It's been about a week since I finished
Madoka Magica. Just the show. I know there is a movie. Doesn't appear to be on Netflix so that will have to wait for now.
I already knew ahead of time that the anime was blatantly a "don't judge a book by it's cover" ordeal where "shit gets real". Even so I was not fully prepared. All the labyrinth stuff seems like Persona dungeons on DMT. The way we learn about the characters and their motives is really nice. For several episodes you might have a character pegged as X, but then as more is revealed about them we realize it's actually Y. It's really my favorite part. As the web becomes more untangled and things become more clear you really shift your views on the people and the circumstances. And the show does it with such ease and grace which really impressed me for a 12 episode show. Sure there are various things that you just assume happen in the background, but the main stuff is not overlooked.
The last episode I had to sort of rewatch various bits cause suddenly it's god damn EVA all over again aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh! But after thinking I wrapped my head around it, I actually get the conclusion here haha.
Music was pretty good too. I was really scared in the first five minutes of the first episode that this was going to be "cool animu butt rock that high school guys like" which I hate and also over the top Dragonball-esque fighting, which isn't my cup of tea. Luckily that turned out to be a red herring. I mean yes the fighting is complete utter fantasy over the top. But a different variety that I didn't mind. I think that's due to the enemy types. I just didn't two enemies floating in the air talking shit doing animu cliche chants. Instead the weapons and fights are overtly absurd while having some disturbing sense of fairy tales gone awfully wrong.
Anyway, that last episode man. Madoka. I guess I should be at peace with her decision. Yet... ah I don't know man. What she did took massive balls and I guess she decided with absolute clarity. Still.
Oh, how freaking awesome is it that in the shows current timeline that we observe the story from that
spoiler (click to show/hide)
Madoka doesn't become a magical girl until the final episode? That to me was a great decision. Considering that the show is all about these magical girls and yet the main character essentially moves in this timeline not being one of them.
How is the movie anyway? Should I look forward to seeing it?
Oh and one small quip. The subtitles were too fast sometimes. I would say on average I had to rewind the show 3 times per episode to catch all the dialogue.