata). It's probably a more "do you find the girls cute and vulnerable?" thing.

R
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I wasn't exactly going for casual v hardcore, though I guess it may of come across along those lines. You definitely can get more from the series knowing how a typical Magical Girl show plays out than you otherwise might, it plays on the supposed greater knowledge a fan familiar with the genre would have to mislead them.

Both those shows mentioned are from a few years back and are borderline not Magical Girl. I think perhaps Madoka did so well because it's a very slick package, everything is high quality and it broke away from the cut and paste formula shows have fallen into these last few years.
 
Rui said:
I thought it was good but not great. Unless you passionately hate the idea of magical girl shows and find them unwatchable, it's an enjoyable series with classy music, artwork and pacing. It's not the life-changing second coming of anime many people claim, though, or at least it wasn't for me.
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Very much in agreement with Rui here. I don't think I ever wrote much about it at the time I watched, but Madoka strikes me as a very good show but over-hyped by at least 400%. It's a darker and edgier magical girl show, which is not necessarily a criticism as I enjoyed it and would still rate it more highly than a lot of recent offerings. But while I thought it was well produced and had a couple of good plot twists (I wouldn't even call it genre defying as no real attempt is made at subverting or deconstructing the character archetypes Rosencrantz mentions above - they're simply placed in a darker setting) I certainly didn't find it anywhere near as deep or mind-blowing as others seemed to.
 
ayase said:
Rui said:
I thought it was good but not great. Unless you passionately hate the idea of magical girl shows and find them unwatchable, it's an enjoyable series with classy music, artwork and pacing. It's not the life-changing second coming of anime many people claim, though, or at least it wasn't for me.
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Very much in agreement with Rui here. I don't think I ever wrote much about it at the time I watched, but Madoka strikes me as a very good show but over-hyped by at least 400%. It's a darker and edgier magical girl show, which is not necessarily a criticism as I enjoyed it and would still rate it more highly than a lot of recent offerings. But while I thought it was well produced and had a couple of good plot twists (I wouldn't even call it genre defying as no real attempt is made at subverting or deconstructing the character archetypes Rosencrantz mentions above - they're simply placed in a darker setting) I certainly didn't find it anywhere near as deep or mind-blowing as others seemed to.
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I know myself that I was at least partly spoiled so some things didn't have the impact they perhaps could of. I think for the experienced viewer, not just of Anime but TV/Films as a whole, some of the things that happen have been seen before in other contexts.

I think perhaps your putting
Kyubey
as a plot twist rather than a subversion
He should be there typically to grant powers and give advice/support, instead he's the cause of the whole chain of events. It's not a good vs evil, rather its tricked girls vs dead tricked girls sponsored by team neutral. I've seen this kind of enemy in your midst from other shows but never in a Magical Girl show

The fact that it was deliberately marketed as a traditional style scenario and then sucked punched it's audience has to be a factor, as is the general generic offerings in the genre as of late.
 
You know it's just occurred to me that while we debate this the OP does already own the dvd.

I think the solution is going to be go watch it and decide for yourself.

I really enjoyed it and have watched it through 3 times since the US release, the others also enjoyed it but either didn't think it lived up to the hype or their opinion cooled after a while.
 
Fair point, and I hope we'll get to hear Invisible Crane's impressions after watching! We've all agreed it was a good show, just with differing opinions on how far to go with that - which is going to involve personal taste on some level.

I'm surprised we haven't seen more posts from very enthusiastic fans in this thread. There are definitely more about but it's mainly attracted the more cynical among us.

R
 
I never have watched a Magical Girl anime, but Madoka Magica is that rare thing. A deconstruction that requires no prior knowledge. I forced both my Mum and one of my sisters to watch it too, neither watch much anime unless I am making them (heh) and both really loved it. It's replaced DBZ as my all time favourite anime, it's a work of tremendous textual depth that gives more and more on each repeat viewing. Even the dub is superb. I love it!
 
Reinforcements, press the attack lol :)

I too am hoping Crane can pop back later and provide some feedback.

This thread is a bit weird though, when you own something but have not watched it it's too late to ask for reviews/thoughts but too early to wade in to the debate. Our opinion's or that of a review site are moot, best bet would be to watch immediately and then see how your opinion lines up with others.
 
Well I just finished episode 3, about to go on to episode 4...I must confess the
death of Mommy
didn't shock me as much because I had a feeling
a major character was gonna get killed off early on in the series to hammer home the whole "being a magical girl sucks" thing the series is going for
.

Still I can't deny it's a very well made show so far

Oh and SF Debris's review of episode 1 is now up http://sfdebris.com/videos/animation/madoka1.asp
 
Greenmeido said:
It's Mami.
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Oh right, it's just the way SF Debris pronounced the name, guess I misheard.

Anyway I'm on episode 7 now and I've gotta ask how much more crying do I have to put up with. While the show is still awesome and all the amount of crying from Madoka is starting to get grating, especially when watching the english dub...it's a pointless thing to complain about I know but having been used to shrill high pitched female voices in anime dubs you'd think I'd be used to it
 
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