That was pretty good, would have a psychological meltdown again.

"HOLY SHIT STOP COMPARING EVERYTHING TO MADOKA MAGICA"
"the futile frustration of this post reminds me a lot of homura’s struggle to save madoka"

*-*

MADOKA SPOILERS BELOW (maybe ??)

Now that I've finished it, I'm curious who everyone's favorite character in this show is. I'll go with either Sayaka or Kyoko. Sayaka is admirably altruistic, and, I would venture, undergoes the most character development throughout the show. Kyoko seemed the most complex. I loved her back story leading up to her becoming a magical girl, and liked the attention paid to the small details of her character (e.g., how her past influenced her love of food). She also puts up this front of being self-serving, but when she befriends Sayaka, that quickly crumbles.

I'm honestly not sure if I'd want to watch another anime series that turns the fun, whimsical magical girl genre into such a melancholic spectacle, but this series is still a bittersweet trip worth taking. Madoka Magica manages to tell a compelling and somewhat complicated story in a mere 12 episodes, all while exploring some wickedly heavy moral themes. The presentation makes it all the more memorable--from the surreal, collage-like visuals of the Labyrinth settings and the futuristic, sterile architecture, to the haunting melodies composed by Yuki Kajiura of #.hack//Sign fame. After watching it twice, my one prevailing gripe is the lack of significant character development. I never felt as if I had bonded with any of the characters over the course of the series--especially the bland protagonist. That's not to say I didn't /like/ most of the characters, but the emotional impact of the ending (or lack thereof) left something to be desired.

...I'll watch it a second time before writing a review.

Madoka is one of those shows I can go on and on about, and is the anime that has inspired me to become a writer. I loved everything about the series, so much that I don't know where to start when it comes to talking about how good it is. It was the first series in a long time to truly grip me and get me excited for each episode, and every time I watch it brings me joy. It's dark without the need to be explicit or shocking. I found all the characters interesting and relatable. It's visually interesting and the soundtrack is one of the best in years in term of anime. I can watch this again and again and not get tired of it.

To get maximum enjoyment out of this show I feel that you need to go into it knowing absolutely nothing about it so I am going to try to explain why I love this while giving away nothing.

Firstly don't let the fact it is a Magical Girl show put you off.

Originally I was turned off by the extreme art style changes but they are quickly toned down to a reasonable level where they were adding to the experience instead of just being out of place. I was really impressed with the OST/Visuals as they seemed to just get better and better as the show went on.

The main cast are all explored/given time in the spotlight for long enough that you care about all of them.

Most 13ish episode shows I have watched either try and cram too much content into their limited run or leave a bunch of unresolved/unexplored plot points. This does not fall into either of these traps and manages to tick practically every box for what makes a fantastic show. (I watched it subtitled with subs from UTW/Meguca)